Fort Hood

Album: Golden Delicious (2008)
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Songfacts®:

  • The chorus is lifted directly from "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension. Mike Doughty took the "Let the sunshine in" refrain and built a whole new song around it.
  • Although the lyrics do not mention the titular fort in east-central Texas, the Army or the war in Iraq, Doughty (who grew up as an "Army brat") says he wrote this song as a backhanded critique of the war. As of early 2008 (when the Golden Delicious album was released), Ft. Hood had lost more soldiers in the Iraq war than any other Army base. As Doughty wrote on his Web site: "I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using 'Let the sunshine in' as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. ['Let the Sunshine In'] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD."
  • The album title Golden Delicious refers to a variety of apple that Doughty is fond of. On the album cover, Doughty poses with a Golden Delicious apple in front of his right eye. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Joshua - La Crosse, WI, for all above

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