Thanks to all for their contributions, especially for reminders of the Phil Ochs and Buffy Ste. Marie classics, which hadn't crossed my mind in years. (The Bob Dylan classics & Country Joe McDonald's one great contribution are touchstones from that era that I *never* forgot, while I've only heard Bogle's wonderful tunes in much more recent years.)

I have to go along with Bennet Z., who votes for the simplest songs for their sing-along-ability. The sheer intensity of experience that comes from being part of a large group united in anti-war fervor *and* in song -- to me -- outweighs whatever eloquence might be involved in any of those long poems set to music.

That said, my #1 fave has to be "Down By the Riverside" for its wonderfully rousing musicality. The tune offers so much more room for vocal harmonies, counterpoint, and general soulful improvisation than, for example, the lachrymose "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

Unfortunately, not everyone who hears it, or even who knows it well enough to participate, thinks of this old favorite as "anti-war." I don't know what they think "I ain't gonna study war no more" means, but they somehow manage to completely miss the point.

Must be the same mentality that prompts a certain US President to believe that the thoughts that come into his head encouraging invasions and bombing runs are direct personal communications from the Prince of Peace Himself....