I want to do something slightly different today and focus on another aspect of music in the era I have been covering. It was the 60’s and the US was at war with Vietnam. Now if ever there was an ‘unpopular’ war, then that was the mother of them all. Many band and artists used their music to protest the war. Bob Dylan, who I covered the other day wrote so many more I could do a Protest blog just on his lyrics
The Bread & Roses was an acoustic festival which had many ‘protest acts’ featured, of which I will include some tracks.
I believe music has been used throughout history to raise issues of the conscience. The 60’s was fairly extreme and went on for almost a decade. The first song I would like to share is performed by Phil Ochs’s “I Ain’t Marching Anymore”. It was said he did more for peace than any soldier (anon)
Country Joe Macdonald was another folk musician who was vociferously outspoken against any human rights issues as well as the Vietnam War. Recorded in 1964, this next track is a must listen….
Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again,
he got himself in a terrible jam, way down yonder in Vietnam,
put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.
Certainly one of the most famous protest tunes to hit the charts is the much covered Universal Soldier composed and performed initially by Buffy St Marie. This post would not be complete without it
He's 5 foot 2 and he's 6 feet 4
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of 31 and he's only 17.
He's been a soldier for a thousand years
He's a catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist, and a Baptist and Jew.
And he knows he shouldn't kill
And he knows he always will… kill
You'll for me my friend and me for you
A short interview with Buffy about the mood among college students, and the youth in general, and how she came to compose what has become a classic song!! And of course the song itself….
Most music lovers will know John Fogerty as the songwriter and lead singer for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He raised his own protest with the 1969 hit song Fortunate Son. An extract from an interview with John on “The Voice”
The thoughts behind this song - it was a lot of anger. So it was the Vietnam War going on... Now I was drafted and they're making me fight, and no one has actually defined why. So this was all boiling inside of me and I sat down on the edge of my bed and out came "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son!" You know, it took about 20 minutes to write the song
(Source: Wikipedia quoting from the television interview on Voice)
I confess I was 10 years old at the time and just loved the music, the message waslost on me.
Footnote 1: Courtesy of Wikipedia again
The Vietnam War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh Việt Nam), also known as the Second Indochina War,[50] and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America (Vietnamese: Kháng chiến chống Mỹ) or simply the American War, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955[A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975
Footnote 2: Protest music in the 60’s was NOT only about the Vietnam war. Civil Rights, Anti-Establishment movements (drugs, free love, peace ) all came under fire from the song writers pen in a period of musical revolution
I will close this off with the dulcet tones of Elvis Presley, recorded in 1968 … If I Can Dream.
I am featuring artists from the 60’s and 70’s from diverse genre’s over the next few months. If you love music … FOLLOW and take the journey with me..it is going to be one thrilling ride !! Furthermore I will only be featuring artists from MY vinyl collection, and I shall start all of the posts with a photo of an album cover to authenticate
Credits: Wikipedia.com
https://spinditty.com/playlists/The-Protest-Movement-The-10-Best-Protest-Songs-of-the-60s
www.youtube.com