March to the Witch's Castle

Artist: Funkadelic

Title of album: Cosmic Slop

Year of first release: 1973

Trivia: One of the first P Funk songs to deal with the Vietnam War

Description of music:

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Songwriter: George Clinton

Memorable Lyrics:

• "February 12th, 1973/The prayers of thousands were answered/The war was over, and the first of the prisoners returned/Needless to say, it was the happiest day in up to thirteen years for most/For others, the real nightmare had just begun/The nightmare of readjustment/And for those, we will pray"
• "...(a soldier) knew not for what or who he was fighting for"
• "His enemies was many, including the habit he still cannot break"
• "...when his loved one remarried/They were truly under the impression that he was dead"
• "Someone said this war ended with 'Peace with honor'"
  • Richard Nixon made that claim in his 1972 campaign for the presidency
• "as the boys march home to the witch's castle/They will all need (God's) help"

Complete lyrics at the Motherpage (http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/lyrics_funkadelic/lyr-cslop#lyr-s-castle)

A very overtly political song, "March to the Witch's Castle" concerns the tribulations of Vietnam veterans coming home to the United States, and deals with adjusting to a non-wartime society and addiction. The soldier has become addicted (presumably to heroin) and found that his wife, thinking he was dead, married someone else. The soldier did not understand why he was fighting the war, and why he gave so much of his life to fighting abstract concepts that he cared little about.

Personnel:

• Lead Vocals: George Clinton

Critical response: