Songs About War -- Vietnam Edition
Hecate's posting of Donovan's "Universal Soldier" in the republished essay Too Many Dogs put this topic in mind.
I'm not thinking of your standard battle songs here -- no "Over There", no "Battle Hymn of the Republic", no "Star Spangled Banner". I'm thinking more of songs from an anti-war, or at least anti-glorification of war perspective.
The earliest anti-war song I could find mention of was from World War I: I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier sung by The Peerless Quartet. Considered to be the first anti-war hit recording, it was opposed by Teddy Roosevelt for its messages of peace and early feminism:
"Foolish people who applaud a song entitled 'I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier' are just the people who would also in their hearts applaud a song entitled 'I Didn't Raise my Girl To Be A Mother."
[video:https://youtu.be/-C2qOAgMCl4]
Many of the songs in my own memory banks came from the 1960s, and the protests against the Vietnam War. While I was just a little kid back in those days, I listened to a lot of radio, both AM and FM (though the more radicalized FM stations were on my brother's stereo while my Republican parents were both at work). Many of the songs actually did make it to AM, at least the short versions. An exhaustive essay would take up all the bandwidth here, so I'm only going to post a few.
The first one that came to mind was Eric Burdon and the Animals; they told the story of a military chaplain who sends "his boys" off to die with pious platitudes:
[video:https://youtu.be/BP0IXOr9O8U]
In the morning they returned with tears in their eyes
The stench of death drifts up to the skies
A young soldier so ill looks at the sky bright
Remember the words "thou shalt not kill."
In light of the takeover of the military by the Religious Right, the song seems even more apropos now.
In researching, I was surprised to find some common pop songs of the era were actually thinly disguised anti-war songs. Whether to make them more palatable to their targeted audience (often young teen girls) or to get past the corporate suits at the record companies, the lyrics could be taken more than one way. One such example was The Monkees' Last Train to Clarksville:
[video:https://youtu.be/3ihJWjVDdvs]
'Cause I'm leavin' in the morning
And I must see you again
We'll have one more night together
'Til the morning brings my trainAnd I must go
Oh, no, no, no
Oh, no, no, no
And I don't know
If I'm ever coming home
More of the songs were a lot more direct -- two of my favorites, The Doors Unknown Soldier and Requiem for the Masses by The Association.
[video:https://youtu.be/KZtEVyOMmag]
[video:https://youtu.be/QXvYI-LPUvI]
Two more submissions, of a lighter note. Sadly, Arlo Guthrie has turned into a Republican (and lately a libertarian) but back in the day he told the story of an encounter with the justice system followed by an incident at the draft board, the Alice's Restaurant Massacree:
[video:https://youtu.be/zPx2t7xoF1k]
My favorite though comes from the late John Prine, and brings us full circle to those who profess to worship the Prince of Peace while sending men (and now women) off to war. First recorded in 1971, it saw a resurgence during GWB's Iraq War.
[video:https://youtu.be/DgRVNjsuycQ]
What are some of your favorites, either from Vietnam era or more recent? And when will we stop making wars for songs to be written about?
Comments
All I am saying...
[video:https://youtu.be/0yU0JuE1jTk]
A standard Viet Nam anti war song...
Maybe "standard"
but one of the best. So many thoughts rush at me hearing that song and seeing kids in the video that I can't even express myself.
I figured that one was way too obvious
I could do a whole series on anti-war and general peace songs from Vietnam forward given a chance.
For those of us without sound & video capability ...
please, what song is that and who is artist?
it's country joe mcdonald and the fish.
song is "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag"
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Veterans Day Poppy - Captain Beefheart
Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote and recorded Universal Soldier and that and her work, and songs, on behalf of justice for North American Indians earned her the enmity, and attacks on her career, by the FBI. She got most of her files via FOIA and the FBI was active against her.
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy by Pete Seeger is one song that comes to mind.
Yes Sir No Sir by the Kinks from Arthur is one of the most class conscious songs and albums ever done, in my view.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
more from Prine
Is there a way to put more than one video in a comment?
I'll just do this one, then do a separate comment for another, I guess.
the other Prine
4 mnute warning
My very haunting contribution
"There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
and one from Dylan
Ah the masterpiece of all anti-war songs
it goes for every war everywhere, whenever these masters of war apply their dark craft.
Captain Beefheart
was one of the few bands who came to Portland OR in the day. He was from Eureka so that figures. One of the first live local shows I think I went to see was Captain Beefheart and Doug Cruikshank. I say think as I was in was a purple haze. I was tripping and was standing next to the speakers. I liked Doug Cruikshank I had never heard him before. He was almost better then Captain Beefheart who left my ears ringing for days.
Trout Mask Replica still sounds avant garde.
Along with Lick My Decals Off Baby(an early ecologically-minded rock album) and the poetic Ice Cream for Crow, the Captain and his changing lineup of musicians made some compelling music.
I wish I could have seen him; glad that you did.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
One POST-Vietnam... but it speaks to me.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYoIgKxOK4A]
Just because it captures the feel of the kids who learned from their folks about Nam. Even if their folks have mostly forgotten.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Mason Proffit...
they did a lot of anti-war music during the late 60s-early 70s. They were from the Chicago area and didn't get a lot of air time back then except in the Midwest.
Eugene Pratt:
We need more Eugene Pratts.
Luang Prabang, Dave Van Ronk
It's Van Ronk's song, but it was originally recorded by Patrick Sky. I prefer Sky's version, but I couldn't find it online.
Hillary Clinton 2016: I'm a proud progmoderate!
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Suppose They Give A War..
and No One Comes:
Hillary Clinton 2016: I'm a proud progmoderate!
Phil Ochs - The War is over
Hillary Clinton 2016: I'm a proud progmoderate!
Fuck, I could do this all day. One more: R.E.M. - Orange Crush
Hillary Clinton 2016: I'm a proud progmoderate!
good ones Phil thanks
Phil Ochs
Draft Dodger Rag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFOUkipI4U
I Ain't Marchin' Anymore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtGKX70Jckk
Sorry, I'm technically challenged and don't know how to get them here from there.
Phil Ochs was a great one who also put his body on the line
Billy Bragg did a song about Phil to the tune of Joe Hill
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
and Here's to the State of Mississipi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7fgB0m_y2I
and now I'm singin out loud.
Phil Ochs songs
[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFOUkipI4U]
[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtGKX70Jckk]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
So easy to embed you tubes
when your at you tube and have picked out your song hit Share and then it will say share-embed -email. Do this on a different window from c99% open a new window for you tube. Click embed and you will get a box with the embed code. Copy this by highlighting it with your mouse and go 'edit' and copy it. Go back to c99% click your cursor where you want the video to go and hit paste. It's a simple copy and paste. Hope this helps. Here on c99% if your embedding more than one you tube video put a line of type between your codes to line them up horizontally. Hope this helps it's really simple, I think?
Thanks for the tutorial. This is a big learning how to use
the internet night for me. I just figured out how to work imgur, where I've stashed my Bernie 2016 postcard images for all to see.
http://mjsmeme.imgur.com/all
Nice post. Thanks.
This one made a great point
I remember when Levi-Strauss
I remember when Levi-Strauss used the first few bars in 2003 in their patriotic 501 campaign, but left out the next important ones "It ain't me..." along with the rest of the song.
I still wonder whether that was intended to be patriotic or an intentional thinly-veiled condemnation of the sitting POTUS at the time.
"There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
And of course, Motown
semi-clueless friend of mine, about 30 years ago:
"i don't really know much about springsteen, but that one song about war, that's really good."
[video:https://youtu.be/w7GBMX0rTEc]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
No mention of
Eve of Destruction? Or as I call it, Republican Party Theme song.
