Digging out old forgotten war songs please add some that come to mind

[Omaha Steve]

Come Away Melinda by Uriah Heep

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/u/uriah+heep/come+away+melin...


Cruel War from the Civil War (Peter, Paul, & Mary had a great version.)

http://www.contemplator.com/america/cruelwar.html


Blowing In The Wind Bob Dylan

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/blowin.html



Whats going on & Mercy Mercy Me

Bottom of the page: http://www.solcomhouse.com/mg.htm



War by EDWIN STARR

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/edwin_starr/war.html

[LisaM]

1. "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" by Phil Ochs

(there's a slew by Phil Ochs).

Also, "Ain't Gonna Study War No More", Pete Seeger.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Simple Song of Freedom

Lyrics by Bobby Darin (popularized by Jeff

Buckley)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L71y0spxqB0&mode=related...
YouTube - Song of freedom

[Monkeyman]

3. Country Joe and the Fish

one two three four what are we fighting for

[brook]

10. and "Kiss My Ass"...

"...Well, they gave me some shoes that hurt my feet
They gave me some food not fit to eat,
They told me that I wasn't fighting alone,
They sent me to Saigon and they stayed home"

Loved Country Joe and the Fish!

[gfnrob]

31. I done my duty and I faught my fight,

I thought I knew I was doin' right .Thats all over I'm free at last. If they want any more they can KISS MY ASS

[ChiciB1]

12. Ya Got Me! That One Was HUGE!! I Was There.... n/t

[Blue Topaz]

22. "don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet-nam"

...and it's five, six seven open up the pearly gates
ain't no time to wonder why, whoop-ee we're all gonna die

Great stuff!

[gfnrob]

32. There's plenty good

money to be made by suppliin'the soldiers with the tools of the trade,Just hape and pray that if they drop the bomb, the drop it on the viet-cong!

[AzDar]

4. One Tin Soldier by Coven (iirc). It's been going through my mind

frequently these days.

[Nozebro]

5. "Where Have All The Flowers Gone? EOM

nt

[Cocoa]

6. Curtis Mayfield "We got to have peace"

We got to have peace
To keep the world alive
And war to cease.

We got to have joy,
True in our hearts
With strength we can't destroy.

People please hear us (people please hear us)
Through our voice the world knows
There's no choice.

We're begging save the children
The little ones
Who just don't understand

Give them a chance
To breed their young
And help purify the land

People please hear us (people please hear us)
Through our voice the world knows
There's no choice.

And the people in the neighbourhood,
Who would if they only could,
Meet and shake the other's hand,
Work together for the good of the land.

Give us all an equal chance,
It could be such a sweet romance.
And the soldiers who are dead and gone,
If only we could bring back one

He'd say "We've got to have peace"
To keep the world alive
And war to cease

[scarletwoman]

7. You've listed Dylan -- his "Masters of War" is the ULTIMATE "war song"

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Copyright © 1963

sw

[ProgressiveEconomist]

13. But what about John Lennon's "Imagine"?

[Omaha Steve]

14. War is Over, if you want it.. Want it over. John & Yoko

I forgot about it too.

[Lars39]

8. Found a few:

Brother in Arms-Dire Straits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y77HC9BeC0E&feature=Rece...

Wrote a Song for Everyone-CCR:
Met myself a comin' county welfare line.
I was feelin' strung out, hung out on the line.
Saw myself a goin', down to war in june.
All i want, all i want is to write myself a tune.

Chorus:
Wrote a song for ev'ryone,
Wrote a song for truth.
Wrote a song for ev'ryone
And i couldn't even talk to you.

Got myself arrested, wound me up in jail.
Richmond 'bout to blow up, communication failed.
If you see the answer, now's the time to say.
All i want, all i want is to get you down to pray.

Chorus

Chorus

Saw the people standin' thousand years in chains.
Somebody said it's diff'rent now, look, it's just the same.
Pharoahs spin the message, round and round the truth.
They could have saved a million people, how can i tell you?

