Anti-war song commandment

[womzilla]

Via pnh.


"One More Parade", Phil Ochs

Hup, two, three, four, marching down the street
Rolling of the drums and the trampin' of the feet
Generals salute and mothers wave and weep(?)
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade

So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade

Listen for the sound and listen for the noise
Listen for the thunder of the marching boys
A few years ago their guns were only toys
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade

So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade

Medals on their coats and guns in their hands
Trained to kill as they're trained to stand
10,000 ears need only one command
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade

So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade

Cold hard stares on faces so proud
Kisses from the girls and cheers from the crowd
And the widows from the last war cry into their shroud
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
Don't be ashamed
War is a game
World in flames
So start the parade

One of my contrarian friends posted an "are there any good pro-war songs" request (in a friends-locked post). The top finisher was


"The Battle Hymn of the Republic", Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

Chorus

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my condemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on."

Chorus

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Chorus

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

but my choice is


"Battle Cry of Freedom", George F. Root

Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

(Chorus)
The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitors, up with the stars;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with a million free men more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

about which I said,

... it's a thin, singable tune and contains the best rationale for a just war I've ever read in two lines. . . . It also has the honor of being so good that the enemy in the war stole it and rewrote it for their own purposes.

(Is there any other song which can claim that honor?)