Collections › Pete Seeger Songs

Pete Seeger Songs

20 songs · chronological · A–Z by artist
Annotations and notes by Justin A. Brummer
Entries are numbered (#1, #2 …) for reference on this page; the numbers shift when entries are added or split.
A collection of Vietnam War songs by Pete Seeger
This forms part of the larger Vietnam War Song Project, an interpretive examination of over 6,500 Vietnam War songs identified, revealing how the war's significance is represented through music. The project also collects spoken-word recordings about the conflict. This unique collection of voices advances scholarship by providing insights into people’s views about the war over time as represented in music, looking at diverse communities and vibrant music scenes. It is crucial in developing our knowledge of the war and the humanities, through the use of a digital research platform.
Note: The VWSP has identified, to date, 20+ songs by Pete Seeger about or referencing the war.
Citation: Justin A. Brummer, Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) — Pete Seeger Songs, vietnamwarsongproject.com/list/pete-seeger-songs, accessed 12 November 2026

About Pete Seeger

Beyond Anti-War, the songs in this collection most often also deal with: Draft, Napalm, LBJ, Counter-Culture & Hippies.
Iconic American contemporary folk singer, Pete Seeger (born 3 May 1919 in Manhattan, New York, USA, died on 27 January 2014, same location) played a key role in the 1950s contemporary folk revival and the 1960s anti-war and Civil Rights movement. He often wrote political songs, protesting against war, segregation, and calling for environmental protection.1

His body of songs referencing the Vietnam War is significant in both themes and volume [currently 20 identified]: "The Willing Conscript" on the album Broadside Ballads Volume 2 (1963); "Beans in My Ear", "King Henry", and "The Draft Dodger Rag" on the Dangerous Songs!? (1966); "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" and "Down By the Riverside" on the album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs (1967); "Backlash Blues", "Talking Ben Tre", and "The Torn Flag" on the album Pete Seeger Now (1968); "Anti-Vietnam Songs / Waist Deep in the Big Muddy / Arts in a Changing Society / Violence and Protest" featured on the live album Sings and Answers Questions (1968); "Bring Them Home" and "Ballad of the Fort Hood Three" on the album Young vs. Old (1969); "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" (1970) [promo single-only]; "Last Train to Nuremberg", "Uncle Ho", and "Our Generation" on the album Rainbow Race (1971); Rewritten lyrics to "Everybody Has the Right to Live" (1971) with Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, published in Broadside, May/June 1971, but not recorded.

Time Period & Criteria

  • Pre-Gulf of Tonkin: 1960-1964
    While many of these early US songs may have been intending to refer to US troops in Germany, or Korea, or representing general Cold War fears, they were released in the run-up to the "Vietnam era" and the Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964), which led to a major escalation of US involvement in the conflict, and thus included in this list, as cultural perspectives. The criteria is the same as for the war years - the songs included mention Vietnam, or the lyrics deal with war-related themes, such as combat, the US draft, weapons such as napalm, prisoners of war, demonstrations, references to soldiers and veterans, war & peace, and expressions of patriotism.

  • War Years: 1964-1975
    Released during the key war years, the songs included mention Vietnam, or the lyrics deal with war-related themes, such as combat, the US draft, weapons such as napalm, prisoners of war, demonstrations, references to soldiers and veterans, war & peace, and expressions of patriotism.

    While the war goes back to the 1954 Geneva conference, following the Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964), the US significantly expanded its presence in the region and its defence of South Vietnam, and thus using this date as the beginning of the core war years. These run to the collapse of South Vietnam (30 April 1975), in two periods: (a) 1964-1972, the years of major US combat involvement, up to the peace agreement; (b) 1973-1975, from the Paris Peace Accords (27 January 1973), which brought US troops and prisoners of war home, to the collapse of South Vietnam.

  • Post-War: 1976-present
    Themes especially found in the post-Vietnam War era are lyrics about post-traumatic stress disorder, prisoners of war and the missing in action, the plight and treatment of veterans, and agent orange, in the years after the collapse of South Vietnam and the unification of North and South Vietnam.

1963

#1 Pete Seeger The Willing Conscript 1963 · Album · Broadside Ballads Volume 2 · Folkways # FW05302 · USA
Annotation
Released in 1963 (Folkways Records # FW05302), on this album Seeger played songs that first appeared in Broadside Magazine. Produced by Sis Cunningham, the booklet said that "this banjo picker can tell you...there has been a flood of new songs written in the USA during the last year...from this record I hope you get an idea of the wide ranging talents of the songwriters". This included the well-known conscription / draft song "The Willing Conscript" composed by Tom Paxton. The lyrics and music first appeared in Broadside # 28 (in June 1963), and this was the first recording / release on the song. It took a satirical approach to the draft, with sharp lyrics about a draftee off to war, who needed to learn how to kill: "I'll need instruction, sergeant, for I've never killed before" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Oh Sergeant I'm a draftee and I've just arrived in camp
I've come to wear the uniform and join the martial tramp
And I want to do my duty but one thing I do implore
You must give me lessons, sergeant, for I've never killed before
To do my job obediently is my only desire
To learn my weapon thoroughly and how to aim and fire
To learn to kill the enemy and then to slaughter more
Now there are several lessons that I haven't mastered yet
I haven't got the hang of how to use the bayonet
The hand grenade is something that I just don't understand
You've got to throw it quickly or you're apt to lose your hand
Does it blow a man to pieces with it's wicked, muffled roar
Oh, I want to thank you, Sergeant, for the help you've given to me for you've taught me how to slaughter and to hate the enemy
I'll be ready when they march me off to war
Show full lyrics (15 lines) ▾

