The Relationship between Protest Music and Politics in the Vietnam War Era

In the 1960’s, politics and music had a close relationship. Events like the Vietnam War and student protests coincided with a larger and more popular movement of political protest music. While it can be argued that protest music was caused by political events and ideas, it is equally valid to argue that protest music was a significant part of the culture that led to many of the political events seen in the 1960’s. For this reason, it is impossible to conclude that one concretely caused the other. In addition, all protest songs can be used to argue either theory of causality. Because protest music and politics were so deeply intertwined during this time period, neither fully caused the other. However, both helped to influence the society that in turn resulted in political events and protest music. For protest music to cause political events, or vice versa, the two must first be related. In society, politics and music have been related most fundamentally by songs that discuss politics, or political ideals. While this has existed in society since long before the Vietnam War, the 1960’s was the first era when politically focused music expanded beyond a niche audience and had widespread popularity. In addition, during the 1960’s protest musicians had a close relationship with the protest movement as a whole, which allowed them to reach a broader audience and have a greater effect. The relationship between music and politics is most evidenced by the existence of songs dealing with political topics. Before the Vietnam War, this was most common is songs discussing unions and the labor movement. “Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite, / who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might? / Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight? / For the union makes us strong.” This example comes from the song, “Solidarity Forever,” written in 1919, and performed by Pete Seeger in 1949. The song gives a direct political commentary on employers and unions, one that is not subtle or hidden. The song argues that unions must be formed to combat the greed of employers, a belief in line with the labor movements of the time. This shows that there had been a tradition of protest songs before the Vietnam War. Another protest song, from 1963, protests racism and societal injustice. “[To show] that even a noble is properly handled. / And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom / stared at the person who killed for no reason… and handed out for penalty and repentance / William Zanzinger with a six month sentence.” This song protests racism within the justice system by telling the story of a black woman killed by a white man who later receives only a six-month sentence for the murder. This song was released in 1963 and provides an example of a song from the mid-sixties using a specific event to protest a social problem, racism, and argue for reform. Both examples show how political beliefs were incorporated into music. Despite the popularity they gained during the 1960’s, political and protest songs were not new occurrences. In the 1960’s, protest songs were more popular than the protest songs of previous decades. While political music existed before the 1960’s, these protest songs often appealed to only small groups within society. For this reason, much of this protest music, especially that regarding the labor movement, did not reach the widespread popularity that protest songs enjoyed during the sixties. The example by Pete Seeger (shown above) was indicative of most political songs from the labor movement, in that it was designed to be a call to arms for union members, to be used during strikes and rallies. As a result, it had little appeal in other settings, or for nonunion members. This had the effect of limiting the applicability of the song, and decreasing its widespread popularity.  The limited popularity of protest music was reversed during the 1960’s. This reversal was a result both of political events such as the Vietnam War and the draft, that were important to the entire nation (a contrast to the labor movement, which was only really important to industrial workers and factory owners), and of the modern system of music distribution. The Vietnam War gave protest music a greater importance to listeners, even if the songs did not explicitly discuss the war. In addition, music in the 1960’s had a much more efficient distribution system than was previously available. Radio distributed songs throughout the entire country, and cheap vinyl records allowed listeners access to a greater variety of music. In addition, music charts, like the Billboard Top 100, and later the American Top 40, consolidated the songs played across the country into a single mainstream music culture. This allowed songs to be easily distributed across the entire country, giving them a huge audience and widespread radio play. These factors let protest songs enter the primarily pop music charts and spread political commentaries and ideas. For example, in 1965, Barry McGuire’s song “Eve of Destruction” reached number one in the US Hot 100 music chart. This song gave a description of war and chaos in the atomic age, stating that modern society has not yet realized it is on the “eve of destruction.” Similarly, SSgt Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets” reached number one on the same chart, and remained there for six weeks. This song was a reaction to protest of the Vietnam War, and patriotically described the Green Berets with the intention of raising patriotic sentiment to support the war. While this does not prove that political protest songs were listened to and appreciated for their political meanings, this does show that songs with very political messages, both for and