Ballad of the Green Berets

The Ballad of the Green Berets is a extremely patriotic song about the United States Army Special Operations Forces written by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler while he recuperated from a leg wound suffered as a medic in the Vietnam War.

His recording of the song was the number one hit in the United States for five weeks in 1966. It has sold over nine million singles and albums.

This jingoistic song was parodied by Billy Bragg in his, "The Marching Songs Of The Covert Battalions." Another parody was used on Saturday Night Live as a satire of Oliver North and his current refusal to speak up about his participation in the Iran Contra Affair.