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The Purpose Of This Project
The Purpose Of This Project
The purpose of this project is to analyse key "Vietnam War Music" in the ways that make it fit this era of time and to determine if the songs are in fact about the war. Additionally the prevalence of these songs in Vietnam related media will be discussed and cataloged. The conclusions of this discussion will reveal the greatest example of "Vietnam War Music"
What was the Vietnam War and what are its Core Characteristics?
What was the Vietnam War and what are its Core Characteristics?
For the analysis of “Vietnam War Music” the specifics of the military process for draftees and the conditions of the battlefield must be analyzed itself to form a better understanding of the influence of the war on the music of the time. There are two main elements of note about the war, First Vietnam was a war that saw a large conscription drive among primarily low-income individuals and second the characteristics of the battlefield of Vietnam itself. The Vietnam War was not the first war where the military introduced a strong draft, but it was a incredibly unpopular war. The main reason was that it was politically disliked because many believed that the United States should not be sending its sons to a far off country for very little reason. Additionally the war lasted a very long time with little change in borders or progress in general which negatively impacted the moral of both people at home and those fighting the war. Another main reason for the disapproval is also the other core element of the entire war, and that being the extreme environment the war was being fought in. The jungle fighting of the Vietnam was brutal as well as the ability of the enemy to strike without warning and retreat before a counterattack could be executed. Soldiers did not just have to worry about the enemy however, they had to deal with thick and dangerous plant life, high rates of disease, and lethal animals like snakes. Not only was this environment difficult to fight in, it was also wore down troops even when fighting was not happening. (Onion, Amanda, et al)
What Is "Vietnam War Music"?
What Is "Vietnam War Music"?
"Vietnam War Songs" are examples of music that have close ties to the war itself, this comes in many forms but are two points this project focuses on. The First being the inclusion of at least one of the core elements of the war itself described above, the second being their prevalence in Vietnam War media. Examples of this type of music do not have to fit both categories to be considered "Vietnam War Songs" but ones that do can be seen as some of the best examples of such.
What Is "Vietnam War Media"?
What Is "Vietnam War Media"?
There are many examples of Vietnam War media that have been made over the past 50 years, they come in the form of movies, TV shows, Video Games and more. To analyze the music being used in these pieces of media a list of some of the most popular pieces of Vietnam War media had to to made. By using polls conducted on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, two very popular media reviewing sites, a list of the most prevalent pieces was created.
The Artists
The Artists
Creedence Clearwater Revival
CCR was a rock band involving the members, Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, as well as Tom and John Fogerty. They started working together in 1959 under different band names. They are responsible for two of the most influential Vietnam War songs ever, Run Through the Jungle and Fortunate Son. These songs are held in high regard as both pieces of great music and songs as seemingly represent the Vietnam War. (Grow)
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo SpringField was a pretty short lived group only lasting from 1966-1968 with members Stephen Stills, Dewey Martin, Bruce Palmer, Richie Furay, and Neil Young. Even though they did not exist for long they created one of the most iconic Protest songs. (Houghton)
Eddie Starr
Born on January 21st 1942 as Charles Edwin Hatcher, Edwin Starr made one of the most prevalent Anti-War songs that is commonly thought to be directed towards the Vietnam War. (Houghton)
Run Through The Jungle Fortunate Son
For What Its Worth War
Are these songs truly about the Vietnam War?
Are these songs truly about the Vietnam War?
Run Through The Jungle (1970) By CCR
Run Through The Jungle which, as the name implies, seemingly focuses on the other core aspect of the war. While the title, year of release, and some of the lyrics would point towards a song directly discussing the Vietnam War, the band have stated that this is not the focus of the song. John Fogerty, the lead vocalist and guitarist of CCR, has stated that the meaning of the song is in fact about the proliferation of firearms in the United States. This insight gives the lyrics “Two hundred million guns are loaded” more meaning since two hundred million was the rough population of the United States at the time and makes more sense since the Vietnam War did not involve anywhere near two hundred million participants. Seemingly the only reason this song is so commonly used in Vietnam War media is the title and common lyric “Run Through the Jungle”. As running through the jungle was a core element of the war itself and the period the song was released at, it is safe to say that many probably assumed the song was about the War and it became generally associated with it. (Grow 2018) (Spotify 2024)
Fortunate Son (1969) By CCR
While Run Through The Jungle may not have been about Vietnam, Fortunate Son is undeniably about the conflict. The origin of the song comes from John Fogerty becoming enraged that President Richard Nixon was throwing a lavish wedding for his daughter, who was marrying Dwight Eisenhower's son, while the war in Vietnam raged. John had already been infuriated by the war, particularly the draft. for John the sharp contrast between the life's of the wealthy and elite compared to the poor who were being drafted motivated John to write a song which would tear into the injustice that he saw. Through this inspiration the song got its name, Fortunate Son, from the fortunate sons that were spared from the horrors of war because of their priverage. The commentary does not end there as the lyrics are heavy with meaning and criticism of the War and the special treatment some people recieve. The Lyrics "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son, It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no, Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord?, But when the taxman come to the door, Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah" illustrate these ideas perfectly mentioning those that are not sons of politicians or born with silver spoons which exemplifies their status. Numerous other parts of the lyrics support this main idea of the issues of the draft and the discrimination based on status, thus fitting perfectly into the core element of the Vietnam War itself. (Einav 2019) (Spotify 2024)
For What Its Worth (1966) By Buffalo Springfield
