You May Call Me A Protest Singer...

For my Political Sociology class, we have to write five one-two page response papers comparing a recent news article with something we've discussed in class. I got permission to write a special paper about protest songs in which I used lyrics to a Bob Dylan song and lyrics to a Kevin Devine song to further my point on political protests. This is what I wrote. Please read it, let me know what you think, and tell me if you find any spelling/grammar errors! Thanks!

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“If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it,” the saying goes. Whether this saying is trite and cliché or meaningful and introspective, it seems to hold some kind of truth. America has found herself, once again, engulfed in a conflict overseas which she had little business entering, which was ill-planned, and which the American people are growing ever more discontented with as the weeks drone on. Sound familiar? A very similar set of consequences arose in the 1960s and 70s as the country’s involvement in Vietnam caused outrage among the American public. However, the 2003 invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush has not been met with nearly as much resistance as this conflict last century and one way of mapping resistance is through art. Protests can take many forms: sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and petitions, but I would like to focus on music as a form of protest. For this purpose, I introduce Bob Dylan’s “With God On Our Side” first released on 1963 just before the US began sending troops to Vietnam and Kevin Devine’s “Lord, I Know We Don’t Talk” released in 2005 during the Iraqi conflict. One song is much more well known than the other and I believe this is as a result of the differing political and social climates in which they were written. However, while these songs were written forty years apart, the parallels that run between them are glaring.

Dylan’s song gives a musical history of wars (from colonial battles with Native Indians to Vietnam and the fear of chemical weapons) as he reflects on the political and military debacle he finds his country in as he writes. Invoking the name of God illustrates the irony Dylan saw in killing, but also notes the ever popular idea that American is a “city on the hill,” that America is protected by God. Over time, Americans have been convinced to hate one group of people or fear another because God is on our side, so our way of life must be correct. Each verse parallels a war with Dylan’s thoughts and he often expresses confusion or admits he –more or less – blindly followed and went along with what the government said was correct. In describing World War One he sings: “…the reason for fighting I never got straight, but I learned to accept it, accept it with pride, for you don't count the dead when God's on your side.” Despite his confusion over why people died, he accepted it because God was on America’s side. The last verse powerfully sums up Dylan’s account of war, “So now as I'm leavin', I'm weary as Hell. The confusion I'm feelin', ain't no tongue can tell. The words fill my head and fall to the floor. If God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.” Clearly, Dylan opposes war. His status as a protest songwriter has been stable since the 1960s. The question is: why were songs of this nature so much more popular in the Vietnam era than they are today? The most obvious answer is that the conflict in Vietnam is distinctively different from the current conflict in Iraq in one huge way: there was a draft instated in 1969. Protest songs of the Vietnam era were more well known than those of today because more people were angered over the draft, more people were speaking out, and more people were writing. However, the draft should not be mistaken as the only reason for political unrest in America. (1) Americans were dying in Vietnam as early as 1961 and protests against the war began before the draft was instated. It was a time of great domestic social unrest (with the Civil Rights Movement as one example). Everyone was angry about something and the social climate was more tolerant of protest. Of course, the downside was that some protests were violent, but even those people who physically fought stood for something and did not fear standing for their beliefs. I will argue that fear, rather than the lack of a draft, is the main cause for the lack of political protest in American society today.

In today’s political climate, protest is nearly treason. One who speaks out against the government today is often accused of being unpatriotic. It is a terrifying and tiring political life to endure. There is – currently – no draft for the American public to suffer, but the post-September 11th, 2001 society is fearful. As a society, we have become complacent to all sorts of civil rights violations simply because we desire the feeling of security which we believe our government can ensure for us, but which we have still not been promised! The 9/11 Commission reports have mostly been ignored. (2) Americans have every reason to be fearful and the Bush administration seems to remind us – usually around election time – how vulnerable we still are. There is no wonder why Americans are complacent. We are constantly being told that our opposition undermines the war effort and makes us more susceptible to terrorist attacks. Americans did not have this strong a fear of the Vietnamese or the Communists. This fear is what keeps us, as a country, quiet. However, this does not mean that protests do not occur, and my favorite “protest songwriter” of today – though he would not describe himself as such – is Kevin Devine from Brooklyn, New York. His music is not overwhelmingly political, though each album he produces seems to include one or two anti-war songs. His strongest, though this is debatable, is a song entitled “Lord, I Know We Don’t Talk.” Devine writes a letter in the form of a song to God in which he asks for the killing to end. He knows this request is presumptuous of him, but explains that he cannot believe in a God who would allow humanity to go on killing. He sings, “I’ll know a change has come, I’ll know that you exist, when all our bombs stop exploding and all of our landmines are stripped, when we stop blowing up strangers’ houses and making orphans of innocent kids, and people stop thinking the world’s theirs for the taking ‘cause your will once told them it is.” The song is a desperate attempt to reach God because the American public seems disassociated with politics and Devine knows no other way to find resolution. (3) Fear has caused people to remain quiet, overall. The political and social climates in America right now are not tolerant to dissenters. People get fired over speaking their minds. Bill Maher is a great example of this, though he is unapologetically liberal. ABC fired him for expressing his politically incorrect opinion on a show that was called, “Politically Incorrect.” Americans notice these kinds of reactions and they know they do not want to risk being singled out or deprived of things they want because they have spoken out in protest of something.

