Jump to content

Songs about Peace


PSYCHOcatholic

Recommended Posts

War

Edwin Starr

War, huh yeah

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing.

War huh yeah

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing.

Say it again y'all

War, huh good god

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. Listen to me

War-I despise

cause it means destruction

Of innocent lives

War means tear to thousands of mothers eyes

When their sons go off to fight

And lose their lives

War, huh good god y'all

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. say it again

War whoa lord

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. listen to me

It ain't nothin but a heartbreaker

Friend only to the undertaker

Oh war, is an enemy to all mankind

the thought of war blows my mind

war has caused unrest in the younger generation

induction, then destruction who wants to die

War, good god y'all

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. say it say it say it

War uh huh yeah huh

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. listen to me

It ain't nothin but a heartbreaker

got one friend that's the undertaker

oh war has shattered many young mans dreams

made him disabled bitter and mean

life is much to short and precious to fight mighty wars these days

war can't give life it can only take it away oooooh

War, huh good god y'all

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. say it say again

War whoa lord

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. listen

It ain't nothin but a heartbreaker

Friend only to the undertaker

Peace love and understanding tell me

Is there no place for them today

they say we must fight to keep our freedom

but lord knows there's got to be a better way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 50
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Peace on Earth

U2

Heaven on Earth, we need it now

I'm sick of all of this hanging around

Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain

I'm sick of hearing again and again

That there's gonna be peace on Earth

Where I grew up there weren't many trees

Where there was we'd tear them down

And use them on our enemies

They say that what you mock

Will surely overtake you

And you become a monster

So the monster will not break you

And it's already gone too far

You say that if you go in hard

You won't get hurt

Jesus can you take the time

To throw a drowning man a line

Peace on Earth

Tell the ones who hear no sound

Whose sons are living in the ground

Peace on Earth

No whos or whys

No one cries like a mother cries

For peace on Earth

She never got to say goodbye

To see the colour in his eyes

Now he's in the dirt

Peace on Earth

They're reading names out over the radio

All the folks the rest of us won't get to know

Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann, and Breda

Their lives are bigger than any big idea

Jesus can you take the time

To throw a drowning man a line

Peace on Earth

To tell the ones who hear no sound

Whose sons are living in the ground

Peace on Earth

Jesus and the song you wrote

The words are sticking in my throat

Peace on Earth

Hear it every Christmas time

But hope and history won't rhyme

So what's it worth

This peace on Earth

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mystical Machine Gun

Kula Shaker

Alien identities don't hide your pretty face from me,

You awoke to the riddle of your life but no-one was there for you,

Open to where you first began as a nicotine junkie, singing for a kodacam,

Are you glad to see how far you've come?

You're a wizard in a blizzard,

A mystical machine gun!

Watch the skies,

For the mystical machine gun fire.

Alien identities don't hide that special place from me,

You walked through a fire with a ten headed lion and turned on your destiny,

Open up, forget your life,

Breathe in, breathe out, retain a sense of suicide,

Are you glad to see how far you've come?

You're a wizard in a blizzard,

A mystical machine gun!

Watch the skies,

For the mystical machine gun fire.

Well you've got to be stronger now than them,

Now you've got to be strong

You'll be singing the song of life 'til then,

You'll just have to be strong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always liked The Equals',

Black Skinned Blue-Eyed Boys

People: white is white

What's black ain't clover

Together we'll be

When the war is over.

You see the Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

They ain't gonna fight no wars

Oh now.

Cool is school

But the teachers beat yer

When they see

That they can't reach yer.

You see the Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

They ain't gonna fight no wars

Oh now.

They ain't got no country

They ain't got no creed

People won't be black or white

The world will be half-breed.

The world will be half-breed.

The world will be half-breed.

You see the Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

they ain't gonna fight no doggone wars.

They ain't got no country...

It's a brand new day

With brand new people

In one big world

We're just one people.

You see the Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys

They ain't gonna fight no wars.

Oh now.

Baby you know that we hate fighting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mother's Child - George Michael

