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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 01:50 PM
Original message
More '60s antiwar lyrics...
Over the weekend people were posting antiwar songs. I just remembered this verse from Tim Buckley's "Goodbye/Hello" (1967, I believe?) Still terribly relevant...

The vaudeville generals cavort on the stage
And shatter their audience with submachine guns
And Freedom and Violence the acrobat clowns
Do a balancing act on the graves of our sons
While the tapdancing Emperor sings "War is peace"
And Love the Magician disappears in the fun
And I wave goodbye to murder
And smile hello to the rain

Some things never change.
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bryant69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 01:52 PM
Response to Original message
1. I was listening to 4 Way street today
Crosby Stills Nash and Young, ahs Ohio and Chicago on it, as well as Stephen Stills Bravura performance of 49 Bye Byes/America's Children. Which contains the line "And I don't know if I want White America to remember or forget that Jesus was the first non-violent revolutionary."

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 02:05 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I remember it well.... n/t
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mongo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
3. a little brewer & shipley anyone?
Oh Mommy
(Brewer & Shipley)

Oh mommy
I ain't no commie
I'm just doing what I can to live the good all American
Way
It says right there in the constitution
It's really a ok to have a revolution
When the leaders that you choose
Really don't fit the shoes

Oh mister
I ain't no sister
I believe in the bill of rights come on don't you start a fight
Please
I like to wear my hair long
How can there be anything wrong
When you already 'cused me twice
Of looking like Jesus Christ Hallelujah

I'm only gettin' tired of playing Punch and Judy
I'm really half a mind a go and do my duty
Like Mr. Patrick Henry said
I got to be free or dead

Mr. Nixon
I ain't a fixin'
To speak Spanish on a plane or polish off the liberty
Bell
I just want to sit here on the shelf
And watch you finish off the place by yourself
Please let me do what I wanna
I'll just lay around the house and smoke Marijuana oohoo

It says right there in the constitution
It's really a ok to have a revolution
When the leader that you made
Just don't make the grade
Oh mommy
I ain't no commie

But I hate to bust your bubble cause there's gonna be some trouble
Soon
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NightHawk63 Donating Member (447 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
4. A favorite of mine by Freda Payne
BRING THE BOYS HOME
Freda Payne


Fathers are pleading, lovers are all alone
Mothers are praying--send our sons back home
You marched them away--yes, you did--on ships and planes
To the senseless war, facing death in vain

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down

Can't you see 'em march across the sky,
all the soldiers that have died
Tryin' to get home--can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Tryin' to get home--they're tryin' to get home
Cease all fire (tell 'em 'bout it) on the battlefield
Enough men have already been wounded or killed

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down
(Mothers, fathers and lovers, can't you see them)

Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home--can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home--they're tryin' to get home

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)
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cascadiance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
5. I like Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction...
Edited on Mon Aug-22-05 02:43 PM by calipendence
Also sung by the Turtles then too...

Eve Of Destruction
Barry McGuire

The eastern world it is explodin',
Violence flarin', bullets loadin',
You're old enough to kill but not for votin',
You don't believe in war, what's that gun you're totin',
And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
Can't you see the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be noone to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
Handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
And marches alone can't bring integration,
When human respect is disintegratin',
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Tehn take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when your eturn, it's the same old place,
The poundin' of the drums, th pride and disgrace,
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
Hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. That one and "For What It's Worth"
are two of the earliest war protest songs I remember from that era.
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cascadiance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
7. Edwin Starr's "War" has added significance...
Since we lost Edwin just a day before the invasion of Iraq happened to a heart attack. I was really amazed that we didn't make a bigger issue of that at the time. Classic and great anti-war song to rally around!

War
Edwin Starr

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all

War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction
Of innocent lives

War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives

I said, war, huh
Good God, y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain't nothing
But a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Ooooh, war
It's an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die
Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
War, huh
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it's got one friend
That's the undertaker
Ooooh, war, has shattered
Many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can't give life
It can only take it away

Ooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way

Ooooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it

War, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Stand up and shout it
Nothing
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cascadiance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 03:12 PM
Response to Original message
8. Gil Scott Heron wasn't 60's, but love his "Work For Peace" song
That showed he had a very prophetic view as to what was going on then with the Persian Gulf War and is a lot more visible now. This is one of the newer protest songs that stick with me and one I play a lot in my car.

Work for Peace - Gil Scott Heron

Back when Eisenhower was the President,
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent.
So I never really listened to what the President said,
Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead.

But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed,
Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex.
Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe,
Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace.
Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex,
But all they?re doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,

They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the
planet into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,
they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many
decisions that are arbitrary.

We?re marching behind a commander in chief,
who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf.
but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef,
so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief.

The Military and the Monetary,
were shielded by January and went storming into February,
Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries,
two weeks ago I hadn?t heard of the son of a bitch,
now all of a sudden he'?s legendary.

They took the honour from the honourary,
they took the dignity from the dignitaries,
they took the secrets from the secretary,
but they left the bitch an obituary.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
had us all scrambling for our dictionaries,
cause we couldn?t understand the fuckin vocabulary.

Yeah, there was some smart bombs,
but there was some dumb ones as well,
scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
War in the desert sometimes sure is scary,
but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries.
Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary,
keeping the citizens secondary,
scaring old folks into coronaries.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary.

We?ve got to work for Peace,
Peace ain?t coming this way.
If we only work for Peace,
If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do,
we?d have Peace.

The only thing wrong with Peace,
is that you can?t make no money from it.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
they?ve turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

Got to work for Peace,
Peace ain?t coming this way.

We should not allow ourselves to be mislead,
by talk of entering a time of Peace,
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the
preparation for war.
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other,
closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves
because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
Get together whenever they think its necessary,
they?ve turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
We hounded the Ayatollah religiously,
Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi?s son hideously.
We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians,
and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians.
Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians,
We better warn the Amish,
they may bomb the Pennsylvanians.

The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,
they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

I don?t want to sound like no late night commercial,
but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the
world in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help.

When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day,
I know a lot of folks feel as though that,
thats not really any kind of contribution to make,
but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway
nowadays.

So this is a song about tomorrow and about how tomorrow can be better. if we
all, ?Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one?.

Nobody can do everything,
but everybody can do something,
everyone must play a part,
everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace.

Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace
If you believe the things you say, go to work.
If you believe in Peace, time to go to work.
Cant be wavin your head no more, go to work.
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Mz Pip Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
9. Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
and then there was "Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die Rag." That was Country Joe and the Fish.

Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers of America"

Mz Pip
:dem:
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Wind Dancer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-22-05 03:27 PM
Response to Original message
10. John Fogerty has written another great anti-war song.
It's not from the 60's but worth posting. I saw him recently in concert and he sings "To THIS war that has no end".

It's great to see the old timers coming out and speaking truth.

DEJA VU (ALL OVER AGAIN)

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you try to read the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

Day by day I hear the voices rising
Started with a whisper like it did before
Day by day we count the dead and dying
Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Momma's crying
She's lost her precious child
To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall
Did that voice inside you say
I've seen this all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again
It's like Deja Vu all over again

John Fogerty
©2004 Cody River Music / ASCAP
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