The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #46020   Message #686482
Posted By: Bennet Zurofsky
09-Apr-02 - 04:19 PM
Thread Name: Help! - Folk Protest Songs?
Subject: RE: Help! - Folk Protest Songs?
If you are specifically looking for songs protesting Viet Nam then you need to check Pete Seeger's recordings of the period and the many songs he wrote, especially "Big Muddy," "Uncle Ho" and "(If You Love Your Uncle Sam) Bring Them Home." Also Phil Ochs, e.g., "Talking Viet Nam Blues" and "Cops of the World," and Tom Paxton, e.g., "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation," "The Willing Conscript" and "We Didn't Know (Said the Burgermeister)." Don't forget Malvina Reynolds, e.g., "The Bankers and the Diplomat are Going In the Army."

There is also a CD of songs actually sung by the American troops in Viet Nam which I believe Saul Brody both collected and contributed to as an informant. I'm not sure, but its probably on one of the Rounder labels. Many of these have a protest strain.

One could go on and on. If you can get to the Sing Out! archive in Bethlehem, Pa., or to some other good collection of folkmusic periodicals, then I would recommend going through the Sing Outs and Broadside Magazines published at the time. Each issue should yield at least one good anti-Viet Nam protest song.

None of this, of course, even begins to explore protest material recorded by rock bands like the MC5 at the time. Viet Nam protest songs are truly a motherlode of material.