User:Littlejennifer05

During the times of the 1960’s and early 1970’s opposition towards the Vietnam War broke out across the United States. Misleading media coverage and the misrepresentation of the war by presidents like Lyndon B. Johnson, caused an uproar of American people as truth spilled from there televisions, radios and newspapers. This truth was of course the Tet Offensive. As opposition towards the war increased, we can see a popular trend in musical history. Several of the most popular artists of those times wrote about their disgust over the war. Many people in the United States and fighting over in Vietnam took these songs to the heart. Everyone had a different meaning for themselves when they compared them to there own experiences, yet every protest song had similar intentions. These songs were all very political and even upsetting to some people. Rockers like Jimmi Hendrix used electric distortion in their music to emphasize the sounds and atmosphere of the fighting zones. An example of this is in “Machine Gun”, when Hendrix imitates the sounds of the machine gun firing. Many of those songs were gruff and full of attitude, like in Creedence Clearwater Revival’s famous song “Fortunate Son”. Other artists shared somber melodies to make a clear assertion of the troubles brought forth by the Vietnam War. An example of this is the song “Ohio”, by Neil Young. The tone is low with a hint of sadness; it truly gets the message across. However the song sounded, it persevered the anti-war message and kept the anti-war movement alive. Topics amongst these songs ranged from in-war fighting, to the protests in the United States. These songs kept people motivated and became almost ritualistic for many protestors in anti-war activities. “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-to-Die Rag” was one of these anthem-like songs. It spoke of rebellion against the war and also about the sheer madness of being in a war like the one in Vietnam. The song is extremely sarcastic: 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; There ain’t no time to wonder why, Whoopie- we’re all gonna die! (Franklin 209)

This, like many other songs from this era had this same sense of sarcasm, which clearly points of the absurdity of the war efforts.

Culturally these songs and artists are very important, even today. With the war happening in Iraq we see these songs re-appearing from the past to be applied to our modern problems. Several of the same feelings that people had during the Vietnam war are again being felt in today’s war. This anti-war music, like music from several other decades was extremely influential and set a standard for music to come.