Best Anti War Song ?
 

My vote

Human League - The Lebanon

War, good God, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.

Bob

Bob Dylan: Masters of War

There really should be no argument here : Bob Dylan : Blowin' In The Wind. It's the one song that will be just as familiar in a hundred years as it is today. It's almost hard to believe that there was a time not that long ago when the song didn't exist.

Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire

rings true today as it did in 1965.

War Pigs - Black Sabbath

That would be my answer too.

"Disposable Heroes" - Metallica

What's Going On

Imagine - John Lennon

BYOB - System of A Down

Wasted Life - Stiff Little Fingers

buffalo springfield - for what its worth

I'll throw in "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". Written by Eric Bogle but (IMO) best recorded by The Pogues

Don't know if it's the best, but I do love that song. Another decent OZ antiwar song was 'I Was Only Nineteen (A Walk In The Light Green)' (nam).

One of my favorites was 'I'm Your Flag' by the English Beat.

I always considered Blowin in the Wind to be more of a protest song w/pacifist overtones, whereas Masters Of War was like an old testament thunderbolt and therefore my "best" anti-war song.

My favorites:

Gods of War – Bruce Dickinson
The Call Up – The Clash
Zombie – Cranberries
2 Minutes to Midnight - Iron Maiden
Afraid to Shoot Strangers - Iron Maiden

* Iron Maiden has a lot of great songs about war, but they are not necessarily anti-war (nor pro-war, just about war).

CCR-Run Through The Jungle

Fortunate Son - CCR and covered wonderfully by pearl jam

Jackopierce - March
Don McLean - The Grave (the original version, not the George Michael cover)

Many good songs, but this is what sprang immediately to mind:

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag - Country Joe and the Fish

Viet Nam by Jimmy Cliff
Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello

There's a couple of good anti-war songs on the latest Machine Head album:
Clenching the Fists of Dissent
A Farewell to Arms

I forgot about...

Rust In Peace - Megadeth

John Mayer - Waiting for the world to change.

Edit: Another one I just thought of - Billy Joel / Michael Cavanaugh - Goodnight Saigon.

Belle And Sebastian - I Fought In A War
Metallica - One

Yes. Written by P.F. Sloan.

Please don't take offense, but as a protest song, this one just pisses me off. It's a pussified outcry for... nothing in particular.

In this day and age -where the world is just aching for another Lennon or Dylan - Mayer is simply afraid to name names or point fingers.

"I'm waiting for the world to change."

Why not do something instead of just... wait?

I understand that, but I think the song is a bit deeper than that and an anti-war song doesn't necessarily mean it has to be about people actively protesting.

I think definitely the most well known would be masters of war, fortunate son, imagine and blowin in the wind

I'd like to put in a good word for "2 + 2 = ?" by Bob Seger (actually the Bob Seger System). It's a great 60's garage rock tune with very angry anti-Vietnam lyrics. Highly recommended.

Not only that, but did you notice it's a chord-for-chord rip-off of a far-better change-inspired song -- Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready? I was wondering why Mayer's song sounded so familiar until that hit me. It should go right into the Rip-Off Hall of Fame alongside My Sweet Lord, Ghostbusters, Given To Fly and Dani California.

Three songs came to mind right away, all of which have been mentioned:

pharoahe monch - agent orange

Simon and Garfunkle-'He was My Brother' and 'Last Night I had the Strangest Dream'

hard to say the best since it's only a few months old but I'll put in a vote for Jason Isbell's "Dress Blues"


What can you see from your window?
I can't see anything from mine.
Flags on the side of the highway
and scripture on grocery store signs.
Maybe eighteen was too early.
Maybe thirty or forty is too.
Did you get your chance to make peace with the man
before he sent down his angels for you?

Mamas and grandmamas love you
'cause that's all they know how to do.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Your wife said this all would be funny
when you came back home in a week.
You'd turn twenty-two and we'd celebrate you
in a bar or a tent by the creek.
Your baby would just about be here.
Your very last tour would be up
but you won't be back. They're all dressing in black
drinking sweet tea in styrofoam cups.

Mamas and grandmamas love you.
American boys hate to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Now the high school gymnasium's ready,
full of flowers and old legionnaires.
Nobody showed up to protest,
just sniffle and stare.
But there's red, white, and blue in the rafters
and there's silent old men from the corps.
What did they say when they shipped you away
to fight somebody's Hollywood war?

Nobody here could forget you.
You showed us what we had to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

No, no you never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

"Rise Up Move", from
http://www.myspace.com/modelminority

The man deserves serious respect for this track

I agree.

Some Dylan ones not mentioned:

With God On Our Side
John Brown (the version on Unplugged is haunting)

How about "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" -- awesome song.

"Love Power" by Lorenzo St. DuBois