Neil Young, one of the many singer-songwriters who have responded musically to war. (Canadian Press)

In 1917, U.S. showman George M. Cohan, upon learning that his country was belatedly entering the First World War, sat down and, in a fit of patriotism, wrote Over There. The upbeat song, a clarion call to American “Johnnies” to get their guns and head over to Europe, was a huge success. It proved so popular that 25 years later, it became part of the Second World War songbook, alongside such morale-boosting classics as the Andrews Sisters’ Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again.

In 1963, a young folksinger with a gift for lyrics, responding with burning anger to the military buildups of the Cold War, wrote a very different song. Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, which first appeared on his album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, has since become a favourite for wars of all sorts. Covered by artists as varied as Pearl Jam and Cher, and appropriated by slews of videographers, versions of it take up more than 10 pages on YouTube.

It’s too soon to say if any of the current spate of songs about 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq will also live beyond the events that prompted them — in fact, some are already outdated. But there are plenty of war-themed tunes, originally intended to address specific conflicts, that still pack a punch. Here’s a selection of songs that have stood the test of time — or a decade or two, anyway — plus a sampling of the ones that have been written since Sept. 11, 2001.

The all-purpose antiwar song
Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon) — If Dylan channelled anger, Lennon counselled peace. This singalong, penned during Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Montreal bed-in in 1969, was probably even more popular than Masters of War — at least until the Bush-Cheney era. It has lousy lyrics by Lennon standards but, hey, he was lying down when he wrote it.

War (Edwin Starr) — The funkiest of all antiwar songs: “War! Good God, y’all! What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin’!” Starr’s infectious version of this Vietnam-era classic topped the charts in 1970, reflecting Americans’ growing opposition to the war. 

The Universal Soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie) — One of the first protest songs of the Vietnam era, this 1964 ballad by the Canadian-born Cree singer-songwriter puts the responsibility for war squarely on the shoulders of the military. It was later a hit for that dippiest of hippies, Donovan.

Other songs that take a dim view of soldiering: Little Boy Soldiers by the Jam, Army Dreamers by Kate Bush and that cheesy ’70s relic, Billy Don’t Be a Hero by Paper Lace.

Vietnam, pro and con
I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-to-Die Rag (Country Joe and the Fish) — In 1969, Country Joe McDonald led the hippie hordes at Woodstock in a raucous singalong to this heavily ironic ditty. A satire of gung-ho patriotism (“Be the first one on your block/To have your boy come home in a box”), it has come to encapsulate the antiwar sentiments of the era. 

(Collectors Music Choice)

The Ballad of the Green Berets (Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler) — If the doves had Country Joe, the hawks had this sentimental spoken-word number saluting the elite U.S. unit, of which Sadler was a member. Released in 1966, it was a No. 1 hit and later showed up in the John Wayne film The Green Berets.

The Cold War era
Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire) — This 1965 hit single, written by P.F. Sloan and sung by the New Christy Minstrels’ McGuire, captured the apocalyptic mood of a decade that saw the Cold War, Vietnam and civil rights protests.

The historical view
Modern songwriters have occasionally turned to bygone wars for subject matter. In 1958, country singer Johnny Horton scored a hit with The Battle of New Orleans, a humorous retelling of a famous American victory against the British in the War of 1812. One of the most unlikely folk-rock hits of the early ’70s was The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, a sympathetic treatment of the Confederate defeat in the U.S. Civil War — written, curiously enough, by Canadian Robbie Robertson.

Billy Bragg revisited the persecution of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War with his poignant cover of Everywhere. And Bob Dylan traced the U.S.’s entire bellicose history, up to Vietnam, in With God On Our Side. Then there’s War? by political rockers System of a Down, which harks back to the Crusades to comment on current incursions into the Middle East.

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, left, and Bruce Springsteen. (Scott Gries/Getty)

The potent post-Vietnam songs reflecting the toll taken by that war include Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. and R.E.M.’s Orange Crush (about the after-effects of the defoliant Agent Orange).

Bob Marley, however, took a different approach, gazing into the future with his 1976 classic War. The lyrics, adapted from a 1963 UN speech by Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, predict that “until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes,” there will be war. In 1992, on Saturday Night Live, Sinead O’Connor infamously reworked the song to protest child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II at the conclusion.

The ambiguities of war
Shipbuilding (Elvis Costello) — War songs are rarely subtle, but this beautiful song captures the mixed feelings of an economically depressed England in the early 1980s, for whom the Falkland Islands campaign meant work, but at the expense of sacrificing young men to war.

Bruce Cockburn. (True North Records)

The violent pacifist
If I Had a Rocket Launcher (Bruce Cockburn) — The Canadian singer-songwriter-social activist caught some flak for this 1984 hit, inspired by a visit to a Guatemalan refugee camp, but few songs have been so successful at conveying impotent rage on behalf of the innocent victims of war: “If I had a rocket launcher, I would retaliate.”

The soldier’s viewpoint
No Bravery (James Blunt) — The British singer-songwriter of You’re Beautiful fame served as an officer with the NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, where he wrote this documentary-like account of the ravages of war.

In the wake of 9/11
The Rising (Bruce Springsteen) — The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 got The Boss’s creative juices flowing, resulting in a 9/11-themed album and this title track about the rescue efforts on that day — a muscular anthem of hope amid the wreckage. 

Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) (Alan Jackson) — Jackson’s weepie was part of a one-two punch from the country-music scene in the aftermath of 9/11 — the other being Toby Keith’s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (see below). Jackson and his song are parodied on a memorable episode of South Park.

Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) (Toby Keith) — While Jackson mourned 9/11, Keith went looking for his gun. His jingoistic response to 9/11 warns the enemies of the U.S., “we’ll put a boot in your ass — it’s the American way.”   

Self Evident (Ani DiFranco) — DiFranco, in contrast, takes the America-had-it-coming perspective in this scathingly eloquent protest poem set to music, in which she points out U.S. hypocrisies and refuses to be part of “some prep school punk’s plan to perpetuate retribution.”

Ani DiFranco. (Sean Gardner/Getty)

Iraq
Holiday (Green Day) — The punk trio shook off its musical malaise in 2004 with its acclaimed concept album American Idiot, which held up a mirror to life in post-9/11 U.S. and included this antiwar single, filled with allusions to the decision to attack Iraq: “I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies.”

Shock and Awe (Neil Young) — Canadian rock warhorse Neil Young, a longtime U.S. resident, unleashed his wrath on President George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq in his 2006 album Living with War, which includes this sorrowful account of American hubris.

The Price of Oil (Billy Bragg) — The widespread viewpoint that the Iraq war was really about oil found lyrical expression in this tune by the ever-articulate Bragg.

Supporting the troops
Bumper of My SUV (Chely Wright) — In 2004, country singer Wright weighed in with this hit ballad, a heartfelt reply to anti-military sentiments.

War and the media
Press Corpse (Anti-Flag) — These political punk rockers from Pittsburgh castigate the mainstream media over their coverage of the Iraq war in this track from the group’s 2006 album, For Blood and Empire.

Life during wartime
World Wide Suicide (Pearl Jam) — On this single from their 2006 self-titled album, grunge vets Pearl Jam convey the pain and confusion of Americans as they watch the body count grow in Iraq: “Looking in the eyes of the fallen, you got to know there’s another way.” It’s a far cry from George M. Cohan.

Martin Morrow writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.

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