Hello readers! After a brief hiatus, the MusicPhile is back with a look at war. Ok, not necessarily war, but songs in protest of war. Why the downer of a topic? This week I have been thinking a lot about war, mostly due to the recent celebration of Veteran’s Day and my playing of the video game Call Of Duty: Black Ops, which has players involved in missions during the Cold War and Vietnam. During the ‘60s several songs were released in protest of the Vietnam War. I think the songs that were released during this time were a great message to everyone to help them see the dangers of war and in some cases the pointlessness. Most of these songs still have a message in today's world. So here I present to you some protest songs that have stuck with me after the first time I heard them.
Recorded in 1965 by The Animals, the title and simple emotional appeal of "We Gotta Get out of This Place" lent itself to some obvious self-identifications — for instance, it was a very popular number to be played at high school senior proms and graduation parties.
More notably though, the song was very popular with United States Armed Forces members stationed in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was frequently requested of, and played by, American Forces Vietnam Network disc jockeys. During 2006 two University of Wisconsin–Madison employees, one a Vietnam veteran, began an in-depth survey of hundreds of Vietnam veterans and found that "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had resonated the strongest among all the music popular then: "We had absolute unanimity in this song being the touchstone. This was the Vietnam anthem. Every bad band that ever played in an armed forces club had to play this song." Indeed, just such a band played the song in an episode ("USO Down", by Vietnam veteran Jim Beaver) of the American television series about the war, Tour of Duty, and the song is hauntingly reprised in the episode's final scene.
In 1965 Barry McGuire recorded a grave warning of imminent apocalypse, and considered by some to be the epitome of a protest song. It expressed the frustrations and fears of young people in the age of the Cold War, Vietnam, the nuclear arms race, and the civil rights movement. It talks about teenagers going off to war at age 18 but not being allowed to vote (in the ‘60s you could not vote until age 21). The American media helped popularize the song by using it as an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of that time. The song also drew flak from conservatives. A group called The Spokesmen released an answer record entitled "The Dawn of Correction." A few months later, Green Beret medic Sgt. Barry Sadler released the patriotic "Ballad of the Green Berets." The Temptations' song "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" mentions the song title. The song was banned by some radio stations in the USA and Radio Scotland and was placed on a "restricted list" by the BBC.
Recorded in 1969 by CCR the song was inspired by David Eisenhower, the grandson of President Dwight David Eisenhower who married Julie Nixon, the daughter of President Richard Nixon in 1968. John Fogerty told Rolling Stone: "Julie Nixon was hanging around with David Eisenhower, and you just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be involved with the war. In 1969, the majority of the country thought morale was great among the troops, and like eighty percent of them were in favor of the war. But to some of us who were watching closely, we just knew we were headed for trouble."
This song was popular during the Vietnam War and is included in several Vietnam films and video games. The song symbolizes the thoughts of a man who is being drafted. This spoke out against the war in Vietnam. It is sung from the perspective of one of these men (who is not the son of a Senator, millionaire, or military leader, thus not a "fortunate son"), who ends up fighting in the Vietnam War.
In 1970 Edwin Starr released War. War was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of Starr’s career, but is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded. Its power was reasserted when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took their rendition into the U.S. Top 10 in 1986. War was performed in concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in 1985, added to the set list for the final few shows of their lengthy Born in the U.S.A. Tour. Springsteen released the September 30, 1985 performance as a part of his 1986 box set, Live/1975-85. War was chosen as the first single from the set, and it was again a big hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
This is a satire of US government attitudes toward the Vietnam War. Country Joe MacDonald released it at the height of the war after he had been discharged from the US Navy for several years. The song attempts to put blame for the war upon the politicians and leaders of the US military and the industry that makes its money from war, but not upon those who had to fight the war... the soldiers. It expresses the thoughts of a person trapped in the military system and forced to go to war by conscription (the draft). The song attempts to address the horror of going to war with a dark sarcastic form of humor called "GI humor." GI humor is a way people have of complaining about their situation so it will not get them in trouble and keep them from going insane in an insane environment: war.
There you have it readers, some war protest songs. Do you have any songs you listen to that are in protest of war? And the bigger question, have you thanked a Veteran lately?
Check out the song "Hero of War" by Rise Against and "Letters Home from the Garden of Stone" by Everlast. Both are more modern takes from the point of view of soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan.
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