[This is crossposted from dKos]
As Cindy Sheehan does what we all should be doing, I am reminded of a few song lyrics, not uplifting, not joyous but inspired by necessity. I would like to share a bit of them below the fold.
The first comes from a recitation in Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant:
And the only reason I’m singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a situation like that there’s only one thing you can do and that’s walk into the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say “Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant.” And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement.
Next, from Country Joe and the Fish’s bitter Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag (one of the most popular songs amongst the American soldiers in Vietnam):
Come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He’s got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun….
Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don’t hesitate,
Send ’em off before it’s too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
Let’s follow that with a couple of snippets from Phil Ochs, first from I Ain’t Marching Anymore:
For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
It’s always the old to lead us to the war
It’s always the young to fall
Now look at all we’ve won with the sabre and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all
For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning
I knew that I was learning
That I ain’t marchin’ anymore
And then from The Marines Have Landed on the Shores of Santo Domingo:
Ready for the tricks, their bayonets are fixed, now they are rolling
And the tanks make tracks past the trembling shacks where fear is unfolding
All the young wives afraid, turn their backs to the parade with babes they’re holding
The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo
A bullet cracks the sound, the soldiers hit the ground, the sniper is callin’
So they open their guns, a thousand to one, no sense in stalling
He clutches at his head and totters on the edge, look how he’s falling
The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo
In the red plaza square, The crowds come to stare, the heat is leaning
And the eyes of the dead are turning every head to the widows screaming
The soldiers make a bid, giving candy to the kids, their teeth are gleaming
The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo
Up and down the road, the generals drink a toast, the wheel is spinning
And the cowards and the whores are peeking through the doors to see who’s winning
But the traitors will pretend that it’s getting near the end, when it’s beginning
The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo
Depressing? Yes. But we are at a time of crisis.
Next comes Bob Dylan’s Masters of War
You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Both Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs owed a lot of their inspiration to Woody Guthrie, who wrote All You Fascists:
I’m gonna tell you fascists
You may be surprised
The people in this world
Are getting organized
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose.
Let’s follow that with a younger (though not so young, any longer) songwriter, Elvis Costello with Oliver’s Army:
There was a checkpoint charlie
he didn’t crack a smile
but it’s no laughing party
when you’ve been on the murder mile
only takes one itchy trigger
one more widow, one less white nigger…
Hong kong is up for grabs
london is full of arabs
we could be in palestine
overrun by a chinese line
with the boys from the mersey and the thames and the tyne
but there’s no danger
it’s a professional career
though it could be arranged
with just a word in mr. Churchill’s ear
if you’re out of luck you’re out of work
we could send you to johannesburg
Cindy Sheehan, these may not be the most uplifting songs (as I pointed out), but what you are doing is not an act of joy.
We support you, even though few of us can be with you today in more than spirit.
