Kitch's Top 10 Classic Australian Rock Songs - #5 "Khe Sanh"

"Khe Sanh" – Cold Chisel

Writer(s): Don Walker

Album: Cold Chisel

Released: 1978

Peak Chart Position: #41

That opening piano run, unmistakable! A story of a disaffected Vietnam veteran – and, it was later explained, restless youth – who comes home from that terrible war and finds that he can’t continue on with life as he had before. Why? Well, he was probably suffering what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as being strung out on speed and novocaine.

An early hit for Cold Chisel, and one of their biggest, it will forever be a part of the pub rock scene at the time. The first line of the song – “I left my heart to the sappers ‘round Khe Sanh” – pretty much sets the tone for the next four-odd minutes. Walker said he had a number of influences when it came to writing the lyrics, and it’s probably a pretty fair estimation of what it must’ve been like for so many diggers returning from the war.

It seems impossible, given the critical reception and the legions of fans who belt it out at every live show, that ‘Khe Sanh’ peaked at a lowly #41 on the Australian charts. Part of this was due to it’s somewhat unpalatable references to drugs and sex – “their legs were often open, but their minds were always closed” – throughout. The radio station then known as Double Jay, were about the only ones to play the song. 

In the APRA all-time best Australian songs poll, ‘Khe Sanh’ came in at eight, one spot ahead of AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).