What song was number one when the Vietnam War officially ended in 1975?
To some, April 30th, 1975, may not be a date that sticks in the memory for any significant reason. But for the people of Vietnam, it meant everything. The war was over.
For the best part of the two previous decades prior to that point, the country had been split into factions and embroiled in fighting, taking a toll of the most harrowing bloodshed as countless soldiers and innocent civilians alike had lost their lives, and never got to see the day when peace would finally reign.
Of course, in the country itself, on the day that Saigon finally fell, the events of the outside world would have been of little consideration. Instead, the eyes of the globe were turned in on them as the president Dương Văn Minh broadcast his speech of surrender on the radio that afternoon, forced to declare that victory was indeed not his.
For obvious reasons, that particular broadcast would have been the main focus for the day, if not also the following weeks and months to come. It was a rare instance in which music bore a very minor relevance to the situation that was unfolding, but to the wider Western world, that is exactly the type of thing by which such major historical events can strike up memories with.
The charts in the UK and the US may not hold much weighting in the rest of the world, but they still play a crucial role in defining the era of popular music, which soundtracked specific moments. In this regard, the end of the Vietnam War was no different, with two starkly different tunes topping the charts on either side of the Atlantic.
What songs topped the UK and US charts when the Vietnam War ended?
In the UK, it was a corny classic that took the crown, not particularly fitting in with the mood of such serious geopolitical events taking place overseas. But in that sense, the Bay City Rollers came into their own with their chart-topping cover of ‘Bye Bye Baby’, which first assumed the throne on March 22nd and didn’t vacate until May 3rd, thus positioning it perfectly over the end of the war in Vietnam.
By comparison, the state of the charts in the US told a slightly different story. Across the pond, it was the heftily titled ‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ by BJ Thomas, which enjoyed a stratospheric climb after entering the charts at number 99 in February 1975, before making it to the top by April.
That cemented Thomas in the history books for a number of different reasons, and not necessarily the ones you would think. Yes, the primary one was that he played a role in the soundtrack to the end of the Vietnam War, but it also solidified his status as a bona fide country artist, as well as taking the crown for the longest song title to ever hit number one at the time.
These facts might seem inconsequential in the face of what was such a stark reality of the Vietnam War and the tragedies it wreaked on the course of the country, both in the moment and through to this day. But if we listen to the music, no matter how banal it may feel, it might just bring us that little bit closer to the people and places of the moment, describing what it was like when a part of the world changed forever.
