To Whom It May Concern

Adrian Mitchell

I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
    So stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,
Couldn't find myself so I went back to sleep again
    So fill my ears with silver
    Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames.
Made a marble phone book and I carved out all the names
    So coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
    Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
    So stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
    Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime
    So chain my tongue with whisky
    Stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
    Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
    So scrub my skin with women
    Chain my tongue with whisky
    Stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
    Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Commentary

I really have nothing to add today: this poem communicates its message more effectively than any commentary could ever hope to do. So I’ll leave you with a

Biographical Note

Adrian Mitchell was born in 1932 and educated at Oxford. After coming down in 1955 he worked for some years on the staff of the Oxford Mail, and subsequently with the London Evening Standard. Mitchell’s early poetry showed a fondness for tight stanzas and a use of myth, but there was always a kind of agonised human concern about his writing which marked him off sharply from his more tight-lipped contemporaries. This concern has developed over the years into a full-fledged political commitment, and there is no other poet in England who has more steadily focussed his aesthetic aims through his social ones. It would not be too much to say that a poem such as ‘To Whom It May Concern’ altered the conscience of English poetry, and for many younger writers Mitchell is already the elder statesman of literary protest. He has made enemies through this, and there are still critics who refuse to accept his importance. But there are few poets now writing who can command a wider general audience, and none who can swing such an audience more effectively from public laughter to near tears.

- George Macbeth

— Thomas

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #28 · 9 March 1999

Poem selected by Abraham Thomas

Fair use

Show 28 commentsHide comments

From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

ars · 14 May 2000

I’ve got a video on the 60s, full of Leary, the Beatles, and all that, and it’s got someone (Mitchell I presume) reading this poem, with agonizing imagery from the war. I’ve seen the tape innumerable times, yet every time I hear this part, I wind up in tears by the end.

It’s just the most extraordinary poem. And it’s an excellent study for the student of poetry; the imagery is so direct, concrete and at the same time surreal. It just wrenches with the real feelings of that time. “Couldn’t find myself so I went back to sleep again” pretty much sums it all up, doesn’t it?

– Tony Kalar

Steve Campbell · 31 July 2000

I heard this poem read by the author on BBC radio in about 1969, and the phrases ‘so fill my…’ and ‘tell me lies…’ have been echoing somewhere in my mind ever since. Great to find the full text here.

Steve

Sean · 2 December 2000

Like the previous commenter I too saw the film of Mitchell’s reading in the Albert Hall - stumbling upon this treasure trove of other wonderful poetry has been a rather fantastic surprise.

I thank you then - not only for providing the text for this rather haunting poem, but also for adding a little magic to an otherwise dreary weekend ;-)

CafeDelCool · 2 December 2000

I saw a film of this on TV last night. A 60s documentary showed the author reading it at a packed Royal Albert Hall. Such a stunning poem! I just had to search for a text. Thanks for being there with it. And now, looking back, I’m amazed there was not a louder voice crying out against the bombing of yugoslavia last year. It cut me up listening to the bombers flying out from and back to Fairford every night. 03/12/00

Meirion MacIntyre Huws · 3 December 2000

As CafeDel Cool (Comments 03/12/200) mentions, this poem was read to a packed Royal Albert Hall, London in 1965. I believe the occasion was a definig moment in the history of the beatnik youth culture in Britain. The meeting of poets such as Mitchell and Ginsberg (who was headlining the event) and the reading of such raw and honest poems started the Swinging 60’s as they are now called. It is this poem above any other that captured the mood of the times. “To whom it may concern” has an unarming simplicity which is used to great effect, and the repetition of penultimate verses in each following verse creates a compounding tension which nails the last line home. Truly a great poem.

Meirion MacIntyre Huws

Jason Daniels · 29 December 2000

I’ve wondered about this poem for over ten years after seeing that film of Mitchell reading it. I couldn’t remember his name! Ah, the usefulness of WWW. Does anyone know where to find that footage?

