Springsteen kicked off the recent telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes with the song My City of Ruins. Sometime the artists themselves are doing the repurposing. Some of today's contemporary songs are already being reinterpreted by listeners looking for some solace in music. Born in the U.S.A.was famously misinterpreted by some as a jingoistic bit of patriotism in fact, it is a patriotic song, but one that understands that true patriotism isn't just about fighting battles abroad, it's also about taking care of those in need at home as well. That war, and its aftermath, helped spawn a number of songs, from Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, a plea for peace and understanding, to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., which explored the pain and confusion of a returning war veteran: Got in a little hometown jam so they put a rifle in my hand/ Sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man. It's hard to hear The Doors mournful song The End and not think about the explosive, nightmarish opening images of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. The Vietnam War helped combine music with images. I hates the Constitution/ This great Republic too/ I hates the Freedmen's Buro/ In uniforms of blue, go the lyrics to Oh I'm a Good Old Rebel. Of course, some of the songs favored by the South sound misguided and tragic. One of the greatest poems of all time, The Iliad, is essentially an epic song about war.Īs the first line goes: Rage Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus son Achilles/ murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses.Īmerica's Civil War produced its share of popular compositions, from the war songs of the North (The Battle Hymn of the Republic and All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight) to the fighting odes of the South (Oh I'm a Good Old Rebel).Ĭivil War-era songs such as When This Cruel War Is Over(1863) still have a melancholy resonance even today: Weeping, sad and lonely, hopes and fears, how vain!/ When this cruel war is over praying then to meet again/ When the summer breeze is sighing, mournfully along/ Or when autumn leaves are falling, sadly breathes this song.įar from being besides the point, such songs had the power to soothe and uplift at a time when the nation was literally coming apart. In fact, war and music have always had an intimate bond. The song's mistimed title: Tragedy.īut pop music is far from irrelevant. Marc Anthony, the pop/salsa singer, dropped plans to promote his latest single, a song about heartbreak that was written before the events. Several artists, including the rapper DMX, pushed back their album release dates. Music sales around the country, which had been slow anyway, dipped about five percent. Not long after the September 11th terrorist attacks, MTV interrupted its scheduled programming to broadcast live news feeds. 02, 2001Īt first, music seemed irrelevant.
And tell us the story and the relevance of each add so that we can learn from you.īy Christopher John Farley Tuesday, Oct. This thread will discuss War Time Music (this can be military related music, music about a war, music that was popular during any war, marches, morale enhancing music for the troops, any time period, any country, etc.Īlways if you can also add the link so that we can hear the music you are posting about.
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