The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #168402   Message #4103538
Posted By: Sandra in Sydney
26-Apr-21 - 06:01 AM
Thread Name: Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook
Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
interesting article with links to 9 songs, with audio/video + some with lyrics

From Eric Bogle to Ziggy Ramo: the Australian music challenging the Anzac legacy 50 years since And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Australian songwriters have continued to poke at otherwise unassailable wartime legends

... Songs like Australia Will Be There (1915) (audio & lyrics), Boys of the Dardanelles (1915) (audio & lyrics), and They Were There! There! There! (1916) (audio only) served an explicit role as propaganda and recruitment tools, often glorifying the sacrifice, mateship and heroism of the young men who enlisted. Some, like the Boer war-era Sons of Australia (lyrics & audio), predate the commonwealth, with a call to patriotism that came firmly couched in the language of empire: (“Sons of Australia / Are your pulses thrilling? / Thrilling at the chance to thrash / Your empire’s foes”).

But not all wartime songwriters viewed Australia’s role in a contest of European imperial powers so sunnily. Mark Erickson and P. Clay-Bealer’s Only One of the Toys (1914) (lyrics & audio) speaks to the futility of the conflict, framing Australian soldiers as the disposable playthings of imperial command: “No command is mine / Just a number in the line / For I’m only one of the toys.”

video - Red Angel Panic : Viet Rock (1971)

Redgum - I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green) (Official Video) strangely enough you have to 'Sign in to confirm your age. This video may be inappropriate for some users'.

Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh [Official Lyric Video] (2011)

Lee Kernaghan - Spirit of the Anzacs (Official Music Video)