Pete Seeger Bring Em Home

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

The first song I will examine is the folk-rock hit, “The Universal Soldier.” Carrying a somber yet avant-garde timber carried by a charismatic rhythm, Buffy wrote this song with the intent of creating a dialogue surrounding the absurdity of war and to deepen the responsibility of conflicts which we too often hide from, “It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all” - Buffy St Marie. During the 1960’s “Universal Soldier” became an anthem for the activist movement against the Vietnam war. As the title suggests, the song declines to commend a particular group. Rather, it applies to all the soldiers worldwide– to the universal soldier. Because, no matter the time or place he is the one who will risk his life and subject himself to the ubiquitous barbarism of war. The soldier can be of any religion, of

To begin, America has been through hell, but she always comes back. “Ragged Old Flag” was Cash’s response to the nationwide frustration brought on by the Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal. Johnny wanted to write a song that would make people feel patriotic and stand together during the Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal. “Ragged Old Flag” reaches many generations and that is apparent in the first couple of verses. Johnny Cash wrote “Ragged Old Flag” in first person point of view. The listener will be skillfully taken on a journey through the historical events of the United States. Within the first couple verses we are introduced to a man new to small town. He is walking by the courthouse when he notices an elderly man sitting on a bench. The man

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.

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

As the war persisted, not everyone’s voice was being heard. To quickly spread the message to a wider demographic, American musical artists incorporated political beliefs into their music. For example, Jimi Hendrix wrote songs such as “Machine Gun” to show his disdain towards the war, but the biggest statement he made was his performance at Woodstock. Creating his own interpretation of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Hendrix would always be remembered as taking a stand against the political leaders in charge of the United State’s involvement in Vietnam. The effect Hendrix created is captured by author Desmond Manderson as he explains the performance had “interrogated the memory and ideals of the United States … explicitly contrasting old with new, patriotism with violence, and victimhood with aggression” (315). Also, the rock group The Doors contributed to the movement by writing the song “Unknown Soldier”, which depicts the real tragedy of a soldier 's fate. One of the most

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

I think about my dad, my uncles, my cousins, both grandfathers who fought in the Vietnam war. I think about how my grandfather paw paw Tim would ask me to sing this song for him every time I saw him and how he would make me turn the other way to sing it so he could just weep and cry as hard as he wanted because it meant so much to him. I think about all of our troops I got to visit with and spend time with in the Middle East when I went over seas to sing for them. I think about all of the men crying because they missed their wives so much, or the man telling me he hadn't seen his baby girl yet since she was born. When I sing this song I think about them. This song is about them. It's not about me. That's what I think about every time I sing it. I love our country so much. And we should all love and respect each other because this is the greatest country in the world. I see the love. I see the unity in all walks of life on a daily basis and It makes me so proud to be an American..... so In the words of Forrest Gump. That's all I have to say about

“We Shall Overcome” by Peter Seeger, many would describe to be the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement or 1960s Civil Rights Movement (sometimes referred to as the "African-American Civil Rights Movement" although the term "African American" was not widely used in the 1950s and 1960s). It encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. During this period many folk and blues artistes’ music were protest songs, to speak out against the justice of Blacks and other unconstitutional acts. These music not only protested the injustice but it brought together people of all ethnicity/race, social class and regions, in solidarity to form a major campaigns of civil resistance. The conventional protest melodies in the United States goes way beyond the nineteen century and into the colonial period, the American Revolutionary War and the corollary. In the nineteenth century topical subjects for protest songs included abrogation, subjugation, destitution, and the Civil War among different subjects. In the twentieth century civil liberties, women 's rights, financial injustice, governmental issues and war were among the well-known subjects for protest songs. This paper will explore the protest song “We Shall Overcome” and its impact on the civil rights movement and the

Musicians during the Vietnam War, incorporated their opinions about the controversial war into their songs. Edwin Starr in his song War, talks about how terrible war is. He includes lyrics such as “What is it good for, absolutely nothing”(Edwin Starr. “War”.War). He concludes that he despises it and it has brings “tears to thousands of mother’s eyes”(Edwin Starr. “War”. War). He also explains that war is “nothing but a heartbreaker”(Edwin Starr. “War”. War). In the song Fortunate

Throughout history, protests have been proven to be the more effective methods of getting a message across, whether it’s to express disdain for the misdeeds of police officers, or to protest the U.S.’s involvement in war. This was seen especially during the Vietnam War, one of the more recent wars this country has been involved in. Many people around the country expressed their opinions about the idea of war, in several forms, including riots, protests, and draft dodging. Along with this form of expression and practicing of free speech, several music artists, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Marvin Gaye, and Edwin Starr, joined in the anti-war movement by conveying their own two cents about the matter through the lyrics of catchy, impassioned songs. In the song “War” by Edwin Starr, Starr attempts to portray his negative view on war, through the use of pathos to create a more intimate bond with his listeners, a very aggressive, yet passionate tone, and the song’s close resemblance of a protest, in auditory form.

During this period, Pete Seeger began writing books. His greatest publications include The Bells of Rhymney and Other Songs and Stories and American Favorite Ballads, Tunes and Folksongs as Sung by Pete Seeger. In the book “Carry it on! A History in Song and Picture of America’s Working Men and Women, Seeger and Reiser tell a story with songs describing every little aspect to the struggle of workers, specifically what they did in order to make things right. “Farm workers have been treated like livestock, herded into overcrowded dormitories or housed in shacks. In the prosperous 1960’s, the average farm worker made less than $2000 a year” . This example is followed by a song called “Deportee” which is written from the perspective of a farmer. Another book “The Incompleat Folksinger”, explores the many aspects of folklore music and what impacts it has had on Pete. He describes his songs to “tell of

During the war there were a lot of patriotic songs, as well as songs about military life, humor, and religion written in the jazz genre. A few patriotic songs are “The House I Live In (That’s America To Me),” “There’s A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere,” “America Patrol,” and “This IS Worth Fighting For.” One Patriotic song written by Iviring Berlin has an unusual history. It was originally written for a military show in 1918, but was put aside when they decided that they did not want to use it for the show. It was later pulled out of storage in 1939 by Kate Smith. Kate’s version of the song became the standard version that was used by everyone. Another one of Iviring Berlin’s songs that was written for the military show but never used was “This Is The Army, Mister Jones.” This song was resurrected for a different military show called “This Is The Army.” This song turned out to be a Broadway hit as well as being independently popular. The show traveled where it earned two million dollars for the Army Emergency Relief Fund.

“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.