against the Vietnam War, had very wide radio play. This means that they would have been played across the country, and liked, at least musically, by many. Ultimately, this means that a very large number of people would have heard these songs and at least been exposed to their political messages. In addition to its popularity, protest music had a very close relationship to the overall protest movement, especially those protesting the war and the draft, furthering the ties between politics and music. Evidence of this was shown in the construction of large music festivals. Woodstock and music festivals like it featured artists like Country Joe and the Fish, whose song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” directly protested the Vietnam War and the draft, and Jefferson Airplane, whose “Volunteers” advocated for a complete overthrow of the current social order. For a listener to pay to see a music festival, they would most likely be familiar with the music of the bands playing, would like the music, and would most likely agree with the ideas expressed in the music. In addition, many of the people attending these concerts were themselves student protesters. These music festivals were filled with the same young people who led student protests at universities, and featured the same artists that led the creation of protest music. This support sometimes went beyond just having the same political views. For example, at the Monterey International Pop Festival, a 1967 music festival in California, “nearly all of the performers would play for free, with the proceeds slated to go to youth-friendly causes.” In this case the artists’ support for the political protest movements goes beyond ideological support for the protesters, to monetarily supporting the same things. More broadly, protest musicians also wrote songs about student protests in which they firmly sided with the protesters, supporting their actions and condemning those trying to stop the protests. For example, Buffalo Springfield describes protests in their song “For What It’s Worth” saying, “Young people speakin’ their minds
/ and gettin’ so much resistance from behind… Step out of line, the man come and take you away.” This gives an example of a protest song that describes student protests, siding with the protesters that made up much of their musical audience. Protest music is defined as music that discusses or protests the current social and political state. During the 1960’s, protest music and political music reached a wider popularity than if had enjoyed before that time. In addition, radio and vinyl allowed protest music to be distributed more widely than before. This emphasized its political effect. However, was the protest music caused by the politics of the time, or did protest music have its own effect in influencing and creating political events? This issue can be argued both ways, although the dominant theory is that the politics caused protest music, while the secondary theory argues that protest music caused political events. However, the relationship between music and politics in the Vietnam War era was so deeply intertwined that neither can be proven to have caused the other. The dominant view of the causality between protest music and politics is that protest music was caused by political events. At the base of this argument is the fact that a protest is by definition a reaction to an event. Protest music was caused by the politics because political events had to exist to be protested. For protest music to be caused by politics, protest songs must protest against specific events and beliefs, which occurred previous to the music. This is evidenced by songs that provided commentary on specific events. For example, Bob Dylan reacted to the killing of Hattie Carroll with his song “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” (quoted previously). In this case, the song was a direct reaction to the killing of Hattie Carroll, and her killer, who received only a six-month sentence. “The story came from a newspaper clipping Gordon Friesen gave Dylan… It was a report of the sentencing that sparked Dylan’s song.” Dylan wrote this song to protest not only the event, but also the larger problems of racism and corruption in the justice system. In this case, an event is used as an example of larger societal problems, but all of the things protested happened previous to the composition of the song, and were the direct causes of Dylan’s writing the song. Another example of a song reacting to a specific event is The Byrd’s “He Was a Friend of Mine.” It commented on President Kennedy’s assassination, saying “He was a friend of mine / his killing had no purpose nor reason nor rhyme… he was in Dallas town… a gunner shot him down.” This song was a reaction to the death of JFK, and the slow, solemn tone of the song and its portrayal of the president as a friend make a sympathetic and mournful depiction of the president, which was in itself a political stance. In this case, the song is a direct reaction to an event, the assassination of president Kennedy, and would not have been written had the assassination not taken place. For politics to have caused protest music, the protest music must not only protest a specific, previous event, but must also have been dependent on the existence of the political event. If the political event had not happened, then the protest song could not have been written. For example, after the Kent State Shootings, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young wrote the song “Ohio.” It discussed the shootings, in which four students were killed by state troops in the culmination of nationwide student protests, by describing the fallout of the event from the protesters’ point of view. “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, 
/ We’re finally on our own.