1966

#2 Pete Seeger The Draft Dodger Rag 1966 · Single · The Draft Dodger Rag / Guantanamera · Columbia # 4-43699 · USA
Annotation
On this single Pete Seeger covered the song "Draft Dodger Rag" (Columbia Records # 4-43699), composed by Phil Ochs, using a banjo. It featured on the album Dangerous Songs!? (CBS # 62751). In the song, Ochs listed every conceivable excuse available for somebody to avoid the draft. But firstly, it started with a young man expressing his hate of communism: "I knew better dead than red" , and thus his patriotism:

But when the draftee gets to the draftboard, the excuses started to pour out - drug addiction, enrollment in full-time education, a full-time carer for his disabled aunt, asthma, allergies, poor eyesight, working in a key defense industry, and the suggestion of being a homosexual ( "I always carry a purse" ). At the end, the draftee re-affirmed his hate of the communists, hoping that Chou En Lai would die (the Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1949-1976). However, he only wanted to go to "a war without any gore" .
Covers
Chad Mitchell Trio – Draft Dodger Rag (1964: Mercury # SR 60949)
The Moonshiners – Draft Dodger Rag (1965: Village Gate # VLG 104)
Denis Gibbons - National Service Blues (Draft Dodger Blues) (1965: W&G # 2594)
Pete Seeger – The Draft Dodger Rag (1966: Columbia # 4-43699)
Four in the Morning – Draft Dodger Rag (Crossroad # 7001)
John Berry – Draft Dodger (Sound Inc. # S1-180)
The Apples – Draft Dodgers Rag (Act 1 # 715)
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia 4-43699, red label, 45 RPM, matrix JZSP 114551; "The Draft Dodger Rag" (P. Ochs), 2:08; accompanied by Fred Hellerman on vocal and guitar; produced by John Hammond. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town
I believe in God and Senator Dodd and an keepin' old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve I knew better dead than red
English
But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen and I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat my asthma's getting worse
Consider my career, my sweetheart...
My poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, and I'm goin' to school
And I'm workin' in a defense plant
I've got a dislocated disc and a racked up back
I'm allergic to flowers and bugs
And when the bombshell hits, I get epileptic fits
And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs
I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes...
I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies
But I think you gotta see that if someone's gotta go over there, that someone isn't me...
And if you ever get a war without any gore, well, I'll be the first to go
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
#3 Pete Seeger King Henry 1966 · Album · Dangerous Songs!? · CBS # 62751 · USA
Annotation
Less well-known anti-war / protest from Seeger, the song "King Henry" on Dangerous Songs!? (CBS # 62751). It featured in Broadside Magazine # 58 under the title "I Mind My Own Business" , p. 4. Seeger noted: "the quote in the 5th verse is from an actual letter from a US 'adviser' to his wife, a week before he was killed in Viet Nam". It's dated 1965, and to the tune of "Old Ballad Melody".

