Creedence Clearwater Revival Essay

Upon returning home he is expecting a warm welcome, but all he sees is problems in his society. The first problem addressed is that of veterans being shunned after coming home. Either because they didn’t agree with what the soldiers fought for or because they were frustrated from the defeat, people would treat veterans badly. Many veterans would try to mask the fact they served, or otherwise would be harassed by the anti-war civilians. Gaye’s brother experienced the same and could not “find no work, can’t find no job” because the employers were discriminatory. The whole society changed after the war, as expected from a drastic event like this, but especially because this war was for a cause that most did not back. People were constantly fighting, and after years in a war, soldiers coming back would notice the difference. “I Just don’t understand what’s going on across this land” is a reflection on this, as Gaye’s brother doesn’t understand why society is changed. Lastly in this song, Gaye doubts the media and their interpretation of the war, saying “Are things really getting better like the newspaper said?” Originally, media would cover the story portraying the United States as the good guys facing the bad guys, but that changed after the Tet Offensive in 1968. After the war, media would act as if things were getting better to give the population what they wanted to hear.

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

1.The message of the song is a strong protest against the Vietnam War distinguishing between the fortunate sons, who were wealthy and did not have to serve in the war and the unfortunate sons, who were poor and paid the price.

In Kyle Longley’s, The Morenci Marines, nine young Morenci boys took the call to duty, not knowing that only three will return from the warzone of Vietnam. These boys, some of who were Native American, Mexican American, and Caucasian, joined the fight in Vietnam despite their social, racial, and economic differences. Although the nine men are from a small mining town in Morenci, Arizona, the Vietnam War was, in the words of Mike Cranford, “a lower middle class war,” that was fueled by small towns all around the United States (Longley, 246). Many of these men felt the call to battle and the will to fight, which was engrained in their heritage and gave these men the right to be Americans. Small town America, mostly lower class, was looked upon to aid the war effort with countless men, where as the rest of the nation, the upper to middle class college educated students, were protesting the war and they believed that it was unjust.

Going through an era when the Vietnam War was a smash hit in your town, many high school senior boys would be drafted out if their number was on the list of people. The men drafted had to leave behind their families and aspirations. Tim O’Brien uses different perspectives in The Things They Carried to show if something tragic happens in life, consequently dealing with it may be hard. Moving on will help in the future.

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

The Vietnam War in the late 1960’s was described as a tragedy, a victory, a win, and a loss, but for whom? The millions of people who loss their lives or the millions of people who fought to save others or is it for the millions of people who had to make that decision every time that they were in battle, but as for Richard Perry, a seventeen-year-old, African American just out of a Harlem High School, had to ask that question solely to himself. Perry, a talented and bright young man put away his dreams of college and becoming a writer because of the unfortunate circumstance he is in. He lives in poverty in the slums of Harlem. His single mother is abandoned by her husband and this leaves Perry and his younger brother Kenny without a father

In Tim O’Brien’s fictional narrative “On the Rainy River,” the narrator faces the dilemma of avoiding the draft or submitting and going to Vietnam, a common predicament that many men faced after receiving draft cards for the Vietnam War. O’Brien displays the thought process of the narrator as he makes a decision, and near the beginning, the narrator describes certain qualities that he believes make him “too good for [that] war”(2). He lists off achievements like “president of the student body” and “full-ride scholarship,” arguing for the idea that he is “above” going to war(O’Brien 2). Through explaining what the narrator believes to be superior traits, the reader might begin to ask, “What types of people actually went to the war?” If the narrator feels that he was above going to Vietnam, there must be some preconceived notion of who was expected to serve. After seeing how the narrator reacted to his call to battle, a question is left of whether the draft was fair in relation to social classes.

Known as the era that caused many reforms in the US, the Antebellum period was very impactful on the US’ future. Loosely known as the Plantation Era, the Antebellum era was the period, before the Civil War. Throughout the Period, many people known as “Reformers” focused on changing things in everyday life. They mainly focused on changing major things in America’s social, political, and religious life, however, it was a large movement which took many years to accomplish everything. Due to these reforms, there was a change in the US’ society, religion, and politics. This means that the reforms were mainly focused on slavery, education, and belief in religion. The main events were education reforms, the Great Awakening, and abolitionism. Each

It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them” (“Creedence Clearwater Revival Biography”). Amidst the political chaos in America, this song was a straight profane gesture towards Nixon and his administration. CCR openly bashes the rich and powerful and the “silver spoon in hand” population with this song. They bring to light the contradictions done by the government and they express the struggle of the American population being destroyed by the war. The intensity of “Fortunate Son” and the anger in the voices and hard rock feel fueled the flame of the anti-government protests. CCR exposed the corruption behind the war to the American public with this song. The chorus starts out by saying things like, “I ain't no senator's son… I ain't no fortunate one…” These lines express how the government decides to go to war but none of them are willing to pay the true cost. Government officials don’t have to risk their lives or the lives of their families, and instead send the rest of the population to fight the war. Later on in the song, Fogerty sings “I ain't no millionaire's son… I ain't no fortunate one…” These lines bring to light the point of financial corruption with the war. Like being a senator’s son, being the son of a wealthy family made you exempt from the war. Millionares controled the government and were part of the reason the war with

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.

It is this sensual nature of the song that helps to illustrate the role of America in the Vietnam War. The illustration comes in the form of an apt metaphor. Furthermore, the song is considered to be a perfect anthem which shares the plight of Americans citizens who came to realize that the Vietnam War was a terrible mistake.

Song Analysis The song, “Fortunate Son” by CCR or the Creedence Clearwater Revial. Its release in in 1969 was also during the time America was in the Vietnam War. The song was put out as an anti-war song written by John Fogerty, who made sure that the song represented the feeling of the rich man making the poor man fight his war as his number one message to express his feelings. The song starts with a nice guitar riff that catches the audience’s ear.

This song gives readers insight into the reality of the fighting in Vietnam and how the government’s decision to conscript young men can be cruel and inhumane for someone like him. A guy who is 19-years-old suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder where his innocence is

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger became a popular anti-war protest song during the 1960s. This song did not only protest against the Vietnam War but also made their generation more aware about the global problems. Songs like “Not Ready to Make Nice” by Dixie chicks about freedom of speech was written after they received death threats for singing against the Iraq war, protests against the violation of human rights. But music is not only used to protest, it is also used to give hope and optimism. “We Shall Overcome”, a song sung by Guy Carawan together with the Montgomery Gospel Trio and the Nashville Quartet, is perhaps the best known example of civil rights song. Instead of blaming the government, this song registered a feeling of hope and faith among African-Americans during the civil rights movement.