Songs of War

By Angie White

When you listen to a song by The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, think of when it was written. In the 60s maybe 70s. So why are people still listening to such music?

The answer is simple, people still listen to music of the Vietnam War era because it’s music changed the nation and the people in it too.

Most musicians of the time were against the war and thought the U.S. should stay out of it.

Using their music, fashion, and sit-ins, they successfully encouraged high school and college-aged youth to engage in peaceful protest. Being idolized by the influential youth made the growth of protest quite rapid.

“ The reaction to the music resulting from the war evoked different emotions in people. Basically everyone wanted to see the war end and wanted to see peace. However, there were those who protested peacefully and passively, they would hold signs, occupy government buildings, or lay down in the street and not move. When they were arrested they would go limp. There was no violence it was just bringing attention to the fact that they wanted the war to end. On the other extreme there were people who were very angry at the government for putting us in this situation, and wanted to avenge the deaths of young soldiers. They were called radicals, they wanted to over throw the government and were known to make bombs.”- Peggy Ford, age 54

Although both groups wanted the war to end the violent protesters contradicted themselves. They say they wanted peace, yet they were creating more violence and death.

The peaceful protesters, being the larger and more dominate party, was the group that left the grater impact. They were also better supported my the music of the time. Songs such as Give Peace a Chance, Revolution, and Where Have All the Flowers Gone.

Give Peace a Chance used various words like “bye byes(the death of soldiers), revolution, evolution, regulation, and integrations” to show the changes that were taking place.

The last verse reads “everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna”, the people named in the last verse were all Vietnam War protest leaders.

The chorus of the song sums up their point of “all we are saying is give peace a chance.”

It says, “You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all want to change the world. You tell me that it's evolution, well, you know, we all want to change the world. But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out. Don't you know it's gonna be, all right. You know it's gonna be, all right. You know it's gonna be, all right.”

Revolution was written when a radicalist group came to John Lennon asking him to support their group by donating money. The song tells how he doesn’t agree that violence is the answer.

However the very last question is the same as the first, “where have all the flowers gone?”, but this time is says they have gone to the graves.

Where have all the flowers gone is a song that talks about how all the young men were dying in the war. There through out the song a question is answered which leads to another question. And by the time the song

ends you are back to the first question. In the song the flowers go to the girls, the girls go to the men, the men are sent to be soldiers, and the soldiers are sent to the graveyards.

Some musicians, such as John and Yoko led by example. Two of the most well known events they organized were the give peace a chance sit-in and their highly publicized bed-in. At the start of their honey moon

John and Yoko told the media where they’d be staying and invited them to come talk with them in bed. The media poured into the hotel only to be slightly disappointed. Instead of the scandalous scene they imagined there was John and Yoko in their pajamas lying in bed. They had decorated the room in flowers and signs reading “hair peace” and “bed peace”. They stayed in bed for two full

weeks to protest the war. During this time the song Give Peace a Chance was written. Through out the rest of the year they had many more sit-ins and bed-ins all over the country.

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'. We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drummin'. Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it. Soldiers are gunning us down. Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her and Found her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know?

However not all protests went as planed. On May 4th, at Kent State University in Ohio, there was a group of students peacefully protesting by holding signs and making a scene. The students had a constitutional right to protest but the Ohio National Guard shot into the crowd.

The guardsmen fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others. In response to the deaths of students the song Ohio was written. The song bluntly states Crosby’s, Still’s, Nash’s, and Young’s opinion on the event:

The girls wore dresses that came close to the knee or lower and the guys wore blazers and slacks.

In the fifties everyone had a very clean-cut look.

When musicians set knew trends college and high-school aged students quickly followed suit.

People who embraced the laid back “sloppy” style were referred to as hippies. The styles displayed their want for peace and love.

With in this style, brightly colored tie-dye jump suits, bell bottom jeans, and long stings of beads were very popular.

Which is why one of the biggest fads was “flower power”. This style greatly incorporated nature, color, love, and peace.

People embracing the hippie fashion commonly had long hair, which they wore flowers in, and often braided. Another style widely

embraced was the military style. The youth of the nations strongly took on this style when The Beatles wore military style suits to promote the album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.

Fashion affected the war in more ways than one might think. One reason it affected the war was that it was simply change. It showed that things won’t be the same forever. However the main reason was that it was a form of rebellion.

Straying from the conservative, “respectable” fashion of the 50s angered many of the adults. Connecting the fashion rebellion to the war made protesters easy to identify. After everything they worked for, the war finally ended on April 30, 1975. Using their music, fashion, and sit-ins, the musicians of the era encouraged high school and college-aged youth to peacefully protest.

CreditsCombat photos: Combat Photography By

Fashion pictures: Fashions of a Decade: The 1970s By Yvonne Connikie, and Google Images

Information sources: Fashions of a Decade: The 1970s By Yvonne Connikie

http://www.suite101.com/content/vietnam-war-protest-music-a241943

http://www.calebrossiter.com/chapter1b.html

http://www.essortment.com/all/vietnamwarprot_rlcz.htm

http://www.stopallwars.com/custom.html

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