Chorus
Chorus
Chorus


Golden Country-REO(Not really a war song, but the lyrics still apply)

Golden country your face is so red
With all of your money your poor can be fed
You strut around and you flirt with disaster
Never really carin just what comes after
Well your blacks are dyin but your back is still turned
And your freaks are cryin but your back is still turned
You better stop your hidin or your country will burn
The time has come for you my friend
To all this ugliness we must put an end
Before we leave we must make a stand

Mortgage people you crawl to your homes
Your security lies in your bed of white foam
You act concerned but then why turn away
When a lady was raped on your doorstep today
Well your blacks are cryin but your back is still turned
And your freaks are dyin but your back is still turned
You better stop your hidin or your country will burn
The time has come for you my friend
To all this ugliness we must put an end
Before we leave we must make a stand, oh yeah......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy-Pete Seeger
http://tinyurl.com/vvsk2

[solara]

9. Something in the air

by Tom Petty

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+petty/something+in+the...

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan

http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm#A%20HARD%20RA...

Universal Soldier - Buffy St. Marie

http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm#UNIVERSAL%20S...

Masters of War - Bob Dylan (Edit: Lyrics already posted)

The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan

http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm# †THE%20TIMES%20THEY%20ARE%20A-CHANGIN'

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. Eve of Destruction--Barry Gray

[sutz12]

25. Wasn't that Barry McGuire? nt

[ChiciB1]

15. Jackson Browne Wrote Quite A Few... But Not During Viet Nam!

Some really fantastic music from him. One I mentioned just the other day... Lives In the Balance!

You might include The Rebel Jesus and then he sang I Am A Patriot (Stephen Van Zant) but a GREAT song!

I LOVE Dylan, Joan Baez AND Jackson Brown. And what was that one that Tom Petty sang about Ronnie Rayguns?? I Won't Back Down... I think that's the one!

[Contrary1]

16. Check out this site...

Many I had forgotten.

http://www.lacarte.org/songs/anti-war/

[karynnj]

17. The Times they are a changing

sounds about right given the hopes of 2006.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

18. Almost all of the above, and more: The mother lode of antiwar

.songs, at http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm (with lyrics)

and a much more venturesome list, at http://www.prato.linux.it/~lmasetti/canzonicontrolaguer... .

[SteppingRazor]

33. How 'bout "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by The Pogues...

just to get away from the obvious Dylan/1960s stuff...

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pogues/and+the+band+played...

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my matilda all over

Then in nineteen fifteen my country said son
Its time to stop rambling cause theres work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played waltzing matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
when the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called suvla bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He showered us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to australia

But the band played waltzing matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
And we buried ours and the turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again

Now those who were left did their best to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive
while the corpses around me piled higher

Then a big turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, christ I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying

and no more Ill go waltzing matilda
to the green bushes far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded and maimed
And they shipped us back home to australia
the legless, the armless, the blind and insane
Those proud wounded heroes of suvla

And as our ship pulled into circular quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thanked christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the band played waltzing matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
and they turned all their faces away

And now every april I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
i see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving their dreams of past glory

i see the old men, all twisted and torn
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, what are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays waltzing matilda
And the old men still answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
Wholll go a-waltzing matilda with me?



*incidentally, this gets my vote for saddest song ever written ... like, _ever_*

[Omaha Steve]

19. Peter, Paul, & Mary's verses for Cruel War

http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/music/01-08.htm

CRUEL WAR
Yarrow/Stookey © Neworld Media Music Publishers- ASCAP/Silver Dawn Music- ASCAP

The Cruel War is raging, Johnny has to fight
I want to be with him from morning to night.
I want to be with him, it grieves my heart so,
Won't you let me go with you?
No, my love, no.

Tomorrow is Sunday, Monday is the day
that your Captain will call you and you must obey.
Your captain will call you it grieves my heart so,
Won't you let me go with you?
No, my love, no.

