CPS

Singing for peace: anti-war songs from Vietnam to Iraq

Author: Janis McNair
Date: April 2003

"Music has a role to play in spreading the word of peace. It is a case of using music to articulate something that you don't find articulated in the mainstream media." Billy Bragg

Anti-war sentiments have long been expressed through song. Music is a fundamental channel of communication providing expression and unity; enabling the communication of ideas and expression of dissatisfaction. Anti-war songs were perhaps most prolific during the Vietnam war providing non-violent form of confrontation.

The term ‘political song’ can be used to describe a variety of different, and often quite disparate, strands including protest songs, campaign songs, freedom songs, songs providing a social commentary and supporting a historical narrative, songs of the Labour movement, traditional patriotic songs and political parodies. Such songs have a multitude of functions: to sustain a campaign, express discontent, generate support, motivate, console, provoke, educate and mock.

Joan Baez heralded the anti-Vietnam war movement with an amalgam of political activism and folk song although Country Joe & the Fish’s Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die Rag became an anthem for this era ("And it's one, two, three/ what are we fighting for?"). Phil Ochs, an acerbic social commentator and activist, opposed the Vietnam conflict in Draftdodger Rag, I Ain’t Marching Anymore ("It's always the old to lead us to the war/ It's always the young to fall"), We Seek No Wider War and the acerbic Love Me, I'm a Liberal.

Pete Seeger conveyed his resistance with Turn, Turn, Turn and Where Have All the Flowers Gone popularized by The Byrds and Peter, Paul and Mary respectively. Waist Deep In The Big Muddy was more controversial; based on an actual event when a training platoon risked death crossing a swollen stream in Louisiana in 1943, Pete Seeger turned the incident into a metaphor for U.S. foreign policy in the 1960s: "Now every time I read the papers that old feeling comes on/We're waist deep in the Big Muddy/and the big fool says to push on."

Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction, The Doors The Unknown Soldier, The Byrds Draft Morning, Crosby, Stills, and Nash Ohio - based on May 4, 1970 killing of four peacefully demonstrators when the National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University in Ohio, Marvin Gaye’s What's Goin On and John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance were popular anti-war statements during that period.
Bob Dylan is recognized as the protest singer of that era with Masters of War, The Times They Are A-Changin, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall and Talking World War III Blues. Blowin’ In The Wind is perhaps one of the best known protest songs of all time and a mantra for protesters worldwide.

Recent commentators have reflected upon the lack of current anti-war songs and the relative silence at recent anti-war demonstrations reinforced this view. However, it is both reductionist and nostalgic to suggest political songs were a particular idiosyncrasy of the 1960’s.

So what has changed?

During the 1960’s, protest music was commonplace and commercially successful. The 1950s folk revival provided the soundtrack to anti-Vietnam War rallies and the foundation of the protest music was the folk revival movement; and of course folk music provided an ideal platform for eliciting political views.

Comparisons between anti-Vietnam songs and current songs inspired by opposition to a US and British-led war against Iraq are often unhelpful. During the Vietnam conflict (1961-1970), songwriters were able to develop an artistic reaction to war that gathered momentum during the decade. To render current artists apolitical and their contributions less relevant is an overly simplistic account of the current interrelationship between music and politics.

The recent Peace Not War compilation CD is a double-album of pro-peace and anti-war songs. Featuring Billy Bragg’s polemical The Price of Oil ("the stock market holds the answer to why him, why here, why now"), Public Enemy’s vitriolic Son of a Bush ("I ain’t callin’ for no assassination/ I’m just sayin who voted for this as***ole of the nation"), Seize the Day’s United States and Chumbawamba’s Jacobs Ladder (Not In My Name) attests to the diversity of anti war songs being written.

The Unpeople’s self-titled contribution samples the voice of John Pilger; Asian Dub Foundation’s Not In My Name samples extracts from a speech by Tariq Ali which poses the pertinent question "Why is Tony Blair so constantly ensconced in the posterior of the American President?"; such digital sampling has become common practice in current trends of political music, particularly the sampling of political speeches by George W Bush.

Ani DiFranco's Self Evident questions the legality of the election which brought George W Bush to power and the implications of his election on war: "We hold these truths to be self evident: #1 George W. Bush is not president #2 America is not a true democracy #3 The media is not fooling me". Ms Dynamite contributed Watch Over Them and performed an adaptation of George Michael’s song Faith to include an anti-war message: "We've been here before talk of violence and talk of war. I don't wanna see children die no more, So I've gotta make a stand."

Commercially successful artists have taken a stand against war: George Michael, who has been highly vocal on the subject, released Shoot the Dog criticizing US and British foreign policy whilst the accompanying video represented Blair as Bush’s poodle and his reworking of Don McLean’s anti-war song The Grave was released as the international crisis on Iraq reached critical proportions. Robbie Williams released Happy Easter (War is Coming) inspired by John Lennon's song Happy Christmas (War is Over); hardcore metal band System of a Down’s anti war song Boom! included a video directed by Michael Moore featuring footage from the worldwide anti-war rallies of February 15 and Paul Weller’s A Bullet For Everyone which denounced what he regarded as the "hypocrisy" of Blair and Bush over their stance towards Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hip-hop has been a particularly political genre in a post 9/11 context and has added fuel to the anti-war debate. Many polemical tracks have been rapidly distributed via the internet; in fact the MP3 revolution facilitated the creative process by enabling artists to disseminate their songs for free, capturing momentum and bypassing record companies.

