A Minnesota PBS Initiative
The Summer Of Love Suite
These songs were inspired by everyday American heroes and the selfless actions of the healers among us.
Mark Odegard is one of those heroes. Mark knew he wanted to be an artist early in life. While serving in Vietnam, he worked as a night watchman, sketching his musings in notebooks that kept his hopes alive. When his tour of duty ended, Mark landed in San Fransisco Bay during the Summer of 1967. He ventured out from his army base at the Presidio to Golden Gate Park, where the Jefferson Airplane, Youngbloods, and Grateful Dead drew together hordes of like-minded dreamers — poets, writers, artists, photographers, and musicians.
1. Better Angels
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03:56
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Better Angels
(Music by Kevin Odegard and Gary Lopac, Lyrics by Kevin Odegard)
Every question’s got an answer
A logical conclusion
Truth is a lonely dancer In a world of confusion
The better angels of our nature The healers around us
Toiling in the fields of redemption Til peace has finally found us again
You will always be my friend Gentle on my mind A soldier of peace & freedom For all mankind
The better angels of our nature The heroes around us
Searching for the disappeared
Til peace has finally found us again
Do not go gentle in the night
The wheels inside you are still turning
Against the dying of the light It’s only castles burning
The better angels of our nature Will someday surround us
Playing in the fields of the Lord
Til peace has finally found us again
2. Summer of Love
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02:50
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Summer of Love
(music and lyrics by Kevin Odegard)
Dear Aunt Phyllis
It's your favorite nephew Kevin I'm writing to thank you
For the summer of '67
California
Land of the free
Where it never rains
And the mountains touch the sea
CHORUS
In the Summer of Love By the Golden Gate While the fog rolled in And I slept in late
In the Summer of Love On Frisco Bay
With an old guitar
And a place to stay
San Francisco
Just like heaven
Coming home from Vietnam
In '67
California
Land of the free
Where it never rains
And the mountains touch the sea
CHORUS
In the summer of Love
By the Golden Gate
From the Army base
Up to the Haight
In the summer of Love
On Frisco Bay
Where the Airplane and the Dead Came out to play
3. In Country
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05:03
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In Country
(music and lyrics by Kevin K. Odegard)
In country I survived
In country I stayed alive
In country I lived alone
Daydreamin' what I'll do when I got home Wonderin’ what I’ll do if I ever get home
I worked in the mail room Keeping hope alive
A courier warrior
That's how I survived Flyin' under the radar
I stayed pretty quiet Far away from the DMZ I don't deny it
Every time I got an order I followed through I saw bad things and I did what I had to do
I worked as a watchman
Al night long
Scribbling sketches of a life after Vietnam
I listened to Hendrix
And the Grateful Dead
I pictured what my life could be
If I kept my head
I met a woman
She was just a girl
She took me home to meet her family and I saw her world I saw this conflict from the other side
& I knew I'd never get back home
If my daydreams died
In country I survived
In country I stayed alive
In country I lived alone
Daydreaming of what I'd do if I get home, If I ever get home
4. Mei Lahn
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02:20
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Mei Lanh
(music and lyrics by Kevin K. Odegard)
My name is Mei Lanh
I knew you in Nam
I gave you my heart
And then you were gone
In Old Cam Ranh Bay We lived on our pay
I loved only you
Then you went away
All the golden days and nights We shared as one
Waking in the morning light And you were gone
My mother was wise My father was sad
My family was poor
My brothers were dead
My name is Mei Lanh
I knew you in Nam
I gave you my heart
And then you were gone
5. Enlightenment
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01:15
6. Love Everybody
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05:55
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LOVE EVERYBODY
(music and lyrics by Kevin Odegard)
I've been living in tomorrow Singing 'Yesterday'
They say you can’t go home again How I wish there was a way
LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE
Eb instrumental solo
LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE
Now I'm yelling at the TV Texting as I drive
I'm a miracle of science It's a wonder I'm alive
LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE
a capella
LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE LOVE EVERYBODY
LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE
7. Another Summer of Love
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06:00
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Another Summer of Love
(Music by Kevin Odegard, Lyrics by Kevin Odegard, Susan Casey, Gary Lopac, Stan Kipper and Barbara Meyer)
Dear Aunt Phyllis
Hey, it’s me again
I know this letter’s
Too late to send
So we send it out to friends and family In this moment we are one community
It's the summer of love Welcome to the show It's the summer of love Let your troubles go It's the summer of love Right now right here It's the summer of love Love without fear
It's the summer of "love love love" Yeah the summer of love
It's the summer of love
8. We All Came Home Alone
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03:48
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We All Came Home Alone
(Lyrics by Kevin Odegard, Music by Kevin Odegard and Gary Lopac)
We all left our homes
A hundred years ago
To serve a grateful nation Over there
Then we sailed again Back in 1941
Across the wide Pacific To the rising sun
Some were killed in action Some of us came home Everyone was wounded We all came home alone
We called it divine madness We called it battle fatigue We called it Shell shock
Or PTSD
From the halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli
From the mountains of Korea Another conflict overseas Now the VA didn’t know us Neither did our wives
Legion Halls were overflowing With the stories of our lives
Some were killed in action Some of us came home Everyone was wounded We all came home alone
Some called it divine madness Some called it battle fatigue Some called it shell shock
Or PTSD
The fog of war
The military madness
Our lust for more
The great American sadness Now I’m standing by my horse Until they come and get me Shivering in a foxhole
Lord I hope they don’t forget me
Postscrpit with Mark Odegard
featuring audio from an interview conducted with Mark at Minnesota Remembers Vietnam's story-gathering day at the Minnesota State Fair
Audio Story - Press Play to Listen
04:57
Kevin Odegard; Photo credit: Neil Schloner
Mark and I were introduced years ago by mutual friends who thought we might be related; we struck up a friendship, having been mistaken for one another in grocery stores and nightclubs. In early 2017 he gifted me a copy of One Soldier’s Tale, his first volume of Vietnam memoirs. His laid-back, conversational tale hit me hard, and that night I dreamed about the book all night long, waking to type lyrics and on my iPhone.
As the music developed the next morning I altered certain names, dates and locations to serve poetic and musical license.
Photo credit: Don J. Olson
The Summer Of Love Suite would not have been completed without the spiritual support of my lifelong friend Stan Kipper, who heard a first draft and encouraged me to finish, record and perform the suite. Stan sings the part of an American soldier searching for peace of mind after the soul-numbing experience of war. This character is voiced on trumpet by Paul Odegaard and on guitar/sitar by Andrew Wozniak. Barbara Meyer sings the part of Mei Lanh, the woman left behind by our soldier. I sing the part of a naive kid from the Midwest who charts the course of his life during a summer visit with relatives in Marin County.
Photo credit: Don J. Olson
Publisher on all songs is Kevin Odegard Music, BMI
The better angels of our nature will someday surround us; Playing in the fields of the Lord til peace has finally found us again.
Photo credit: Kathleen Tauer
Photo credit: Don J. Olson
Credit: Mark Odegard
Photo credit: Don J. Olson
Biographical Details
Submitted From: Minneapolis, MN
Story Subject: Military Service
Story Themes: Correspondence, Hippie, Love, Mail, Mark Odegard, Music, night watchmen, San Francisco, Summer of Love