War Lyrics

B4

Constant or Changing Conditions That Lead to Rejection or Embracement of Continuity or Change in Lyric Trends

Who would have ever predicted that the traditional 1915 song, America, I Love You (Reublin, 2004) would become Anti-FlagЎ¦s North America Sucks by the year 1998? Or 1775Ў¦s The KingЎ¦s Regulars (History in a Song, 2004) become 2001Ў¦s Son of a Bush? Since the American Revolution of 1775 to present-day September 11th attacks and United StatesЎ¦ war with Iraq, artists have taken advantage of their freedom of expression during conflicts by incorporating their own philosophies into their lyrics. When central themes of these wartime lyrics are analzed in chronological order, they show patterns that reflect the dichotomy of continuity and change.

When considering the American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam War, September 11th attacks, and the war with Iraq, some lyric themes changed throughout history along with changing conditions, thus innovation overriding tradition, while other lyrics trends have remained throughout history due to several conditions remaining constant. The changing and continuing conditions are what make society embrace or reject change or continuity.

Changing conditions from the past leading embracement of change in lyrics--

Lyric trends present in the past that are not present today exist due to changes of influencing conditions throughout history. Examples consist of the rejection of continuity or embracement of change from patriotic lyrics during the American Revolution, Civil War, and the World Wars, to anti-war, anti-Bush, and anti-capitalism during the Vietnam War and war with Iraq. A condition during the American Revolution and Civil War was that the purpose of war was clearly stated. Americans fought in the Revolution to gain independence from England and be exempt from paying her taxes (Encyclopedia Americana, 1998). Americans fought in the Civil War because the North and South could not compromise on whether or not to abolish slavery. The North wished to abolish it for contradicting ideal freedom and equality while the South needed it for cheap labor in the fields, since they were not industrialized like the North (Weber, 2001). However, the condition of war being clearly stated changed during the Iraq war due to controversial reasons for war. Bush declared war to end HusseinЎ¦s rule and to destroy all weapons of mass destruction, however, society felt it was pointless for Bush to be minding the business of Iraq politics, and weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found. This led to the assumption of Bush killing for oil, an unjustified war. This change in conditions influenced lyrics.

A change in lyric themes from patriotism to anti-Bush due to his Ў§unjustified killingЎЁ exists due to societyЎ¦s rejection of the continuity of being Ў§toolsЎЁ in BushЎ¦s battle and embracement of change to object to unjustified killing. Patriotic lyrics such as Ў§We march and we wheel, whatever you choose,ЎЁ (History in a Song, 2004) from the American Revolution in 1775 have changed to Ў§I will not fight for your wealthЎKwe will not be tools!ЎЁ from our present-day war with Iraq. Similarly, George RootЎ¦s patriotic lyrics from 1862Ў¦s Civil War Song, The Battle Cry of Freedom, Ў§The Battle Cry of Freedom, which declared, Ў§The Union [South] forever, down with the traitor!ЎЁ And Ў§Brave boys are they, gone at their countryЎ¦s call!ЎЁ from Henry WorkЎ¦s 1861 song Brave Boys Are They (Tubb, 2004) have changed to anti-war and anti-Bush lyrics from Public EnemyЎ¦s 2003 Son of a BushЎ¦s, Ў§Killed 135 at the last countЎKkilling machine,ЎЁ and Billy BragЎ¦s 2003 song, The Price of OilЎ¦s, Ў§men in the white house they just donЎ¦t give a damn, itЎ¦s all about the price of oil..." (Kells, 2004).

Another set of conditions that changed and influenced lyrics was AmericaЎ¦s willingness to fight against democracyЎ¦s oppositions to protect the Ў§American DreamЎЁ in World Wars I and II changing to the Dream being denied, thus not having people willing to fight. Under the condition that the Ў§American DreamЎЁ was to be fulfilled, America joined World War I in 1917 to protect the Ў§American DreamЎЁ from GermanyЎ¦s supposedly hidden agenda to undermine democracy (Koeller, 1999), and joined World War II in 1941 to protect US interest and democracy when Japan, Hitler, and Mussolini formed alliances after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th that year (Huang, 2004). However, the Civil Rights Movement during the Vietnam War in the 1960Ў¦s brought inequality into public attention which contradicted