gregory rush
Aug 28, 2017 · 3 min read

Where are all the angry young songwriters today?

Did Mom & Dad (Grandma & Grandpa?) forget to tell them these are the songs that had to be sung? Where is the courage today?

“War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing!
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, why’all!”…

[Edwin Starr]

====================

“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?”…

[Neil Young]

=============================

“You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip
Skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised”…

[Gil Scott Heron]

=============================

“I got my finger on the trigger
But I don’t know who to trust
When I look into your eyes
There’s just devils and dust
We’re a long, long way from home, Bobbie
Home’s a long, long way from us
I feel a dirty wind blowing
Devils and dust” …

[Bruce Springsteen]

=============================

“ Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly”…

[Bob Dylan]

=============================

“ Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no”…

[John Fogarty]

=============================

“ Look at your young men fighting
Look at your women crying
Look at your young men dying
The way they’ve always done before

Look at the hate we’re breeding
Look at the fear we’re feeding
Look at the lives we’re leading
The way we’ve always done before…

My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of God and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can’t deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars…

…Your power hungry sellin’ soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain’t that fresh
I don’t need your civil war
I don’t need one more war

I don’t need one more war
What’s so civil ‘bout war anyway?”

[Axl Rose‎, ‎Slash‎, ‎Duff McKagan]

Did we forget to tell the kids that these people have become an indelible part of American HISTORY? And they could too?

)
gregory rush

Written by

Been there done that over the river through the woods up the creek and under the weather ‘round the bend & back again now here doing this.

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