For What Its Worth By Buffalo Springfield is regarded as one of the greatest protest songs of all time, but is it about the Vietnam War? It was not actually written to be about the Vietnam War, instead it was written by Stephen Stills in response to the Sunset Strip Curfew Riots. These riots were primarily caused by a city curfew being implemented to reduce the nuisance of Hippie culture in West Hollywood, California. In an interview Stills explains that the song is a description of the riots from his point of view. The lyrics illustrate what he means as the lines, "There's battle lines being drawn"---"Young people speaking their minds "----"A thousand people in the street (Ooh ooh ooh) Singing songs and they carrying signs (Ooh ooh ooh)" all describe common sights at a protest. While the song is not directly about Vietnam it does contain the elements of civil unrest of the time and general hostilities towards authority. This has kept it very relevant in the discussion of the Vietnam War and its music. (Houghton 2023) (Spotify 2024)
War (1970) By Edwin Starr Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
War By Edwin Starr is considered to be one of the most prevalent Anti-War songs of all time. While performed by Starr it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong who both had experienced the pain of the wa through their friends and family being injured and killed in the war. Strong in particular made a point in an interview to explain that the war made its way into families at home due to how close the war was to everyone and how they talked about it. In a rather simple analysis the most most frequent lyric in the song is "War, huh, yeah What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, uhh". The lyrics make it very clear that the song is a anti-war by saying that it is worth nothing and only causes suffering. The following lyrics go into more detail as "War, I despise 'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives War means tears to thousands of mother's eyes When their sons go off to fight And lose their lives" further emphasizing the strong negatives of war. The song leans into the discontent the American people had with the war and articulates the core element of the war as a whole. (Houghton 2024) (Spotify)
Conclusions to be Made About the Songs
While not all of these songs are strictly about the Vietnam War they all share at least one of the critical core elements that made the war unique. This idea alongside the timing of when these songs released serve to explain why they are so closely tied to the war. All of these songs released during the esculated period of the Vietnam War when the United States was actively involved in combat. While the war was happening these songs are what both the troops and the people back home were listening to. These songs were loved in part because they reflected what most people were thinking as well as experiencing first hand and now these songs are looked back on as ways to gain a better understanding of the time. When film makers and developers make new content in the image of the war many of them look to the music to get a idea of how people thought, acted, and to set the atmosphere of their work.
Where do Examples of this Music show up in Vietnam War media?
Where do Examples of this Music show up in Vietnam War media?
Below is a graph illustrating the frequency the four "Vietnam War Music" that show up in a list of some of the most popular Vietnam War media.
Analysis of the Data
Analysis of the Data
As you can see there many of the songs discussed show up very frequently across the Films and games taking place in the era. A few notes on the each of the extremes of the graph will give insight for understanding the data. Tropic Thunder is a satire comedy of a Vietnam War film which makes fun of Vietnam War movies and how fake some of them can be. Due to this the film focused heavily on the stereotypical elements of similar media and put in as many iconic "Vietnam War Music" examples as possible. On the other side of the spectrum, We Were Soldiers depicts a far for sober interpretation of the war that limits what music is played from the time and mostly focuses on the original score of the film itself. War By Edwin Starr is arguably the most blatant about its direction towards the war, yet it is only appears in one example. I attribute this to the fact that these examples, with the exception of tropic thunder of course, serve primarily as action films and a song so strongly being opposed to violence would damage the "vibe" that the film makers are trying to create.
With all this being said, What is the the song that best fits into the description of "Vietnam War Music"?
The answer is Fortunate Son By CCR
About The Project
About The Project
Sam H.
Before I started the project I knew I wanted to talk about the music of the Vietnam War and I had an idea to see just how frequently the songs of this era showed up in the other media related to the war. I got a selection of popular media from IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, IGN, and some of my favorites or ones that I thought represented the period well. I must admit I got a little ahead of myself and had more than twelve different pieces I wanted to ayalize. I ran into a big struggle with this part of the project, primarily due to the difficulty in determining what songs showed up in what pieces of media. At first I used spotify to try to figure this out but ran into problems as some pieces of media only had the soundtrack pieces listed and not the songs featured. To confirm which songs did in fact show up I rewatched Apocalypse Now and watched gameplay of Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam to make sure what songs were featured. However, due to how time consuming this process was, as well as just generally difficult as I do not own copies for most of these I had to cut some less relevant pieces of media. For the meanings of the songs I found Interviews and analysis' by others to help create the foundation of my own which I could tie better into the main point of the project. From there on it was pretty smooth sailing with only small issues with getting the theme of the project just right and formatting everything. I tried to make the font mimic the military style Stencil font as if reading the project off the side of a ammo crate. I had to juggle how aggressive I wanted it to be as some versions made it very difficult to read. I put the final touches on the assignment on 12/5/24 at around 1:45 AM.
Sources
Sources
Einav, Dan. “Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Era-Defining Anthem of Dissent.” FT.Com, Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019. All rights reserved., 5 Aug. 2019, ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/fortunate-son.html.
Grow, Kory. “John Fogerty: ‘run through the Jungle’ Plea for Gun Control.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/john-fogerty-run-through-the-jungle-is-plea-for-gun-control-60581/.
Houghton, Cillea. “The Meaning behind Edwin Starr’s Bold ‘War.’” American Songwriter, 31 Oct. 2023, americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-edwin-starrs-bold-war/.
Houghton, Cillea. “Meaning behind Buffalo Springfield’s Protest Anthem ‘for What It’s Worth.’” American Songwriter, 2 May 2023, americansongwriter.com/meaning-behind-buffalo-springfields-protest-anthem-for-what-its-worth/.
Onion, Amanda, et al. “Vietnam War: Causes, Facts & Impact.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history#william-westmoreland. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.
Spotify. “Web Player: Music for Everyone.” Spotify, open.spotify.com/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.
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