Tag Archives: Music

04/29/11

War is good for nothing~

The first song I chose is called War by Edwin Starr which is a protest song about the Vietnam War, and this song came out around the 1960′s. In the song War their is a famous line “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin’!” which basically meant that war is pointless. If you look at the lyrics of this song it talks about how war causes so much destruction and pain to everyone. The second song I chose is called Boom! by System of a Down which is a protest song about war and militarism. In Boom!’s lyrics it talks about why do we have to waste money on build bombs and other things to kill out own kind.

In the song War their is a couple of the lyrics that stood out to me ”Ohhh, war, I despise, Because it means destruction, Of innocent lives”, “War means tears, To thousands of mothers eyes, When their sons go to fight, And lose their lives” these lyrics shows how bad war is causing pain to everyone.  Even though these two songs talk about war they differ in a way. In Boom! the lyrics aren’t entirely about war its more about how we spent so much money on build weapons instead of using that money to save lives. Some examples are “Unnecessary deaths, Nobody gives a fuck, 4000 hungry children leave us per hour, from starvation, while billions spent on bombs, creating death showers” the song is still about how war is unnecessary but it is more about how we waste our money.

04/28/11

Jimi Hendrix & Green Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTKDlPXCQg

 

The two songs I posted are songs in response to war. The first video is the audio of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner on electric guitar at Woodstock in 1969. Aprox 50 seconds in, he strays away from the normal melody of the anthem and goes on a crazy distortion of the song. He was using the electric guitar sliding down the shaft making a lot of loud and off color noise. Many people believe that was Hendrix’s way of protesting the American invasion of Vietnam. He took the National Anthem, the song that represents America, and turned it into a wild and loud and painful to the ears, kind of song. He was expressing his opinion of the war via his Guitar. Because he didn’t mention the war or anything during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, it isn’t 100% proven to be anti-war, which we can’t say the same about Green Day’s 21 Guns.

Green Day released a song called 21 Guns, released in 2009. The name was adapted from the well known 21 gun salute that is included in military funerals for soliders who die in the line of duty. The song right away starts with the chilling lyrics “Do you know whats worth fighting for? When its not worth dying for” Green Day stated multiple times that they are opposed to the war in Iraq and it is very obvious that this song is an anti-war protest song. The chorus says it all; “Lay down your arms, give up the fight”