Normie Rowe delivers anti-war Anzac Day message with ‘Compulsory Hero’

Normie Rowe’s career in the 1960s as most popular Australian pop singer was virtually killed stone-dead when he was conscripted into the army and then sent to serve in Vietnam.

When he left the army two years later, pop had moved on.

After giving up singing for six months, he then recreated himself as a successful across-the-board stage and screen performer.

It would have hardly helped when Rowe later realised that the Harold Holt government had pulled a swiftie by claiming Rowe’s numbers had been called, when others born on the same day were not conscripted.

What better way to sell an unpopular war with its own poster boy, a handsome pop star going off smiling to fight for queen and country?

Rowe works tirelessly for returned veterans and, asked what he’ll be doing today, asserts, “Every day is Anzac Day”.

To mark his 50th year since he served in Vietnam, Rowe cut an emotional version of 1927’s ‘Compulsory Hero’, through ORiGiN/Universal Music Australia.

The recording was produced by Michael Carpenter at his Love HZ studio, also playing most of the instruments and adding strings for the finale.

Carpenter also shot the track’s accompanying video.

‘Compulsory Hero’ had been written for 1927’s breakthrough debut album …Ish by songwriter Garry Frost (who also wrote ‘What About Me’ as a member of Moving Pictures) for a movie about the Vietnam War that never got made.

The song has a recurring line “just try to make it home’ which slams home the experience of fighting a war in a foreign land.

Rowe agrees, “It’s not like you’re going out to fight an indefinite war.

“Your tour of duty was only going to last 12 months anyway. When you’re in that situation, you’re just biding your time.”

For that year in Vietnam, Rowe was in the A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, commanding an armoured personnel carrier, and responsible for protecting vehicle convoys and land-clearing teams.

He remembers many nights, at 2 am or 3 am, he’d be on alert, knowing he had the lives of his comrades in his hand, and the backlash and accusations that would come if an enemy ambush or attack proved successful.

“It would be the most emotionally taxing time,” Rowe says. “I used to think, this is horrible, I can hardy wait for it to be over,

“They controlled how I was called up, they controlled how I went in and they basically controlled when I went overseas.

“But the one thing the government and the bureaucrats couldn’t control, was that time continues, and in time I’ll be home.

“So that line is not just a prominent theme of the song but the theme of the whole tour of duty.”

Q:  The video works because it is so simple and elegant.

A: “I believe in simple. I was very happy when Michael decided to shoot it the way he shot it.  

“Most of the emotions of any performer are transmitted largely physically and the finer points of the transmission are in the face. 

“I recall Jack Webb in Dragnet (1950s American TV cop series) inventing the single-shot scene where the camera was right on his face, and it does work very well here.”

Q: What was your reaction the first time you heard Redgum’s ‘I Was Only 19’?

A: “It made me stop and take a great deal of notice.

“It was amazing, especially given that they were pretty much aligned to the left of centre of politics, and from them to come out with such an accurate description.  

“John Schuman is a wonderful wordsmith.

“But it also worked as the catalyst for the healing.  

“I was personally ever so grateful to John Schumann and the guys in the band for first, coming up with a fantastic song, and then, secondly, making it a hit.”

Q: Do you feel angry that the government obviously manipulated your conscription for PR reasons?

A: “You can’t stay angry about everything.  

“On balance, there are all the fantastic friends I’ve made over the years, and the fact that we (Vietnam vets) have become a powerful sector of the community.

“I personally think there are wars to be fought and battles to be won, especially with the bureaucracies.

“The Prime Minister doesn’t care that much about us.

“He made a statement to the TPI (the Totally And Permanently Incapacitated veterans), who were trying to get parity in their entitlements with the lowest weekly wage in the country.  

“He said, ‘What more do you want?’ which I thought was awfully cold.”

Watch the new video for ‘Compulsory Hero’ here: