Available for the first time! It’s like having your aged right-wing grandfather harrangue you– in stereo! Angry Conservative rants concerning smelly hippies and draft-dodgers, read by professional voice-over talent, layered over a bizzare mix of easy listening music. Bubbling with hate and mellow tunes, the total effect is surreal, dated and topical, all at once. Just begging to be put into somebody’s video project or mashup album.
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42 Comments
Wow, that was rather fun to listen too.
Whoever you are you are freaking awesom!
ever hear the flip side? my buddy carl?
thats funny also.. my friends and i used to play it over and over..
Anyone know if The Open Letter to My Teenage Son was based on any real life situation such as maybe Mr. Lundberg did have a son in colledge going through the same problem about draftcard burning or was that all made up? Also is Lundberg still alive or if he’s dead when did he pass away?
I heard this song on XM 60’s, what a song. Have tried to find it for a download, but cannot. Does anybody know where it can be. Thanks again.
I was able to download this song using LimeWire
The song “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” by Less Than Jake starts out with a clip taken from “Open Letter…”. just FYI…
JUST WANTED TO THANK PEOPLE FOR SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS IN VIETNAM. I HEARD THIS WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF WHY DOES A CANADIAN HAVE TO EXPRESS WHAT WE SHOULD KNOW. THANK GOD THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE TO DO JUST THAT. SO NOW I HAVE A SON WHO HAS ALREADY FOUGHT THE WAR ON TERROR AND STILL IS IN THE ARMY AND I PRAY I NEVER HAVE TO HAVE A LETTER WRITTEN TO ME FROM HIS FRIEND. DIFFERNET WAR, NOW IT IS OUR KIDS IN IT —-SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, THANK YOU TO ALL MILITARY PERSONNEL
If you’re looking for a 45, it was Liberty 55996, “An Open Letter to My Teenage Son” (a pop hit on Billboard’s Hot-100 chart: debut 11/11/67 [Armistice Day!], peak #10, 6 weeks on the chart. Flip was “My Buddy Carl”. Songwriter credit says Robert R. Thompson on both sides. The announcer on the disc was a news reader at WMAX in Grand Rapids, says my Whitburn book.
This needs to be updated and republished. The statements are as meaningful today as they were in 1967. Many Vets, like me, had never heard it. All we heard was the anti-war stuff. This is terrific. DM
As one of Victor’s 5 abandoned children from two families let me share with you that he clearly understood the power of his voice and the spoken word. He used this highly crafted trademark all of his life to his great benefit. Perhaps fortunately so, this is how he shall be remembered by the public. However, the public honors a fake,a puppet master extraordinaire.
In truth, his personality bordered on or perhaps was sociopathic. He was estranged from all of his children and never provided financial or emotional support to any of them. He seemed incapable of making human connections but knew well how to benefit from them.
He thought little of coming to his estranged children for money. We were probably all asked for cash with never a consideration of repayment. At his death he owed many.
His true legacy is a son, Victor Jr., dead at the age of 34 from a lifestyle gifted to him by his father…a lifestyle of philandering, drug abuse and a pathology that made him dangerous to others. Another son remains lost to a world of drug abuse. His remaining son and daughters, while also emotionally affected by this man, did not succomb to his genetic or behavioral predispositions.
He used people and he used them completely. He died a drunken man on state aid in Michigan alone in a run down apartment. How do you imagine good people end up like this in life? They do not!
Find someone deserving of your memorial. You honor a creation, a carefully constructed image. The man behind the image was an empty soul devoid of love and caring. He seized every platform that might make him money. From those that knew him he is paid no honor.
Just heard this record on BBC Radio 2’s “Sounds of the Sixties”.
My god, what a hateful man. Apparently it got to #18 in the charts which is even more shocking. I’d like to thank Terri Lundberg for posting the comments here. I’ll be alerting people to this song because it beggars belief.
The DJ said, after the last line, “With a father like you I’m sure the son will be glad to have no father.”
I could not believe it when I heard the record - it passed me by in the 1960s. How can soldiers today believe they are dishonoured if the battles they fight are in error. Theeir bravery is none the less because their poltical leaders are misguided.
