Holiday in Cambodia

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"Holiday in Cambodia"

Single by Dead Kennedys
from the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Released	May 1980 (US)
Format	45 rpm single
Genre	Hardcore punk
Length	3:43
Label	Cherry Red / Alternative Tentacles
Dead Kennedys singles chronology
"California Über Alles" (1979)	"Holiday in Cambodia" (1980)	"Kill the Poor" (1980)

"Holiday in Cambodia" is a single by the hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys released in May of 1980. A different version also appears on the Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables LP. The B-side of the single contains the song "Police Truck," which today appears in its studio form only on the Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death compilation. The studio version appears accompanied by the Dead Kennedys' only ever music video on their The Early Days DVD. The video intersperses footage of the band playing the song with real-life scenes from the Vietnam war, complete with moshpit-like footage of rioters at the U.S embassy when the music gets heavy. The lyrics were composed by lead vocalist Jello Biafra, and the music was composed by Biafra, bassist Klaus Fluoride, guitarist East Bay Ray, and original drummer Bruce "Ted" Slesinger.

The song appears to be an attack upon both Eastern totalitarianism and Western complacency. The song's lyrics offer a satirical view of the young, self-righteous American upper class (So you been to school/For a year or two/And you know you’ve seen it all/In daddy’s car/Thinkin’ you’ll go far...) and constrast such a lifestyle with a brutal depiction of the horrible Pol Pot regime of Cambodia (Well you’ll work harder/With a gun in your back/For a bowl of rice a day/Slave for soldiers/Till you starve/Then your head is skewered on a stake).

The version of this song that appears on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is slightly different from the single version, being fifty-five seconds longer and featuring a drawn out guitar noise intro.

In October of 1998, Biafra was sued by former members of the Dead Kennedys for not allowing them to use the band's songs in advertising. According to Biafra, the suit was a result of his refusal to allow "Holiday in Cambodia" to be used in a commercial for Levi's Dockers; Biafra opposes Levi's due to his belief that they use unfair business practices and sweatshop labor. However, the verdict was that royalties had been defrauded, "The record industry has been skimming royalties owed artists since the beginning," according to Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray. "This case is no different from blues musicians being taken advantage of in the twenties and thirties. Many people doubted the claims we made against our former record label back in 1998 but with this announcement there is no denying we were the victims here." Record Label Drops Legal Action

R&B parodist Blowfly is set to release his own version of "Holiday In Cambodia", renamed "R. Kelly In Cambodia", for his forthcoming album Blowfly's Punk Party. It has also been parodied by spoof jazz artist Richard Cheese, who croons Biafra's angry, cutting lyrics in a Frank Sinatra-like voice. Also, the band Boy Sets Fire has covered it. The disc Tercer asalto by the Spanish group Def Con Dos features Veraneo en Puerto Hurraco including the line ¿Vacaciones en Camboya? ¡y una polla! ("Holidays in Cambodia? Fuck off!").

[edit] Sample

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- "Holiday in Cambodia" from Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
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