Great anti-war songs

[Jan Klimkowski]

Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's noz what we would choose to do.
Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died.
And the general 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.
But in the end it's only round and round.
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.

Down and out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about.
With, without.
And wholl deny it's what the fightings all about?
Out of the way, it's a busy day
Ive got things on my mind.
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zFNT0g-gw4

[Keith Millea]

Luang Prabang

I've only heard Country Joe McDonald sing this song.It was originally written by Dave Van Ronk.Song can be heard in the link below.

http://www.turoks.net/Cabana/LuangPrabang.htm

Luang Prabang
(Dave Van Ronk)

When I came back from Luang Prabang
I didn't have a thing where my balls used to hang
But I got a wooden medal and a fine harangue
Now I'm a fucking hero


cho: Mourn your dead, land of the free
If you wanna be a hero, follow me
Mourn your dead, land of the free
If you wanna be a hero, follow me

And now the boys all envy me
I fought for Christian democracy
With nothing but air where my balls used to be
Now I'm a fucking hero

One and twenty cannons thundered
Into the bloody pale blue yonder
For a patriotic balless wonder
Now I'm a fucking hero

In Luang Prabang there is a spot
Where the corpses of your brothers rot
And every corpse is a patriot
And every corpse is a hero

[Keith Millea]

The greatest anti-war song Ever.Here's an unreleased version.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd3YIwxk--0

Bob Dylan-1963 what a year...

[B]Masters Of War[/B]

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

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

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music :ciao:

[Mark Ludwig]

Seems fitting after Dylan to post this:

Jimi Hendrix Machine Gun;

MACHINE GUN
TEARING MY BODY ALL APART

MACHINE GUN
TEARING MY BODY ALL APART

EVIL MAN MAKE ME KILL YA
EVIL MAN MAKE YOU KILL ME
EVIL MAN MAKE ME KILL YOU
EVEN THOUGH WE'RE ONLY FAMILIES APART

**I pick up my axe and fight like A FARMER now.....
(YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)
HEY AND YOUR BULLETS KEEP KNOCKING ME DOWN

***I PICK UP MY AXE AND FIGHT LIKE A FARMER now......
YEAH BUT YOU STILL BLAST ME DOWN TO THE GROUND

THE SAME WAY YOU SHOOT ME DOWN BABY
YOU'LL BE GOING JUST THE SAME
THREE TIMES THE PAIN
AND YOUR OWN SELF TO BLAME
HEY MACHINE GUN


OOOOOOOOOO

I AIN'T AFRAID OF YOUR MESS NO MORE, BABE
I AIN'T AFRAID NO MORE
AFTER A WHILE YOUR YOUR CHEAP TALK DON'T EVERN CAUSE ME PAIN
SO LET YOUR BULLETS FLY LIKE RAIN

'CAUSE I KNOW ALL THE TIME YOU'RE WRONG BABY
AND YOU'LL BE GOIN' JUST THE SAME
YEAH MACHINE GUN
TEARING MY FAMILY APART
YEAH YEAH ALRIGHT
TEARING MY FAMILY APART

DON'T YOU SHOOT HIM DOWN
HE'S ABOUT TO LEAVE HERE
DON'T YOU SHOOT HIM DOWN
HE'S GOT TO STAY HERE
HE AIN'T GOING NOWHERE
HE'S BEEN SHOT DOWN TO THE GROUND
OH WHERE HE CAN'T SURVIVE NO NO

[Ed Jewett]

And you yourself would mutter when
You took the things that once were men,
And sped them through that zone of hate
To where the dripping surgeons wait;
And wonder too if in God's sight
War ever, ever can be right.

– From “Foreword” by British ambulance driver, Robert Service

Someone will have to write the musical composition. I hear muted drums, and maybe a distant French horn.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs

My Mother The War

Excellent live performance from many years ago here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CI7IuB8ZUY

[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant & Michael Walsh/music: J.C.Lombardo ]


She borders the pavement
Flanks avenues
Parades pass white glove attended by
My mother the war

She'll raise a shaft
Lift a banner
Toss a rose
My mother the war

She's made every effort
To salvage the few
Bought fourteen liberty bonds
My mother the war

Mother the war

She knows every neighbor
Chats at their doors
Compare econosize electric appliances
My mother the war

Share tea and a seat
By my cradle with
My mother the war

Mother the war

Caressing the globe
Touch on his isle
She wrings hands in pensive waiting
My mother the war

Haunts her doorway
Begs her postman
Is there word for
My mother the war

Momentos of distant vigil
Three years each tour
"hands of god enfold him" prayed
My mother the war

Mother the war

In bitter defiance
She's spitting the corps
She's wet a brood short league for combat
My mother the war

Well acquainted with sorrow
Left millions in grief
My mother the war

Fold
Laced
Carrion
Blood
Soaked
Robes

Mother the war

[Danny Jarman]

Just found this classic.

"69 billion spent on national defence but folks still live in fear" :help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycJ5m5Mt9...re=related

Booka-booka-booka-booka-booka-booka
Ha hah
You know the deal
It's just me yo
Beats by Su-Primo for all of my peoples, negroes and latinos
and even the gringos

Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock
Three for the fourth comin live, future shock
It's five dimensions, six senses
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
with the probable tenth, the universe expands length
The body of my text posess extra strength
Power-lift the powerless up, out of this, towerin inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles
like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex
Working class poor better keep your alarm set
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring
Say it backwards in your sleep, "It's dangerous to dream"
but you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now
Killin fields need blood to graze the cash cow
It's a number game, but shit don't add up somehow
Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it
but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like
sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years
spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like
nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack
Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki
A five minute sentence hearing and you're no longer free
40% of Americans own a cell phone
so they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home
I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone"
Rock your hardhat black cause you in the Terrordome
full of hard niggaz, large niggaz, dice tumblers
Young teens on prison greens facin life numbers
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients
Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation
This new math is whippin motherfuckers ass
You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add
It's mathematics

[Chorus: scratched by DJ Premier (repeat 2X)]

"The Mighty Mos Def.."
"It's simple mathematics" -> [Fat Joe]
"Check it out!"
"I revolve around science.."
"What are we talking about here?"

.. "Do your math" -> [Erykah Badu (2X)]
.. "One.. t-t-two.. three, four" -> [James Brown]
.. "What are we talking about here?" ..

[Mos Def]
Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, mandatory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here
Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills
Eight-year olds gettin found with 9 mill's
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal
They on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life
Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15
You best believe you gotta find a new grind to get cream
The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black
so frontliners got they gun in your back
Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
And even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
This is business, no faces just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man child and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz
Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings
but you push too hard, even numbers got limits
Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:
the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics

[Chorus]

[closing scratch] "Mathematics.."

[Carsten Wiethoff]

Maybe not strictly anti-war, but in the light of the wikileaks I get reminded again and again:

Dire Straits, Private Investigations

It's a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
It's in a diary
This is my investigation
It's not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In this line of work
Treachery and treason
There's always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can't get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ?
What have you got to take away ?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations