Velvet protest

Some anti-war songs that aren't so obvious if you just heard them on the radio, mostly drawn from the communal consciousness that is YouTube and Wikipedia. And also, I'm amazed at the depth of some of the discussions on SongMeanings. Pretty respectful and insightful, for the most part.

99 Luftballons, Nena

Ninety nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
And focusing it on the sky
The ninety nine red balloons go by

Catchy (West) German cold war protest song; according to '80s Music Lyrics it ends with the mistaken destruction of a German city.... The industrial-looking and towards the end almost-cheesy German music video version makes explicit the song's point; Nena Kerner's voice and the German language give it all a driving insistence. But it's the great melody that sticks in your head afterwards (especially if you don't speak German).

Goldfinger's (mostly) English-language version is far less powerful, and really is all about the band. It's a prime example of overkill--there's no anti-war message here, just punking out. Nena's soft-hard contrast that's at the heart of the song is ripped out.

There's a good comparison of the English vs. German lyrics of the song, at Inthe80s.com.

A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall, Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Like most of Bob Dylan's songs, there's just something about the words--they speak even if you don't think about or know the meaning, just the sounds, the rhythmns work. It really is like reading Shakespeare (or Sondheim). The clip's from George Harrison's seminal Concert For Bangladesh.

Pretty much any Dylan song had at its heart the issues of war and peace that dominate the 60s and 70s. A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall is an interesting one; the song's Wikipedia entry says, "The surrealistic lyrics of this song are usually construed as referring to the aftermath of a nuclear war." But, as the entry also notes, Dylan has said the song's not as literal as you might think; "It's not atomic rain, it's not fallout rain... I [just] mean some sort of end that's just got to happen."

That's the beauty of his songs--again, like Shakespeare, you can 'get' it and it makes sense in its cursory or first-level meaning; but over time or via knowledge, you find there's always more there.

Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel

Tell her to find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Between the salt water and the sea strand
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

I've listened to this song a million times and had no idea of how Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel melded this most traditional of English songs with an anti-war version.

Apparently Simon wrote the counterpoint lyrics, and Garfunkel did the melody. You can hear the counterpoint on the song, but it kindof just blends in, and is less distinct than the traditional words.

So the 'full song' for the lyrics following the above was:

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Maybe because it's such a soothing song.... If I spent any time wondering about the song, it centered on why parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme?

There's a good discussion on the anti-war meaning (and the herbs) on Songfacts, among other places. It really makes you wonder how much else you miss going through life.

The video's from their Central Park reunion and is ethereal, even if at this point you can see the strings (Paul more than Art for some reason). It doesn't include the Canticle counterpoint. You can hear it by going to Napster and typing in Scarborough Canticle (or picking up the CD that's probably on your shelf).

It's odd, after hearing the full version, the stripped-down version on YouTube sounds hollow.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, mp3

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

Australian Eric Bogle (who was actually born and raised in Scotland) wrote this song, set during the WWI slaughter of the invading Australian troops by the Turks (Winston Churchill resigned as head of the British Navy after the disastrous failure of his plan--this was the battle where the British ships showed up on the beachfront with the ammunition stowed in the bottom).

The Wikipedia entry, in noting the song's popularity among anti-Vietnam War protestors, has this interesting line: "American Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor winner Senator Bob Kerrey sang the song to his supporters at the end of his Presidential campaign in 1988, and borrowed the first line for the title of his autobiography, When I Was A Young Man: A Memoir."