Anti-War Songs

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batgirl

The idea of this thread is to suggest favorite anit-war songs.I can think of several.

But I'm in a quandry.  Is this famous Leonard Cohen song an anti-war song or is is something deeper?

The Story of Isaac

The door it opened slowly,
My father he came in,
I was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
His blue eyes they were shining
And his voice was very cold.
He said, "I've had a vision
And you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
So he started up the mountain,
I was running, he was walking,
And his axe was made of gold.

Well, the trees they got much smaller,
The lake a lady's mirror,
We stopped to drink some wine.
Then he threw the bottle over.
Broke a minute later
And he put his hand on mine.
Thought I saw an eagle
But it might have been a vulture,
I never could decide.
Then my father built an altar,
He looked once behind his shoulder,
He knew I would not hide.

You who build these altars now
To sacrifice these children,
You must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
And you never have been tempted
By a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now,
Your hatchets blunt and bloody,
You were not there before,
When I lay upon a mountain
And my father's hand was trembling
With the beauty of the word.

And if you call me brother now,
Forgive me if I inquire,
"just according to whose plan?"
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must,
I will help you if I can.
When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must,
I will kill you if I can.
And mercy on our uniform,
Man of peace or man of war,
The peacock spreads his fan.

Wolfbird

Masters Of War

Written by: Bob Dylan

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

trysts

The Gulf Of Araby - Katell Keineg

Words and music by Katell Keineg

If you could fill a veil with shells from Killiney's shore
And sweet talk in a tongue that is no more
And if wishful thoughts could bridge The Gulf of Araby
Between what is, what is, what is
And what can never be

If you could hold the frozen flow of New Hope Creek
And hide out from the one they said you might meet
And if you could unlearn all the words
That you never wanted heard
If you could stall the southern wind
That's whistling in your ears
You could take what is, what is, what is
To what can never be

One man of seventy whispers free at last
Two neighbors who are proud of their massacres
Three tyrants torn away in a winter's month
Four prisoners framed by a dirty judge
Five burned with tyres
Six men still inside
And seven more days to shake at the great divide

(X2) The Gulf, the Gulf of Araby

Well, we would plough and part the earth to bring you home
And harvest every miracle ever known
And if they laid out all the things
That these ten years were to bring
We would gladly give them up
To bring you back to us
O, there is nothing we would not give
To kiss you and to believe we could take what is, what is, what is
To what can never be

One man of seventy whispers not free yet
Two neighbors who make up knee-deep in their dead
Three tyrants torn away in the summer's heat
Four prisoners lost in the fallacy
Five, on my life
And six, I'm dead inside
And seven more days to shake at the great divide

(X2) The Gulf, the Gulf of Araby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlfjNgl7rc8

trysts

The Iraq War Black Angels

trysts

Leonard Cohen's The Story of Isaac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtdYnhnoGI0

Bob Dylan's Masters of War:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2mabTnMHe8

I just listened to them both. Great songs, Thank you:)

trysts

 Pearl Jam - "World Wide Suicide"

I felt the earth on Monday. It moved beneath my feet. 
In the form of a morning paper. Laid out for me to see. 

Saw his face in a corner picture. I recognized the name. 
Could not stop staring at the. Face I'd never see again. 

It's a shame to awake in a world of pain 
What does it mean when a war has taken over 

It's the same everyday in a hell manmade 
What can be saved, and who will be left to hold her? 

The whole world...World over. 
It's a worldwide suicide. 

Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face. 
That the president took for granted. 
Writing checks that others pay. 

And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive. 
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say. 

It's the same everyday and the wave won't break 
Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder 

Laying claim to the take that our soldiers save 
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there 

The whole world,... World over. 
It's a worldwide suicide. 

The whole world,... World over. 
It's a worldwide suicide. 

Looking in the eyes of the fallen 
You got to know there's another, another, another, another 
Another way 

It's a shame to awake in a world of pain 
What does it mean when a war has taken over 

It's the same everyday and the wave won't break 
Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder 

The whole world,... World over. 
It's a worldwide suicide. 

The whole world,... World over. 
It's a worldwide suicide.
RocknRollWoman

"Shipbuilding"  -  Elvis Costello

Is it worth it?

A new winter coat and shoes for the wife

And a bicycle on the boy's birthday

It's just a rumor that was spread around town

By the women and children

Soon we'll be shipbuilding...

 

Well I ask you

The boy said "Dad they're going to take me to task, but I'll be back by Christmas"

It's just a rumor that was spread around town

Somebody said that someone got filled in

For saying that people get killed in

The result of this shipbuilding

 

With all the will in the world

Diving for dear life

When we could be diving for pearls

 

It's just a rumor that was spread around town

A telegram or a picture postcard

Within weeks they'll be re-opening the shipyards

And notifying the next of kin

Once again

It's all we're skilled in

We will be shipbuilding...

 

With all the will in the world

Diving for dear life

When we could be diving for pearls.

