The Top 15 anti war protest songs

Very few types of songs are as common in the Americana music genre as the anti war protest song.  While mainstream Country artists have primarily stuck to the "God and Country" style of song during wartime, Americana artists showed their roots in the work of folk singers like Woody Guthrie by joining the Rock and Roll artists in portraying the dark side of war.  In this second part of our ongoing series exploring common musical themes in Americana music, we look back at some of the best protest songs ever written.

"Happy New Year" by Todd Snider

While Todd Snider gets pigeon-holed into the Country section at most record stores, he has always referred to himself as a Folk singer and nowhere is that more evident than in Snider's frequent songs of protest.  Several of Snider's songs deal with war and rampant commercialism but none do it as well as "Happy New Year" from his album The Devil You Know.  This song deals with war not from the affect it has on the troops or troop families but from the point of view of an "average" American who only knows about the war from the television and has never met a Muslim.  Snider brilliantly contrasts the supposed Christianity of these people with their support for war with the line "They got two bumper stickers on their pickup truck/they keep the pickup parked outside/one sticker says What Would Jesus Do?/The other bumper sticker says "Power of Pride."

"Blowin in the Wind" by Bob Dylan

There probably isn't a more famous protest song in history than this one.  A very early Bob Dylan song, it is the one that he is most identified with and is considered by many to be his finest work.  "Blowin' in the Wind" has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the Greatest Songs of All Time.  The brilliance of "Blowin' in the Wind" lies in its simplicity.  Just one man and an acoustic guitar pondering the unanswered questions of life.  "How many times must the cannonballs fly/before they are forever banned?/The answer my friend/is blowin' in the wind."

"Fortunate Son" by Creedance Clearwater Revival

Despite its recent use by a blue jean manufacturer in a patriotic ad, "Fortunate Son" is anything but a flag waver.  While the song begins "Some people are born/made to wave the flag/They're red, white, and blue", it quickly reveals its true intent with the next lines "When the band plays Hail to the Chief/They point the cannons at you."  "Fortunate Son" then goes on to absolutely the rich men who are in positions of power to start wars, but who quickly buy their sons way out of having to fight, leaving the actual dying to the poor.  "Fortunate Son" is a bit of an anamoly for Creedence, a song that borders on hard rock with its driving beat and angry tone but you can hear John Fogerty's disdain for politicians loud and clear throughout.

"War Song" by Neil Young and Graham Nash

Neil Young and Graham Nash are both people very familiar with anti-war protest songs.  Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young recorded a number of anti-war songs during their tenure but the best was just Nash and Young with "War Song."  The lyrics to this one aren't ambiguous in the least, as Nash and Young bluntly tell of the horrors of war, finishing up each verse with the chorus "There's a man/says he can/put an end to war" before bringing another verse about another war.

"Ballad of Ira Hayes" by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash has always bucked the Country conventions and no more than with "Ballad of Ira Hayes".  This song touches on two common Americana themes of war and racism.  It tells the story of Iwo Jima hero and Pima Indian Ira Hayes.  The song tells of Hayes' guilt over being seen as a hero for killing.  Hayes returned to the reservation and his live never returned to normal.  Cash contrasts Hayes' exploitation by the Government to sell war bonds with the chorus that drags up the old racist "Drunken Indian" stereotypes with "Call him Drunken Ira Hayes/he won't answer anymore/not the whiskey drinkin' Indian/or the Marine that went to war."

"Alice's Restaurant Massacree" by Arlo Guthrie

Aside from "Blowin' in the Wind", this is probably the song most associated with 70's protest songs.  Sung mostly in recitation, Woody Guthrie's son Arlo tells the story of being arrested one Thanksgiving for littering and his subsequent rejection at the draft board.  Guthrie takes a very opposite tack from most war protest singers by attacking the war with humor.  The protagonist of the song tries to get himself out of the draft by pretending to be psycho, jumping around yelling "Kill! Kill!" only to find the Army officers happily yelling "Kill! Kill!" right along with him.  The kicker of the song is when Guthrie's protagonist is asked if he reformed himself after his littering conviction, to which he replies "You got a lot of damn gall asking me if I'm moral enough to join the Army, burn women, children, houses, and villages after being a litterbug!"

"Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle

Protest songs are Steve Earle's bread and butter but nowhere has he nailed it like he did on "Copperhead Road".  The song tells the story of the son and grandson of whiskey runners who volunteers for Vietnam because "they take the White Trash first 'round here anyway".  The protagonist comes back from Vietnam not as a hero but as a cynical husk who uses the tricks he learned from the Viet Cong to booby trap his marijuana crops.  "I learned a thing or two from Charlie don't you know/you better stay away from Copperhead Road."

