
Peak
93
Weeks
4
Score
131
Chart Year
1967
"A Letter to Dad" by the group Every Father's Teenage Son (a play on the name of pop rock band Every Mother's Son) was one of the most notable response records, and the only one to chart on the Hot 100, peaking at number 93 and charting for 4 weeks. It was written by Bill Dean and Rob Marshall. In "A Letter to Dad," the narrator poses as the teenager in question, politely considers his father's words and clears up misconceptions, such as the question "Is God dead?" The first of claims from the original record that the narrator disagrees with to be brought up is whether war is necessary. "I've spent long hours over this question, and find that I must hold that war is not inevitable," the narrator says, "That man's greatest goal should be to avoid war at all costs—It is not the lack of pride for my country, but an abundance of respect for my fellow man which demands that I must promise myself not to use violence, no matter what." He also cites that anti-war advocates Albert Schweitzer and Mahatma Gandhi motivate his choice to burn his draft card. The song ends with "Dad, it will be you who will have to burn my birth certificate, and though you'll stop calling me son, I'll never stop calling you Dad." The speech is layered over a guitar track in the key of E major. On the B-side is a song called "Josephine's Song" A Cashbox writer called the response track "extremely pacifist," and "an open answer deck to reasonable rebuttal," while a Billboard writer described it as, "a well thought-out answer, performed and arranged in the best of taste
Dear Dad, in answer to your letter I'd like to say I appreciate your Understanding of my generation's Need for individuality and need to rebel Against the long file of look alike faces For us, there was a simple answer Hair, hair on the face and Hair on the head, lots of it To prove that I'm me and not to Be identified with the establishment And the mixed up state we find The world in now If this were the time of Lincoln I just might decide to shave my face clean Just to prove I'm me I also appreciate your promise Not to judge me just as a teenager But as an individual I realize that mankind is Always attributed to the many The misbehavior to the few And I promise in return to judge you As a thinking, rational being Worthy of love and consideration And not just as a parent When we were discussing religion I remembered having posed the question Is God dead By this, of course, I meant God as we know him dead Are the ideas of God changing He is no longer, in my generation Thought to be a vengeful old man With a white beard or even As a separate existence We have realized that God is in all of us That, as you said in your letter God is love, but our love, brotherhood I'm glad to see that you think All the past wars were immoral Here, we surely agree But then you make A different assumption than I You say they were necessary And I don't agree I've spent long hours over this question And find that I must hold That war is not inevitable That man's greatest goal should be To avoid war at all costs You used the phrase, fight for the right Two times in your letter I pose that this one phrase is to blame For millions of lives and endless Pain and suffering It is not the lack of pride for my country But an abundance of respect For my fellow man which demands That I must promise myself Not to use violence, no matter what This, I think, will go down in history as The one truth discovered by my generation And if after reading the words of Schweitzer, Gandhi and other great men And on the basis of all the Available knowledge of history And understanding the dangers Of a too hardened patriotism I choose to burn my draft card Then, Dad, it will be you who will Have to burn my birth certificate And although you stopped calling me son I'll never stop calling you Dad
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 25, 1967 | 98 | 28 |
| 2 | Dec 2, 1967 | 97 | 29 |
| 3 | Dec 9, 1967 | 93 | 33 |
| 4 | Dec 16, 1967 | 93 | 33 |