I'll tie back my hair, men's clothing I'll put on,
I'll pass as your comrade, as we march along.
I'll pass as your comrade, no one will ever know.
Won't you let me go with you?
No, my love, no.

Oh Johnny, oh Johnny, I fear you are unkind
I love you far better than all of mankind.
I love you far better than words can e're express
Won't you let me go with you?
Yes, my love, yes.

Yes, My Love, Yes.

[charlyvi]

20. Time Has Come (The Chambers Brothers)

Don't know if this counts as a war song but it throws me back to throws me into a time warp back to the Vietnam Era more than any other song, even more so than Hendrix!



Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can't put it off another day
I don't care what others say
They say we don't listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

Oh
The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I'm thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There's no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I've been loved and put aside (Time)
I've been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time

Oh
Now the time has come (Time)
There's no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I've been loved and put aside (Time)
I've been crushed by tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time
Yeah

[Blue Topaz]

21. John Prine's "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven"

While digesting Reader’s Digest
In the back of a dirty book store
A plastic flag with gum on the back
Fell out on the floor.
Well,I picked it up and ran outside
And slapped it on my windowshield.
And If I could see ol’ Betsy Ross
I’d tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But, your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven anymore.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reasons for.
And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.

Well,I went to the Bank this morning
And the cashier said to me
If you join the Christmas Club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free.
I didn’t mess a round a bit
I took him up on what he said
And stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife’s forehead.

(Chorus)

Well,I got my windshield so filled with flags I couldn’t see
So I ran my car upside a curb and right into a tree
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead,
And I’ll never understand
Why the man,
Standing in the Pearly Gates said…

(Chorus)


Day-um is that a great song! I had something of an alternative childhood, and have fond memories of my parents and their friends singing this song, passing a joint around a campfire. I knew the lyrics word for word at age 10.

[MrCoffee]

29. don't forget "The Great Compromise"

great song.

[Blue Topaz]

23. Peter Paul and Mary: "We Shall Overcome" (eom)

[saltpoint]

24. Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock," Simon & Garfunkel's "Silent Night/7:00 News,"

CSN's "Wooden Ships," Kenny Rogers' "20 Years Ago," James Taylor's "Soldiers," Jackson Browne's "Lives in the Balance," Stan Rogers' "Barrett's Privateers."

[Lisa]

26. from WWI -- "I'll Tell You Where They Are"

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBARBWIRE.html

One of the many shocking things about "The Great War" is how close "the front" was to normal life. At night, people living on the southern coast of England could see the artillery flashes from France (my co-worker said her grandmother recalled this). An officer could leave the trenches at the end of a day, and be in London in time for breakfast. These days, e-mail and camera phones can also compress time and space -- Iraq is much less than an airplane flight away.

This song became considerably more bitter and gruesome after the Battle of the Somme, which was so horrendous that it's difficult to describe in only a few sentences -- hundreds of thousands of soldiers died, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day. If you add the estimated number of civilians, troops, and insurgents killed on and since 9/11 in the attacks, Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombings like Bali, Madrid, and London -- it's still less than the total. (And the world was much smaller then -- fewer than a third of today's global population.) But I have the feeling that those who died in "the war to end all wars" would come out of their graves if they heard modern-day commentators complaining that we are being "too sensitive" about the hundred-plus US soldiers who died in Iraq this month.
More here on the Somme: http://www.johndclare.net/wwi2.htm


Early version:


If you want to know where the generals were,
I'll tell you where they were,
Yes, I'll tell you where they were,
Oh, I'll tell you where they were,
If you want to know where the generals were,
I'll tell you where they were,
Back in gay Paree!
(Spoken) How do you know?
I saw them! I saw them!
Back in gay Paree!
I saw them,
Back in gay Paree!

If you want to know where the colonels were,
Way behind the lines.

...the majors
Playing with the mademoiselles.

...the captains
Down in the deep dugout.

...the sergeants
Drinking up the privates' rum.

...the privates
Up to their necks in mud!