 

Songwriters: LANGER, CLIVE WILLIAM/MACMANUS, DECLAN ELVIS COSTELLO

Shipbuilding lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

 

RocknRollWoman

"Daylight Again/Find The Cost Of Freedom"  -  Crosby, Stills & Nash

Daylight again
Following me to bed
I think about a hundred years ago
How my fathers bled

I think I see a valley
Covered with bones in blue
All the brave soldiers that cannot get older
Been asking after you

Hear the past a calling
From Armageddon's side
When everyone's talking and no one is listening
How can we decide?

Do we find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground?
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

 

Songwriters: Stephen Stills

Published by: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC


 
batgirl

I really like th Gulf of Araby. I'm not quite an enamoured with the Pearl Jam song. I do like the final line of Shipbuilding. I understand from wiki that song was brought out during the Falkland conflict.  The Steven Stills song is very Stillish and the Masters of War is entirely Dylanish :-D   .  These are all good songs in their own way.


batgirl

When I think of anti-war songs, my mind goes automatically to Pete Seeger.

Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Pete Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

 

 

Study War No More
Weavers (with Pete Seeger)

I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside and study war no more

Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay my burden down
And I'll study war no more

[chorus]
I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more, study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more

Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace
Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace, Hallelujah
Down by the riverside I'm gonna walk with the Prince of Peace
And I'll study war no more

[chorus]

I'm gonna beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside
I'm gonna beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside, yes it is
Beat my sword into a cloud down by the riverside
And I'll study war no more

[chorus]

batgirl

Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote this song that's been covered uncountable times:

Universal Soldier

He's five foot two and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen
Been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
And he knows he shouldn't kill and he knows he always will
Kill you for me my friend and me for you

And he's fighting for Canada
He's fighting for France, he's fighting for the U.S.A.
And he's fighting for the Russians
And he's fighting for Japan
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

And he's fighting for Democracy, he's fighting for the Reds
He says "It's for the peace of all"
He's the one who must decide, who's to live and who's to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall

But without him
How would Hitler have condemned him at Labau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war
And without him all this killing can't go on

He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from here and there and you and me
And brothers can't you see
This is not the way we put the end to war

batgirl

This song is often seen attributed to Seeger, but although the Weavers covered it, as did Simon and Garfunkel, it was written by Ed McCurdy:

Last Night I had the Strangest Dream

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands end bowed their heeds
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

batgirl

The following song I don't really care for but it's often played on the radio and is certainly anti-war.

War
Edwin Starr

War,
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

War,
I despise

Cause it means destruction
Of innocent lives
War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives

war,
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

War
It ain't nothing

But a heartbreaker
Friends only to the undertaker

War
It's an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind

War
has caused unrest

Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die

Nikprit

 

 

Nikprit

Roger Waters was out of Pink Floyd for this album.

So the picture at the start is misplaced.

Track is from the excellent Momentary Lapse of Reason album. And is defintely anti-war.

Food for thought in my younger days. 

ANOK1
batgirl

Nice anti-US-war song by Phil Ochs.  I like those old protest writers.  Tom Paxton, I think, had some Vietnam-focused songs, like "The Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues" but I'm not sure many were anti-war except possibly, "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation," which seems to me to be more anti-establishment than anti-war proper with lines like:

Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese.

ilikeflags

Everywhere by Billy Bragg

Dig in boys for an extended stay
Those were final orders to come down that day
Waiting to be saved in the Philippines
You'll wait forever for the young Marines

Now I believe to be here is right
But I have to say that I'm scared tonight
Crouching in this hole with a mouth full of sand
What comes first the country or the man?

Look at those slanted eyes coming up over the hill
Catching us by surprise, it's time to kill or to be killed

Over here, over there, it's the same everywhere
A boy cries out for his mama before he dies for his home

All my life I wanted to be
As clever and strong as my best friend Lee
We grew up together along Half Moon Bay
Lee was Japanese, born in the USA

When Tommy was fighting Jerry along the River Seine
Me and Lee wanted to do the same
Then they bombed Pearl Harbour at the break of day
I was headed for these islands while Lee was hauled away

They said look at his slanted eyes, he's guilty as guilty can be
Sent here as enemy spies to sabatage the Land of the Free

I never got home, my platoon was never saved
That little fox hole became my island grave
Lee got out of jail but a prisoner he remained
Till he ended his own life to lose that ball and chain

And they said Oh Little Slanted Eyes can't you forgive and forget?
And he said, Oh Mr Friendly Ghost
Can you catch water in a net?

ilikeflags

 

The Green Fields of France

How do you do young willie mcbride,
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,
And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the great fall-in in 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young willie mcbride was it slow and obscene.

Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back in 1916
In that faithful heart are you forever 19
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed then forever behind a glass frame
In an old photograph torn, battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame.

Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun now it shines on the green fields of france
There's a warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no barbwire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned.

Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Now young willie mcbride I can't help wonder why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
Did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and the dying were all done in vain
For young willie mcbride it all happened again,
And again and again and again and again

Did they beat the drum slowly did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest




batgirl

Don't often hear an Irish lament.  Thanks.

It reminds me of "In Flanders Fields."

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