I bought this LP back in the 60’s when I was a teenager. and I still own it to this day.
What Lundberg said was way ahead of his time. He was right then..and his words are right now.
The maggot infested sickos who spat on our returning soldiers back then are now running our universities…and they are as despicable now as they were back then.
Now there are just more clever and circumspect about it.
This “song” was #1 on the Billboard chart 12/6/1967. What a voice! Puts him in a league with Lorne Greene and Jsmes Earl Jones.
I recall so well coming home in 1967 and telling my mother that our father had a letter spoken to music airing on the radio. As luck would have it, that very weekend he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
My sister and I watched in amazement as we had no memory of him in our lives. Mom was courteous with her comments as we all watched and made no further mention of this man.
Unfortunately for our brother, the surfacing of a father he had not known would be the beginning of his journey to this unknown father. In his father, he would gain a steward of sorts who would help him to craft his pathology. His father would come to teach him well as young Victor lived beneath his wing being mentored in manipulation. Ah, but I digress…
Our mother’s strike was immediate and precise following his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Unbeknownst to us, she had contacted Channel 7 news in Los Angeles where Victor, with the melodious voice, had scheduled a news conference.
Much to Victor’s shock and awe the news media was well armed to ask the hard questions that revealed his true character, not the character that was created to sell vinyl. He stumbled and stammered and with persistent questioning from reporters, revealed that he did, in fact, have other children that he had just publicly denied the existence of.
Whether or not the reporters addressed the jail time he spent for failure to pay court ordered support I can no longer recall. But, he did spend time in jail on more than one occasion. Dodging additional jail time in the 50’s is what prompted him to move back to Michigan. If you care to get a mere glimpse of the true soul of this man, view the archival footage of this interview.
Victor and Joe Pine (notable controversial television host of the Joe Pine Show) got their start together in radio (the Phoenix market) in the early 50’s. To Joe’s death, he would have told anyone who asked what a scoundrel Victor Lundberg was. Joe was but one more person Victor abused and took advantage of on his life path.
It is not my mission to destroy the memory of this man. I am humored by his success at and with being the dubius and cheating person he was. I am sorry that so many lost so much to him.
I am compelled though to say to those of you who knew him not, yet feel the need to praise his words and see him as an icon of that era, that you are fools and your thoughts and words on this matter are sorely misdirected.
I’ve no doubt that even today, as you ponder the situations in the world, you are the same type of people who would, with a happy, uninformed heart, follow the current ‘pied piper’ completely unaware of your blind, thoughless devotion.
My god, from dish soap to automobiles, it was a sales pitch for a purpose…his pocketbook and personal advancement. It had nothing to do with you, your thoughts on causes, the truth of the times or nationalism. Are we so short of true American heros with genuine heart felt messages? Look just a bit deeper.
Thanks again for your time.
I have a still sealed copy of the LP that I will sell for only $14 including well packaged media mail shipping. Check out my perfect feedback on ebay. I go by steve(thelil). THANKS
I have a still sealed copy of the LP that I will sell for only $14 including well packaged media mail shipping. Check out my perfect feedback on ebay. I go by steve(thelil). My email address is stevethelil@hotmail.com. THANKS
Great music..fantastic lyrics! Found victor on DAZ too –> http://daz.com/artists/Victor%20Lundberg.html
It’s ashame that Lundberg failed so badly is his personal Life.
To Terri if you don’t nind me asking when did your Father die?
Unfortunatly I have such trouble minding a whole lot on him.
Sadly, Mike, I cannot tell you of the exact date. I want to say it was the early 90’s but you should be able to easily find that information on the internet. Neither his existence nor his death were memorable to me. In my mind there is but a thumb nail sketch of this man derived from family lore and stories from and of the people he betrayed. Our introduction to one another took place at his behest in 1989. His reason for contact then was to borrow money and request the he and his wife be welcomed to come and stay (actually live) with us. I was 39 then. He was such a pathetic and trajic figure. His first introduction to his third child born was to ask for money and a place to stay.
For whatever reason, they were departing Sun City, AZ but Claudia was terribly ill with cancer. She died within the next year I believe. Again, only memorable because he called to get more money. As I recall now he died within the next couple of years in Michigan where his second wife and sons from that marriage reside. Barbara, second wife, seemed to care for him always regardless of his behavior. Whether this was good or bad I cannot say but know his youngest son has never pulled out of the tailspin his life became as the youngest son of Vic.
Good day to you, Mike.
Seems like To The Flower Power monolouge doesn’t work.
Aloha from Maui,
I got all this info from an old New Jersey pal, who, like myself is a sixties music nut. I emailed him asking about the line about his mother loving him because she’s a woman. I got all this for one curious question. Amazing.
Uncle Burt
It just occured to me that this year’s the 40th aniversry of the release of this LP.
Anyone know the exact date on the album release?
I just bought this in a charity shop. It’s mentioned in Anthony Scaduto’s Bob Dylan biography. And - yes - it’s very funny indeed!
But I’m sad to hear about Mr. Lundberg’s impact on his own family. They have my sympathy.
this sure brings back memories. i still have a signed album cover to vic’s sister. i never met the man, but listened growing up. maybe thats why i love to listen to rush, sean, and the great one. to terri, you have two first cousins in g.r. mi, both good men
the more i sit, and think,,,the only hate and anger seen to come from the words that i read on this type. the words of love and pride seem to come from vic. are you standing on your head and telling me that the world is up-side down
Guess it all depends where you stand on this issues.
I may agree with most of what Lundberg says though I think It’s wrong to wanna write off your son for draft card burning no matter how patriotic you are.
Sometimes kids are not gonna always follow their parents example no matter how well you teach them. You kind of take a gamble whenever you bring a child into the world so it’s probably best not to have kids if you feel such a way.
And reading what Terri says, he was obviously far to point out anyones faults.
And some kind of legend still lives on… I really don’t think much of him one way or another. Love and hate require a connection that I do not nor have ever had to Vic Lundberg. I do believe I said early on that he was a curiosity to me.
And to Scott, I do know I have 2 brothers in GR and I presume both to be honorable men. One has struggled and is hopefully doing well. Another farms and, while he could have been easily influenced by his dad and namesake son, he and his wife somehow escaped, fled Phoenix and went home to their healthier roots.
When Vic Lundberg died there had been much trouble brewing. Both he and Vic son were being tried at the Federal level in the Arizona courts. It’s my belief that the charges were having to do with gun running, gem smuggling and probably drugs.
Unfortunately, my brother (age 34 at the time in 1976) died during this trial or grand jury hearing. There was much rumor around his death and finger pointing towards who may have orchestrated his death. Danny, his partner (if I dare) was suspected of giving him something to ingest that would bring on a heart attack.
The truth…
Vic Lundberg Jr. lived a fast and hard life. His father, Victor Lundberg, took him to a new level of corruption. Bad food, illegal acts and the stress resulting from both are what killed him. Vic told his wife, Kaye, when the trial was over he would be doing hard time and he didn’t yet know how much. The stress of this caused his heart attack.
Vic Lundberg Sr. didn’t even bother to come to the funeral that was held in Oregon City. That’s how devoted a father he was. True to form though, he did manage to wiggle out of the legal trouble in Arizona. I’m sure he became a witness for the feds and threw my brother, his son, under the bus.
None will ever be sure though as the records are most certainly sealed by now. What I do know is that the great legend Vic Lundberg mysteriously fled Sun City, AZ with his wife Claudia who was near death with cancer and traveled by car looking for any family member to take them in. He would call me and tell me her skin was literally falling off her face and being left on the pillow. May have been true but it was far more likely a good story to get someone to take them in. Why he was on the run I do not know.
Why did he flee and why did he make this poor woman endure this trip? The million dollar question! She died, of course she died! She too died without dignity and without the loving care she surely deserved. Alone on the road and begging…I can’t even imagine.
His preservation over all other matters was all that mattered. Advertising was his schtick and he was masterful at it. A golden throated sociopath with charisma. The words flowed like the notes from a magical flute and people followed and, better yet, they paid money to hear the golden throat.
It is a statement of truth that I feel nothing for him or about him. I can tell you what I know of him completely devoid of emotion. This man was not a patriot. He was a man who was skilled at putting words together to convince people of a course of action. Whether it was to be a libertarian, be a patriot, buy his record or buy the car he was selling the pitch was for personal gain. Money and power. And, as with any charismatic, there are plenty of folks ready to do their bidding hence, providing the rewards sought.
After 40 years folks are still doing the same thing. Too bad his son’s haven’t done the Elvis thing and made a business out of managing this image the public continues to enhance.
Checking in here occasionally is amusing to me. Quite an amazing feat to craft words with the intent making a fortune and after 40 years folks are blindly interested and chatting about and giving meaning to something that really never had meaning. Maybe we are unable to see veils of dishonesty. Maybe our need to have or create legends over-rides our reason.
Gawd, there are truly so many great and wise people out there who should be heard, deserve discourse and analytical review. GO FIND THE TRUE LEGENDS OF THIS TIME. Maybe give some thought to global warming and the issues that matter. This man doesn’t matter and any time spent talking about him is a waste of time.
Good thing I can type really fast so I don’t have to waste much time!
I just discovered an answer to Lundbergs piece called A TEENAGER’S OPEN LETTER TO HIS FATHER recorded by
Robert Tamlin.
I was a record store manager when this came out. I don’t remember it selling all that well but then I was 18 at the time and concerned about being drafted. Never agreed with Lundberg just as I don’t agree with the current crop of Fox News experts. Neither Vietam nor the current Iraq war were necessary other than to protect the interests of big-business.
Hi ya!
Well, im 46 & collect alot of rekkids from the 50’s & 60’s & have the old 45 of this “song” .
OK , it is pretty goofy & maybe Mr. Lundberg is preachy & gratingly square in delivery but a lot of the message on it’s own has some merit.
I used to sympathise a lot with his opposition but truth be told a lot of those in the Hippy,peace & love movement…were plain jerks & HYPOCRITES!
If Victor Lundberg is a hypocrate…well,I guess he got his!
Before you denounce me as a hypocrite Bush disciple let me say I smoked a good deal of “Pot’ in my time & thought anyone who ever fought in Viet Nam was a dupe…dork…etc…
…so go vote for Hee-Uh-Ree Clinton in ‘08 ,smoke a bowl & play “A Letter To My Teenage Son” on s-l-o-w motion while throwing darts a Lon “Cheney”.
As for me…i’ll rip that Crosby,Stills ,Gnash & Young CD off your car stereo & replace it with a tape loop of “PUSHIN TOO HARD” by The SEEDS ya old coot!
Ohhh! Thems “Hate Crime” words!
I love you!
Ah Steve, we usually agree. I’ll listen to your Seeds recordings (although I prefer “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine”) and raise you anything by the Sonics on Etiquette.
Seriously, Vic’s single was released at a time when Vietnam protests were starting to gain momentum (we were still a couple of years away from Kent State but only a year away from the Democratic convention in Chicago.) There was still a draft and while the draft was supposed to be fair the majority of people in my basic training platoon were poor or less educated young men while the rich kept their kids out of danger by getting them deferments or National Guard spots - like our current president. Yes, I was against the Vietnam war - passed out handbills at the Chicago demonstration (have one framed in my house) just as I was against the current involvement in Iraq. Until we learn to solve our problems without reverting to killing we will be no better than the lowest class of animal.
I myself more likely don’t honor Victor for considering all that has been said.
The claim if you should burn your draft card then burn your birth cerificate at the same time was enough to question is value system if not his patriotisim.
Maybe it’s not him but what he says and in a way you can take into consideration what he says if you agree with it without having to personally honor him.
1 thing I’ve noticed in my lifetime and it’s a rather sad thing about our society is there’s a lot of people, including famous people who are liked by whatever it is they’re known for but have failed in so many other ways including their personal lives or if not that they have been known to have various other problems that made them hated as well.
Here’s some.
Ike Turner. while having a place in early R&R he abused his wife Tina for years and recently there was supposed to be memorial or something to honor him in St. Louis where he lived for a time and it either didn’t go though because of his dark past.
