Yesterday an article appeared in my news feed from American /songwriter magazine 5 Folk Songs That Defined the American Experience.
The folk genre has always been a huge part of political music and patriotic songs alike. These five particular folk songs are beautifully intertwined with the American experience, and they are still so relevant decades after they were first released. Let’s take a look, shall we?….
The five songs were……l
- “Blowin’ in the Wind “ – Bob Dylan
- “This Land is Your Land”- Woody Guthrie
- “Early Morning Rain” – Gordon Lightfoot
- “The Circle Game” – Joni Mitchell
- “Diamonds and Rust” – Joan Baez
I love each of those songs and agree that they do speak to the American experience.. Additionally they are still relevant. However, I started thinking about some of the songs that were important in shaping my world view and came up with the following playlist.
Anti-War Songs
1.Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” – Pete Seeger
The first so that popped into my head was “where Have All the Flowers Gone”. The song was written by Pete Seeger. Although, the version I associate most with the song came from Peter,Paul and Mary.. The song express the loss so many felt during the Vietnam War. And I am sure so many felt in Iraq and Afghanistan. And still feel in Ukraine today.
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn
2. “Universal Soldier” – Buffy Saint Marie
Buffy Saint Marie’s Universal soldier was another major anti-war song. My favorite cover of this song came from Donovan. The universality of war is addressed in the opening stanza….
He’s five foot-two and he’s six feet-four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of thirty-one and he’s only seventeen
He’s been a soldier for a thousand years
He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jane
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
And he knows he shouldn’t kill
And he knows he always will
Kill you for me my friend and me for you
3. “Turn, Turn, Turn” – Pete Seeger
Another Pete Seeger song that’s been recorded by many. Most notably the Byrds. It addresses the circle of life. It speaks strong of the hope for peace. A hope we have all wished for….
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rain, a time of sow
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
4. “There But for Fortune” – Phil Ochs
While Phil Ochs wrote “There But for Fortune” it is probably best known for Joan Baez’s cover off the song. AS we go through life when we look at folks who are prisoners or homeless we must all remember the there “but for good fortune” go you or go I….
Even as a country we must remember how fortune we are that no bombs have fallen on our country!
Show me the prison, show me the jail
Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why
But there but for fortune go you or I, hmm-mmm…
…….
Show me the country where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of the buildings once so tall
And I’ll show you a young land with so many reasons why
And there but for fortune may go you or I, or I
5, “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportees)” – Woody Guthrie
Talk about a song that sill resonates today!
The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They’re flying ’em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be “deportees”
6. “My Rainbow Race – Pete Seeger”
Sometimes American folk songs can cross the ocean! “My Rainbow Race” The paragraph below sounds like today’s Republican party!
The song was performed by Nilsen and a crowd of more than 40,000 people in Youngstorget in Oslo and at squares across the country on April 26, 2012, as a protest against statements given in court by Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the July 22 attacks in 2011. The performance was inspired by Facebook reactions after Breivik claimed in his trial testimony that the song was an example of Marxist propaganda and that it was being used to “brainwash” Norwegian children.[
Organization was made at the level of Norwegian Minister of Culture, and other Ministers of Culture from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands were also present.[2] The song was thus performed a few days later, in the midst of the ongoing trial. In Oslo the sing-along was followed by a march up to the site of the trial, where the crowd laid down flowers.[3] The song was performed both in Norwegian and English, and Nilsen had personally contacted Seeger, who responded with the words: “Oh me, oh my. I wish you luck Read More
One blue sky above One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shores
One earth so green and brown
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon, too soon to die
It’s too soon to die…
7. “Power and Glory” – Phil Ochs
From Wikipedia…..
The song has been described as an “anthem … with lyrics that might have been written by the great Woody Guthrie“.[3] Said to be the American patriotic hymn best at combining the American dream with selfless Christian ideals[1] “Power and the Glory” consists of three verses, each followed by a chorus.[2] The first verse invites the listener to walk with the singer, and it describes some of the natural wonders of the United States.[4] The second verse names some of the states through which the listener and the singer would travel.[5] The third verse notes that the United States is “only as rich as the poorest of the poor” but also as “strong as our love for this land”.[4] The chorus of “Power and the Glory” describes the United States as “a land full of power and glory”: Read More
Yet our land is still troubled by men who have to hate
They twist away our freedom and they twist away our fate
Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry.
We can stop them if we try.
Let’s Hope!
Civil Rights Movement
8, Thirsty Boots – Eric Andersen
“Thirsty Boots” has been a favorite song of mine since I first heard it many,many years ago!
From Wikipedia …
“Thirsty Boots” is a civil-rights-era folksong by American singer-songwriter Eric Andersen that first appeared on his 1966 album ‘Bout Changes ‘n’ Things. According to the album’s liner notes, the song “was written to a civil rights worker-friend. Having never gone down to Mississippi myself, I wrote the song about coming back.” Read More
You’ve long been on the open road
You been sleepin’ in the rain
From dirty words and muddy cells
Your clothes are soiled and stained
But the dirty words and the muddy cells
Will soon be hid in shame
So only stop to rest yourself and you’ll go off again
9, “We Shall Overcome” – Pete Seeger
I don’t know that there is a song that moves me more than “We Shall Over Come”. When I think of the words of the song and the struggles that have been overcome and still need to be overcome, I am moved to tears. Then I think, hey the words apply to everyone we all need to overcome some day!
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
[Refrain]
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day
[Verse 2]
We’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand some day
Each of the above eight songs shaped my American Experience. They all had a hand in my beliefs about war, the environment, and civil rights . And yes I am a strong liberal Democrat and. Proud of it! Any of you have your American Experience Shaped by these songs?
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