2+2=?

Annotation

Bob Seger in the song "2 + 2 = ?" (Capitol Records # 2143) took an anti-war position. It featured on the album Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (Capitol # ST-172). Interestingly, Bob Seger, born in Detroit, Michigan (6 May 1945), earlier in 1966 released a novelty Vietnam record with the group The Beach Bums, called The Ballad of the Yellow Berets (Are You Kidding Me? Records # H-1010), in which Seger (credited as "D.Dodger", for draft dodger), both mocked Barry Sadler (for Ballad of the Green Beret), as well as perhaps taking a hawkish view of the war and laughing at the protest movement (see draft section). Two years later in 1968, after the major escalation of the war in Vietnam and a large increase in US casualties, no ambiguity, lightheartedness, or tongue-in-cheek existed on this single, as Seger invited people to "go ahead and call me yellow", for expressing his strong reluctance to go to war: "I don't wanna kill nobody...why it is I've got to die". He then told the story of a "guy in high school" drafted to war, but who ended up "buried in the mud over foreign jungle land" (i.e. Vietnam), leaving behind a grieving girlfriend and family, thus displaying sympathy for the soldiers and those left behind. Yet this track went further. Seger turned on the politicians who claimed that the soldier "died for freedom", but in fact actually died, according to Seger, "to save your lies". Seger concluded that "it's the rules not the soldier that I find the real enemy" - thus blaming the system for the war, rather than those doing their patriotic duty or fulfilling legal requirements. Also of note from the lyrics, Seger presented himself as a simple / common person, not especially clever or in a powerful position, or as an agitator heavily involved in the protest movement: "I ain't sayin' I'm a genius...I'm no statesman, I'm no general, I'm no kid...I'm no prophet, I'm no rebel...I'm a simple minded guy". Finally, the lyrics sought to highlight the generational divide, as well as the discrepancy between the voting age and the draft age, a popular topic of the time. The title of the song referred to Seger's request for a simple explanation to the issues raised in the lyrics.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Yes it's true I am a young man / But I'm old enough to kill / I don't wanna kill nobody, but I must if you so will / And if I raise my hand in question, you just say that I'm a fool / Cause I got the gall to ask you, can you maybe change the rules / Can you stand and call me upstart / Ask what answer can I find / I ain't sayin' I'm a genius / 2+2 is on my mind / Well I knew a guy in high school, just an average friendly guy / And he had himself a girlfriend and you made them say goodbye / Now he's buried in the mud over foreign jungle land / And his girl just sits and cries, she just doesn't understand / So you say he died for freedom, well he died to save your lies / Go ahead and call me yellow, 2+2 is on my mind / All I know is that I'm young and your rules they are old / If I've got to kill to live then there's something left untold / I'm no statesman, I'm no general, I'm no kid, I'll never be / It's the rules not the soldier that I find the real enemy / I'm no prophet, I'm no rebel, I'm just asking you why / I just want a simple answer, why it is I've got to die / I'm a simple minded guy, 2+2 is on my mind

Notes

Capitol 2143 (45-59079), manufactured by Capitol Records Inc.; "2 + 2 = ?" (Bob Seger), Gear Publishing Co., ASCAP, 2:45; produced by Hideout Productions. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American rock band formed in 1968 in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area of Michigan, led by Bob Seger (b. Detroit, 1945); recorded the anti-war hit '2+2=?' (1968); disbanded 1971. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

Draft Songs · Garage Rock Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]