PROTEST SONG...

The question was posed on line recently, “How come there’s no good songs about the war?” The quick answer is “Because no one’s been writing any.” There are rules for writing protest songs, and they’ve been mostly ignored. I decided instead of lecturing, I should just go write one, to show how it’s done. And while driving to see my fambly this weekend, I did that.

The rules, by the way, are simple. You don’t rant. You don’t even express an opinion if you can avoid it. You grab a good, poignant image and you beat people over the head with it and let ‘em come to their own conclusions. (People like jumping to conclusions anyway. It’s one of their favorite exercises.) And if you’re non-specific enough, you can avoid being rendered irrelevant by the evening news.

So here’s the song. It proves, by the way, that you do not have to have convictions in order to be able to express them. Remember, politicians do it all the time.

Oh, and I did answer the question, “How come there’s no good songs about the war?”

[4/4, mod. two-step]

NO ONE WRITES GOOD SONGS ABOUT THE WAR
--J. Wrabek

1.
When Johnny joined the Army, all the hometown folks wasd proud;
They hung his picture at the grocery store;
Now the picture’s edged in black, ‘cause he isn’t coming backAnd no one writes good songs about the war.

CHORUS:
About the war…. About the war….
Does anyone recall what it was for?
Send the kids off overseas, and they come home to rest in peace
And no one writes good songs about the war.

2.
Everyone remembers Katy as the girl who fixed their car;
She was gonna run the station when Dad got old;
Dad works the place alone since they sent Katy’s body home
And no one writes good songs about thw war.

CHORUS

3.
In the park, they’ve built a stone for all the kids that can’t come home;
It says we’re proud of them forever more;
They wrote the names real small, so they’d have room to list them all
And no one writes good songs about the war.

CHORUS

REPEAT FIRST LINE OF FIRST VERSE TO END

©2007 J. Wrabek dba Outside Services Ltd. All the usual rights reserved just in case.

I did perform the song at the Wild Goose Sunday night, and wasn’t sure anyone liked it. Did hear Tuesday night, when I went to a new open mike in Ashland, from one young fellow who said he did. And did hear there a would-be Dylan (complete with the harmonica and Afro), doing protest songs that weren’t any good—because they were rants. Might be some point to the song after all.