What Does WMD Rhyme With?
Watching the various Woodstock retrospectives brought to mind some of the anti-war songs of that era. There was Phil Ochs’ “I ain’t marching any more,” Freda Payne’s “Bring the Boys Home” and of course Country Joe and the Fish’s “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die,” which debuted at Woodstock with its memorable “One, two, three, what am I fighting for? Don’t ask me cause I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam.” I’m sure there were other songs that I no longer recall but I do remember that Armed Forces Radio banned Country Joe and, for a time, Freda Payne. Even the songs that might have been seen as pro-war had a lugubrious quality, hardly very gung-ho. In basic training we used to march along singing to the tune of the Coasters’ “Poison Ivy” which included lines about friends dying and the refrain “Vee-yet-nam, Vee-yet-nam, late at night while you’re sleeping Charley Cong comes a creeping all around.”
Even though Vietnam was a war that made some sense in the context of the Cold War and Iraq and AfPak make no sense whatsoever, there have been no antiwar songs that I am aware of, which possibility explains the anemic state of the antiwar movement in general (though more likely it results from the lack of any middle class kids being drafted for the conflict). TAC might be interested in launching a competititon for the best new song to describe Mr. Obama’s war. For starters Barack and AfPak do rhyme and both Petraeus and Hillary possess a certain euphonious quality. particularly if one engages in a little syncopation by accenting the last syllables of their names. Weapons of mass destruction and improvised explosive devices do, however, present some problems.
The comments in this thread discuss this and also offer a list of modern anti-war songs.
http://www.metafilter.com/64272/Illegal-attacks
The consensus seems to be in agreement with you: no draft, no songs.
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2003/03/antiwar_songs_1.html << is a list of a hundred or so anti-Iraq war songs.
Granted most of them are by “Neverheardem and the Unknowns”, but the Beastie Boys, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Green Day, Lenny Kravitz, and Outkast are all on the list.
It could be that you’re old and out of touch. I’m young, but also out of touch and so I listen to more of your generation’s music than mine!
Steve Walt asked where all the political songs were here, though he also thought there was more pro-war music back then as well:
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/06/where_have_all_the_political_songs_gone_with_apologies_to_pete_seeger
There’s been some, (here’s another link: http://www.lacarte.org/songs/anti-war/updates.html) but none have caught the public’s fancy.
[...] #2: Philip Giraldi at TAC with an interesting twist. Entire post: Watching the various Woodstock retrospectives [...]
Merle Haggard had two great anti-war songs on his “Chicago Wind” album: “Where’s All The Freedom?” and “Rebuild America First.”
Neil Young wrote an entire album of protest songs (“Living with War”), and Arcade Fire’s “Intervention” was widely interpreted as an anti-Iraq war song (“hear the soldier groan ‘we’ll go at it alone’”
How about John Mayer’s “Waiting On The World To Change”. Granted it has a clip of Obama in the middle and at the end, but it’s solidly anti-war. It’s mostly about Generation Y’s feelings of powerlessness in the face of a rigged system.
“Living with War” by Neil Young.
Indeed, the whole album (which bears the same name) is something of a protest against the wars, as well as the other excesses and misadventures that made the Bush era such a remarkable misery.
I think immediately of Jason Isbell’s Dress Blues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9KSl8qqZpA
The lack of a draft may be a factor, but the way honest, political dissent is censored out by the corporate media (who want to make sure their songs play well in retail stores, which means not offending anyone) and the general dumbing down of our youth both must have also had an effect.
As a songwriter, I think nothing tops the old Dylan classic “Masters of War”.
Except maybe “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath.
They came out of the ‘Nam era, but lyrically they work today.
But rock music isn’t counter cultural now, it’s the mainstream. There’s less risk taking at the top of the industry. So you can’t look there for your protest song anymore.
But I’ll write one for y’all. It’s easy to rhyme “lies”. (It still won’t be as good as “Masters of War”, though.)
It’s not explicitly about the Iraq or the ‘stan, but “Blessed are the Landmines” by Brave Saint Saturn is obviously anti-war (as well as an attack on the Christian church’s general support of war).
As a songwriter, I think nothing tops the old Dylan classic “Masters of War”.
Dylan has a ton of songs that are sort of anti-war, but I second your assertion that “Masters of War” is tops.
I also like his “License to Kill” from Infidels, although that critique is so much broader than one individual war, and I can’t pin down exactly what it’s about.
You think you guys on the left have a problem…
Pity the poor conservative trying to find a proper rhyme for “murtha”.
I wrote a song called “World Mating Day” in memory of WMD.
It now has pride of place in a Musical i have staged called “Terror the musical”.
The lyrics are as follows:
World Mating Day
February the 4th
It’s a date for the calendar of-course.
World Mating Day
A chance to lie down and have your say.
Find a mate
wait and see
everyone’s talking WMD.
A world annual event
a loving moment of dissent.
No purchase necessary
to become a revolutionary.
Don’t do love do like.
Under the duvet it feels so right.
Under no pressure to work
this is the day you can shirk.
On Monday there’s no money to exchange
there’s just some bedding
we have to re-arrange.
World mating Day can be viewed on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXqO8b6_JMk