Album Notes

Richard Morris has sung in amateur choirs and community theatre, and entertained many groups with jazz, blues, and musical comedy songs.

He was born in 1943 in Pittsburgh into a steelworker family and grew up in Cleveland. After college, he attended Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, served in Vietnam, and attended graduate school before starting a career in the housing industry.

As a second lieutenant rifle platoon leader in the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam in 1967, he went on helicopter assaults and foot patrols through mountain jungles, rice paddies, and hamlets. In spare moments in tents or bunkers, he jotted down songs related to his combat experiences and recorded them with Army guitarist Sgt. Mendoza.

Forty years later, in 2007, Morris recorded his Vietnam songs with musician and record producer Franklin Taggart. The result is “Skytroopers – songs of war, peace and love from Vietnam” (lyrics on www.vietwarsongs.com).

In the 1980’s, he began writing a novel--fiction that grew out of his songs and experiences in Vietnam. “Cologne No. 10 For Men,” published in 2007, is available from online booksellers. Kirkus calls it "A funny and serviceable satire about the gross rationalizations that propel war and peace…with the black humor prevalent in many modern American war stories like 'Catch-22' or 'M.A.S.H.'…." Readers call it “a riveting read that blends drama, romance and humor,” “realism that only someone who was there can appreciate,” and “altogether hilarious, dinky dau, delightfully wacky, zany.” See www.RichardMorrisAuthor.com.

Today he writes and composes in Bowie, Maryland, where he and his wife enjoy their three children and grandchildren. He sings in the Washington, DC area and is a member of the Songwriters Association of Washington and the Washington Area Music Association. His song, “Diggin’ A Hole” was a Finalist in the Vocal Jazz & Blues category of the 23rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest in Vienna, Virginia (www.saw.org/masc.asp). That song is about the foxholes and sleeping holes soldiers dug everywhere they went in Vietnam—to stay alive.