Songs for Veteran's Day...

So I've been on a veterans jag for a few days now and last night my mind wandered towards the realm of music:  what songs do I know and love that fit into this world? Right away two from Springsteen jumped into view:

+ Born in the USA: both the original acoustic as well as the full blown rock version tell the story of the kid in "Born to Run" who after having his fling - and spending time in Vietnam - comes home in the early 1980s.  There are no jobs in the oil refinery, the VA appears impotent, too.  So all he has is a lot of bitter time on his hands and a whole lotta memories about those who have died.

+ Shut Out the Lights:  a lesser known track was the flip side of "Born in the USA."  Here, a returning Vietnam vet, finds a few homies are willing to welcome him home but nobody understands what he's endured.  His wife prepares to welcome him home - gets the kids out of the house - only to discover that her husband has become locked inside himself.

She checked herself out in the dining room mirror
And undid an extra button on her blouse
He felt her lying next to him, the clock said 4:00 am
He was staring at the ceiling, he couldn't move his hands
Oh mama mama mama come quick
I've got the shakes and I'm gonna be sick
Throw your arms around me in the cold dark night
Hey now mama don't shut out the light

So I've been letting other tunes float to the surface - including some of my all-time favorites - if you know of others, please let me know.

+ Ira Hayes:  Johnny Cash used to sing this ballad about a Pima Indian who raised the flag on Iwa Jima only to die homeless and drunk in a puddle of rain water on his return.  Back in my folkie days, I sang this song a lot.

+ Jimmy Clay: Patrick Sky, an American Indian, put out this ballad in the mid-60s and it is brilliant.  By the end of the song you realize it is being told from the grave of a soldier killed in combat.  I used to perform this a lot, too.

+ Where Have All the Flowers Gone:  although this has become sentimentalized and schmaltzed up, the story is poignant about the cycle of love, war, death and loneliness.  When we visited the Soviet Union in the middle 80s it became clear that a whole generation of men had perished during WWII. 

+ The Fiddle and the Drum:  Joni Mitchell's aching lament about a nation that becomes belligerent and demands its young to die.

+ Talkin' Vietnam Potluck Blues:  Tom Paxton, himself a vet, offers a send-up of one of the less celebrated aspects of Vietnam:  ganga!

+ Brothers Under the Bridge:  The Boss tells another story about homeless vets living under the bridges of America's great cities.

+ Alice's Restaurant:  I remember hearing this for the first time in a youth coffeehouse after one of the performers had returned from Newport where Arlo first shared his "masacree in four part harmony."

+ Christmas in the Trenches:  John McCutcheon writes of a true WWI story that is tender and lyrical in its sad truth:  "on both ends of the rifle we're the same."

+ Handsome Johnny:  Ritchie Havens tune about all the soldiers who have marched off to war.  Phil Ochs did something similar in "I Ain't Marchin' Any More."

+ Find the Cost of Freedom:  CSN&Y ode to those who have fallen.  It was the flip side of "Ohio" and was more about protest than soldiers, but over time a deeper meaning has taken root, too.

+ I Can't Write Left Handed: Bill Withers' lament from the perspective on a dying soldier asking for help writing home to his other.

+ 50,000 Names:  George Jones' reminder of all who gave their lives in Vietnam and have their names carved into a wall in DC.

+ Arlington:  Trace Adkins sings about a soldier about to be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

Some clearly anti-war songs came to mind, too including:  Blowin' in the Wind, Draft Dodger Rag, Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag, War is Over, Imagine, Love and Peace or Else, War, War/Trouble No More and Masters of War but they don't fit in this group.  There is the truly dreadful Ballad of the Green Berets as well as a bunch by Toby Keith who is almost always over the top for my tastes.

If you know of other songs that you love in this category, please drop me a line, ok?