/ This summer I hear the drumming,
/ Four dead in Ohio. /
Gotta get down to it
/ Soldiers are cutting us down." The fact that state troopers had fired on protesters was profoundly shocking both to political protesters and to the creators of protest music. To them, this showed that the government was so firmly supportive of the things students were protesting that they were willing to kill to maintain the social order. This is reflected by the song, which declares that they are now “on their own” because “soldiers are cutting [them] down.” Ultimately, the Kent State Shootings combined with the reelection of Richard Nixon to begin the decline of the protest movement. These events made clear that their protests would be met with armed resistance that could end in their own death. In addition, Nixon’s reelection made it unlikely that the protesters would make much, if any progress politically. This shows how individual political events inspired protest songs that reacted to those specific events, and showed changes in belief that would not have occurred had the political events not happened. The challenging view of the causality of politics and protest music is that protest music caused political events. This argues that protest music caused a shift in the political beliefs of its audience. This change in beliefs made the musical audience more opposed to later political events like the Vietnam War and the draft, which in turn led to political events like student protests and tensions over the war. This argument relies on three main points. First, that protest music voiced and argued for a change in political beliefs different from the beliefs held by the majority of society. Second, that protest music succeeded in persuading its audience of these beliefs. Third, that this change in belief led to disagreement with the political events that followed, and, that these tensions led to the political climate of the 1960’s and political events like student protests. Protest music was unique among the forms of popular music of the time because its purpose was to voice political beliefs. More importantly, the political beliefs voiced by these songs were different from, and in opposition, to the primary political beliefs of the time. The political beliefs these songs protested were generally classified as those held by the older generation, most especially those of the people running the government or other societal institutions. Bob Dylan exemplifies this generational split in “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” saying, “And don’t criticize
/ what you can’t understand
/ your sons and your daughters
/ Are beyond your command… For the times they are a-changin.” This song embodies the change in political beliefs by speaking directly to the older generation, warning that the changing times will affect everyone, from those in power to society as a whole. It also deepens the perceived difference in belief by going so far as to say that the older generation is not even capable of understanding the views of the younger generation. This song also uses an assumption that is used in most protest music- that the older generation is synonymous with those in power and with those who oppose the protests of the younger generation. This generational split was also shown by Jefferson Airplane in their “Volunteers.” This song is one of the most radical of those that advocate for social change, arguing for a violent overthrow of the older generation and those in power. “One generation got old / One generation got soul… Come on now we’re marching to the sea / got a revolution, got to revolution / who will take it from you? / We will and who are we? / We are volunteers of America.” This shows a split in political belief that is so broad as to require an overthrow of the current social order in order to promote their beliefs. This song also advocates for social change because its of connection with the beliefs set forth in Jefferson Airplane’s other songs, like “White Rabbit,” which discussed drug use, and “Plastic Fantastic Lover,” which criticized the fake and plastic nature of society. Both of these songs exemplify the split in beliefs between those in power and those writing protest music, by arguing for a change in, or even overthrow of, those in power. This shows how protest music would have delivered a message advocating a change in political beliefs. However, this music would only have an effect on political events if the message they put forth affected the beliefs of listeners in some way. Protest music put forth views on politics and society that not only opposed the beliefs generally accepted by society, but also succeeded in persuading its audience of these beliefs. This is shown less by the songs themselves, but instead by their reception. For example, Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” (mentioned previously) protested against nuclear proliferation and the Vietnam War. “You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
/ you don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’… you don’t believe
/ we’re on the eve of destruction… If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away
/ There’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave.” This song clearly and rather pessimistically declares that humanity is on the “eve of destruction” because of the threat of nuclear war. The song voices basic pacifist complaints regarding the post-atomic world, beliefs that were also shared by most members of political protest groups. This meant that the political message of the song would have been viewed favorably by its audience. In addition, in 1965 this song reached number one in the US, meaning that it would have had a very wide distribution, and a large amount of radio play, so its message would have been widely known. More importantly, the song presents the political message in a very obvious and clear way, meaning that it would have been harder to miss the meaning of the song when listening to it. This means that the song’s message would have to have been favorable to many to reach that degree of popularity. Another factor determining the effect of a protest song’s political message would have been the degree to which the politics it discussed would have affected the lives of its audience members. This gave many songs discussing the war and pacifism a greater importance to their audience. As the Vietnam War progressed, more of the young people who made up the musical audience were drafted and sent to go fight. The majority of protest music argued that the war was unnecessary, and the draft unfair, a view that would have been sympathetic to most of the people being drafted. For example, Bob Dylan discusses war and those who control it in his “Masters of War,” saying, “You fasten the triggers