(On a kindle fire so posting vids or anything is harder 'n pullin' hen's teeth with a backhoe)
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6CDQPHQOOc
and Joan Baez's Where have all the Flowers Gone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSE03QVnXg0 I heard her sing it, on the same stage with Bob Dylan (he was 2nd on the bill), when I was 16, in Philly, at the Academy of Music. Joan was the draw, but we were there to hear Bob. The audience didn't like him so much, but we were hanging off the edge of the balcony taking in every raspy rebellious note he sang.
six-pack
Trapezoid: "In The Hills Of Shiloh"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuSIsUo6JA4]
Pink: "Dear Mr. President"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0t1YKpJKvE]
The Call: "The Walls Came Down"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh5x_2ggtVw]
Jim Malcolm: "Waterloo"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhXsh_HoUms]
The Cranberries: "Zombie."
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87GRjtvwZnM]
Sandy Denny: "The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHstyoGkMIU]
What's Goin' On
"There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
billy don't be a hero
"There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
One Tin Soldier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPNDBEuKCdY
"There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Although not strictly anti-war
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBvjXhUSUpU width:640 height:480]My favorite is "What About Me?" by Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The lyrics cover the whole gamut of anti-establishment philosophy from environmentalism to anti-war to free speech:
You poisoned my sweet water
You cut down my green trees
The food you fed my children
Was the cause of their disease
My world is slowly fallin' down
And the airs not good to breathe
And those of us who care enough
We have to do something
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Your newspapers, they just put you on
They never tell you the whole story
They just put your young ideas down
I was wonderin' could this be the end
Of your pride and glory?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
I work in your factory
I study in your schools
I fill your penitentiaries
And your military too
And I feel the future trembling
As the word is passed around
"If you stand up for what you do believe
Be prepared to be shot down"
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
And I feel like a stranger
In the land where I was born
And I live like an outlaw
An' I'm always on the run
An I'm always getting busted
And I got to take a stand
I believe the revolution
Must be mighty close at hand
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
I smoke marijuana
But I cant get behind your wars
And most of what I do believe
Is against most of your laws
I'm a fugitive from injustice
But I'm goin' to be free
Cause your rules and regulations
They don't do the thing for me
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?
And I feel like a stranger
In the land where I was born
And I live just like an outlaw
An' I'm always on the run
That bold line makes this, for me, what should be Bernie's campaign song. The hair on my neck stands up every time I hera it.
wikipedia says this song was originally perceived as comedic.
it dates from 1867:
[video:https://youtu.be/MG7VjS4odZE]
here's a great canadian tune about the lies the warmongers always tell:
[video:https://youtu.be/ZIwzRkjn86w]
i first heard this one performed by a two-man band in the hotel pub at Shiel Bridge, Scotland:
[video:https://youtu.be/h1VD84SLW8I]
is this one anti-war? i don't know, but it's a thing of beauty:
[video:https://youtu.be/VjZduiDfYT0]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
in any case, here's my #1 vietnam anti-war song:
[video:https://youtu.be/Q7mYhpcoSjc]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Another golden oldie
It may date back to 1807, but was first explicitly written about (in Ireland, of course) in 1876. [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWjzCFAAaw0]
Springsteen has tinkered with it a bit to give it more bite (the "traditional" tune is bouncier).
Here's the Dubliners with the traditional version:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qwnt4wcEM4]
The Irish have always done "black humor" much better than practically anybody else (except maybe the Old Norse), and they're still at it.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
One of my favorite renditions of this song
[video:https://youtu.be/1QL-lKe-Pj4]
Followed by something that usually makes me feel better:
[video:https://youtu.be/hrFiSzOEkJI]
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Here is a banjo anti-war song, but I don't think it qualifies
As a 'banjo interlude'. It's about WWI, but Clifton Hicks is a spokesman for Iraq Veterans Against the War, and he applies it pretty well here to all war.
[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4rku2ms20]
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Kill For Peace - The Fugs
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
A few of my favorites...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4fWN6VvgKQ]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVoOk68T1SI]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgEUGnuwpk]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg6xaFZStEI]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAis0cKjJFY]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ancCWvjm80]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3b6SGoN6dA]
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
One more this one
this is from my granddaughter when she took over the radio while I was trying to drive.