Talk:The Ballad of the Green Berets

Original research and bias in the article
Does anyone else get a feeling that editors have been inserting a lot of personal opinion, original research and conjencture to the article, especially in the other versions and parodies section? --194.197.79.18 (talk) 12:29, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes. Especially in the parody section. "The internet critic SF Debris uses the music with lyrics about the Red Shirts in Star Trek who regularly die on away missions." Is this really encyclopedic? Important? There are no citations in the parody section and some of the parodies mentioned are obscure and hard to find. It's as if someone simply remembered things and typed them into a Wikipedia page. 2600:1700:4260:35D0:71EA:8978:24B:22AF (talk) 11:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Every section has personal opinion. "The song was the No. 1 hit in the U.S. for the five weeks, spanning March 1966; also the No. 21 song of the 1960s as ranked by Joel Whitburn." Who is Joel Whitburn? Is Joe Whitburn important enough to be mentioned in the article? What makes Joel Whitburn more important than any other author or music critic? 2600:1700:4260:35D0:71EA:8978:24B:22AF (talk) 11:18, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

"The Ballad of the Green Berets" is currently used as one of the four primary marching tunes of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band." Okay?  Maybe it's used by other schools?  Why is this important to mention in the article? 2600:1700:4260:35D0:71EA:8978:24B:22AF (talk) 11:19, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The article should be about the song itself and not all of these things that are barely connected to the song and/or bear little to no relevance to the song. The article should be about the song and not about the Aggie Band, SF Debris, Joel Whitburn, American Graffiti, John Wayne films, other films, etc. What makes the mentions in the "Other Versions Derivatives" important? What does any of this have to do with the song?

Shouldn't there be more information about the song writers and the singer of the song? I can't find any reference on the internet about a lost/missing verse about U.S. Army Specialist 5 James Gabriel, Jr. ??? " One verse mentioned Gabriel by name, but it was not used in the recorded version." ??? 2600:1700:4260:35D0:71EA:8978:24B:22AF (talk) 11:26, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Ukrainian copy of melody
Ukrainian copy of melody https://psb4ukr.org/78312-nova-j-nadzvichajno-chudova-pisnya-dlya-nasho%d1%97-armi%d1%97-pro-rosijsko-ukra%d1%97nsku-vijnu-na-donbasi-100-bijciv-proniklivi-na-dostojni-slova/ https://psb4ukr.org/ukrop4ik/100biytciv.mp3 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.67.3.223 (talk) 03:34, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

German version of the ballad
Since I am not a native speaker of English, I would need some assistance in improving the section about the German version of the ballad.

By now, the section mentions two versions of the lyrics, one introduced by Freddy Quinn and another one by Heidi Brühl. These versions are almost identical. They should not be denominated as two different ones, as the section does.

Besides, the lyrics do neither object against making sacrifices, nor do they mention any father or son, like it is stated in the section.

Thus, let us delete this part of the text.

The notion that the song pictures the perspective of a "reluctant but forced" soldier is fairly accurate.

However, it would be slightly more accurate to state that it pictures the perspective of a homesick soldier who has no ambition to die young, who can't make any sense of the order given to him, who would prefer paved ways over rough terrain and who would prefer his girlfriend back home over his ninety-nine fellow comrades who have to trek day after day through a hostile foreign territory along with him for some purpose that remains obscure to them, who frequently suffer demoralising casualties by enemy fire and who are just as pissed off as he is.

Thus, it is safe to say that he is "reluctant", but there is no mentioning of him being "forced". What there is, is some fateful overarching "Befehl", that is, an order or a command. This order is a leitmotiv of the song and all the brigade is doing all of the time is following this one permanent order.

He keeps up his spirit by means of dreaming about his sweetheart. She is sitting at home, crying for him. They could not meet each other for a whole year.


 * these are men, America´s best ( sigh: it´s from to 'to beat', beaten, have been, et al)

This summarizes the lyrics, but it may be a little bit to long. Please be so kind as to help me drafting a shorter text with just a few concise sentences.

--Bittelächeln (talk) 22:40, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

Present Day Use
This song is played at every formal military ceremony in US Special Forces units. I have been in two different SF groups and each one plays the version sung by Johnny Cash preceding the Army Song.

It's most common at change of commands, change of responsibility, and prestigious award ceremonies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.71.133.122 (talk) 15:14, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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