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MP3 LEO LABRANCHE - THE VICTORS, THE VICTIMS
3 MP3 Songs
POP: 70''s Pop, URBAN/R&B: R&B Pop Crossover
Details:
THE VICTORS, THE VICTIMS
(Out of the box, one more time)
On a beautiful Georgia morning in 1974 on Woods Circle in the Druid Hills section of North Atlanta, I rose and had my coffee and sat at my desk looking out into the back yard, lamenting my country’s woes, which had been ongoing for many years due to the war in S. E. Asia. My brother in Florida had returned from the war appearing none the worse for wear, ready to re-enter society. We were not in contact then, but I was grateful he had returned unharmed -- at least in body.
Rudimentary music was added at the time in ’74, but it went into the pile as something to keep but not to take seriously, since our country was going through enough machinations, turmoil, and protest. The way in which our veterans were treated affected me in no small measure. The anti-war movement confused me, since it pertained to our loved ones who had fought and died and yet they were mistreated on their return.
1983, Hollywood, California
Nine years later I lived in a corner unit of a strip mall in North Hollywood, California, and I found the words to Victors/Victims and wrote the simple melody and chords that are the song today. At that time I was engaged in a instrumental music project (I was a trumpet and keyboard player) and had gathered the resources to have a recording session with money to afford first-call session players and time in a recording studio. As an afterthought, I decided to record Victors/Victims since I had hired two of the best drummer/percussionists in Los Angeles. The lyrics "call up the drummers, let’s march into town" may have prompted the thought. There was no war at the time so it was not a matter of opportunity or protest. The song was recorded in spring of 1983. No release was planned and it went into the box, not to be re-opened until 1990. Though the Gulf war appeared to be a war of liberation, getting the dictator out of Kuwait, it seemed to me it may have been a good time for the song to come out, given the current events. I went to another studio and had the song re-mixed, using the latest automation technologies. I lamented the fact that I could not, or did not, have a chorus of singers to hammer the point home, but left the song as is. There is also a version of the song that was to feature children from all races reciting my version of the Pledge of Allegiance, even at the risk of offending some. The war ended quickly and that was good, so back in the box it went again. Analog tape degrades over time and this was the last time the tape was usable, having dried out and degraded over the 20+/- years it had been in storage.
I re-located to Florida in 2002 where my remaining parent resides, and in July 2002 I concluded that the war about to begin in Iraq was a bad idea. Had Iraq been the perpetrator of America’s greatest tragedy (9/11), I would have no quarrel with the policy and Victors/Victims would have stayed in the box (which was now a little box, containing three mixes of the song on DAT tape), probably forever. Between July and September 11, 2002 I worked on preparing to release and promote the song to college radio stations around the country, as well as to sympathetic (I believed) public broadcasting radio stations across the land. On that day, I mailed 300 +/- copies to these radio stations with minimal results. I’ve been told I was ahead of my time which is probably true. Maybe it''s time now . . .
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