Songs that reference US Historical Events or American Folklore | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Songs that reference US Historical Events or American Folklore

Zorro

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But this one I can post. It never got much recognition, but I think it is the most powerful and poignant protest song to come out of our "police action" in Nam.
 
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meyers7

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Another reference to Kennedy (along with Stalin, Mussilini and Ghandi)

Cult of Personality - Living Colour

 

Zorro

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The Ira Hayes ballad reminds me of an incident in Houston around 1972, as I recall. Joe Campos Torres was a Mexican American war hero, who couldn't adapt to civilian life and became a drunk. He was picked up by four of Houston's finest, smacked around a bit, handcuffed and then dropped into Braes Bayou, where he (naturally) drowned, while the cops sat around smoking dope. The local band Uranium Savages wrote a really piercing satire of Hank Williams "Fun on the Bayou". I can't post it because HW's estate got an injunction, but the refrain went; "Goodbye Joe, you gotta go for a swim-o, It'll be tough with the cuffs, me-o-my-o, Hang around, watch you drown and get high-o, Son of a gun, gonna have big fun on the bayou." The cops all got jail sentences, but mild ones.
 
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Ah, the 1960's. So fertile for song writers. Something a little lighter about a very contentious aspect of American life.

 

Bama fan

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In honor of the late, great John Prine.

The singer in the Phil Ochs tune says he is working in a defense plant. During the war in Vietnam many guys were drafted out of the mills around the Pittsburgh, Pa area. But some people at U S Steel's Christy Park Works in McKeesport, Pa were exempt because that plant made bomb casings and missile parts. They still got ragged about it though.

Sorry but I attached the wrong song to this post. It was intended to reply to Draft Dodger Rag post. :oops::oops:
 
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