Songs can make you emotional in super unexpected ways. Here are a few rock songs that sound pretty chill on the surface but actually deal with heavy themes regarding the Vietnam War. If you pay attention to what these artists have to say, I bet they’ll strike you in a different way.
“Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
When you’re listening to this one on the radio, it can be easy to get lost in the catchy melody. However, if you listen closely, you’ll see that “Fortunate Son” actually makes a pretty pointed statement about the draft. At the time, some people, like David Eisenhower (grandson of ex-president Dwight Eisenhower), could avoid being picked because of their social standing. Other people, like John Fogerty, who was the lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, weren’t that lucky. He was picked for the draft in 1966. However, Fogerty was able to avoid active combat in Vietnam and ended up serving in the U.S. Army Reserve instead.
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin’ like a rummage sale, yeah.
“Draft Morning” by The Byrds
This song protests the Vietnam War and the draft in the US. It appears on The Byrds’ album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which came out in 1968. By 1969, more than half a million US soldiers were stationed in Vietnam. This song likely resonated with many people when it came out, especially because of how direct the lyrics are.
Take my time this morning
No hurry
To learn to kill
And take the will
From unknown faces.
“Born In The U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen
Most people get this song confused. When you look at the title, “Born In The U.S.A.” sounds like it would be about someone who is proud to be an American. However, if you listen to the words Springsteen is saying, it’s actually kind of the opposite. The song is really about Vietnam veterans who come home after serving in the war, only to be faced with a different America than the one they chose to fight for.
“I think why the song has been appropriated: one is because it was so powerful; two is because its imagery was so fundamentally American,” Springsteen told Barack Obama in a Spotify podcast that they did together. “But it did demand of you to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at one time: that you could both be very critical of your nation and very prideful of your nation simultaneously. And that is something that you see argued about to this very day.”
Photo by: Steve Granitz/WireImage
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