It looked at the perspective of a soldier drafted to war and killed in action (K.I.A.): "drafted in sixty-three... he wrote this last month, last week he was dead" . It argued that the war was virtually unwinnable: "we'll have to flatten the country... all gutted and spattered with napalm" - a reference to Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 The song also noted the prominence of T.V. ("television war") - a reflection on both the media portrayal of the war, and the delivery of war images directly into the homes of Americans in the 1960s: "on T.V. some general says 'we must be tough'" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Also known as "I Mind My Own Business", Broadside Magazine # 58
Lyrics
English
King Henry marched forth, a sword in his hand
Two thousand horsemen all at his command
In a fortnight the rivers ran red through the land
The year fifteen hundred and twenty
The year it is now nineteen sixty-five
It's easier far to stay half-alive
Just keep your mouth shut while the planes zoom and dive
Ten thousand miles over the ocean
Simon was drafted in sixty-three
In sixty-four, sent over the sea
Last month this letter he sent to me
He said "You won't like what I'm sayin'"
He said "We've no friends here, no hardly a one
We've got a few generals who just want our guns
But it'll take more than that if we're ever to win
Why we'll have to flatten the country"
"It's my own troops I have to watch out for", he said
"I sleep with a pistol right under my head"
He wrote this last month, last week he was dead
And Simon came home in a casket
I mind my own business, I watch my T.V
Complain about taxes but pay anyway
In a civilized manner my forefathers betrayed
Who long ago struggled for freedom
But each day a new headline screams at my bluff
On T.V. some general says "We must be tough"
In my dreams I stare at this family I love
All gutted and spattered with napalm
Show full lyrics (29 lines) ▾
#4 Pete Seeger Beans in My Ears 1966 · Album · Dangerous Songs!? · CBS # 62751 · USA
Annotation
The song "Beans in My Ears" , also on Dangerous Songs!? (CBS # 62751) - originally written by Len Chandler - member of the The Broadside Singers, and one of the magazine's editors. It appeared in volume # 45. Seeger added a verse at the end, to criticize President Lyndon B. Johnson, with a play on words, saying that "Alby Jay" (i.e. LBJ) had beans in his ear, and wouldn't listen to anyone about the war in Vietnam. He noted in the song with a spoken word section:
Quote
"Course you know this is just like an old folk song, you can change around the words, it's what I call a zipper song, you can zip into it the names of anyone you want, your family, your friends, Mrs. Jay's little son Alby, hey Alby Jay [LBJ], you got beans in your ears"
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
My mama says not to put beans in my ears
Beans in my ears...
Now, why should I want to put beans in my ears?...
You can't hear your teacher with beans in your ears...
Hey, maybe it's fun to put beans in our ears...
Hey, maybe it's fun to put beans in our ears...
Hey, Charlie, look at me, I've got beans in my ears...
What's that you say? I've got beans in my ears...
You'll have to speak up. I've got beans in my ears...
You'll have to speak up. I've got beans in my ears...
Hey, mama, look at me. I've got beans in my ears
That's nice, son. Just don't put those beans in your ears
That's nice, son. Just don't put those beans in your ears...
I think that all grownups have beans in their ears...
Course you know this is just like an old folk song, you can change around the words, it's what I call a zipper song, you can zip into it the names of anyone you want, your family, your friends, Mrs. Jay's little son Alby
Hey Alby Jay [LBJ], you got beans in your ears
Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾

1967

#5 Pete Seeger Waist Deep in the Big Muddy 1967 · Single · Waist Deep in the Big Muddy / Down By the Riverside · Columbia # 4-44273 · USA
Annotation
The song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (Columbia Records # 4-44273) was about a platoon crossing a Louisiana river in 1942, which dangerously got deeper and deeper until the captain drowned. Only then did the platoon turn around. This song was symbolic of the Vietnam War and Lyndon Johnson's escalation, especially suggested in the final, sixth stanza, which made a contemporary note, calling the president a "big fool" . The song, initially published in Broadside # 74 in September 1966, was released on the 1967 album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs (Columbia Records # CS 9505).

The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) famously censored the taping of the song for the television program The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 12 September 1967, as explained by Seeger at his Ford Hall Forum concert (Boston) on 12 November 1967 - recorded on the album Sings and Answers Questions (Broadside Records # BRS 502), track # 3.2 Seeger had been blacklisted from commercial broadcasting for 17 years, since 1950, before being asked to perform on the show.3The New York Times followed the story and it featured prominently on its pages, encouraging CBS to allow Seeger to perform the song, in full, in 1968.45Billboard also took an active interest in the story at the time.6
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia 4-44273, white "Not for Resale — Radio Station Copy" pressing; "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (P. Seeger), 2:54, matrix JZSP 119552, publisher "Meldoy Trails, Inc. (BMI)", backed with "Down by the Riverside", 3:13, matrix JZSP 119551, publisher: Public Domain; both produced by John Hammond. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health
But every time I read the papers that old feeling comes on
We're - waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on
Theme: Anti-War
#6 Pete Seeger Down By the Riverside 1967 · Single · Waist Deep in the Big Muddy / Down By the Riverside · Columbia # 4-44273 · USA
Annotation
The A-side, "Down By the Riverside" , was often used as an anti-war, and Civil Rights song during the 1960s period.1 It also featured on the 1967 album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs (Columbia Records # CS 9505).
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia 4-44273, white "Not for Resale — Radio Station Copy" pressing; "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (P. Seeger), 2:54, matrix JZSP 119552, publisher "Meldoy Trails, Inc. (BMI)", backed with "Down by the Riverside", 3:13, matrix JZSP 119551, publisher: Public Domain; both produced by John Hammond. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside...
I ain't gonna study war no more
Ain't gonna study war no more..
I'm gonna walk with that Prince of Peace
Down by the riverside...
I'm gonna lay down that atom bomb
Down by the riverside...
I ain't gonna study war no more
Ain't gonna study war no more

1968

#7 Pete Seeger Anti-Vietnam Songs / Waist Deep in the Big Muddy / Arts in a Changing Society / Violence and Protest 1968 · Live · Pete Seeger Sings and Answers Questions · Broadside # BRS 502 · USA
Annotation
The track "Anti-Vietnam Songs / Waist Deep in the Big Muddy / Arts in a Changing Society / Violence and Protest" (Broadside Records # BRS 502), clocking in at 27 minutes, includes a short clip of Seeger playing "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" (by Tom Paxton) and a good full, live version of "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" - Seeger explained why this song was removed from a CBS program. Also, the track includes large spoken-word sections about anti-war songs and the role of protest songs in society.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#8–10 Various Artists Pete Seeger Now 1968 · Album · Columbia # CS 9717 · USA
All 3 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
The song "Talking Ben Tre" , featured on the album Pete Seeger Now (Columbia Records # CS 9717). Lyrics by Jan Davidson, which appeared in Broadside Magazine # 93, July / August 1968. It told the story of a US platoon attacking a suspected "Viet Cong" village, and the devastating use of the napalm weapons.

The reference to the Viet Cong, or "VC") was the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam. Napalm of course referred to a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123: "napalm, big bombs, real pretty, just like the 4th of July... we really cooked them Viet Cong" . It noted the deaths of innocent civilians: "we burned about two thousand others, but they were just old folks, children and mothers" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#8 Pete Seeger Talking Ben Tre 1968 · Album · Pete Seeger Now · Columbia # CS 9717 · USA
Annotation
The song "Talking Ben Tre" , featured on the album Pete Seeger Now (Columbia Records # CS 9717). Lyrics by Jan Davidson, which appeared in Broadside Magazine # 93, July / August 1968. It told the story of a US platoon attacking a suspected "Viet Cong" village, and the devastating use of the napalm weapons.

The reference to the Viet Cong, or "VC") was the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam. Napalm of course referred to a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123: "napalm, big bombs, real pretty, just like the 4th of July... we really cooked them Viet Cong" . It noted the deaths of innocent civilians: "we burned about two thousand others, but they were just old folks, children and mothers" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia Stereo CS 9717, "Pete Seeger Now with Bernice Reagon & The Reverend Fred Kirkpatrick"; produced by John Hammond, engineering Edward T. Graham and Frank Bruno; © 1968 Sanga Music, Inc.; cover photo John Berg, flag by Pete Seeger; manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS Inc., 51 W. 52 Street, New York. This copy is stamped "Demonstration Record – Not for Sale" in red.

Side 1 includes Talking Ben Tre (2:20), Backlash Blues (3:55) and The Torn Flag (BMI, 3:23, with Bernice Reagon); He's Long John is "performed by Bernice Reagon".

The front cover shows a hand rising from water holding a small psychedelic-striped American flag.

The back carries photographs by Diana J. Davies and David Gahr of Seeger with Bernice Reagon and of a civil-rights gathering, a captioned lyric "The world is big and round and it's full of people just like me, who are black, beige, yellow and brown" (© 1967 by Langston Hughes), and Seeger's handwritten lines "If music could only bring peace / I'd only be a musician / Oh, pacem in terris, mir, shanti, salaam, hey wa!" with the word for peace written in several scripts. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
Tell you all a story from across the sea
'Bout a little town they call Ben Tre
Set on a river bank, peaceful as you please
Till it got caught between two ideologies
Confrontation, Western civilization at stake
Down by the river came a-marching along
The local chapter of the Viet Cong
Went into towns with their flags a-wavin'
It was easy to see that the town needed savin'...
Our boys saw what was going on
So they called up the general on the telephone
Said, "Which ones are the enemy? We can't tell?
Said, "I don't know either, blow 'em all to hell"...
It's time for a humanitarian act
We'll call in a full scale bombing attack"
Napalm, big bombs, real pretty, just like the 4th of July...
The houses burned the whole day long
Boy, we really cooked them Viet Cong
And we burned about two thousand others
But they were just old folks, children and mothers
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
#9 Pete Seeger & Bernice Johnson Reagon Backlash Blues 1968 · Album · Pete Seeger Now · Columbia # CS 9717 · USA
Annotation
The song "Backlash Blues" on the album Pete Seeger Now (Columbia Records # CS 9717) - a cover of Nina Simone & Langston Hughes song, originally on the 1967 album Nina Simone Sings the Blues. Seeger on banjo, and Bernice Johnson Reagon providing vocals. The first verse made a connection between the war and Civil Rights: "you... send my son to Vietnam, you give me second class houses and... schools, do you think that all colored people are just second class fools?" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia Stereo CS 9717, "Pete Seeger Now with Bernice Reagon & The Reverend Fred Kirkpatrick"; produced by John Hammond, engineering Edward T. Graham and Frank Bruno; © 1968 Sanga Music, Inc.; cover photo John Berg, flag by Pete Seeger; manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS Inc., 51 W. 52 Street, New York. This copy is stamped "Demonstration Record – Not for Sale" in red.

Side 1 includes Talking Ben Tre (2:20), Backlash Blues (3:55) and The Torn Flag (BMI, 3:23, with Bernice Reagon); He's Long John is "performed by Bernice Reagon".

