Favorite anti-war/protest songs that are not as well known...

[ZoCrowes]

Everyone knows Masters of War, War Pigs, Revoloution and the like what are some of your favorite protest songs that are not as well know.

Mine is the Jam's Little Boy Soldiers. It's an excellent comment on the nature of empire that can just as easily be applied to the United States now as it could Great Britain (which the song is about.)

LITTLE BOY SOLDIERS - The Jam (Paul Weller)
Its funny how you never knew what my name was,
Our only contact was a form for the election.

These days I find that you don't listen,
These days I find that we're out of touch,
These days I find that I'm too busy,
So why the attention now you want my assistance -
what have you done for me?

You've gone and got yourself in trouble,
Now you want me to help you out.

These days I find that I can't be bothered,
These days I find that its all too much,
To pick up a gun and shoot a stranger,
But I've got no choice so here I come - war games.

I'm up on the hills playing little boy soldiers,
Reconnaissance duty up at 5:30.
Shoot shoot shoot and kill the natives,
You're one of us and we love you for that.
Think of honour, Queen and country.
You're a blessed son of the British Empire,
God's on our side and so is Washington.
Come out on the hills with the little boy soldiers.
Come on outside - I'll sing you a lullabye,
And tell the tale of how goodness prevailed.

We ruled the world - we killed and robbed,
The fucking lot - but we don't feel bad.
It was done beneathe the flag of democracy,
You'll believe - and I do, yes I do - yes I do -
Yes I do -

These days I find that I can't be bothered,
To argue with them - well, what's the point?
Better to take your shots and drop down dead,
then they send you home in a pine overcoat.
With a letter to your mum
Saying 'find enclosed one son, one medal' - and a note to say he won

[lastknowngood]

1. Can't really remember the words because I only heard it one time

in 1975. Vietnam National Park. A song asking if after it is over and everyone has died for our country will they make Vietnam a national park as they have all of the civil war battlefields. It was very moving and of course it made you examine the whole idea of battlefield national parks.

[Kire]

2. 19

19 by Paul Hardcastle

In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war,
but it wasn't.
It was different in many ways, as so were tose that did the fighting.
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19.
In inininininin Vietnam he was 19.
(TV announcer's voice)
The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today
25 miles west of Saigon
I really wasn't sure what was going on (Vet's Voice)
Nininini Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
In Vietnam the combat soldier typicaly served a twelve month tour of duty but
was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday
Ninininininininininin 19 nininininninin 19
Hundreds of Thousands of men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam were arrested
since discharge
Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans of the same age.
There are no accurate figures of how many of these men have been incarcerated.
But, a Veterans Administration study concludes that the greater of Vets
exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances of being arrested or
convicted.
This is one legacy of the Vietnam War
(Singing Girls)
All those who remember the war
They won't forget what they've seen..
Destruction of men in their prime
whose average was 19
Dedededededede-Destruction
Dedededededede-Destruction

War, War
Dededede-Destruction, wa-wa-War, wa-War, War
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War
After World War II the Men came home together on troop ships, but the Vietnam
Vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat
Perhaps the most dramatic difference between World War II and VietNam was
coming home.. .none of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a heroes welcome, none of them, none of them
Nenene Nenene None of them, none of them, none of them (etc...)
None of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a hero's welcome
According to a Veteran's Administration study
Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what Psychiatrists call
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder
Many vets complain of alienation, rage, or guilt
Some succumb to suicidal thoughts
Eight to Ten years after coming home almost eight-hundred-thousand men are
still fighting the VietNam War
(Singing Girls)
Dede
dedededede-Destruction

Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
(Soldiers Voice)
When we came back it was different.. Everybody wants to know "How'd it
happenned to those guys over there
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
We did what we had to do
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
People wanted us to be ashamed of what it made us
Dad had no idea what he went to fight and he is now
All we want to do is come home
All we want to do is come home
What did we do it for
All we want to do is come home
Was it worth it?

