Greatest war protest songs

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: RTim
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 12:00 PM

Les Sullivan's song - The Battle of Jutland.....6,000 plus British Navy dead and 105 years ago this week - And For What???
An example of the song:
https://soundcloud.com/tim-radford/battle-of-jutland

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 01:29 PM

The Young'uns (my favorite currently active folk group) have a lot of anti-war songs; my two favorites are:

Three Sailors (spotify link)
Lapwings (youtube link)

As far as I know, both are original

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 01:41 PM

And a few from Buffy St Marie;

Universal Soldier
Moratorium - Bring our brothers home
Soldier Blue

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 01:51 PM

Did anyone mention The King's Shilling performed by Karan Casey or the Richard Thompson composition "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again"?
The ones that focus on the innocent victims of war are the ones that hit me the hardest.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 01:54 PM

The Recruiting Sargeant- The Levellers with the Copper Family

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 02:45 PM

Link in a thread I started:

Gorizia, tu sei maledetta

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 03:30 PM

Christians at War
Written in 1912, just in time to prevent World War I.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: Raedwulf
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 03:36 PM

RTim - As a New York newspaper at the time assessed Jutland succinctly: ‘The German Fleet has assaulted its jailer, but it is still in jail.’ Jutland, on the tactical level, was indeterminate; on the strategic, it was a British victory. The Imperial German Navy never undertook another serious fleet action. The 6,000 didn't die "For What", for nothing. It should also be pointed out that German casualties weren't light; more than 2,500. Alas, that we fought at all! :/

As for "war protest", I side with HenryP. "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity." Wilfred Owen. The most moving words you will find (and, being fairly placid as a rule, I am not easily moved) are the ones from WWI, in my opinion, when poetry was yet more popular than nowadays. My favourite is not one of the better known ones; not a Sassoon, Owen, Blunden, Brookes, Rosenberg; but by Ewart Alan Mackintosh. I've posted it at least twice before here, so I'll confine myself now to linking In Memoriam

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: David C. Carter
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 04:56 AM

John Prine's Song "Sam Stone".

The Story of a war vet.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 05:48 AM

The fiddle and the drum.

When the tigers broke free.

Survivor leave.

Robin

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST,James Phillips
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 09:35 AM

One of the oldest, certainly:

Will Ye Go To Flanders as sung by Tony Cuffe/Ossian

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST,Liane
Date: 06 Jun 21 - 01:21 PM

Did anyone already mention "I Ain't Marching Anymore," by Phil Ochs?

"It's always the old who lead us to the wars,
Always the young who fall.
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun:
Tell me, was it worth it all?"

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 04:07 PM

The Ballad of Ira Hayes by Peter LaFarge, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy by Pete Seeger.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: Elmore
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 05:16 PM

The post just above was Elmore, not guest. My bad.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: BTMP
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 06:05 PM

I’ve always thought John Prine’s “Sam Stone” was a very powerful anti-war song. So many young men & women returned from Viet Nam and never got over what they had seen and experienced.

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 09 Jun 21 - 02:26 AM

https://youtu.be/d-Zw1e1pmn8

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: GUEST,John P
Date: 09 Jun 21 - 02:40 PM

As an aside, during the cold war I had a poster on my wall that said, "If we're going to have protest songs for World War III, we'd better write them now."

Subject: RE: Greatest war protest songs
From: robomatic
Date: 09 Jun 21 - 03:43 PM

John P: Songs 2,3, and 4 are for you! Numbers 4 and 5 need some updating.

Country Joe MacDonald - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag


Tom Lehrer - We'll All Go Together


Tom Lehrer - So Long Mom (A Song For WW III)

Flanders & Swann - 20 Tons of TNT

Tom Lehrer - Who's Next?