See the HBO documentry on Barry Goldwater Mr. Conservative, one thing that was mentioned was he didn’t spend a lot of time with family and while I’m sure any being a politician will require a lot of time away from family I guess he didn’t make his family a priority when he was able to. And of course he angered many in the republican community when he began going aganist the mainstream of what the other stood for.
Richard J. Daley
Chicago’s most famous mayor you’ll hear many highs and lows on him.
I’m not 1 of those people who will say, ” Yes he or she did so and so but they also did so and so.” But as I said before and it’s unfortunate there are so many people who are so famous and may do a lot of good but hten fail in some other way or hated for whatever other reason.
I don’t know why other then that’s just the way it is.
Hi y’all,
I did not mean to come off like a Neantherthal man -Remember that song?
Anyway, its weird getting older and changing attitudes.
I used to be a lot more of a lefty & now have tilted more conservative.
A lot of great people in history let us down…like Nixon and Clinton…who both did some positive things.
Elvis became fat and sick. Beatles got tired being a BEATLE.
I feel sorry for Victor Lundberg for letting his family down. Thats gotta be depressing as hell for all involved.
Steve
I worked with Mr. Lundberg for a few months at WYBR in Rockford IL. The year was 1978 and I will say that the man did have a golden voice. He did a Saturday night show with Easy Listening and MOR music. I was only 18 at the time and remember that a syndicated show played “An Open Letter “ and that Mr. Lundberg did an update on his show. I don’t remember what he said. I have to say that he introduce me to some vary good music such as Nancy Wilson. I was wondering what had happened to him and was surfing the net and came across this blogg.
releasae date 11-11-1967
dear terri, i presume that you may not fall that far from vic’s family tree. you too have a magic way with words and have as much knowledge of your ouw kin (brothers or cousins) as he did of his own daughter. be careful how you judge becauce you may also be judged
live and let die
Wonder if maybe PBS’s American Experience could do a special on Lundberg?
Hey Scott,
Are you a relative?
Truth is, dear sir, I did fall far from that family tree and thankfully so. Everything I am can be attributed to a devoted and brilliant mother. Also loving sibs.
Yes, I do know my cousins. Or, perhaps I should say at this age I know of them. Glady’s (Vic’s sister) son was just out here a couple of years past for visit.
Candy stays in touch and she is Marie’s (Vic’s sister) daughter.
Ted (Vic’s brother) had 2 children whom we have never had the opportunity to meet. I would like to as Ted was a remarkable man.
Ed (Vic’s brother) had 5 children with whom we were close as youngsters. However, they chose to disassociate when the family separated. I did visit with Kate, Ed’s wife, and Grandma Bo in CA prior to Grandma Bo’s death. Kate did not choose to continue the relationship afterwards. At this writing, I believe 2 of their 5 children are passed.
Sister knows David, second son to Vic. I do not. No, I’ve never pursued a relationship with either of the two half brothers. Frankly, I am not of the opinion that there is interest on either side. We certainly are not bound together through our memories of a loving father and, DNA does not a family make!
I do judge Vic. Who else, pray tell, would have the right to do so if not the seed of his loin? Please, don’t respond with something as transparent as God. However, I do not call him a hypocrite. I do believe and have said that, with reference to any of the lyrics of any narrative Vic did, the spoken words in no way were reflective of the person that was Victor Lundberg. Nor, did he ever live his life in the light of those words. It was pop culture of the day and it sold big.
Rapper’s epitomizing their lyrics are just as absurd.
Ciao for now! Are you a relative, Scott?
I read, with deep compassion, the words of Vic’s daughter (but wonder, however, why she choose to retain his name). I was a child when “Letter…” and “My Buddy Carl” came out and my older siblings played them constantly. As a young boy during the Vietnam era those words carried great heft. I seemed to have memorized them (particually “…except when we were pinned down in a mudhole and much too scared to talk…”). Then I did not hear the words or of them again until recently. They moved to that place in my recall so distant they almost seemed imagined. And then, through the wonder of the internet, I heard “My Buddy Carl” again. And now, as luck would have it, I discover the man with that incredible voice who made that brief recording so important to my impressionable yound mind, was a soundral. Oy vey.
sounds like another wisp in our lives.