Trinh Cong Son wrote over 500 songs, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Joan Baez dubbed him the Bob Dylan of Vietnam for his antiwar songs. He became one of South Vietnams notable singer-songwriters, after his first hit, Ướt mi (Tearing Lashes) in 1958. He was frequently under pressure from the government, which was displeased with the pacifists lyrics of such songs as Ngủ đi con (Lullaby, about a mother grieving for her soldier son).
Before April 30, 1975, he went on the radio in Saigon to sing the song Joining Hands (Nối vòng tay lớn) about the dream of national reconciliation between the North and the South, which he had written in 1968. On the afternoon of April 30, following Duong Van Minhs proclamation of surrender, Trinh went on the radio to say that the national dream had been realized and that liberation had been achieved.