The Beastie Boys posted their anti-war song In a World Gone Mad, on their website. Singer Adam Yauch acknowledged that since 9/11, it is considered unpatriotic for Americans to oppose pre-emptive military action: "One thing that the U.S. administration has been trying to do is give the feeling that it's un-American to protest" and in that context it is unsurprising that the Beastie Boys justified their release: "This song is not an anti-American or pro-Saddam Hussein statement. This is a statement against an unjustified war".

Bay Area hip-hop artist Paris’s What Would You Do (from his Sonic Jihad album) is regarded as one of the most radical statements of a post 9/11 era: "Now ask yourself who's the one with the most to gain (Bush) / Before 911 motherf**kas couldn't stand his name (Bush) / Now even niggas waving flags like they lost they mind / Everybody got opinions but don't know the time" whilst Bay Area’s Freedom Fighter Music released an anti war compilation entitled War Times Reports from the Opposition including Soldierman by Hanifah Walidah, Red, White & Blue by Goapele Samantha Liapes’ Masters of War.

Chuck D (from political rap group Public Enemy) and his Fine Arts Militia spoken word poem A Twisted Sense of God pt1 condemned what he regards as the arrogance of the US President's foreign policy: "The United States is talking war but who is actually gonna fight those battles, and with whom? War is not a football game, y’all" whilst his impromptu reworking of John Lee Hooker's song Boom Boom entitled No Boom Boom vehemently protested war against Iraq.

Michael Franti and Spearhead's Bomb Da World was written two weeks after 9/11 and regarded as a frantic plea for peace: "You can chase down all our enemies/Bring them to their knees/You can bomb the world into pieces/But you cannot bomb it into peace" whilst MC Life’s Bush and Blair presented the problem more simplistically: "This world it ain't fair, Bush 'n' Blair, they don't care, hope you'll all be aware".

Saul Williams released spoken word songs including Bloodletting and September 12th, a impassioned rejection of a war without popular support: "No, not in my name, not in my life, not by my hands, that ain't my fight, not in my name/You fight a war against terrorists and violence and try to wave your guns to fear us all into silence. No" and Pledge of Resistance ("No more transfusions of blood for oil"). Williams interprets his creative output as "our greatest means of political amassment, because the airwaves are imbalanced and have conditioned us either into a state of apathy or to a state of condoning unjust violence and militarism carried out in our name" reflecting upon the efficacy of music to express discontent and upset the existing balance of power.

Hip-hop artist J-Live’s Satisfied reflects upon the impact of political rhetoric which identified the so-called ‘axes of evil’: "And time to figure out where the enemy is/The same devils that you used to love to hate/They got you so gassed and shook now/you scared to debate". While Nas’ What Goes Around questions the relationship between America’s foreign policy and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, "Every dog has its day, and everything flips around/Even the most greatest nation in the world has it comin back to 'em". Sage Francis’ Makeshift Patriot criticizes a policy of retaliation: "Who's going to make that call to increase an unknown death toll? It's the one we rally behind. He's got a megaphone...and he's promising to make heads roll" whilst MC Lif’s Home of the Brave accredits war mongering as an opportunistic attempt to detract from mounting domestic issues, "Headline: Bush steals the presidency/He needs the backing of the media what could the remedy be?/The country's headed for recession reminiscent of the Great Depression/Are lives worth a world of power? Easy question".

Of course, hip-hop does not have the monopoly on anti-war songs. Egyptian folk singer Shaaban Abdel-Rahim’s anti-war pop song Attack on Iraq questions the legitimacy of the American foreign policy on Iraq in relation to its policy on Israel, "Sharon swims in his pool, while the blood falls like rain, Israel attacks and it kills, and why isn't that too much?"

Australian singer-songwriter Jim Lesses No Blood For Oil is a tribute to global public opinion and an indication of the frustration that anti-war opinion is being disregarded: "And all around the world, the calls for peace crash in like waves, But you ignore our very cries, and send us to our graves" whilst fellow Australian songwriters Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis’ song Faces in the Dark is offered in solidarity with the people of Iraq.

Perhaps Stephan Smith’s anti war song The Bell attributes to the merging of genres: featuring folk legend Pete Seeger alongside Dean Ween (of the popular rock band Ween), and hip-hop star Mary Harris.

The satirical song Bomb Iraq, to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, has become of an anthem for the bourgeoning anti-war movement. Perhaps its use of humour deflects from the potentially pernicious international crisis, "If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq, If the markets hurt your Mama, bomb Iraq, If the terrorists are Saudi, And the bank takes back your Audi, Bomb Iraq".

As the current crisis develops or abates, more anti-war songs will be uncovered. There is ample evidence of the power of political songs to communicate ideas, express dissatisfaction, display resilience and defiance and offer unity and hope. Political songwriting continues to flourish and takes many and varying forms.

Updated: 3 July, 2007 | Site editor | Legal