Seasons of War
1980 · Larrikin LRF-051 · Sydney, Australia
- Artist
- Phyl Lobl
- Title
- Seasons of War
- Release
- Broadmeadow Thistle
- Year
- 1980
- Label
- Larrikin # LRF-051
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Sydney, Australia
- Songwriter
- Phyl Lobl
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Australian & New Zealand Songs
Phyl Lobl, a contemporary folk singer, who wrote and performed in the 1960s under the name Phyl Vinnicombe, based in Melbourne. Lobl helped to establish the National Folk Festival Movement. She later married, becoming Phyl Lobl, and moved to Sydney Australia.1 On this album featured the anti-war song "Seasons of War" (Larrikin Records # LRF-051), written during the Vietnam War era, but not released until this album. Lobl said: "written in the summer of the Vietnam War, I hoped this song would not be relevant any more. I no longer have such youthful optimism. The chorus works as a round sung behind the verses".2 It was released on Warren Fahey's Paddington, NSW-based record label. Note that this song also featured on the 1985 compilation "Come Listen to Australia" (Teldec # 6.30127), which contained three Vietnam War-related songs, discussed below. The song used the seasons to describe the cycle of a youthful, innocent soldier off to war to fight for freedom, who becomes disenchanted after experiencing the horrors of war. Starting in Spring, the soldier "knows just what he's fighting for", as he had been "told...many times" - it was "for his freedom". By the summer, the soldier felt "pain and hate". In Autumn, the "bombs rain down", and "friends begin to fall". By winter time, with "glory gone", the "war is grey", and the soldier "wonders what he's won". Sources1Phyl Lobl: Biography↩2phyllobl.net: Seasons of war↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter / War has all the seasons / One and two, three and four / Man will give the reasons / Soldier in the Spring of war / Knows just what he's fighting for / Told so many times before / Fighting for his freedom... / Come the Summer all is growing / And the fruit of war is showing / Pain and hate he will be knowing / Fighting for his freedom.... / When his friends begin to fall / And the bombs rain down on all / Then he hears the Autumn call / Fighting for his freedom... / Winter finds the glory gone / War is grey to look upon / Soldier wonders what he's won / Fighting for his freedom
Notes
Written during the Vietnam War, first released on this album; also on the 1985 compilation Come Listen to Australia (Teldec 6.30127).
About the artist
Phyl Lobl - contemporary folk singer who performed in the 1960s as Phyl Vinnicombe, based in Melbourne, and helped establish the National Folk Festival movement; later based in Sydney, NSW.