/ for the others to fire… You hide in your mansion / as young people’s blood
/ Flows out of their bodies /
And is buried in the mud.” Dylan protests the “masters of war” who engineer war for their own profit, disregarding the violence and death they cause. Although it protests more generally against the nature of war, its message would have become more important as the Vietnam War progressed. Because the song was released before the draft was widely instituted, this sentiment would become more important as the Vietnam War led to greater numbers of young people being drafted to fight in Vietnam. In this case, these ideas were put forth in songs released before the political event- the Vietnam War and the use of the draft- and sparked the political sentiments that fueled the protests against the war and the draft. This shows how protest songs helped to influence the political beliefs of their audience, and affected the way in which they reacted to subsequent political events. As protest music succeeded in changing the political beliefs of its audience, listeners now had a greater disagreement with the political events that followed. This disagreement characterized the political climate as a whole, and led to events like the reaction to the draft and student protests. The tension between protest music and its audience was exemplified by songs like Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers” (discussed above), or Tom Paxton’s “Mr. Blue,” a sinister song which gives a dystopic portrayal of those controlling society, painting a picture of a society that expects specific beliefs and actions, and is willing to resort to violent means to maintain those expectations. “You’ve got a slot to fill, and fill that slot you will
/ You’ll learn to love it, or we’ll break you.
/ Oh, what will it take, to whip you into line?
/ A broken heart? A broken head?
/ It can be arranged. It can be arranged.” This shows how the artists making protest music viewed society and government as coercive and despotic. These beliefs would have put them in direct opposition to everything that the government and society did, as well as the very existence of the current government. This view of society and government fueled much of the reactions on the part of protesters, especially the students protests seen at most universities during this time period. The views of the protesters were shown by many songs about the Vietnam War and the draft, especially Country Joe and the Fish’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” (discussed previously). “What are we fighting for? / Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn / next stop it’s Vietnam.” This voices the protesters’ belief that the war was meaningless and unnecessary, and opposes those in the government and in society who wanted them to go and fight in Vietnam. However, this song had a more nihilistic quality. “Country Joe also brought a spirit of protest to Woodstock… his ‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag,’ more grimly pertinent than when it had been released two years ago… said a great deal about how the mood had changed from earlier periods: the hopefulness and sobriety of both Newport and the March on Washington had been replaced by bitter despair and ebullient self-indulgence." It protested the war, but still was not convinced that anything the protesters did would have an effect. Protest music succeeded in producing music that changed the political beliefs of its audience. This ideological change led to greater tensions between this audience and the actions of the government. This resulted in tensions, which were expressed in the widespread student protests. Protest music written about topics like war and pacifism successfully caused political events like the reaction to the draft, showing how protest music brought about the political climate of the time. During the 1960’s, political events like the Vietnam War coincided with a large movement of protest music. Artists writing protest songs wrote music that was more popular than previous protest artists, and had a larger impact. Because political events like the Vietnam War and the draft, and protest music were so closely related, each must have had some role in causing or propagating the other. The two main arguments regarding this are either that political events caused protest music by giving musicians something to protest, or that protest music caused political events like student protests by influencing the political climate so that events like student protests happened. However, in this case the lines of causality are so blurred that it cannot be argued that music caused politics any more than political events caused protest music. For example, a song like Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” can be used to argue both theories. The song protests the threat of nuclear war, and its mention of how “if the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away” shows a direct protest to the existence of the nuclear bomb, and the threat of nuclear warfare. This supports the first theory, that political events, in this case the invention of the nuclear bomb, caused protest songs. However, the song was very successful, and its long stint in the Top 100 charts shows that the song would have been heard by many people. This song, and other like it, would have shifted public opinion toward pacifism, and would have heightened public awareness of the possibility of nuclear warfare. This had the effect of shifting public opinion against military ventures like the Vietnam War, and would have led to political events like student protests. In this way nearly every protest song can be used to argue both theories. In this case, protest music and political events were so closely tied that one cannot be determined to have solely caused the other. As a result, neither theory is applicable, so the exact causality cannot be determined. Bibliography.