War! What is it good for?

Submitted by AWL on 10 February, 2003 - 6:55

Pop music can be escapist — nothing wrong with that — but occasionally it transcends that to give voice to popular concerns and question jingoistic assumptions. Here is my “top ten” of anti-war songs, some well known and some hidden gems.

Matt Cooper

Edwin Star, War
There a good reason why an anti-war song can’t just say “war is wrong”. It has already been done perfectly. When Edwin Star sings “War- urgh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing” there might not be any deep understanding of why the Vietnam War was happening, but as a a guttural rant against the injustice and waste of it all, it can’t be beaten.

Phil Ochs, Cops of the World
The protest singers’ protest singer, Phil Ochs, wrote some of the best political songs of the sixties. Cops of the World is as relevant today as when it was written in the mid-sixties. Read it below and judge for yourself.

Neville Bothers, With God on our side
A Bob Dylan song with a haunting gospel arrangement. When Bob sings “I was taught and brought up the laws to abide/and that the land that I live in has God on its side” it sounds cynical. When the Neville Brothers sing of shattered illusions, you know they mean it.

Eric Bogle, And the band played Waltzing Matilda
Most famously covered by the Pogues, Bogle’s story of wasted lives and bitter regrets hits the nail on the head.

Martin Carthy, Company policy
Another folky tune, this time spitting bile over the jingoism of the Falklands war. The song weaves in lines out of four or five traditional folk songs and places opposition to the Falklands war in a long tradition of resistance. Carthy sings: “When they sent my love to the war/For eighteen hundred landless tenants/Of the South Atlantic company store/Eighteen hundred landless tenants/Eighteen hundred landless poor/Eighteen hundred waking dreams/Of Empire long gone before”.

Tom Lehrer, Send in the marines
The man who gave up satire because the truth was beyond satire is on top form here. The first verse runs: “When someone makes a move/Of which we don’t approve/Who is it that always intervenes?/UN and OAS/They have their place, I guess/But first — send the Marines!” And that was forty years ago!

Robert Wyatt, Shipbuilding
Robert Wyatt may be an unreconstructed Stalinist, but this version of Elvis Costello’s song is an unmissable and subtle anti-war song. The song looks at the war from the perspective of a shipbuilding town with rumours of the shipyard reopening and sons in the army, and concludes “Diving for dear life, when we could be diving for pearls”.

Steve Earle, Jerusalem
Not a song but a whole album from a one-time Springsteen clone. The only post-September 11th record that has made some attempt to deal with the issues. Earle’s John Walker’s Blues, is a first person narrative about the “American Taliban” and caused controversy in the US.

Orchestra Baobab, Utra Horas
Unless you speak Mandinka, you won’t understand this song about the civil war in 1970s Senegal. But if you know it’s an anti-war song, the music makes perfect sense.

Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA
However dire his latest record is, this biographical tale of how soldiers of wars are thrown onto the scrap heap is a classic.

Cops of the World

Come, get out of the way, boys
Quick, get out of the way
You’d better watch what you say, boys
Better watch what you say
We’ve rammed in your harbour and tied to your port
And our pistols are hungry and our
tempers are short
So bring your daughters around to the port
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys
We’re the Cops of the World

We pick and choose as please, boys
Pick and choose as please
You’d best get down on your knees, boys
Best get down on your knees
We’re hairy and horny and ready to shack
We don’t care if you’re yellow or black
Just take off your clothes and lie down on your back
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

Our boots are needing a shine, boys
Boots are needing a shine
But our Coca-Cola is fine, boys
Coca-Cola is fine
We’ve got to protect all our citizens fair
So we’ll send a battalion for everyone there
And maybe we’ll leave in a couple of years
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

Dump the reds in a pile, boys
Dump the reds in a pile
You’d better wipe of that smile, boys
Better wipe off that smile
We’ll spit through the streets of the cities we wreck
We’ll find you a leader that you can’t elect
Those treaties we signed were a pain in the neck
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

Clean the johns with a rag, boys
Clean the johns with a rag
If you like you can use your flag, boys
If you like you can use your flag
We’ve got too much money we’re looking for toys
And guns will be guns and boys will be boys
But we’ll gladly pay for all we destroy
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

Please stay off of the grass, boys
Please stay off of the grass
Here’s a kick in the ass, boys
Here’s a kick in the ass
We’ll smash down your doors, we don’t bother to knock
We’ve done it before, so why all the shock?
We’re the biggest and toughest kids on the block
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

When we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of our gum, boys
Have a stick of our bubble-gum
We own half the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free
’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys…

Phil Ochs

Comments

Submitted by Janine on Mon, 10/02/2003 - 23:00

Faith Brothers: 'Easter Parade'

When the 'victory celebrations' paraded through the streets after the Falklands war, soldiers who were injured were not allowed to join in. We wouldn't want people noticing that people get hurt in wars, would we?

So the Faith Brothers wrote 'Easter Parade', a sharp and moving ballad that says a lot about all war, not just the Falklands.

It's a brilliant song and it still makes me cry and rage. The words (if I remember them correctly) go like this ...

Dressed to kill one cool spring morning
I got on board the first from Portsmouth
On the crest of a rising wave
Of hate for strangers of our own kind
But the headlines, screaming crowds and flags
I must admit stirred something in me
That faded as we pulled away
And turned out to be only fear disguised
The bulldogs bayed
The pious prayed
I think it rained
On the Easter Parade

Down south the old and desperate men
Sacrifice the young and ready
On the altar of their crumbling gods
Yearning for a long-lost glory
For nineteen years you chart my life
With your morals and your incentives
In six weeks pull it all apart
For horror's real and you are far away
My mind ingrained
I came home maimed
So was kept away
From the Easter Parade

Hooked on a kind of freedom
I still need to hurt somebody
Too estranged to talk about it
Or get close to anyone

The mother of the nation cries 'Rejoice!'
And I can hardly shuffle
Struck down by what the mean can do
For political ambition
And now the truth begins to surface
Like a spectre from dark water
Rising up to bring them down
I can't take heart, only wonder why
Is our conscience lame?
Is a call to shame
All to be gained
From the Easter Parade?

Submitted by USRed on Tue, 11/02/2003 - 04:36

In reply to by Janine

And then, of course, there's Motorhead:

Orgasmatron

I am the one, Orgasmatron, the outstretched grasping hand

My image is of agony, my servants rape the land

Obsequious and arrogant, clandestine and vain

Two thousand years of misery, of torture in my name

Hypocrisy made paramount, paranoia the law

My name is called religion, sadistic, sacred whore.

I twist the truth, I rule the world, my crown is called deceit

I am the emperor of lies, you grovel at my feet

I rob you and I slaughter you, your downfall is my gain

And still you play the sycophant and revel in you pain

And all my promises are lies, all my love is hate

I am the politician, and I decide your fate

I march before a martyred world, an army for the fight

I speak of great heroic days, of victory and might

I hold a banner drenched in blood, I urge you to be brave

I lead you to your destiny, I lead you to your grave

Your bones will build my palaces, your eyes will stud my crown

For I am Mars, the god of war, and I will cut you down.

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.