Later version (also known as "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire", or "The Old Battalion":


If you want to find the Sargeant,
I know where he is,
I know where he is,
I know where he is.
If you want to find the Sargeant,
I know where he is,
He's drunk on the dug-out floor.

cho: I saw him,
I saw him,
Drunk on the dug-out floor,
I saw him,
Drunk on the dug-out floor.

If you want to find the Captain
He's off on a seven-day leave

If you want to find the Colonel
He's pinning another medal on his chest

If you want the old battalion,
We know where they are,
We know where they are,
We know where they are.
If you want the old battalion,
We know where they are,
They're hangin' on the old barbed wire.

We've seen them,
We've seen them,
Hangin' on the old barbed wire,
We've seen them,
Hangin' on the old barbed wire.


http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiOLDBARB.html

[Hardrada]

27. Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye

Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg.
You're and armless legless chickenless egg
And ye have to be put in a bowl to beg.
Johnny I hardly knew ye.

With your guns and drums
And guns and drums hooroo (repeat twice)

Johnny I hardly knew ye.

[kath]

28. Tom Paxton has had some very good ones.

I especially like "The Willing Conscript", "What Did You Learn in School Today", "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation".
Also "Peace Will Come", "Jimmy Newman".

Just now while googling for some of his lyrics, I came across this one, which I haven't heard. Note the lines about torture:

We Didn't Know
Words and Music by Tom Paxton
We didn't know said the Burgomeister,
About the camps on the edge of town.
It was Hitler and his crew,
That tore the German nation down.
We saw the cattle cars it's true,
And maybe they carried a Jew or two.
They woke us up as they rattled through,
But what did you expect me to do?

(Chorus)
We didn't know at all,
We didn't see a thing.
You can't hold us to blame,
What could we do?
It was a terrible shame,
But we can't bear the blame.
Oh no, not us, we didn't know.

We didn't know said the congregation,
Singing a hymn in a church of white.
The Press was full lf lies about us,
Preacher told us we were right.
The outside agitators came.
They burned some churches and put the blame,
On decent southern people's names,
To set our colored people aflame.
And maybe some of our boys got hot,
And a couple of niggers and reds got shot,
They should have stayed where they belong,
And preacher would've told us if we'd done wrong.

(Chorus)

We didn't know said the puzzled voter,
Watching the President on TV.
I guess we've got to drop those bombs,
If we're gonna keep South Asia free.
The President's such a peaceful man,
I guess he's got some kind of plan.
They say we're torturing prisoners of war,
But I don't believe that stuff no more.
Torturing prisoners is a communist game,
And You can bet they're doing the same.
I wish this war was over and through,
But what do you expect me to do?

(Chorus)

http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/wdk.htm

[truebrit71]

30. 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath....

...awesome, awesome lyrics....points out the cowardice of the elite, and that they too, in the end will have to pay the piper...

[raccoon]

34. "Military Madness" by Graham Nash.

In an upstairs room in Blackpool
By the side of a northern sea
The army had my father
And my mother was having me
Military Madness was killing my country
Solitary Sadness comes over me

After the school was over and I moved
To the other side
I found another country but I never
Lost my pride
Military Madness was killing the country
Solitary sadness creeps over me

And after the wars are over
And the body count is finally filed
I hope that The Man discovers
What's driving the people wild
Military madness is killing your country
So much sadness, between you and me
War, War, War, War, War, War

[Chemical Bill]

35. Steppenwolf - Monster n/t

[cosmik debris]

36. You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington."

[No Exit]

37. "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier"

http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4942/

[No Exit]

39. "One, Two, Three, What're We Fightin' For?"

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/...

"Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die."

http://www.well.com/~cjfish/game.htm

[Uncle Joe]

38. "Chicken Hawk Warriors" by Uncle Joe

All I have is the title so far, but "Bush sucks big time and is a yellow bellied, smirking, corrupted coward" will be in the lyrics somewhere.

I also like "War" by Edwin Starr