1960s Cultural Changes

In the Vietnam songs, all of the songs were made as protest songs against war. These songs sent a message that war is not something that we as humans should be doing and that we shouldn't have to solve our problems by killing each other. The American society felt the same way. Why are we doing this? This is not what we should be doing as humans, and this was partly why the American people didn't really welcome veterans back from war. They thought that what they were doing was "wrong" and it's not really solving anything, it's only taking lives. In the first song, "War" by Edwin Starr, there is a very clear message that war is good for nothing. Life is to short to spend fighting in wars. War is nothing but a heart-breaker and it shatters young

The song has a lot of lyrics to it but there are three words that are used a bunch throughout the song. The phrase “bring them home” is used 42 times throughout the song. Seeger was trying to make his point clear that the American troops should be brought home not shipped over to Vietnam. When the song says bring them home it also could be talking about reuniting the boys and men with their friends and families. There is a line from the songs that says, “If an army invades this land of mine… You’d find me out on the firing line” (Vietnam War). When he is saying that he is just stating that if some foreign threat invades our country he would support the military, and be right out there with them defending this country. During one of the song lines he says that he isn’t a “pacifist” which means he is not against war. He just doesn’t believe in what the United States is doing in Vietnam. The Vietnam Article says, “This song is definitely against the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine states that we should supply military aid to struggling countries” (Vietnam War). Seeger probably didn’t have a problem with the doctrine in itself he had a problem with where the aid and the help was going. Especially to a fight that the United States was losing. Pete wasn’t the only person to write a popular protest song. There were more protest songs than just “Bring them home” such as Phil

The Vietnam War was a war of the people and culture. Many people call it a living room war. The American people would actually be able to see what was going on on the the other side of the world and have a voice. One way to express opinions was through music. Music was release in the 1960s and 1970s, pro-war and anti-war, that influenced Americans opinions and showcased beliefs that would not be heard without the power of music.

During the 1960’s was when the Anti-War movements were most common. There were over hundred of organizations all fighting for the same thing; Peace. People would write speeches, people would strike, many people would listen to Anti-War music. Many artist in the 1960’s would release songs stating their opinions about the Vietnam war, and most of the artist would be against war and promote peace and

The Vietnam War was a war many people had no clue why we were in. Many men, women, and children died in or cause of this war. From this, protests rained upon the government leading to a new kind of protest by Bob Dylan, song. Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 and from an early age had always fought for what was right. His songs have changed and inspired not just our country but the world. He is the only musician with a Nobel Prize for Literature and so far is the only one who truly deserves it. His protests through his music tell people that lives are being lost and teach us to fight against the war as there was no reason to be in it. Bob Dylan’s song “The Times They Are A-Changin” was considered a national anthem for the sixties and showed that a single song can make a difference through its extraordinary lyrics protesting the Vietnam War through the use of multiple literary elements.

This investigation seeks to evaluate the following question; to what extent did the Vietnam and Cold War influence the lyrics of emerging music? The highlighted focus of the investigation will be directed towards the cause and consequences of the wars and lyrics sung by Canadian artists within the Sixties. This investigation will be supported through the analyzation of the following documents; Canada’s Humans Right History: The Sixties (History of Rights) and; Vietnam War and Cold War (TheCanadianEncyclopedia). Subsequently, the lyrics and wars will be analyzed in further understanding in order to form connections in-between the two entities. A final conclusion, formed through the analyzation, will state whether there was a significant influence of war upon the music lyrics in the Sixties – or whether it was limited.

The world was at war for the longest time, and now after WWII people are taking a stand in what their countries go through. War protests, post world war two, have influenced world history by giving musicians new ideas for songs, and the My Lai Massacre was an unfortunate event that took place in protest to the Vietnam War.

In the nineteen sixties almost half of the American population were young adults. Because of this, the sixties were an age of youth and there was a generation gap that America had never seen before. Many of the baby boomers were at risk of being drafted into the Vietnam War. This war brought on revolutionary and innovative ways of thinking. The young people of this decade wanted change and this brought a huge difference in culture from the conservative fifties. Inspiration for many of the songs and lyrics of the time came from the Vietnam War. The war caused many people to protest and speak out about it. The main genres people used to show their attitudes about the current war were folk and rock.

A large majority of the news reported only showed pieces of what really happened in battles to make it seem as though the troops were harming innocent people, when in reality the soldiers were fighting for their own lives as well as the best interest of the United States. It is the actions of the reporters and how they interpreted the information for the public that led to many people shifting their views against the war. In the late 1960’s, anti-war movements, such as when nearly 100,000 protesters gathered and marched to the Pentagon, broke out across the country that included a variety of people of different races. However, most of the founders and participants of the movements were college students. Alternatively, if newspapers and television news channels did not send journalists to Vietnam, Americans would not have been shown the horrors of the war and the manipulated actions of the soldiers by the news companies. Anti-war movements would not have been created and the United States would not have been as united by a shared opposition of the involvement in the Vietnam

The Portrayal of Opposition to the Vietnam War in Contemporary Literature, Film and Popular Song

Music of the time included folk songs from Joe Hill such as “The Preacher and the Slave” which is an anti war song that stems from the working class opposition to the war. “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier by Al Pianadosi and Alfred Bryan was a song from the point of view of the mother of a boy that was sent off to war. Her fears are that he won’t come home again and that she raised him to be a good person, not to kill other mother’s boys. Pro-war or patriotic songs such as “Over There” by George M. Cohan and made popular by Billy Murray is a song from the eyes of a patriotic person who is getting his gun to go over to Europe to help the good fight. Another pro war song was “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” written by Jack Judge that is about a man that is off to war but remembers his girl in Tipperary which is in Ireland.

In ten years many trends are changed, events occur, and innovations are discovered. Each decade has its individual characteristics that are associated with it. The Sixties were seen as a revolutionary decade by some historians and by others a decline of social order. People started to use their voices to demonstrate peaceful protests to help gain freedom. Fashion became more influential and more revealing. Music became the heart of many people and was influenced by the rise of youth. Many trends were affected by what was happening in the society. During the 1960s, the world experienced complex cultural, social, and political movements along with the change in the way of life and established a high standard for decades to come.

The Vietnam War was fought as an attempt by the United States to prevent the spread of Communism. With the rise of the Vietnam War there were many protests by people who were anti-war. The protest involved non-violent and violent protests. This resulted in distrust in the government, hippie era, drug use, and draft dodgers. The hippie group had a movement called the “Summer of Love” it happened in 1967 where over 100,000 people gathered in San Francisco. It was a protest music festival where they were able to express their feelings for the war. It was the perfect way to epitomize counterculture. Even outside of the festival and in today's music people makes songs that shows their feelings about being anti-Vietnam War. The song “Hello Vietnam

special significance to many as being representative of peace and as a protest of all the violence that had been happening across the world at large,as well as a song of protest against war as the Vietnam War had recently diffused and the cold war was still very much a reality.Throughout history people have unjustly discriminated against each other in resentment of each other’s cultures, whether it be their actual biological heritage or religious beliefs. The lyrics of the song were controversial to some degree at the time because at first glance they seemed to promote a communist agenda .The plight of the song however, is simply beautiful, and has earned it accolades by the public which eventually made it one of the most culturally significant songs of the

There were many songs that were written and produced during the 1960s and 1970s about the war in Vietnam. These were both pro war and anti war. Different artists wrote these for many different reasons, and the songs were inspired by varying things. They were often written to influence the American public and to get a point across. Overall these songs added significance to the war in Vietnam.