The Story
- by Tim Woodward

Ride To The Wall
- Song Lyrics

Rolling Thunder
- Song Lyrics

Armed Forces Radio
- Song Lyrics

It wasn’t the first time a veteran had approached him at a show. It had been happening for some time, starting the night the Raiders added a song to their set list. The song was “We Gotta’ Get Outa’ This Place,” the ‘60s hit by Eric Burden and the Animals.

“We added it because it was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who wrote ‘Kicks’ and ‘Hungry’ for us in the ‘60s,” Revere said. “It was perfect for us because it was one of their songs, it was similar to some of our hits, and it fit nicely in our show. What happened next was a surprise.”

What happened next was a growing tide of Vietnam veterans, with whom the song struck a deeply emotional chord.

“They’d come up at our post-show autograph signing sessions and say, ‘Thanks for doing all those great old songs, especially ‘We Gotta’ Get Outa’ This Place.’ Boy, do I remember that from Vietnam. It was our theme song over there.’

“After hearing that over and over from people in the autograph lines, I started dedicating that song to the vets. That’s when it really started to snowball. Some of them seemed to be totally overwhelmed that we’d dedicated a piece of our show to them. They felt like they’d been treated like second class citizens and never got any recognition for their service because of all the war disputes that were going on back then. It seemed to mean the world to them that somebody was actually recognizing them.”

Some of the veterans were so moved they sent their wives to the autograph table to thank Revere and his band for them, not trusting themselves to do it because they’d get too choked up. The band was impressed but didn’t fully understand the reaction. Not having served in Vietnam, they couldn’t understand in the way that a combat veteran would. But they came close the night the man with the flag came.

“He saw Sydney (Revere’s wife) go into the roped-off area, guessed that she had some connection with me, and asked her to give the flag to me. Syd said, ‘No, this is too important. I want you to give it to him personally.’

“He broke her heart. He looked kind of down and out. She came and got me, and he handed me the flag. It was folded in a triangle, the way they are when they give them to the widows of veterans who have died. He didn’t talk; he was too emotional. He just wanted to give me the flag and thank us. The flag was dirty and tattered, and I knew there had to be a story behind it, but I never got a chance to hear it. Between the crowd and the security, I only got to spend a few seconds with him. He was there, and then he was gone.”

But the impression he made was permanent.

“There’s always a hubbub in the dressing room, but not that night. Everyone was really touched by it. There was a moment of silence while we all looked at each other and tried to imagine what it must have meant to him. To us, it was just a song, but it obviously meant more than that to the vets. We talked about how great it would be if we could give something back, if there was something more we could do than just playing a song. That was definitely the seed.”

A few weeks later, at another concert, another man approached Revere in the autograph line. A member of a veterans’ motorcycle group, he insisted on making a gift of the leather vest he was wearing.

“He was with his wife,” Revere said. “They were wearing leathers and had obviously ridden a motorcycle to the concert. He was an ex-Marine. He walked up and handed me this leather vest with his colors and all his patches on it. I said, ‘I can’t accept this, man I can’t take your colors.’ But one look and you knew he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“When I showed it to the guys in the group and told them what happened, it hit everybody between the eyes.

To a biker, that’s like giving somebody your car. I’d love to be able to find him and thank him for what he did. I don’t think he had any clue how much it meant to us in taking this thing to the next level.”

When breaks in the tour schedule allowed the band members to go home, e-mail from veterans was waiting for them - “a humongous response thanking us for acknowledging the vets.”

The idea to do something more than dedicating a song to them, according to Sydney Revere, “was born in October of 1999 at the Treasure Island Casino in Minnesota. Steve Mueller (the group’s web site technician) had come because we were getting the site on line, and he and Ron Foos, the Raider’s bass player, had dinner together.

Ron had an idea he wanted to bounce off of Steve because he was a Vietnam vet. “Seeing the response of the veterans at our show every night, they’d about tear your arm off they shook your hand so hard. Some of them had tears in their eyes. I kept thinking there must be something more we can do to honor these guys. That gave me an idea to do an album for them. The next day, I ran it by Paul and Syd. I didn’t have to talk them into it at all. You should have seen their eyes light up.”

With the boss behind his idea, Foos asked Mueller what the most popular songs had been with the soldiers he had known in Vietnam. Mueller compiled a list, surprising no one by putting the Animals’ ‘We Gotta’ Get Outa’ This Place” at the top. Few Americans ever have wanted to get out of a place worse than U.S. combat soldiers wanted to get out of Vietnam.