Oh she knows

She takes his hand

And prays the child will understand

At the door they watch the men go by

In the clothes that daddy wore

Mother's pride

Baby Boy

His father's eyes

He's a soldier waiting for war

Time will come

He'll hold a gun

His father's son

And as he grows

He hears the band

Takes the step from boy to man

And at the shore she waves her son goodbye

Like the man she did before

Mother's pride

Just a boy

His country's eyes

He's a soldier waving at the shore

And in her heart the time has come

To lose a son

And all the husbands, all the sons, all the lovers gone

They make no difference

No difference in the end

Still hear the women say your daddy died a hero

In the name of God and man

Mother's pride

Crazy boy

His lifeless eyes

He's a soldier now forever more

He'll hold a gun till kingdom come

I Don't Want To Be A Hero - Johnny Hates Jazz

Oh send me off to war with a gun in my hand

But I won't pull the trigger

Our destiny is here 'neath the red white and blue

So lead me to the slaughter

Now don't be afraid come and join the parade

For the ultimate in sacrifice

It's an old-fashioned story of hope and of glory

A ticket for taking a life

CHORUS

I I don't want to be a hero

I don't want to die for you

I don't want to be a hero

Oh send me off to war in a far away land

I never knew existed

Subject me to the truth to the horror and pain

Until my mind is twisted

And what if I fail will you put me in jail

For a murder I will not commit

'Cos you don't understand till there's blood on your hands

That it's time to forget and forgive

REPEAT CHORUS

And those who return come back only to learn

That they're hated by those who they love

'Cos you don't understand till there's blood on your hands

That it's time to forget and forgive

REPEAT CHORUS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PsychoCatholic wrote:

i just had to post the lyrics!

Paul,

Where did you get those lyrics for "Give Peace A Chance"?

Did you add all those extra lines in there yourself or did someone else?

I don't get it. :confused:

If it's a song parody, it doesn't make any sense to me...or am I missing something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BLah...me and my quick googling!

*hangs head in shame for not getting them at Songfacts*

Ill be more cautious next time! I should post the GOOD lyrics as well.

Hold please!

AHA! I figured it out! It seems that Sir Elton John added some here and there to his version of Give Peace a Chance! I...in googling quickly chose the wrong link! That...and people some people are stupid and dont know how to label things correctly! Very interesting though, i never knew Elton John did that...

Edited by Guest
Update!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brad.....I looked at PC's post and it seems to be in tact. Give a listen to the song and follow PC's words and it is pretty much a match.

Also, I do not believe wrote Give Peace a Chance as a song parody. The song was written and performed for the first time while Lennon spent his week in bed with Yoko. You may recall the video where while the couple is in bed there are reporters, other performers and cameramen in the room with them. That was surely a moment in rock history that I would liked to have been a part of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK...let's try this one more time. In my post further up and a couple of days ago I said the quintessential protest song writer of the sixties was Phil Ochs. No comments were made but I have to know has anyone ever heard of him? He knocked the Vietnam war and just about anything else that had to do with social injustice.

Take a listen to one of his bigger hits, I Ain't Marching Anymore. It is a great song and I am sure anyone looking for this genre will be more than pleasantly surprised. Other songs of protest by Ochs which you may like are Cops Of The World, Is Anybody Here and of course everyone's favorite Draft Dodger Rag.

I Ain't Marching Anymore

Phil Ochs

Written by Phil Ochs and Bob Gibson

Oh, I marched to the battle of New Orleans

At the end of the early British war

The young land started growin'

The young blood started flowin'

But I ain't a-marchin' anymore

But I've killed my share of Injuns

In a thousand different fights

I was there at the Little Big Horn

I saw many men lyin'

I saw many more dyin'

But I ain't a-marchin' anymore

CHORUS

It's always the old to lead us to the war

Always the young to fall

Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun

Tell me, is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land

Fought in the bloody Civil War

Yes I even killed my brothers

And so many others

But I ain't a-marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench

In a war that was bound to end all wars

Oh, I must have killed a million men

And now they want me back again

But I ain't a-marchin' anymore

CHORUS

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky

Set off the mighty mushroom roar

When I saw the cities burnin'

I knew that I was learnin'

That I ain't a-marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin' when they close the missile plants

United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore

Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason"

Call it "Love" or call it "Reason"

But I ain't a-marchin' any more.

No, I ain't a-marchin' any more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jimmy, I used to listen to Phil Ochs quite a bit, especially back in the 70's. I loved his Pleasures Of The Harbor album and made reference to it in a recent post. Miranda is a favorite of mine.

His creativity and his tragic life are the stuff of bio-pics. I wonder why no one has made a movie of his life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello

Is it worth it

A new winter coat and shoes for the wife

And a bicycle on the boy’s birthday

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town

By the women and children

Soon we’ll be shipbuilding

Well I ask you

The boy said ’dad they’re going to take me to task

But I’ll be back by christmas’

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town

Somebody said that someone got filled in

For saying that people get killed in

The result of this shipbuilding

With all the will in the world

Diving for dear life

When we could be diving for pearls

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town

A telegram or a picture postcard

Within weeks they’ll be re-opening the shipyards

And notifying the next of kin

Once again

It’s all we’re skilled in

We will be shipbuilding

With all the will in the world

Diving for dear life

When we could be diving for pearls

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What About Me ?

