Country Joe always had a political edge and at the time the Vietnam War was in full flow and the younger generation was questioning its morality and purpose. It seemed futile and waged for ideological reasons.
Anti-War songs were rife.
We thought we had better ways of dealing with things. Talk and diplomacy was better than war.
We did not believe that our elders knew best. We questioned everything.
This was on the second Country Joe album. I thought it was the best anti-war song I had ever heard. It was set to a funereal drone.
An Untitled Protest
Red and swollen tears tumble from her eyes
While cold silver birds who came to cruise the skies
Send death down to bend and twist her tiny hands
And then proceed to target “B” in keeping with their plans
Khaki priests of Christendom interpreters of love
Ride a stone Leviathan across a sea of blood
And pound their feet into the sand of shores they’ve never seen
Delegates from the western land to join the death machine
And we send cards and letters.
The oxen lie beside the road their bodies baked in mud
And fat flies chew out their eyes then bathe themselves in blood
And super heroes fill the skies, tally sheets in hand
Yes, keeping score in times of war takes a superman
The junk crawls past hidden death its cargo shakes inside
And soldier children hold their breath and kill them as they hide
And those who took so long to learn the subtle ways of death
Lie and bleed in paddy mud with questions on their breath
And we send prayers and praises