Both Bob Dylan and Kevin Devine chose to invoke the name of God in their political songs. God seems to be an idea almost everyone can understand or relate to in some sense. Though I am far from religious, I can understand the desire to feel as if some one or thing is protecting me. Both songs discuss the death that comes along with war and both ask God to make the wars stop. The difference is that one was written in an era of great unrest within the state and the other was written at a time when Americans are too busy and too scared to notice. As a country, we have become frustrated with politics and we believe there is nothing we can do to change the way our country operates, but protest can take many forms. One does not have to be a member of a party or group. Protest can occur on a small scale in the form of friends debating political policy. Art, music, writings (i.e.articles, blogs, books, etc.) can all be forms of protest. The only time in which protest cannot occur is when people are disinclined (whether out of frustration or fear) to open any sort of dialog. I do not think America’s plight has reached that low yet, but I do believe we are at risk of reaching it in the future.

If fear has caused America to remain quiet since 2001 then our prognosis seems relatively grim. The PATRIOT Act allows the government to see what websites you look at and what library books you take out, and I cannot blame people for wanting to remain under the government’s radar. I am just as guilty as anyone else of not speaking out. It was once a joke among my friends and me that the FBI or the CIA was reading our blogs or our Instant Messages as we discussed politics. That joke is not quite as funny anymore. There are countless other examples of how protests have been quieted or squelched. Forty years seems to have changed very little in the way government behaves in the face of a perceived enemy. However, the government has learned how to silence the American people. Music is close to me and for that reason I believe it is one of the best forms of protest, but it is by no means the only form. Americans needs to stand up in disagreement because if we do not, then America will begin a legacy of entering into ill-designed wars that unnecessarily kill our soldiers. Perhaps we are losing God’s favor.


Footnotes
(1) “With God On Our Side” was released six years before the draft lottery began in 1969 and there were political protests against the war in 40 American cities between October 15th and 16th, 1965 and a massive demonstration outside Washington, DC between October 21st and 23rd, 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. even spoke out against the war 1967. There were probably many more and none of them dealt with a draft. (Data from: http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/chronol.htm and http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/vietnam/timeline.htm.)
(2) On December 5, 2005, the 9/11 Commission issued its “report card” on the government’s improvements since the terror attacks. The government was graded on 41criteria and on 19 of those criteria, earned lower than a C- or earned an “I” for Incomplete. At the time, only one area earned an A, an A- for “Terrorist financing” and one F was pending legislation to earn an A, “Risk based home-land security.” (Data found at: http://www.9-11pdp.org/.)
(3) In another songs from “Split The Country, Split the Street,” Devine sings, “…Reform don't work; I think it's time we tried revolt, but I don't got the guts to jump up and go first, so I just shout until my throat hurts, and I curse and I curse at what we fucked up in Iraq. You say, “Support the troops.” I do. I want them all brought back and every… building that you bombed raised from the ground and pull your contractors the fuck out. If you really go and reinstate the draft, you'll straight away just split the country straight in half, so try arresting everyone who sends their draft cards back. I'll be returning mine in no time flat.” His latest album, “Put Your Ghosts To Rest,” released in October 2006 also includes a song entitled “The Burning City Smoking.” Devine has several more and this paper could have been written on any of them.


Full Lyrics
Bob Dylan - "With God On Our Side"
The Times They Are A-Changin' (1963)

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.


Kevin Devine - "Lord, I Know We Don't Talk"
Split The Country, Split The Street (2005)

In a motel room,
With the Bible out,
Combing scripture for answers about
What’s happening now.

I can’t believe my eyes
And I just don’t trust my ears,
But I’ve heard a man can always come find
Some solace here.

Lord, I know that we don’t talk
Often at all anymore,
But desperate folks do desperate things,
So I’m stapling this note to your door.

Please: turn the ship around,
And lock the course in place,
And keep the train tracks nailed to the ground,
But pull the emergency brake.

I’ve lost my faith in man just like I once lost faith in you,
And I’ve been covering all kinds of ground thinking hard ‘bout what else I could lose.

And I know how I look, to come crawling back,
Acting like you owe me proof,
But this is bigger than me…
And I think it’s bigger than you too.

So, if this gets to you,
If you ever come home,
Just know I won’t be awaiting the postman,
I will not be glued to my phone.

I’ll know a change has come,
I’ll know that you exist,
When all our bombs stop exploding and all of our landmines are stripped,
When we stop blowing up strangers’ houses and making orphans of innocent kids,
And people stop thinking the world’s theirs for the taking ‘cause your will once told them it is.

‘Til then, I’m gonna shake my head,
I’m gonna bite my tongue,
When people tell me, “Have faith and be patient. We’re waiting for God to show up.”

‘Til then, it’s one more skeptical song,
but I’ll be glad as hell if you come prove me wrong.