Known for his venerable roles in Roots, Diggstown, and as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which made him the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the late actor Louis Gossett Jr., who died March 29, 2024, at 87, had more than 200 credits on stage and screen.
Throughout his 70-plus year career, which started with a role in the Broadway show Take a Giant Step in 1953 and later with his onscreen debut on the NBC anthology The Big Story in 1957, Gossett Jr. also added songwriter to his lengthy resume.
In the mid-’60s the actor wrote the anti-war folk song, “Handsome Johnny” with his friend Richie Havens (1941-2013). Gossett Jr. was also performing as a folk singer and often played at coffeehouses in Greenwich Village in New York City where he first met Havens.
“He used to sing work songs and chain-gang songs, and he would just smack the guitar,” said Havens in a 1994 DISCoveries interview. “You know, [sings] ‘Take this hammer’ – smack. ‘Carry it to the captain’ – smack. He’d sing all these great tunes. That’s how I first met him.”
Havens, who also released the song on his 1966 album Mixed Bag and his 1969 double album, Richard P. Havens, 1983, performed “Handsome Johnny” toward the end of his three-hour set as the opening act at Woodstock on August 15, 1969.
Videos by American Songwriter
From Concord to the Civil Rights Movement
The anti-war anthem tells the story of a young man marching in wars throughout history from the the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 through the Vietnam War and the civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what’s that you see
Marching to the fields of concord?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a musket in his hand
Marching to the Concord War, hey marching to the Concord war
Hey, look yonder, tell me what’s that you see
Marching to the fields of Gettysburg?
Looks like Handsome Johnny with a flintlock in his hand
Marching to the Gettysburg War, hey marching to the Gettysburg War
Hey, look yonder, tell me what’s that you see
Marching to the fields of Dunkirk?
Looks like Handsome Johnny with a carbine in his hand
Marching to the Dunkirk War, hey marching to the Dunkirk War
Towards the end of the song Havens questions if anyone is listening to the message and urges people to take a stand against war before it’s too late.
Hey, what’s the use of singing this song
Some of you are not even listening
Tell me what it is we’ve got to do
Wait for our bullets to start whistling
Wait ’til the bombs start balling
Hey, yeah, hey, here comes a hydrogen bomb
And, here comes a guided missile
Here comes a hydrogen bomb
I can almost hear its whistle
I can almost hear its whistle
Johnny Carson, Peter Tosh, and The Flaming Lips
When Havens performed “Handsome Johnny” on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1967, he received a standing ovation lasting through two commercial breaks. Carson asked Havens to perform another song and invited him back on the show the following night.
Decades after its original release, the late Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Peter Tosh recorded “Handsome Johnny,” which was later released on his 2001 posthumous album I Am That I Am.
In 2002, the Flaming Lips also released their rendition on their 2002 compilation Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
Photo: M. Phillips/WireImage