When Revere saw Mueller’s list, he called an old friend in Hawaii. Tommy D. was a songwriter and singer who had impersonated Roy Orbison in a show there. He also was a Vietnam veteran. Revere asked Tommy to make a list of the songs he remembered from the war years. He did, adding what proved to be a bonus. To jog his memory of the tunes popular with the troops, Tommy D. went browsing in a record store. There, he found a retrospective-of-Vietnam CD featuring the voice of Adrian Cronauer - the disc jockey immortalized by Robin Williams in “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

Revere was intrigued.

“I kept thinking, ‘Man, Adrian Cronauer! Wouldn’t it be great if we could get him involved in our project? I asked Tommy how to get hold of him, and he said he didn’t know but knew a guy who could. He said if anybody would know how to reach Adrian, this was the guy.”

The guy was Tony May of the 196th Light Brigade’s “Locate a Brother,” an organization that helps veterans find their buddies from the war. More than 1,400 of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington, D.C. are of former members of the 196th. Thirty years after the fact, May had helped Tommy D. find Nick Capezzera, who had saved Tommy D.’s life by dragging him to safety in a hail of bullets after a land mine had exploded beside him. When he heard Tommy’s name and Revere’s plans for a CD dedicated to Vietnam veterans, May started looking. Two days later, he had Cronauer on the phone, explained what was in the works and told him to be expecting a call from Revere.

“I told Adrian the profits were going to help his brothers and sisters from Vietnam. Not a percentage of the profits - all of the net profits. We wouldn’t be making a penny off of this.”

“We thought this could be something good that would help the guys who had had such a rough time over there. We’re already losing a lot of them. They’re getting older. A lot of them have problems with agent orange or hepatitis or the other things they were exposed to in Vietnam. And they never were treated as heroes. They were swept under the carpet. You look in their eyes, and you see a big hurt.”

A year after the down-and-out veteran gave Revere the flag, he and Cronauer met in Las Vegas.

“I told him titles of songs we were recording, and he threw titles at me. They kept crisscrossing, so I knew we were doing the right stuff . . . He asked me if we’d ever considered doing a performance for the veterans. I told him yes, that we’d love to, but we didn’t know when or how. I thought maybe Boston on the Fourth of July, or possibly Washington. But I didn’t know if you could get a place in D.C.”

Cronauer, now a Washington, D.C. attorney, “looked at me and said, ‘It would have to be free, you know.’ I said fine, but that raises a big problem. We’d donate our show, but the band is a small part of the expense. You need staging, sound, security; it takes a lot to put on a big show like that. That’s when he asked if I’d ever heard of a group called Rolling Thunder.”

Revere had heard of the organization, but didn’t know it was composed primarily of Vietnam veterans and their spouses, that their primary purpose was to publicize the POW-MIA issue, and that every year they ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington for a Memorial Day weekend demonstration and observance that draws hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the world. If he had orchestrated it himself, Revere couldn’t have found a better place to do a musical tribute and sell CDs to benefit Vietnam veterans.

By coincidence, Cronauer was scheduled to meet Rolling Thunder President Artie Muller a few days later at a Veterans’ Day observance in Washington D.C., where he told him about Revere’s plan. After speaking with Revere by phone, Muller was interested enough that he requested and received preliminary approval of the musical tribute from Rolling Thunder’s board of directors. A month later, Muller, Revere and Rolling Thunder vice president John Mendes met for dinner. Revere surprised them with the news that he had spoken with his old friend Dick Clark about the project. Clark had offered his support and arranged a meeting with Richard Foos, chairman and chief executive officer of Rhino Entertainment, which agreed to manufacture the CD.

“... We talked for a long time that night, “ Revere said. “Finally, near the end of the night, Artie and John asked if it would be okay if some of the money went to Heather French Henry’s foundation. I told them that would be great.”

Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000, is the daughter of a disabled Vietnam veteran. Her platform during her year as Miss America was to publicize the plight of homeless Vietnam veterans. She began a foundation to help them and with her father rode in Rolling Thunder’s 13th annual demonstration, when hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists rode from the Pentagon to the Capitol Mall.

Sydney Revere added another element to what was beginning to look like a monster event. At their Boise home one evening, she casually suggested that it was time for Revere to buy another motorcycle.

“It’s been 30 years,” she said, “since you went on ‘the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere’ (a cross-country motorcycle trip to promote the Raiders’ recording of ‘Indian Reservation’). I think you should buy a bike and ride to the wall.”

That statement would name the concert, the CD and its title song, a foundation and another cross-country adventure. In April - the 30th anniversary of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere - Revere and the Raiders will give a concert at Paul Allen’s “Experience Music Project” in Seattle, kicking off a cross-country motorcycle Ride to the Wall in Washington D.C. for the biggest performance of their lives. Motorcyclists will join them en route. The free performance in Washington, in conjunction with the Rolling Thunder XIV - Ride for Freedom on May 27, will be at the Lincoln Memorial.