[CanuckAmok]

3. My four faves, from four diverse sources:

Eric Bogle, "My Youngest Son Caqme Home Today":

My youngest song came home today
His friends marched with him all the way
The fife and drum beat out the time
While in his box of polished pine
Like dead meat on a butcher's tray
My youngest son came home today
My youngest son was a fine young man
With a wife, a daughter and two sons
And a man he would have lived and died
Till by a bullet sanctified
Now he's a saint or so they say
They brought their young saint home today
An Irish sky looks down and weeps
Upon the narrow Belfast streets
At children's blood in gutters spilled
In dreams of glory unfulfilled
As part of freedom's price to pay
My youngest son came home today
My youngest son came home today
His friends marched with him all the way
The pipe and drum beat out the time
While in his box of polished pine
Like dead meat on a butcher's tray
My youngest son came home today
And this time he's here to stay


Phil Ochs, "I Ain't Marchin'":

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)
It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning
That I ain't marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin'
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"
Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more,
No I ain't marchin' any more


Billy Bragg, "The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions":

Here we are, seeking out the reds
Trying to keep the communists in order
Just remember when youre sleeping in your beds
Theyre only two days drive from the texas border

How can a country large as ours
Be scared of such a threat?
Well if they wont work for us
They're against us you can bet
They may be sovereign countries
But you folks at home forget
That they all want what weve got
But they dont know it yet


Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la
We're making the world safe for capitalism

Here we come with our candy and our guns
And our corporate muscle marches in behind us
For freedoms just another world for nothing left to sell
And if you want narcotics we can get you those as well

We help the multi-nationals
When they cry out protect us
The locals scream and shout a bit
But we dont let that affect us
Were here to lend a helping hand
In case they dont elect us
How dare they buy our products
Yet still they dont respect us

We're making the world safe for capitalism

If you thought the army
Was here protecting people like yourself
Ive some news for you
Were here to defend wealth
Away with nuns and bishops (Romero!)
The good lord will help those that help themselves
Ive some news for you
Were here to defend wealth

We're making the world safe for capitalism


Motorhead, "1916":

16 years old when I went to war,
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
God on my side,and a gun in my hand,
Counting my days down to zero,
And I marched and I fought and I bled
And I died & I never did get any older,
But I knew at the time, That a year in the line,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,
We all volunteered,
And we wrote down our names,
And we added two years to our ages,
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
Ready for history's pages,
And we fought and we brawled
And we whored 'til we stood,
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A thirst for the Hun,
We were food for the gun,
and that's what you are when you're soldiers,
I heard my friend cry,
And he sank to his knees, coughing blood
As he screamed for his mother
And I fell by his side,
And that's how we died,
Clinging like kids to each other,
And I lay in the mud
And the guts and the blood,
And I wept as his body grew colder,
And I called for my mother
And she never came,
Though it wasn't my fault
And I wasn't to blame,
The day not half over
And ten thousand slain,and now
There's nobody remembers our names Í
And that's how it is for a soldier.

[jus_the_facts]

4. Effigy ~ CCR

Last night
I saw a fire burning on
The palace lawn.
O’er the land
The humble subjects watched in mixed
Emotion.

Who is burnin’?
Who is burnin’?
Effigy.
Who is burnin’?
Who is burnin’?
Effigy.

Last night
I saw the fire spreadin’ to
The palace door.
Silent majority
Weren’t keepin’ quiet
Anymore.


Last night
I saw the fire spreadin’ to
The country side.
In the mornin’
Few were left to watch
The ashes die.

Why?
Why?
Why?
Effigy.

[Orsino]

5. Elvis Costello's "Oliver's Army"

More anti-war culture or anti-military than actually anti-war, I guess, but I love it:

http://elvis-costello.lyrics-songs.com/lyrics/8703/

[phaseolus]

6. We Can't Make It Here, James McMurtry

a new one, download it here http://www.digitalvisionmedia.com/compadre/downloadmcmurtry.html

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are workin' two jobs and livin' in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore

Wow I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore

[Zomby Woof]

7. "Territory" - Sepultura

Brazil's finest metal band. This cut and pretty much anything from 'Chaos A.D.' fits the anti-war/protest bill of a non-mainstream variety.

[jandrok]

8. Metallica's "One"

One of the best anti-war songs ever recorded. Written when they were still angry and relevant, it was a revelation to the MTV generation. The video used outakes from the 1970's era film "Johnny, Get Your Gun" as background. Powerful stuff. They quickly went downhill after "And Justice For All", sloping into jingoistic claptrap on the "Black" album.