"8th of November" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a solo ...

. It was released in May 2006 as the third and final single from their album ''

Comin' to Your City ''Comin' to Your City'' is the second studio album by American country music duo Big & Rich, released in 2005. It features the hit singles " Comin' to Your City", "Never Mind Me", and " 8th of November", which peaked at number 21, number 34, and ...

''. The song became the duo's seventh Top 40 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, where it peaked at No. 18, in addition to reaching No. 94 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Content

The song, which begins with a spoken introduction by

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...

, tells the tale of Niles Harris, a soldier in the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during Operation Hump in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

on November 8, 1965. The intro mentions that Harris was "the guy that gave

Big Kenny William Kenneth Alphin (born November 1, 1963), best known by his stage name Big Kenny, is an American country music singer. He and John Rich comprise the duo Big & Rich, who recorded four studio albums and charted fifteen singles on the '' Bill ...

his top hat", and that he was among the wounded who were saved by Army medic Lawrence Joel, the first living

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to receive the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

since the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

of 1898. The song is in a 6/8

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

, and is in A

mixolydian Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scal ...

with a primary chord pattern of A–G–D–A.

Critical reception

Kevin John Coyne, reviewing the song for Country Universe, gave it a positive rating. He said the song is the best war song since "

Travelin' Soldier "Travelin' Soldier" is a song written and originally recorded by American country music artist Bruce Robison in 1996 and again, in rewritten form, in 1999. It was later recorded by Ty England on his 1999 album, '' Highways & Dance Halls''. The fi ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, in his review of the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, called it "awkwardly jingoistic".

Music video

The music video was directed by

Deaton-Flanigen Productions Deaton-Flanigen Productions is an American film company based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was named after the surnames of founders Robert Deaton III and George Flanigen IV. The two have directed multiple music videos, primarily in the field ...

and premiered in the week of June 12, 2006. It first starts with Kristofferson saying the intro, and then cuts to the duo performing in front of a large screen, showing the visuals of Harris' life.

Awards

The song was nominated for the 2006

CMA Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

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 The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples Ce ...

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 2005 songs 2006 singles Big & Rich songs Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Songs of the Vietnam War Songs about soldiers Song recordings produced by John Rich Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Songs written by Big Kenny Songs written by John Rich Warner Records Nashville singles