Creedence Clearwater Revival

This song was written during what was hoped to be an ending point for the war, and directly refences an event that had happened earlier that year. This event was Operation Homecoming, dated February 12, 1973, which was supposed to bring home almost 600 prisoners of war. However, it’s main point is the inability of soldiers returning from war to re-adjust to domestic life. It worked to emphasize the terrible illness many soldiers were going through, and to further condone the return of American troops. This song, while not terrible popular, succeeded in reaching those who were willing to protest the war and empathize with the returning veterans, especially the African Americans who were disproportionately hurt in the

2. Is the intent of this song to promote or protest the Vietnam War? Why?

Every war will have those who support the war and those who are against the war. In 1965, those who were against the Vietnam War made their views known by many forms of protesting such as forming organizations, rallying, and anti-war protest music. Anti-war protest music was an opportunity to put people’s perspectives into song to hopefully spread their message. Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote the song “Universal Soldier” in 1962 and her message was that “Universal Soldier is about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all” (Boulanger). The song “Universal Soldier” was used as a protest anthem during the Vietnam War and attempts to untangle one of the paradoxes of life that war never leads to peace through

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.

Mick Jagger states in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine when asked about his songs released about rape, war, murder and addiction, “ Well, it's a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage, and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. It was a real nasty war, and people didn't like it. People objected, and people didn't want to fight it.” (Mick Jagger, Mick Jagger Remembers, Rolling Stone) Around the time Gimme Shelter was written and released things such as the Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, and the bombing of Cambodia made many people question what the true motives were behind foreign involvement in Vietnam. Anti-War protests became prominent and even radicalized as a credibility gap between the federal

Music became a new form of resistance. Folk musician, Bob Dylan recorded the song “The Times They Are a-Changin”. Lines like “There’s a battle outside / and it’s ragin’ / it’ll soon shake your windows / rattle your walls” made reference to the Vietnam war. Ex-Beatle member, John Lennon recorded the track “Give Peace a Chance”, although it did not make a direct reference to the Vietnam war, it echoed the line “Give Peace a Chance” that asked the the listener to consider peace in this time of conflict. The most influential music event of the 1960s was Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. The reasoning for the event was the spreading of peace amongst the people of America. Here, artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Edwin Starr performed their anti-war anthems. These songs and artists challenged the US government while supporting the liberal, countercultural population in its campaign for a war-free

Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” emphasized the people’s anti-war view of the Vietnam War. Dylan’s

The song highlights these peoples’ views in regard to the war, by illustrating the immense urge to not go and fight, that “it ain’t me”. I feel as if this song shows us a turning point in the US government’s approach to the war itself. With its release closely following Nixon’s silent majority speech, the song was able to go against what Nixon said by screaming to the American people that we as a country need to end this conflict, despite whatever our elected officials

By 1965, music about Vietnam was emerging as a genre of its own, even though it was still competing with music denouncing war in general. The previous year, Lyndon Johnson had won election as president by promising "not to send American boys to fight a war Asian boys ought to be fighting." In March 1965, U.S. combat troops began arriving in Vietnam, the first installment of nearly 200,000 American soldiers destined for deployment that year. The gap between words and deeds was not lost on folk singer Tom Paxton, whose ballad "Lyndon Johnson Told a Nation" zeroed in on Johnson's apparent hypocrisy. It shared air play with Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," which touched not only on the danger of nuclear war, but also on the irony of young men old enough to fight but too young to vote. The first major anti-war demonstrations were also held in 1965, organized by groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and choreographed by singer-songwriters such as Phil Ochs. "I Ain't Marching Anymore," a general antiwar commentary, was quickly followed by "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land" and "We Seek No Wider War," a response to President Johnson's assurance of his desire for world peace, while at the same time escalating the war in Vietnam.

What Americans were unaware of was the additional violence happening in Laos. Music has always been an effective way for one to release their anger and frustration and many Americans were angry and frustrated with the government for allowing their men to die in Vietnam. One of their methods of portraying their irritation to the government were through musical protests. The largest musical anti-war movement was in 1969, 4 years before the end of the Secret War and 6 years before the end of the Vietnam War at Woodstock (Candaele, n.d.). The audience consisted of approximately 500 000 Americans and 33 performers. Among the performers were worldwide renowned artists like Jimi Hendrix and The Who (Harrison, 2009). The use of the performers would have stirred up support from their other fans; similar to celebrity endorsement advertising techniques. Moreover, wars are expensive to fund and “in recent years, Republicans have been characterized by two principal positions: They like starting wars and don’t like paying for them” (Bartlett, 2009). In 1968, Republican president Nixon imposed a 10% surtax to pay for the Vietnam War. The tax was largely paid by the poor and middle class. The Vietnam War cost “$25 billion per year and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater section of the taxpaying public…adding fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement” (History, n.d.). On top of that there was an extra “$1.5 billion per annum” (McCoy, 1996) going

Protest music was an effective tool used as a weapon in peaceful protest in America during their involvement in the Vietnam War. Singers and songwriters would express their views through the lyrics of their songs, effectively spreading awareness and informing people about the changes that need to take place, and the ideas of peace over war. Protest music was a major contributor in the escalating support for the peace movements, as well as many other movements, against the horrors of the Vietnam War and increasing acts of sexism, racism and the lack of equality in America in the 1950s and 1960s. Many famous artists took the initiative to write protest songs to spread awareness about the cause, generating a broader impact and having different

Throughout history, music has always played a large part in military actions. Sometime the music was pro-war directed, but most of the time, it was directed to the ending of war. It is also interesting to note, that until the early 1960’s, most of the wartime music was up-beat and offered encouragement to our troops. Enter the Vietnam War, or conflict as it has been called, and everything changed Starting as early as the Civil War, music was used to influence the war. In fact, one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite pro-war songs was “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, which would be countered by “Dixie” from the confederate states.

The events of the past continue to influence and shape the present and the future, particularly the decade of the 1960s, which was a time often called the decade of discontent because of demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Americans were divided between patriotism and the desire for peace. Some agreed with President Johnsons involvement in Vietnam for the common goal of eliminating communism, others became entranced in the peace movements that usually involved mass protests. For those who protested American involvement in the longest war they ever took part in, songs of the times were an inspiration, particularly songs of Bob Dylan, whose influential songs often protested what many considered the wrongs of society. The Times Are

The Vietnam war was a major event to America because it had major conflicts with personal opinions of the people of 1960’s. In this era, plenty of people were rethinking on why they were fighting in a war that they did not need to be fighting. and joined the anti-war movement. This can explicitly be seen from the type of music that people were listening to at the time. The song that I am going to be analyzing is “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. This song resonated with the persona of the people for multiple reasons because it was a song that was about losing a loved one and dealing with the sadness.

music helped define the Vietnam War and how people despised the fact that we were involved. Lyrics of popular songs were used in the context of the war. Rock-and-roll substituted for lock and load, referring to the procedure for readying the M16 for firing or for switching the weapon from semiautomatic to automatic fire. Songs were written in protest to Vietnam. One song that protested the war was "Purple Haze," by Jimi Hendrix. The song is about a paratrooper, landing in the jungles to purple smoke (Hendrix).