Thanks,
Jason

Roland Rance · 14 October 2001

Adrian Mitchell read this poem at the anti-war demonstration in Trafalgar Square, in London, on 13 October 2001. He did what nobody else would have dared to do - he altered it, so the verses ended “Tell me lies about Vietnam”, “Tell me lies about Iraq”, “Tell me lies about Palestine”, “Tell me lies about Afghanistan”. Thirty plus years on, the poem still has the power to move an audience and to make a potent and up-to-date political point.

Roland Rance

Christopher · 5 March 2002

A wonderful poem. I remember Adrian Mitchell coming to our scholl in (I think) 1970 where he read this poem - among others - to us 6th formers. It had a large impact on me then. It stall has a large impact on me today.

Thank you Adrian.

William Sykes · 25 September 2002

After reading this vivid poem full of strong emotions, I wonder if Adrian Mitchell actually in the Vietnam war? I tried to research it on the WWW, but couldn’t find that he was. Does anyone know if he did fight in Vietnam? Thanks,
Audrey

Waterfall Tom · 4 February 2003

I was there in 2001 at Trafalgar Square. This poem caught my attention, I’d never heard it before and have only now found it on the Internet. To know that it was Adrian Mitchell, who was there on that day and who left me with such a vivid memory is quite incredible. It was the most powerful poetry reading I have ever had the good fortune to witness. Peace.

Sarah and Tom Man · 21 March 2003

Like Tony Kalar I have somewhere in storage a video recording of the programme with the recital from Mitchell at the Albert Hall. It has always been with me and now it resonates again as the ‘allies’ march into Iraq. I hope to God that the men - whether Iraqi, British or American - that are there now don’t have to face the agonies that those in Vietnam had to face 30 or so years ago. Art like this is so resilient due to the conviction behind it and there are so many who have that conviction right now.

Acynta · 12 April 2003

Re: Adrian Mitchell

From the commentary below this piece, I find myself wondering: has Adrian Mitchell written any other poems, or does he just alter this one to fit every circumstance?

carlynn

Judith Barker · 20 May 2003

To the person who wondered if Adrian Mitchell wrote any other poems, of course he did; many are equally as good as this. Also a play (not so good) and I think some children’s literature. I heard him read many times in the 60s, mostly at the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool. You didn’t have to fight in Vietnam to think like this - the political movement against the Vietnam war was enormous, and very powerful. Many thousands of people here demonstrated against the war, on many occasions. The poem still says relevant things about war. Also try reading “Veteran with a head wound”
Judith

Lecqjazz · 8 July 2003

An 1987 documentary on The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album, called It was Twenty Years Ago Today, contains the footage of Mitchell reading the poem at the RAH. I do not know the year, but since the documentary focusses on the period during which Sgt Pepper was made it must have been in 1966 or early 1967. Mitchell’s performance was absolutely impressive.

Boudewijn van der Lecq

LEW · 11 September 2003

I first heard this poem on a show about the Beatles album Sgt Pepper. The show aired in 1987 on PBS and had a 60’s clip of the author reciting this poem as scenes of the war flashed across the screen. Although I was raised in the 60’s and 70’s, this brilliant piece of work eluded me until I saw it on this show. Great to see it all here.

Lew Fisher ( 43)

Gert Breban · 16 December 2003

I also saw the 1987 documentary ‘It was 20 years ago today’ with his 1965 reading of the poem to a packed Albert Hall, which completely blew my mind. I had it on video tape for some time, but somehow that tape got lost. A few months later I went to college, and then soon started my own wild years of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, and the poem slipped out of my mind.

Today I accidentally (when cleaning up my hard disk for reformatting) found a reference to it in my diary. After about 15 years I could still hear his voice, with the angry emphasis on the word ‘lies’, so I looked it up on the web.

