Opposition To The U.S. Involvement in The Vietnam War - Popular Antiwar Music

Popular Antiwar Music

Protest to American participation in the Vietnam War was a movement that many popular musicians appropriated, which was a stark contrast to the pro-war compositions of artists during World War II. These musicians included Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Roger Hannay, Lou Harrison, Gail Kubik, William Mayer, Elie Siegmeister, Robert Fink, David Noon, Richard Wernick, and John Downey. The two most notable genres involved in this protest were Rock and Folk music. While composers created pieces affronting the war, they were not limited to their music. Often protesters were being arrested and participating in peace marches and popular musicians were among their ranks. This concept of intimate involvement reached new heights in May 1968 when the “Composers and Musicians for Peace” concert was staged in New York. As the war continued, and with the new media coverage, the movement snowballed and popular music reflected this.

A key figure on the rock end of the antiwar spectrum was Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970). Hendrix himself was not an official protestor of the war; in fact, being a former soldier he sympathized with the anticommunist view. He did, however, protest the violence that took place in the Vietnam War. With the song “Machine Gun,” dedicated to those fighting in Vietnam, this protest of violence is manifest. David Henderson, author of ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, describes the song as “scary funk his sound over the drone shifts from a woman’s scream, to a siren, to a fighter plane diving, all amid Buddy Miles’ Gatling-gun snare shots. he says ‘evil man make me kill you make you kill me although we're only families apart”. This song was often accompanied with pleas from Hendrix to bring the soldiers back home and cease the bloodshed. While Hendrix’s views may not have been analogous to the protestors, his songs became anthems to the antiwar movement. Songs such as “Star Spangled Banner” showed individuals that “you can love your country, but hate the government”. Hendrix’s anti-violence efforts are summed up in his words: “when the power of love overcomes the love of power... the world will know peace.” Thus, Hendrix’s personal views did not coincide perfectly with those of the antiwar protestors; however, his anti-violence outlook was a driving force during the years of the Vietnam War even after his death (1970).

The song known to many as the anthem of the protest movement was The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag released in 1969 by Country Joe and the Fish although it was not on music charts most probably because it was too radical. “Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” was a song that used sarcasm to communicate the problems with not only the war but also the public’s naïve attitudes towards it. It was said that “the happy beat and insouciance of the vocalist are in odd juxtaposition to the lyrics that reinforce the sad fact that the American public was being forced into realizing that Vietnam was no longer a remote place on the other side of the world, and the damage it was doing to the country could no longer be considered collateral, involving someone else.”

Another key historical figure of the antiwar movement was Bob Dylan. Folk and Rock were critical aspects of counterculture during the Vietnam War both were genres that Dylan would dabble in. Tor Egil Førland, in his article “Bringing It All Back Home or Another Side of Bob Dylan: Midwestern Isolationist”, quotes Todd Gitlin, a leader of a student movement at the time, in saying “Whether he liked it or not, Dylan sang for us …. We followed his career as if he were singing our songs”. The anthem “Blowing in Wind” embodied Dylan’s antiwar sentiment. The song metaphorically conveys the notion that the general public has turned a blind eye to the horrors taking place in Vietnam. To compliment “Blowing in the Wind” Dylan’s song “The Times they are A-Changin’” alludes to a new method of governing that is necessary, and warns those who currently participate in government that the change is imminent. Dylan tells the “senators and congressmen please heed the call.” Dylan’s songs were designed to awaken the public and to cause a reaction. The protestors of the Vietnam War identified their cause so closely with the artistic compositions of Dylan that Joan Baez and Judy Collins performed “The Times they are A-Changin’” at a march protesting the Vietnam War (1965) and also for President Johnson. While Dylan renounced the idea of subscribing to the ideals of one individual, his feelings of protest towards Vietnam were appropriated by the general movement and they “awaited his gnomic yet oracular pronouncements”, which provided a guiding aspect to the movement as a whole.

Thus, the forces of Rock and Roll and Folk music were critical in the guidance of the antiwar movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s in the United States. Icons such as Hendrix and Dylan provided the movement with direction, which was conducive to a feeling of solidarity necessary in a movement originating from the people.