Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Research Writing Exercise from Natalee Christman

  The Vietnam war was the most protested war in American history and with that came the anti-war protests that gained national attention. The anti-war movement members were mostly college age students who were greatly influenced by bands, movies and art. Three bands created songs that captured how the anti-war movement felt about the war. Three of the most influential songs about the war are "Four Dead in Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the second song is "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the third song is "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan and then re-recorded by Jimi Hendrix. All of these artists had great influence through there music and still do today 50 years later.
  The first song that had great influence towards the anti-war movement was "Four Dead in Ohio" by Croby, Stills, Nash & Young. The song was about the shooting at Kent State. The shooting at Kent State was brought on by students who were protesting against the Cambodian Campaign which was when United States soldier's entered Eastern Cambodia with the objective to take down the People's Army of Vietnam. Four Students were killed by Ohio National Guard at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. This song is important because it showed that not only college students were protesting the war and that the band wanted to how it was a tragedy that students had to be shot when they were protesting
  The second song that had a great influence on how the Vietnam War was perceived in the United States was "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song is about being drafted and how the process is not fair.  Lyrics from the song states "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no"The song is basically saying that the rich men get to stay home (Senators son) and the poor men get to go to Vietnam and fight. The song also states "Some folks inherit star spangled eyes" meaning that some people are born to be in the military and that is something they want to do. This song is important when understanding the Vietnam war because it shows that there was a disgust for the draft system during the war.
   The third song that had influence on the Vietnam War was the song "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. The song is about the Vietnam War and it is symbolic of the war. The watchtower which could be a symbol of America during the war. In the beginning of the song it states "There is too much confusion said the joker to the thief" this could be interpreted as that there is confusion about the war in America and that not many people know what is going on. This song is important when understanding the Vietnam War because it shows that there was confusion about the war in America and shows that people do not really know that what is happening in Vietnam and do not know what they are fighting for.
 
The Image above shows people protesting the draft 























6 comments:

  1. Your line that "people do not really know that what is happening in Vietnam and do not know what they are fighting for" reminded me of another widely recognized protest song against the Vietnam War. The song is "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" by Country Joe and the Fish. It was released in 1965, and the chorus contains the lyrics:

    "And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?
    Don't ask me I don't give a damn
    Next stop is Vietnam.
    And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates,
    Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
    Whoopie! We're all gonna die!"

    For those who are interested, you can hear the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbBCfeM964s

    Source:

    http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/countryjoeandthefish/ifeellikeimfixintodierag.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. It blows my mind how Americans were drafted into the war and didnt know what they were fighting for. In my opinion war is never good but if there is a war it should be something that the people feel is worth fighting for and most importantly they should know what is going on.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One of the songs that I was reminded of was "So Long, Mom" by Tom Lehrer.

    "So long mom, I'm off to drop the bomb,
    So don't wait up for me,
    But while you swelter down there in your shelter
    You can watch me. . .On your TV."

    After thinking of this song, I remembered that the Vietnam War was the first televised war. Thinking about this era, the technology at that time was capable to bring news back to the United States with the help of TV journalists. Just something to think about.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love all three of the songs and always have, but I never really listened to them with the intent of understanding the lyrics. My favorite of the three is "Four Dead In Ohio". I love the story behind how it was released and soared to number one in chart is practically the same day. It shows how much impact the song had on America and the fact that it's still a relevant song today shows how important the lyrics and the message behind the song really are.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love all three of the songs and always have, but I never really listened to them with the intent of understanding the lyrics. My favorite of the three is "Four Dead In Ohio". I love the story behind how it was released and soared to number one in chart is practically the same day. It shows how much impact the song had on America and the fact that it's still a relevant song today shows how important the lyrics and the message behind the song really are.

    ReplyDelete
  6. All of these songs are great! I think its amazing how much influence music and other art forms has on the population.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.