It sure is the most impressive poem I’ve ever heard or read, and it’s a shame it’s still as relevant today as it was then (and always will be I’m afraid). I wish someone could strap the likes of Bush, Blair and Aznar in a chair and make them listen to it a few days, so they also will remember. But I guess that’s just wishful thinking…

Ed Sedarbaum · 7 March 2004

I have been searching since 1987 for a copy of that movie “It Was Twenty Years Ago Today,” the one with Rich reaching. Do you know where I can find it? My internet searches have been fruitless.

Ed Sedarbaum

Alice Clarke · 27 April 2004

I remembered my mother reading this to me in bed when I was pretty small and it stuck in my mind all this time, until a few days ago I did an internet search on the lines I could recall. Such a brilliant poem, it conveyed more than I needed political/historical knowledge to understand.

Dan Brenner · 5 May 2004

This is too funny but sad. Allen Cohen, who was featured in the same documentary, “It Was 20 Years Ago Today”, died recently in the SF Bay Area; Allen edited the Oracle Magazine, a wild psychedelic magazine of that time..

YES YES YES! Long Live Adrian Mitchell! This poem rocks every single day of this Madness we are in, especially now with photographers of US Flag draped coffins being fired and US soldiers laughing while torturing Iraquis while wer’e trying to implement democracy…

Just switch the countries around
turn the truth inside out
and look at what will come about….

Dan Brenner
Camarillo, CA

01LETDAV · 10 May 2004

I think that these poems are very good including all of his words he uses enthusiastic in his figure of speech.

I also think that people respect the way he speaks and the way he writes

Spain Kyle · 4 February 2005

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY can be found currently on easytree.com (via bit torrent).

Victoria Tregilgas · 29 November 2005

As a child of a parent who did a tour in vietnam during the conflict, this particular war effected not only the vets, but, also, the families. Your poem Mr Mitchell, is good. It has substance. Thank-you for writing it.
Victoria Tregilgas.

Mark Holland · 1 April 2006

I first read this poem in 1973 in my final year at high school. My father died not long after returning from Vietnam. It struck such a chord. My son is now studying the poetry of the Vietnam War at high school and I was so pleased to find the words again so I could share them with him.

Mark Holland (Australia)

FRANK MANSELL · 15 July 2006

i was around when he read his poem…..the same feelings you had watching a video were more powerful at the time….did you know he added to the poem to include Iraq?

Andrew Phillips · 17 November 2006

hi kyle;

how do i find the torrent address for “it was twenty years ago” on easytree.com? i
went to that site and it doesn’t exist anymore i think. let me know?

thanx;
andrew

Andrew Phillips · 17 November 2006

attn: David Levy

I would like to purchase a copy of the tape, please contact me asap if you can.
The cost for copying and mailing isn’t a prob. How is the quality? Thanks for the info!

Cheers;
andrew

Rafael Mondragón · 30 January 2007

The 60s documentary where Mitchell reads this wondrous poem is named Wholly Communion, and it’s Peter Whitehead’s first movie. There’s an excellent article on the film here:
[broken link] http://www.thestickingplace.com/film/whitehead_jacksargeant.html. I think you can find the film via the eDonkey net.

Scott Crebs · 29 November 2007

I’ve got a video on the 60s, full of Leary, the Beatles, and all that, and it’s got someone (Mitchell I presume) reading this poem, with agonizing imagery from the war. I’ve seen the tape innumerable times, yet every time I hear this part, I wind up in tears by the end.

It’s just the most extraordinary poem. And it’s an excellent study for the student of poetry; the imagery is so direct, concrete and at the same time surreal. It just wrenches with the real feelings of that time. “Couldn’t find myself so I went back to sleep again” pretty much sums it all up, doesn’t it?

– Tony Kalar Do you know the name of this video? I saw it many years ago with my brother and it was very powerful. “Fill my eyes with butter” has been a catch phrase for us everytime we think something is bullshit ever since. I thought it was a movie and was on pbs but I’m not sure. I have never been able to find out the name, but if you know please email me would love to get find a copy of it, as sadly we are mired in another disaster like Nam,only now the media won’t cover our peace movement. Thank you, Scott