“Goodnight, Saigon” by Billy Joel, Nylon Curtain + Millenium concert versions and a Letter from US Army Captain on Memorial Day, 2006 

Goodnight, Vietnam has one basic message: that as Vietnam soldiers, none was going to let the other down, every one’s back was covered, and if anyone went down, they would all have to go down. When Joel played this live—I don’t know how many 100s or 1000s of concerts this was done: during the anemic chorus actual Vietnam Veterans took the stage and sang.

As I have mentioned frequently in the past, I have the highest respect and honor for my cousin who at the age of 30-something, with two children in Texas, has already been on tours in Bosnia, Iraq, and Kuwait, and has spent 1/4 of his adult life at war. When I told him I was putting up charts in honor of the brotherhood of those in the infantry who fought in Vietnam through the speed analysis of the song Goodnight, Saigon by Billy Joel, he agreed to write his own version of what Memorial day 2006 meant to him.

By United States Bronze Star (Iraq, Kuwait, 2004-2005) Army Captain Jeff Schneider:

“I owe my neighbor an apology. Until yesterday, I didn’t think that I did, but now I get . I owe her an apology. Here’s why:I hadn’t cut the grass in the backyard for two weeks. Things came up, my back was hurting, my daughter got sick, then I had my monthly Army Reserve duty. I couldn’t understand why my grass being a little long bothered her so much – she called the Home Owner’s Association 3 times to complain! They sent me a certified letter telling me I had 30 days to cut my grass or I would be fined. Did they really think I was never going to cut my grass again? It didn’t make any sense.

Yesterday I figured it out. She had a party. There were a ton of people at her house. No wonder! How embarrassing would it have been for her to have a Memorial Day party and have people see long grass in her neighbors yard? Now I get it.
See, we think differently. I don’t think about having a party on Memorial Day. When Memorial Day comes, I get a little pensive. That back injury I mentioned? I think of Mike Tarlavsky, who helped me finish a 12 mile roadmarch after the frame on my rucksack broke. I had never been in so much pain. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have finished the roadmarch, and might not have been commissioned. I think about him on Memorial Day because he was killed in Najaf in Aug, 2004 leading his special forces detachment.
I think about how random combat is, and that in many cases the men and women we honor today were victims of the sheer randomness of combat. I don’t say that to diminish their bravery and sacrifice. The finest people I have ever met in my life have been in the military. I say this, because being only one year removed from Iraq, I still have twinges of guilt. How am I here to raise my kids and that guy who was two yards away from me never got to go home? As I did last year, I resolve to honor their sacrifice by pushing myself to act in a way that would make them proud to have called me a brother in arms.
Amid all my selfish thoughts leading up to Memorial Day, I didn’t even think that my neighbor might be having a party. I hadn’t been a very good neighbor, and for that I owe her an apology. I hope her party went well.
Sincerely,

Jeff Schneider
http://www.texasroast.com



The mean-speed, or the speed of the song expressed as beats per minute on the studio recording= 65.6 beats per minute.
The mean-speed, or the speed of the song expressed as beats per minute on the Live recording= 56.9 beats per minute
The mean-space, or time between each beat on the studio recording= 915 milliseconds.
The mean-space, or time between each beat on the live recording= 1.054 milliseconds.
The mean-beat on the studio recording = 1.09 beats per second.
The mean-beat on the Live recording = 0.95 beats per second.
The mean-frequency, or the speed of the song expressed as cycles per second on the studio recording = 1.093 Hertz.
The mean-frequency, or the speed of the song expressed as cycles per second on the live recording = 0.984 Hertz.
The mean-tone, in equal temperament, for the studio version=279.89 Hertz, found between the notes C#4/Db4= 277.183 and D4=293.665 Hertz.
The mean-tone, in equal temperament, for the live version=242.77 Hertz, found between the notes A#3/Bb3= 233.082 and B3= 246.942 Hertz. For more on tones and their correspondence to beats per minute, see Stephen Jay’s theories, esp. The Theory of Harmonic Rhythm, linked with Stephen’s kind permission on meanspeed.com.
The graph is based on a spreadsheet generated with this method:
a) I calibrated the (quarter-notes) ten times with Nike 300-lap stopwatches;
b) Ten trials were entered, averaged and coordinated.
using Microsoft’s Excel, created in on Windows XP, on Gateway hardware modified by Microsoft’s Excel for MacIntosh 2004 on an Apple iBook G4as hardware.
The linear trendlines are courtesy of/derived with same Microsoft Excel program.

Ian Schneider
April 12, 2008