The front cover shows a hand rising from water holding a small psychedelic-striped American flag.

The back carries photographs by Diana J. Davies and David Gahr of Seeger with Bernice Reagon and of a civil-rights gathering, a captioned lyric "The world is big and round and it's full of people just like me, who are black, beige, yellow and brown" (© 1967 by Langston Hughes), and Seeger's handwritten lines "If music could only bring peace / I'd only be a musician / Oh, pacem in terris, mir, shanti, salaam, hey wa!" with the word for peace written in several scripts. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
So, Mr. Backlash, Backlash
Who do you think I am?
You raise my taxes
Freeze my wages
Send my son to Vietnam
You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that all colored people are just second class fools?
#10 Pete Seeger The Torn Flag 1968 · Album · Pete Seeger Now · Columbia # CS 9717 · USA
Credited on the record as Pete Seeger with Bernice Reagon.
Annotation
The song "The Torn Flag" , which featured on the album Pete Seeger Now (Columbia Records # CS 9717) - the lyrics of which first appeared in Broadside # 91, dated 1968 - was a Vietnam-era protest - the flag was often used in both patriotic and protest songs as a symbol for the country and presenting a position on the war. Seeger here focused on hypocrisy: "it had been used to wrapping lies, it smelled and stank and attracted all the flies" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia Stereo CS 9717, "Pete Seeger Now with Bernice Reagon & The Reverend Fred Kirkpatrick"; produced by John Hammond, engineering Edward T. Graham and Frank Bruno; © 1968 Sanga Music, Inc.; cover photo John Berg, flag by Pete Seeger; manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS Inc., 51 W. 52 Street, New York. This copy is stamped "Demonstration Record – Not for Sale" in red.

Side 1 includes Talking Ben Tre (2:20), Backlash Blues (3:55) and The Torn Flag (BMI, 3:23, with Bernice Reagon); He's Long John is "performed by Bernice Reagon".

The front cover shows a hand rising from water holding a small psychedelic-striped American flag.

The back carries photographs by Diana J. Davies and David Gahr of Seeger with Bernice Reagon and of a civil-rights gathering, a captioned lyric "The world is big and round and it's full of people just like me, who are black, beige, yellow and brown" (© 1967 by Langston Hughes), and Seeger's handwritten lines "If music could only bring peace / I'd only be a musician / Oh, pacem in terris, mir, shanti, salaam, hey wa!" with the word for peace written in several scripts. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
At midnight in a flaming angry town
I saw my country's flag lying torn upon the ground
I ran in and dodged among the crowd
And scooped it up, and scampered out to safety
And then I took this striped old piece of cloth
And tried my best to wash the garbage off
But I found it had been used to wrapping lies
It smelled and stank and attracted all the flies
While I was feverishly at my task
I heard a husky voice that seemed to ask
"Do you think you could change me just a bit?...
My blue is good, the color of the sky
The stars are good for ideals, oh, so high
Seven stripes of red are strong to meet all danger
But those white stripes: they, they need some changing
Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾

1969

#11–13 Pete Seeger Young Vs. Old 1969 · Album · Columbia # CS 9873 · USA
All 3 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
Also important on the album Young vs. Old (Columbia Records # CS 9873) was the song "Ballad of the Fort Hood Three" , based on the true story of three soldiers who refused to be deployed to Vietnam in 1966. They were Private First Class James Johnson, Private David Samas, and Private Dennis Mora, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in the 142nd Signal Company, 2nd Armored Division. Taking the case to the Supreme Court in 1967, claiming that the Vietnam conflict was an illegal war, the Court dismissed the suit (Mora v. McNamara 389 U.S. 934).3 The three soldiers were imprisoned. The lyrics noted that Mora "cast his vote for Johnson in 1964" (a reference to President Lyndon B. Johnson), but concluded that "this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust" . Published in Broadside # 74, September 1966, the lyrics changed slightly for this 1969 album. It said sung to the tune of "Peter Amberly (traditional)". Seeger wrote in Broadside that:
Quote
"the following verses were written August 20, 1966 right after reading the direct statements of three young soldiers, who showed unusual bravery. The poetry is not as good as it should be; I hope the folk process will improve it. If the choice of melody seems not the best, some singers may want to try and find a better one".
Note that Broadside # 76 published another song about this topic, introduced in the magazine by Bill Frederick, which was unrecorded - "The Fort Hood Three's Answer to the Green Berets" by Grace Mora Newman, the sister of Dennis Mora, sung to the tune of Barry Sadler's Ballad of the Green Beret.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#11 Pete Seeger Ballad Of The Fort Hood Three 1969 · Album · Young Vs. Old · Columbia # CS 9873 · USA
Annotation
Also important on the album Young vs. Old (Columbia Records # CS 9873) was the song "Ballad of the Fort Hood Three" , based on the true story of three soldiers who refused to be deployed to Vietnam in 1966. They were Private First Class James Johnson, Private David Samas, and Private Dennis Mora, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in the 142nd Signal Company, 2nd Armored Division. Taking the case to the Supreme Court in 1967, claiming that the Vietnam conflict was an illegal war, the Court dismissed the suit (Mora v. McNamara 389 U.S. 934).3 The three soldiers were imprisoned. The lyrics noted that Mora "cast his vote for Johnson in 1964" (a reference to President Lyndon B. Johnson), but concluded that "this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust" . Published in Broadside # 74, September 1966, the lyrics changed slightly for this 1969 album. It said sung to the tune of "Peter Amberly (traditional)". Seeger wrote in Broadside that:
Quote
"the following verses were written August 20, 1966 right after reading the direct statements of three young soldiers, who showed unusual bravery. The poetry is not as good as it should be; I hope the folk process will improve it. If the choice of melody seems not the best, some singers may want to try and find a better one".
Note that Broadside # 76 published another song about this topic, introduced in the magazine by Bill Frederick, which was unrecorded - "The Fort Hood Three's Answer to the Green Berets" by Grace Mora Newman, the sister of Dennis Mora, sung to the tune of Barry Sadler's Ballad of the Green Beret.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Broadway musical
Lyrics
English
Pvt. Dennis Mora, he hails from New York town...
He cast his vote for Johnson in 1964...
Now listen to his own words and tell me what you think
We've been told in training that in Vietnam we must fight
And we may have to kill women and children, and that is quite all right
W say this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust...
They were taken into custody told jail was what they'd get
#12 Pete Seeger Bring Them Home 1969 · Album · Young Vs. Old · Columbia # CS 9873 · USA
Annotation
The track "Bring 'Em Home" , on the album Young vs. Old (Columbia Records # CS 9873) - one of Pete Seeger's most well-known Vietnam protest songs. It also went by the titles "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)" and "Bring Them Home". Seeger wrote the song in May 1966, with the lyrics and music published in Broadside # 71 in June 1966. Several artist covered this song, or re-worked the lyrics, such as Tom Winslow, Barbara Dane, and Bruce Springsteen.2

The lyrics took an anti-Vietnam stance, opposed to government policy (rather than general anti-war), but it also displayed a degree of patriotism (for the United States) and support for the soldiers fighting. Firstly, Seeger strongly emphasised his desire for US troops to return home, repeating "bring them home, bring them home" every other line, arguing that that provided the best way "to support our boys in Vietnam". Secondly, Seeger criticised the "generals" for wanting to "tangle with the foe" and to "test their weaponry" (i.e. war-mongering). He also said that the generals "don't have the right weaponry" and lacked "common sense". Seeger thought that the right weapons were "teachers, books and schools". Thirdly, Seeger argued for the "right to sing this song" and protest against the war, even if "I may be wrong" i.e. it did not represent an unpatriotic stance, and that people had a democratic right to express opposition. Fourthly, Seeger claimed that "I'm not really a pacifist", and that if an army invaded the United States, then he would be "out on the firing line", even if the enemy "brought helicopters and napalm" - thus, suggesting, that there are just and unjust wars, and that he considered the Vietnam conflict unjustified.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation: see “Ballad Of The Fort Hood Three” above (same release).
Lyrics
English
If you love your Uncle Sam, bring them home, bring them home
Support our boys in Vietnam, bring them home, bring them home
It'll make our generals sad, I know...
They want to tangle with the foe...
They want to test their weaponry...
But here is their big fallacy...
I may be right, I may be wrong...
But I got a right to sing this song...
There's one thing I must confess...
I'm not really a pacifist...
If an army invaded this land of mine...
You'd find me out on the firing line...
Even if they brought their planes to bomb...
Even if they brought helicopters and napalm...
Show those generals their fallacy...
They don't have the right weaponry...
For defense you need common sense...
They don't have the right armaments...
The world needs teachers, books, and schools...
Learning a few universal rules
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
#13 Pete Seeger Bring Them Home 1969 · Album · Young Vs. Old · Columbia # CS 9873 · USA
Annotation
Seeger recorded a new version of "Bring Them Home" (Appleseed Recordings) for the third volume of the Appleseed tribute series. With Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle and Billy Bragg, the lyrics were updated to take into account the 2003 Iraq War.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
If you love your Uncle Sam, bring them home, bring them home
Support our boys in Vietnam, bring them home, bring them home
It'll make our generals sad, I know...
They want to tangle with the foe...
They want to test their weaponry...
But here is their big fallacy...
I may be right, I may be wrong...
But I got a right to sing this song...
There's one thing I must confess...
I'm not really a pacifist...
If an army invaded this land of mine...
You'd find me out on the firing line...
Even if they brought their planes to bomb...
Even if they brought helicopters and napalm...
Show those generals their fallacy...
They don't have the right weaponry...
For defense you need common sense...
They don't have the right armaments...
The world needs teachers, books, and schools...
Learning a few universal rules
Pvt. Dennis Mora, he hails from New York town...
He cast his vote for Johnson in 1964...
Now listen to his own words and tell me what you think
We've been told in training that in Vietnam we must fight
And we may have to kill women and children, and that is quite all right
W say this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust...
They were taken into custody told jail was what they'd get
Show full lyrics (28 lines) ▾

