On This Date In Music

1961 - Jimi Hendrix enlisted into the Army, after being given a choice of going to prison or joining the Army for being caught in stolen cars, and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He signs up for three years, but is honorably discharged a little over a year later, ostensibly because he hurt his ankle in a parachute jump, but really because he was a lousy soldier, constantly thinking about or playing his guitar. His NCO’s did try to kick him out after he was caught masturbating in the latrine but it went nowhere. His chain of command used the ankle injury as a reason to discharge him and he did not fight the discharge. His discharge was “unsuitability - under honorable conditions.”  Hendrix didn't leave the military with the highest esteem for his chain of command, and vice-versa, but he never bad-mouthed the Army as a whole. He regularly played in front of an American flag and performed the national anthem at many of his concerts.

 

Jimi Hendrix - Basic Training - 1961

Private James (Jimi) Hendrix - 101st Airborne - Playing Guitar - 20th Replacement - Fort Campbell, KY - 1962

1980 - The Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless), by Mash was at No. 1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was first recorded.

 

"Suicide Is Painless" (or "Theme from M*A*S*H") is a song written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Michael Altman (lyrics) for the 1970 film M*A*S*H.
The song was written for Ken Prymus, the actor playing Private Seidman, to sing during the faux-suicide of Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski (John Schuck) in the film's "Last Supper" scene. Director Robert Altman had two stipulations about the song for composer Johnny Mandel: it had to be called "Suicide Is Painless" and it had to be the "stupidest song ever written". Altman attempted to write the lyric himself, but, upon finding it too difficult for his "45-year-old brain" to write something "stupid" enough, he gave the task to his 15-year-old-son Michael, who reportedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes.
Altman later decided that the song worked so well he would use it as the film's main theme. This more choral version was sung by uncredited session singers, The Ron Hicklin Singers, and was released as a single attributed to "The Mash".

"Suicide Is Painless" - Johnny Mandel
(from "M*A*S*H" soundtrack)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=memC01Bmrhs

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

That game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The sword of time will pierce our skin
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger, watch it grin

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
"Is it to be or not to be?"
And I replied, "Oh, why ask me?"

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I...

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

And you can do the same thing if you please