Members of Rolling Thunder will handle logistics and security. Copies of this CD will be sold, with all of the net profits donated to the Ride to the Wall Foundation. The foundation’s board, which will include representatives of Rolling Thunder and Heather French Henry, will distribute them to charities that help homeless veterans, disabled veterans, or any veterans’ organization with a compelling need.

The photo on the cover of the CD, of a solider slogging through a rice paddy, was taken by John Lewis, then a Marine combat photographer. Lewis was shot shortly after taking the picture and spent weeks in a hospital before being sent home. Today a successful well known photographer, this is the first time his photograph has been published. He has volunteered to be the official photographer for the Ride to the Wall project.

Because this is the first album with new material recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders in many years, introductions are in order. Not only are today’s Raiders among the most musically accomplished of Revere’s groups, they are the most enduring. The current members have been with the group an average of 24 years, playing up to 200 nights a year in the tight pants and Colonial costumes.

“I can’t imagine any famous band in America not wanting to steal one of these guys from me,” Revere said. “Luckily, we’re like family and nobody’s even thought about leaving.”

Drummer and vocalist Omar Martinez has been with the group nearly 30 years. Guitarist Doug Heath has had three stints totaling 28 years. Bassist Ron Foos joined the group in 1974. Classically trained Dan Krause has been playing keyboards with Revere for 21 years, and lead singer Carl Driggs is approaching 20 years with the band. All have long lists of songwriting and studio credits.

“Armed Forces Radio” and the title track of this collection are new originals, with lyrics by Vietnam veteran Tommy D. and music by Driggs and Martinez. “Armed Forces Radio” is a tribute to Adrian Cronauer and the music he played for the troops. “Rolling Thunder” was written by Rolling Thunder members and Vietnam veterans Larry Tidwell and Carl Jones. The rest of the songs on the CD are those that had special meaning for our armed forces there. All have since become classics.

Re-recording them was daunting.

“These are songs you don’t touch,” Revere said. “They’re all great songs by some very talented artists. Songs like ‘California Dreamin’ and ‘Mrs. Robinson,’ are typical of involved productions that were originally recorded so well that nobody wants to mess with them. It’s not something anybody wants to take on, because if you don’t do it at least as well as the original, what’s the point? They were all challenging. We did them because veterans who were in Vietnam told us they were some of the appropriate songs to do.”

Revere’s instructions to the band were to “duplicate the songs exactly, or as close as possible. Then, if we wanted to add something that didn’t take away from the original intent or sound, I’d keep an open mind. We added clavinette to ‘Run Through the Jungle’ and organ to ‘Fortunate Son.’ We added a Vox organ sound to ‘Satisfaction.’ Omar and Carl, who were born in Cuba, wanted to add some Cuban-type percussion to some of the songs. I was a little skeptical - until I heard the results. The rule was that if it bothered me, if I thought it took away from the original, we took it out. These are all songs I love, so I was really picky about it.”

“California Dreamin’ “ begins exactly like the original, right down to the Mama Cass and Michelle Phillips harmonies. Then, a subtle touch of Cuba.

“The more I listened to it, the more I thought it would sound good with some Latin percussion,” Martinez said. “We did the same with the Creedence Clearwater songs and ‘California Dreamin’ and ‘Mrs. Robinson.’ ...You don’t mess with classics, but it sounds great. The percussion was the icing on the cake.”

To duplicate guitar tones, Heath used a modeling amplifier, a technological innovation that imitates the sonic signature of most of the classic guitar amps.

“This CD was a different direction for us musically. Every song created a different challenge, and I learned a new respect for the people who made all these old songs I’ve always loved.”

Vocals posed a different challenge. How do you replicate the voices of Mick Jagger, John Fogarty, John Kay, Eric Burden?

“You don’t try to sound exactly like them,” Driggs said. “You try to capture the excitement they had, the attitude they had when they sang it, without losing your own style. You try to capture their passion.”

The challenge of singing the high harmonies in “California Dreamin’ “ fell to Krause.

“What sounds easy when you’re listening to it isn’t,” he said. “The Mamas and Papas had so much contrary motion and counterpoint in their harmonies that it was kind of hard to figure out who was doing what. I’ve developed a high range through the years because I’ve always gotten stuck with singing the high parts. I probably should have laid back and pretended I couldn’t.”

When everyone else had gone home, Revere said, “the man who burned the midnight oil was Steve Swinford, our producer and engineer. What he gave to this production is priceless.”

Swinford, owner of Studio 64 in Reno, Nev., is an acoustic guitarist and technological prodigy who grew up with the music of the ‘60s and dreamed less of playing it than re-recording it.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was nine,” he said. “I have a dream list of songs I’ve always wanted to re-record, and some of these are on it. So for me, this really was a dream come true. And these guys (the Raiders) are real pros. They can do anything. The result is the best re-makes I’ve ever heard.”
Departures from the originals were rejected or approved by the man in the three-cornered hat with the feathers.

“The buck stopped here,” Revere said. “If there’s a song that you hate, blame me. Don’t blame the band.”

To Foos, Revere was “the big watchdog. ...Paul kept us in line. The idea was to pay tribute, not recreate. We worked hard to keep the original sound, the original tempo, everything.”

The result is a collection of ‘60s classics with a contemporary feel, with proceeds donated to ‘60s veterans struggling with contemporary times. It has been a labor of love and gratitude to those who received too little of it when they needed it most.

--Tim Woodward
Feature writer and columnist, The Idaho Statesman

Vest and Flag
presented to Paul Revere

Back of Vest

John Lewis, Paul Revere
and Steve Mueller

Paul Revere and
Adrian Cronauer

Tommy D.

Artie Muller

John Mendes

Photo by John Lewis

Paul Revere & The Raiders

Now here’s a story that needs to be told, Of a midnight ride not the one of old
Paul Revere with his rock band, Told his Raiders he had a plan
Rolling Thunder bikers heard the call. Fired up their hogs and headed for the Wall
Coast to coast the veteran brothers grew, To show in numbers ‘cause they all knew

We’ll ride to the Wall the Vietnam shrine
To honor those who put it all on the line
We’ll ride to the Wall...the price they had to pay
Young warriors in blood for the U.S. of A. ... USA

Some say get over it, it’s in the past. But the Wall is proof that their story will last
Tears in our eyes as choppers flew overhead, Reminds us of the veterans living and dead
Rolling Thunder bikers side by side, Remembering names carved in the Wall who had died
Harley’s roaring by the thousands they ride, To the big black Wall with honor and pride

Chorus

Wall of my soul ... Vietnam Vet, Ride to the Wall ... Never forget
Wall of my soul ... Vietnam Vet, Ride to the Wall ... Never forget

Chorus

Wall of my soul ... Vietnam Vet
Ride to the Wall but you never forget
With love in our hearts - we ride to the Wall
See the names of my brothers and sisters
Too young to have died ... I’ll never forget
Ride to the Wall ... our Vietnam Vets
Wall of my soul

They fought in the jungles and died on foreign shores
Spit on by the people who stood against the war
Used by politicians who beat them like a drum
But now the war is over and their time has finally come

Rolling Thunder on the highways will be heard throughout the land
A biking band of brothers are going to make a stand
To honor fallen heroes who never had a chance
Rolling Thunder from the jungle will rumble once again

Now they died in the delta and on the DMZ
Fought in total darkness with a ghost they could not see
Survived the Tet Offensive and the stories they could tell
Will attest to the torture that our prisoners knew too well

Rolling Thunder on the highways will be heard throughout the land
A biking band of brothers are going to make a stand
To honor fallen heroes who never had a chance
Rolling Thunder from the jungle will rumble once again

Well God has come to guide us to lend his mighty hand
So mount up brothers let’s ride to the promised land
Where the roads are paved with honor and the streets are marked with signs
To guide us to our brothers who we’ll never leave behind

Rolling Thunder on the highways will be heard throughout the land
A biking band of brothers are going to make a stand
To honor fallen heroes who never had a chance
Rolling Thunder from the jungle will rumble once again

Armed Forces Radio helped carry us through a war
In the land of rice paddies where every Vet knew the score
With blood, sweat and tears we fought as the monsoons drenched the way
While the Vietcong were dying with our troops everyday everyday

Armed Forces Radio ... Armed Forces Radio
Armed Forces Radio ... Adrian play it again

Good morning Vietnam we heard the cry
Adrian Cronauer the voice of all G.I.s
Bob Hope came to Vietnam with a show to entertain
To help us lift our spirits high to fight another day

And we were singin’ ... Armed Forces Radio ... helped carry us through
Armed Forces Radio ... with Adrian Cronauer
Armed Forces Radio ... Adrian play it again

Now I listen to the radio
As the years flash on by
Of the 196th and combat buddies
Some lived some died

Everybody sing ... Armed Forces Radio ... helped to carry us through
Armed Forces Radio ... with Adrian Cronauer
Armed Forces Radio ... Adrian play it again