Anti+War+Song+List

Anti War Songs Based on Vietnam From the 1960's to the Present Day

This page will list most well known Vietnam anti war songs written from the 1960's to the present day. On the general music page, there are select artists/songs, that have with them, an in depth analysis as to their meaning. Because it would be too time consuming to provide an analysis for every song, here is a list of anti war Vietnam songs over the past 50 years.

(To read an in depth analysis of various war songs click here) Music and Music Continued

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" PETER, PAUL & MARY (1962) "Masters of War" BOB DYLAN (1963) "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" BOB DYLAN (1963; commercial release, 1991) "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" PETE SEEGER (1963) "The Times They Are A-Changin'" BOB DYLAN (1964) "MLF Lullaby" and "Send the Marines" from TOM LEHRER's That Was The Year That Was (1965) "Eve of Destruction" BARRY McGUIRE (1965) "I-Feel-Like-I'm-a-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH (1965) "Draft Dodger Rag" PHIL OCHS (1965) "I Ain't Marching Anymore" PHIL OCHS (1965)

"Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" TOM PAXTON (1965) "Viet Nam Blues" DAVE DUDLEY (1965) "I Told Them What You're Fighting For" MAYBELLE CARTER (1966) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Ballad of the Green Berets" STAFF SERGEANT BARRY SADLER (1966) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Ballad of the Fort Hood Three" PETE SEEGER (1966) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Bring 'Em Home" PETE SEEGER (1966) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" SIMON & GARFUNKEL (1966) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Alice's Restaurant" ARLO GUTHRIE (1967) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"The Story of Isaac" LEONARD COHEN (1967) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"For What It's Worth" THE BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (1967)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Sky Pilot" ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS (1968) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"War Is Over" PHIL OCHS (1968) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues" TOM PAXTON (1968) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Fortunate Son" CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (1969) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Okie from Muskogee" MERLE HAGGARD (1969) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Give Peace a Chance" JOHN LENNON (1969) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"The Fiddle and the Drum" JONI MITCHELL (1969) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Run Through the Jungle" CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (1970) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Ohio" CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG (1970) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"War" EDWIN STARR (1970)



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Stop the War Now" EDWIN STARR (1970) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"What's Going On?" MARVIN GAYE (1971) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Bring the Boys Home" FREDA PAYNE (1971) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Sam Stone" JOHN PRINE (1971) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Still in Saigon" THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND (1981) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Goodnight Saigon" BILLY JOEL (1981) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"Born in the USA" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1984) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"19" PAUL HARDCASTLE (1985) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"The Big Parade" 10,000 MANIACS (1989) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">"There's a Wall in Washington" IRIS DeMENT (1996)

__ "2 + 2 = ?" - The Bob Seger System __
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3366cc; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-decoration: inherit;"> // All I know is that I'm young and your rules they are old //// If I've got to kill to live // // Then there's something left untold // // I'm no statesman I'm no general // // I'm no kid I'll never be // // It's the rules not the soldier // // That I find the real enemy // __Allmusic__ calls it "a ferocious antiwar song." Released as a single in 1968, then included on The __Bob Seger__ System's // Ramblin' Gamblin' Man // in 1969, "2+2=?" speaks unflinchingly from the perspective of someone whose high school buddy went to Vietnam and is now "buried in the mud" in "foreign jungle land."

__ "Bring 'Em Home" - Pete Seeger __
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3366cc; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-decoration: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> // If you love your Uncle Sam // // Bring 'em home, bring 'em home // // Support our boys in Vietnam // // Bring 'em home, bring 'em home // // It'll make our generals sad, I know // // Bring 'em home, bring 'em home // // They want to tangle with the foe // <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: inline !important; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> // Bring 'em home, bring 'em home // __Pete Seeger__ is one of those artists who crossed genre lines with his strong anti-war sentiments, and was welcomed with open arms on the "alternative" stations that would play songs mainstream radio wouldn't touch. "Bring 'Em Home" is just one example of many anti-war protest songs written and/or recorded by Seeger. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;">

__ "Eve of Destruction" - Barry McGuire __
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3366cc; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; text-decoration: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: inherit;"> // You're old enough to kill but not for votin' //// You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin' //// And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin' //// But you tell me over and over and over again my friend //// Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction //Had it not been for the hastily written (by P.F. Sloan) and hastily recorded (in one take) "Eve of Destruction" Barry McGuire's musical legacy may well have consisted solely of having once been one of the anonymous voices in the ensemble folk group, The New Christy Minstrels. It turned out that the time (late 1965) was right for the lyrically and vocally powerful warning about war's destructive results. -D.G-

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