8th of November

Infobox Single
Name = 8th of November


Caption =
Artist = Big & Rich
from Album = Comin' to Your City
Released = mid 2006
Format = CD single
Recorded = 2005
Genre = Country
Length = 6:14 (original album version, with spoken intro)
4:58 (album version, without spoken intro)
3:28 (radio edit)
Label = Warner Bros.
Writer = Big Kenny
John Rich
Producer = Paul Worley
John Rich
Last single = "Never Mind Me"
(2006)
This single = "8th of November"
(2006)
Next single = "Lost in This Moment"
(2007)"8th of November" is the title of a song written and recorded by the American country music duo Big & Rich, and recorded on their 2005 album "Comin' to Your City". Released in mid-2006 as that album's third and final single, the song became the duo's seventh Top 40 hit on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts, where it peaked at #18, in addition to reaching #94 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Content

In the album version, Kris Kristofferson provides the introduction. The 173d Airborne Brigade was ambushed by Viet Cong during Operation Hump; one of the wounded, Niles Harris, was among the several soldiers saved by Lawrence Joel, who later became the first living black American to receive the Medal of Honor since the Spanish-American War. Years later, Harris gave Big Kenny (one half of the duo) the top hat he often wears in public appearances.

The song itself is a Viennese waltzfact|date=May 2008 giving an account of Harris' life. In the first verse, at the age of 19, Harris joins the military to fight the Vietnamese. He ends up in Vietnam, "with the smell of napalm in the air." The thirty in his group are then ambushed, as earlier stated by Kristofferson. In the second verse, Harris, now 58, exhibits the lingering injuries he sustained during the war, but he is "strong when he talks" about his injuries and his memories of his fallen comrades.

Edits

Three different edits of "8th of November" exist. In the original presses of "Comin' to Your City", the song and Kristofferson's spoken intro were all contained in one track; later presses of the album split the introduction and song into two separate tracks. Also, when the song was released as a single, the steel guitar solo and the third chorus were edited out, so that the song ended soon after the second chorus was sung.

Awards

The song was nominated for the 2006 CMA Awards song of the year category; its music video was also nominated for video of the year categories for the CMAs, ACM Awards, and the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.