Greatest Anti-War Song? I choose Us & Them...

Fantastic tune... the soaring sax, the lead-in to Any Colour You Like, ahhh, Pink Floyd... their music is sweet bliss eternal, like some great bird of heaven-spun metal soaring suddenly into the room, and all the malankey little hairs on your plot standing endwise...

But the words alone... what a perfect poetic statement...
Short, sweet, says it ALL...

Us & Them

Us and them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do

Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
Generals sat and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who?
Up and down
And in the end it's only round and round

Haven't you heard? It's a battle of words
And most of them are lies
Listen, son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside

Down and out
It can't be helped cuz there's a lot of it about
With--without
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?

Out of the way, it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind
For want of a the price of tea and a slice
The old man died

Roger Waters

Instead of that same old same old rote tired pretentious pledge of allegiance crap, kids should have to read stuff like this... learn a song a month by heart, why not?...
There are so many other good ones, too... what's your fave?

DXS

Both were songs that I felt very personally back when they were released.

That was my second choice...

Also fond of Country Joe's more famous anti-war effort that comes after the Fish Cheer (name escapes me)...
Ohio is great too... Wooden Ships also comes to mind...
Hey, where are all the Dylan-heads?

nt.

http://www.countryjoe.com/col15.ram

(lotsa Country Joe for free at www.countryjoe.com )

Red and swollen tears tumble from her eyes
While cold silver birds who came to cruise the skies
Send death down to bend and twist her tiny hands
And then proceed to target "B" in keeping with their plans
Khaki priests of Christendom interpreters of love
Ride a stone Leviathan across a sea of blood
And pound their feet into the sand of shores they've never seen
Delegates from the western land to join the death machine

And we send cards and letters.

The oxen lie beside the road their bodies baked in mud
And fat flies chew out their eyes then bathe themselves in blood
And super heroes fill the skies, tally sheets in hand
Yes, keeping score in times of war takes a superman
The junk crawls past hidden death its cargo shakes inside
And soldier children hold their breath and kill them as they hide
And those who took so long to learn the subtle ways of death
Lie and bleed in paddy mud with questions on their breath

And we send prayers and praises.

The aging Teacher nods off in class and relives the skies over Dresden. His fat, psychopathic wife at home is unreachable. His students are indifferent. He nods off, and suddenly he hears the gunner again, over the intercom, screaming out his dying words. Powerful song.

1916 by Motorhead:

16 years old when I went to war,
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
Counting my days down to zero,
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died
And I never did get any older,
But I knew at the time, That a year in the line,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,
We all volunteered,
And we wrote down our names,
And we added two years to our ages,
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
Ready for history's pages,
And we fought and we brawled
And we whored 'til we stood,
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A thirst for the Hun,
We were food for the gun,
and that's what you are when you're soldiers,
I heard my friend cry,
And he sank to his knees, coughing blood
As he screamed for his mother
And I tell by his side,
And that's how we died,
Clinging like kids to each other,
And I lay in the mud,
And the guts and the blood,
And I wept as his body grew colder,
And I called for my mother
And she never came,
Though it wasn't my fault
And I wasn't to blame,
The day not half over
And ten thousand slain,
and now there's nobody remembers our names.
And that's how it is for a soldier.



I Ain't Marchin', by Phil Ochs:

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)
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 saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain't marchin' 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

(chorus)

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

Now the labor leader's screamin'
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"
Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more,
No I ain't marchin' any more

written in response to the 1991 gulf war...

Casualties of war; as I approach the barricade
Where's the enemy? Who do I invade?
Bullets of Teflon, bulletproof vest rip
Tear ya outta ya frame with a bag full of clips
Cause I got a family that waits for my return
To get back home is my main concern
I'ma get back to New York in one piece
but I'm bent in the sand that is hot as the city streets
Sky lights up like fireworks blind me
Bullets, whistlin over my head remind me...
President Bush said attack
Flashback to Nam, I might not make it back
Missile hits the area, screams wake me up
from a war of dreams, heat up the M-16
Basic training, trained for torture
Take no prisoners, and I just caught ya
Addicted to murder, send more bodybags
They can't identify em, leave the nametags
I get a rush when I see blood, dead bodies on the floor
CASUALTIES OF WAR! (4X)

http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/rakim/dont_swt/casualty.rkm.txt

What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing!
Say it again!

Friend only to the undertaker!
AHHHHH WAR!

Cuz it means destruction
of innocent lives.

Someone did a remake, but the original is the best.

By Edwin Star R.I.P.
Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye R.I.P.
What's Goin' On by Marvin Gaye

Another couple good'uns:
O Superman by Laurie Anderson
Pulling On the Pin by Kate Bush

I know a lot of 'em are eluding me tonite... Simon & Garfunkel had one, I believe, but I cannot recall it...
Black Sabbath: War Pigs...
Metallica: One...