"Sam Stone" by John Prine

There have been a ton of songs written about Veterans' problems integrating after Vietnam, but you will never find one that is the shot in the gut that "Sam Stone" is.  John Prine proves he is arguably the greatest songwriter since Bob Dylan with "Sam Stone", the tale of a Vietnam war veteran who came home "with a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back" due to a shrapnel wound in his knees.  As Stone's morphine addiction becomes more serious and he starts using more and more morphine to soothe both his physical and mental pain.  Prine shows that Stone didn't exactly get the hero's welcome he deserved for his sacrifice, saying "Sam Stone's welcome home/didn't last too long/he went to work when he'd spent his last dime/and Sammy took to stealin'/when he got an empty feeling/for a $100 habit/without overtime."  Stone eventually overdoses, a move that Prine leaves very little question was suicide.  "Life had lost its fun/and there was nothing to be done/but trade his house that he'd bought on the GI Bill/for a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill."

"Still in Saigon" by Charlie Daniels Band

While the Charlie Daniels of today is a strong advocate of the War in Iraq and Republican causes, the Charlie Daniels of the 1970's was very much concerned with the affect Vietnam had on the psyche of its veterans.  The protagonist of Daniels' "Still in Saigon" finds himself unable to cope with the "real world" when he leaves Vietnam.  He struggles with the different reactions he receives as "my younger brother calls me a killer/and my daddy calls me a vet/everybody says I'm someone else/that I'm sick and there's no cure/Damned if I know who I am/there was only one place I was sure."  He sees constant reminders of what he saw.  "Every summer/when it rains/I see the jungles/I hear the planes/Can't tell no one/I feel ashamed/I pray someday/I'll go insane."

"Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon

Probably John Lennon's best known post-Beatles song, "Give Peace a Chance" is an anthemic plea.  The clapped and repeated chorus of "All we are saying/is give peace a chance" is one of the more famous of the 1970's anti-war movement.  Lennon's considerable star power lent a lot of credibility to the anti-Vietnam movement and "Give Peace a Chance" continues to be used today by those seeking to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" -Traditional

Anti war protest songs are hardly unique to America.  "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" is an Irish ballad dating back to the Early 19th Century.  It is told from the point of view of a soldier marching through a town who hears a girl's cry about her husband.  She laments the lures used by recruiters to take young men away from their families.  "They had guns and drums and drums and guns haroo, haroo."  She wonders laments the things she loved about her Johnny that were lost in the war "Where are the eyes that looked so mild/when my poor heart you first beguiled?/Why did you run from me and the child?"  Finally, she wonders how they will live with the shell Johnny has become "Ye haven't an arm/ye haven't a leg/you're an armless, boneless, chickenless egg/You'll have to be put with a bowl to beg."  The song has been covered by a number of Irish and American artists over the years including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and the Dropkick Murphys.

"Pride" by Will Kimbrough

Will Kimbrough's entire Americanitis album is one big protest of many things, including war.  "Pride", which is sung in recitation form, asks some very pointed questions about America's attitude toward war.  Like Snider's "Happy New Year", it contrasts Christianity with war, saying about the Power of Pride stickers "When did Pride get crossed off the list of deadly sins?/or was that just a law passed by a bunch of old men back in the first century/to keep the people in their place?"

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who

Pete Townsend has a talent for writing anthems and no Who anthem is more striking than "Won't Get Fooled Again."  From the very beginning it stakes its claim "We're fighting in the street/with our children at our feet/and the morals that they worshipped/will be gone/And the men who spurred us on/sit in judgment of our wrongs/they decide and the shotgun sings the song."  In "Won't Get Fooled Again", The Who have very little of the hope for change in the future that many protest songs, saying "The world looks just the same/history ain't changed/and the banners are all flown in the next war."  Later, they get even less optimistic, ending the song with the now famous line used by cynics at the end of every Presidential campaign, "Meet the new boss/same as the old boss."

"Big Time in the Jungle" by Old Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow Medicine Show's "Big Time in the Jungle" aims its anti-war message straight at the recruiters who walk into bars and coax young men to sign up with promises of "seeing the world" and "visiting exotic places", only to drop them into Hell without a net.  The protagonist of "Big Time in the Jungle" is typical of many young men "I got nothin' here in the States for me/I wanna see the world you see/I know that Uncle Sam needs me/To fight for an idea/I know nothing about."

"Bring 'Em Home" by Pete Seeger

The grand old man of folk singers is typically known for his thoughtful and gentle protest songs.  "Bring 'Em Home" is not one of these.  Seeger is unusually direct with his lyrics here, repeating in each chorus "If you love your Uncle Sam/Bring 'Em home, Bring 'Em Home/Support our boys in Vietnam/Bring 'em home, bring 'em home."  Seeger eloquently shows that you can be in support of the soldiers and against the war, saying "If an Army invaded this land of mine/I'd be at the front of the firing line."

What is your favorite anti-war protest song?  Let us know in the comment section.  If you would like to read the first part of our series, which looks at the best Murder Ballads of all time, you can find it here.