1970

#14 Pete Seeger I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag (Mono) 1970 · Single · I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag · Columbia # 4-45257 · USA
Annotation
The song "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" (Columbia Records # 4-45257) - a cover of the Country Joe & The Fish track - one of the most well known and key of the Vietnam protest songs. Joe McDonald wrote the song in the summer of 1965 in just 30 minutes, after being discharged from the US navy, and subsequently released it on this EP in October. McDonald performed the song live at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, one of the standout performances of the motion picture Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music. According to McDonald, the Seeger, Columbia only released a few promo copies of this, but it was later pulled:
Quote
"In 1970, Pete Seeger recorded a version of "Fixin' to Die Rag" for a 45 release. We know that at least a few advance DJ copies were produced, like the one pictured here. But something went wrong. The details are unclear, but Pete did mention once that the distributors refused to handle it"1
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia 4-45257, 45 RPM, "Not for Resale – Radio Station Copy", issued as a mono/stereo promo pair: white label "Mono Version", side JZSP 154099, and teal label overprinted "Stereo", "Stereo Version", side JZSS 154097. Both labels: "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" (J. McDonald), intro :06, 2:17, publisher Tradition Music Co. (BMI); produced by John Hammond & Mike Kropp. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
Come on all of you big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Viet Nam
Put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam
And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates
Ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die
Come on generals, let's move fast
Your big chance has come at last
Now you can go out and get those reds
Good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come...
Hey come on wall street don't be slow
Why man this war is a go-go
There's plenty good money to be made by supplying the army with the tools of its trade
Let's hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
They drop it on the Viet Cong...
Come on mothers throughout the land
Pack your boys off to Viet Nam
Come on fathers, don't hesitate
Send your sons off before it's too late
And you can be the first ones on your block
To have your boy come home in a box
And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Libanon, Angola
Ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die
Show full lyrics (31 lines) ▾
Theme: Anti-War
#15 Pete Seeger I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag (Stereo) 1970 · Single · I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag · Columbia # 4-45257 · USA
Annotation: see “I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag (Mono)” above (same release).
Theme: Anti-War

1971

#16 Pete Seeger Last Train to Nuremberg 1971 · Single · My Rainbow Race / Last Train to Nuremberg · Columbia # 4-45398 · USA
Annotation
Seeger's 1971 anti-war song "Last Train to Nuremberg" (Columbia Records # 4-45398) condemned the My Lai massacre and pointed the finger at several layers of society that had "blood upon" their "hands" . Nuremberg referred to the location of the criminal trials that took place after the Second World War. Therefore, in the lyrics, Seeger imagined those responsible for the My Lai atrocities to be together on a train, to face justice for their crimes. Firstly, it named two of the soldiers involved - the well-known William Calley, and Captain Medina (a commanding officer of the platoon in question - is this the only song to mention him)? He faced court-martial for war crimes, but was acquitted in 1971.2 Seeger then moved on to the politicians, referring to Richard Nixon and "both houses of Congress" - wanting to know "who gave the orders?" and "planned the campaign" (which could have meant either the politicians or the military establishment). Seeger then turned his attention to the military-industrial complex, asking the question: "who manufactured the bullet" . Finally, Seeger took his analysis a step further, pointing the finger at all Americans, singing: "do I see the voters, me and you...who paid the taxes? Tell me, is that blood upon my hands?" . It featured as the opening track on the 1971 album Rainbow Race (Columbia # C 30739). The lyrics and notations appeared in Broadside magazine, # 104, January 1970.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Columbia 4-45398 (JZSS 154256), turquoise promotional label marked "Not for resale" and "Radio station copy", 45 RPM, stereo; "Last Train to Nuremberg" (P. Seeger), intro :10, 2:40, publisher Sanga Music, Inc. (BMI); produced by Bob Johnston. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
Last train to Nuremberg, all on board
Do I see Lieutenant Calley?
Do I see Captain Medina?
Do I see Gen'ral Koster and all his crew?
Do I see President Nixon
Do I see both houses of Congress?
Do I see the voters, me and you?
Who held the rifle?
Who gave the orders?
Who planned the campaign to lay waste the land?
Who manufactured the bullet?
Who paid the taxes?
Tell me is that blood upon my hands?
If five hundred thousand mothers went to Washington snd said, 'Bring all of our boys home without delay' would the man they came to see, say he was too busy?
Would he say he had to watch a football game?
Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾
#17–20 Pete Seeger Rainbow Race 1971 · Album · Columbia # C 30739 · USA
All 3 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
The song "Uncle Ho" , also on the 1971 album Rainbow Race (Columbia # C 30739) - the title referenced the North Vietnamese leader Hồ Chí Minh - which presented the North Vietnamese side, and their fight for independence. It called on Americans to protest the war and refuse to fight: "if soldier boys in every land say 'hell no, we won't go'" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#17 Pete Seeger Uncle Ho 1971 · Album · Rainbow Race · Columbia # C 30739 · USA
Annotation
The song "Uncle Ho" , also on the 1971 album Rainbow Race (Columbia # C 30739) - the title referenced the North Vietnamese leader Hồ Chí Minh - which presented the North Vietnamese side, and their fight for independence. It called on Americans to protest the war and refuse to fight: "if soldier boys in every land say 'hell no, we won't go'" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
He educated all the people, he demonstrated to the world
If a man will stand for his own land, he's got the strength of ten
And if we'd only learn the lesson, it could even be a blessin'
He and me might disagree, but we needn't go to shooting again
And if soldier boys in every land say 'hell no, we won't go'...
I'll have to say in my own way, the only way I know
That we learned power to the people and the power to know
From Teacher Uncle Ho!
#18 Pete Seeger Our Generation 1971 · Album · Rainbow Race · Columbia # C 30739 · USA
Annotation: see “Uncle Ho” above (same release).
#20 Pete Seeger Our Generation 1971 · Album · Rainbow Race · Columbia # C 30739 · USA
Annotation
The song "Our Generation" , as above, featured on the 1971 album Rainbow Race (Columbia # C 30739), which dealt with the 1960s generation ideals, including reference to hippie culture, and a small reference to Vietnam: "our generation has sandals like Vietnamese".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Our generation has sandals like Vietnamese
Our generation wears long hair
With our clobbered minds, we still wink an eye to say
Meet me, meet me at the bottom of the stairs
Our generation whistles in the dark
Has faith in faithlessness and in blue sky
Our heroes now are either none, or everyone
Our saints also are only you and I
Our generation won’t remake this ravished world
Our generation can only try
To wink an eye at everyone, yes, everyone
Saying meet me at the beginning of the sky
#19 Pete Seeger Everybody Has the Right to Live 1971 · Unreleased · Unreleased · Not On Label · USA
Annotation
The song "Everybody Has the Right to Live" - originally by Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, on the 1968 album Everybody's Got a Right to Live (which featured several references to the Vietnam War) - was updated in 1971.