Quicksilver Messenger Service

(Released December of 1970)

You poisoned my sweet water

You cut down my green trees

The food you fed my children

Was the cause of their disease

My world is slowly fallin' down

And the airs not good to breathe

And those of us who care enough,

We have to do something.......

(Chorus)

Oh.......oh What you gonna do about me?

Oh.......oh What you gonna do about me?

Your newspapers,

They just put you on

They never tell you

The whole story

They just put your

Young ideas down

I was wonderin' could this be the end

Of your pride and glory?

(Chorus)

I work in your factory

I study in your schools

I fill your penitentiaries

And your military too!

And I feel the future trembling,

As the word is passed around.

"If you stand up for what you do believe,

Be prepared to be shot down."

(Chorus)

And I feel like a stranger

In the land where I was born

And I live like an outlaw

An' I'm always on the run..........................

An Im always getting busted

And I got to take a stand........

I believe the revolution

Must be mighty close at hand.......................

(Chorus)

I smoke marijuana

But I cant get behind your wars.

And most of what I do believe

Is against most of your laws

I'm a fugitive from injustice

But I'm goin' to be free.

Cause your rules and regulations

They dont do the thing for me

(Chorus)

And I feel like a stranger

In the land where I was born

And I live just like an outlaw.

An' I'm always on the run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From North of the 49th Parallel, Great Big Sea's view of War and Peace:

"Recruiting Sargeant"

Two recruiting sergeants came to the CLB,

for the sons of the merchants, to join the Blue Puttees

So all the hands enlisted, five hundred young men

Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me

They crossed the broad Atlantic in the brave Florizel,

And on the sands of Suvla, they entered into hell

And on those bloody beaches, the first of them fell

[Chorus]

So it's over the mountains, and over the sea

Come brave Newfoundlanders and join the Blue Puttees

You'll fight in Flanders, and at Galipoli

Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me

Then the call came from London, for the last July drive

To the trenches with the regiment, prepare yourselves to die

The roll call next morning, just a handful survived.

Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me

[Chorus]

The stone men on Water Street still cry for the day

When the pride of the city went marching away

A thousand men slaughtered, to hear the King say

Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me

[Chorus x3]

I remember Phil Ochs from my 1960's Folkie days, just before Astrud Gilberto changed my musical focus. :afro:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I posted this a while back on "Random Lyrics" but it seems as though it could be relevant here....

"Between The Wars" by Billy Bragg

I was a miner

I was a docker

I was a railway man

Between the wars

I raised a family

In times of austerity

With sweat at the foundry

Between the wars.

I paid the union and as times got harder

I looked to the government to help the working man

And they brought prosperity down at the armoury

We're arming for peace, me boys

Between the wars.

I kept the faith and I kept voting

Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand

For theirs is a land with a wall around it

And mine is a faith in my fellow man

Theirs is a land of hope and glory

Mine is the green field and the factory floor

Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers

And mine is the peace we knew

Between the wars.

Call up the craftsmen

Bring me the draftsmen

Build me a path from cradle to grave

And I'll give my consent

To any government

That does not deny a man a living wage.

Go find the young men never to fight again

Bring up the banners from the days gone by

Sweet moderation

Heart of this nation

Desert us not, we are

Between the wars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Performed with any degree of sensitivity by folk singers all over the world, this song never ceases to bring a tear to my eye...

No More Waltzing Matilda...Erig Bogle

When I was a young man I carried me pack

And I lived the free life of the rover

From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback

I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 1915 my country said: Son,

It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done

So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun

And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

When the ship pulled away from the quay

And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers

We sailed off for Gallipoli

It well I remember that terrible day

When our blood stained the sand and the water

And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well

He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell

And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell

He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

When we stopped to bury our slain

Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs

Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive

In that mad world of blood, death and fire

And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive

While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head

And when I awoke in me hospital bed

And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead

I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda

All around the green bush far and near

For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs

No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed

And they shipped us back home to Australia

The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane

Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay

I looked at the place where me legs used to be

And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me

To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda

When they carried us down the gangway

Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared

Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch

And I watch the parade pass before me

I see my old comrades, how proudly they march

Renewing their dreams of past glories

I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn

Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war

And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"

And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda

And the old men still answer the call

But year after year, their numbers get fewer

Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong

So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I'll be danged. =:P

We have lyrics available here on SongFacts, too?

I'll have to visit more often.

The last time I clicked was when I first joined and it took me to the Facts page with no lyrics.

Shawna just showed me there is a link on that page to get to the lyrics.

I thought the page was defective. :doh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...