PT-109 (SONG)

'''PT-109''' was a song by Jimmy Dean about the adventures of John F. Kennedy and the crew of the PT-109. The boat was famous even before Kennedy ran for office because it was cut in two after being rammed by a Japanese destroyer, after which came a survival story, and rescue by native islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana by canoe, though the islanders were not included in this version of the story.
In 1961 Dean had recorded Big Bad John, a song that would become his biggest hit ever, and echoed at the end of PT-109. It went to number one on the country and pop charts. He had five more top forty songs in 1962. PT-109 was his biggest hit in 1962, reaching the top ten as Kennedy was still president. It peaked at #3 on the country chart and peaked at #8 on the pop chart.^[1] It was one of the few military themed singles of the 1960s, along with the Ballad of the Green Berets.

Contents

Today

Lyrics

Notes

External Links

Today

In 2006, the song was largely forgotten, but the 1961 single was still available on download sites such as Napster. It was also incorporated into one of a series of PT-109 videos posted on Google Video and Youtube with updated images and references as interest in the story resurfaced with the finding of the wreck of the PT-109 in 2002.

Lyrics

Excerpt:
In forty-three, they put to sea

Thirteen men and Kennedy

Aboard the P.T. 109

To fight the brazen enemy

And off the Isle of OLASANA

In the straits beyond the "ROO"

A Japanese destroyer in the night

Cut the One-O-Nine in two.

Notes

1. Epinions

External Links

★ Chords and lyrics