In the May/June 1971 edition of Broadside Magazine, Pete Seeger wrote a letter, with rewritten lyrics, referencing the My Lai massacre: "can't you hear the women and children over in My Lai, Lt. Wm Calley, why do we have to die?" . Seeger's letter said: "Dear Sis and Gordon: There was much music in D.C. May 1-5 as well as April 24. Enclosed are some of the new verses Rev. Kirkpatrick and I made up for 'Everyone Has the Right to Live'."1"Sis and Gordon" referred to Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen - who founded the mimeographed publication Broadside, in 1962, to promote contemporary folk and protest songs. It also had a music label: Broadside Records. It usually published both lyrics and notations of songs, as well as articles and interviews about folk music, and newspaper clippings of current events. While many of the songs would have been played at the folk clubs and festivals, not all of the artist recorded the songs.

Sources
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Updated lyrics for the My Lai massacre published in Broadside Magazine #113, unrecorded
Lyrics
English
We are down in Washington fighting an old-age sin
Nothing but mass murder done by old-age men
Everybody's got a right to live
And before this campaign fails
We'll all go down in jail
Everybody's got a right to live
Can't you hear the women and children over in My Lai
Lt. Wm Calley, why do we have to die?
Our brothers and sisters are demanding that we share
Soil, rocks, minerals, the oceans and the air
No more will some be rich while others born to die
All around this old world, you can hear people cry
Here we are in Washington, we've come in hope and pain
To see if some folk will listen
Or will they turn their heads again
We haven't got much time left, the sands are running out
Peace, freedom, justice, you can hear the whole world shout
Show full lyrics (18 lines) ▾

Lyric theme data

Key stats

18 songs · 12 releases · 2 artists · 4 labels · 1963–1971 · 2 more list entries have no record page yet and are not counted here

Time period
  • 1968 and 1971 share the peak, with four songs each.
Artists
  • 2 artists for 18 songs. The most represented is Pete Seeger, with 17.
Songwriters
  • Songwriter gender is recorded for 15 of the 18 songs: 14 by men and one by women — women wrote 7% of those.
  • By performer: 18 men (recorded for 18).
  • 6 named songwriters. The most often credited is Pete Seeger, with eight.
Labels
  • 2 of the 4 labels appear exactly once; Columbia has the most, with 13.
  • 16 sit on a major or well-known imprint — Columbia, CBS, Folkways. The other 2 are on independent, regional or private labels.
  • One is a private pressing with no label at all.
  • One 45 puts both of its sides into this list.
Locations
  • All 18 are American.
Themes