Vietnam War Music

An excellent way to learn about the issues and emotions of Americans and other Westerners during the Vietnam War is to listen to Vietnam War Music. This partly because of music's special nature as an art form that can convey thoughts and emotions, and also because of the abundance of recorded music from the Vietnam War era, and the pervasiveness of music during the War.

The most readily known Vietnam War Songs today are the anti-war and protest songs. Timeless classics like Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" and John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" are still often heard today, although while the meaning of Lennon's song is obvious, the message of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" can only be received by paying careful attention to the lyrics (Scarborough Fair is a traditional song listing a series of impossible tasks for an unfaithful lover to earn forgiveness, and is interspersed with Canticle, which has strong but gently sung anti-war lyrics). Edwin Starr's powerful 1970 delivery of "War" is rarely heard these days, but one only has to listen to it to feel the raw and passionate anger towards the war that drove it to #1 on the charts (the song was re-popularized by Bruce Springsteen in 1985).

But there were also patriotic songs and songs that supported the soldiers and their families. Barry Saddler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" is an excellent example of this, describing the bravery of the Green Berets and of their wives back home, and resonating with enough of the public to reach #1 for 5 weeks in 1966.

The soldiers themselves included musicians among their population, who played a mix of music according to their tastes, including military songs, popular songs, folk tunes and the like. They also composed their own songs that tell a lot about the emotions felt by the soldiers. Because of the ready availability of tapes, it was easy to record a song, and the popular ones were quickly re-dubbed and passed from one friend to the next, spreading rapidly. The American soldiers in Vietnam also listened to all of the music that was available at home as it was released, although in some cases with a different perspective. For example, The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" took on a completely new meaning, and was very popular.

In the time since the War, new songs have occasionally continued to make reference to the War, and tells us something about how our culture adapted to the ramifications of the war. For example, Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" tells of the experiences of a veteran after the War.

To learn more about Vietnam War Music, visit http://vietnamwarmusicguide.com.