Protest Song analysis

For this paper, you will choose a Vietnam War Era song to analyze. You need to download the lyrics from the internet and listen to a performance of your song.

You need a history of the band or artist who performed the song, or the band that made the song popular, BUT you should only include facts and information that are relevant to the history of the song. Do not spend a lot of time summarizing Wikipedia. But how did the band feel about the War? What motivated them to write or perform this song?

You need to find out what year the song was released, and then place it in an historical context. What was happening in the U.S. when the song came out? What specific things or things is this song protesting? You may give a brief history here of the war, or the draft, or whatever the song deals with.

Then you need to analyze the lyrics. What type of song was it - folk, country or rock-n-roll? What is the tone of the song? What is the meaning? How did the songwriter feel and what message was he or she trying to get across? Was the message subtle, blunt or ironic? Explain any slang terms or any historical references in the lyrics. Explain any rhetorical devices that the song uses, and why you think they are used (like anaphora, imagery, simile, rhetorical question). Look at the song like it is a poem.

This is approximately a three page typed paper, and as usual it is 14 pt. ft., TNR and 1.5 spacing. Please include the lyrics on a separate page. You will also have a Works Cited page including where you found the lyrics (in MLA format, don’t just give me the website) and any other sites you used to interpret the song’s meaning or to gather the history of the band.

Some suggestions for songs are:
Draft Dodger Rag -- Pete Seeger
On the Eve of Destruction -- Barry McGuire
Masters of War -- Bob Dylan
With God on Our Side -- Bob Dylan
Only a Pawn in Their Game -- Bob Dylan
War -- Edwin Starr
Give Peace a Chance -- John Lennon
The Ballad of the Green Beret (pro war song)
Four Dead in Ohio -- Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Chicago -- Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town - The First Edition
An Okie from Moskogee - Merle Haggard
Feels Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag - Country Joe and the Fish
Unknown Soldier - The Doors
One Tin Soldier - Joan Baez
Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Simple Song of Freedom - Bobby Darin
The War Drags On - Donovan (1965)
I Ain't Marching Anymore - Phil Ochs (1965)
Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation - Tom Paxton (1965)
Bring Them Home - Pete Seeger (1966)
Saigon Bride - Joan Baez (1967)
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy - Pete Seeger (1967)