[Vision2020] Christmas in Fallujah

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Army Times at www.ArmyTimes.com

"Christmas in Fallujah" by Billy Joel and Cass Dillon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7v6I2Bruo

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New Billy Joel song inspired by Iraq troops

Staff report
Posted : Friday Dec 14, 2007 14:44:31 EST
   
Vietnam inspired Billy Joel to write "Goodnight Saigon." Iraq has prompted
"Christmas in Fallujah," an emotionally charged commentary on the state of
affairs in the Middle East and the "sense of alienation" deployed U.S.
troops feel from those back home.

"I think that a lot of people are starting to feel like they're forgotten,"
Joel told Rolling Stone in a wide-ranging Q&A posted Dec. 10 on the
magazine's Web site.

The song, on sale since Dec. 4 on Apple's iTunes, is performed by Cass
Dillon, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter. Motivated by correspondence he's
received from troops stationed in Iraq, Joel, 58, said on his Web site that
the song needed a stronger, more youthful voice.

Joel will donate proceeds to Homes for Our Troops, which builds houses for
severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dubbed an anti-war song by some, Joel told Rolling Stone simply that it's a
story about the troops.

"People can take it any way they want," he said during the interview. "I
don't get up on a soapbox and do political messages. I believe in talking
about the human being, and the conditions humans find themselves in."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.