War by Edwin Starr

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War by Edwin Starr The Vietnam War took place around 1945. France owned the whole area for a long time, however they had problems during WWll. Japan comes in and takes control for a while, and then Japan loses WWll. France therefore tried to regain control. Ho Chi Minh asks the United States to tell France to leave them alone. President Eisenhower says that France was there friend, and has a historical right to the land. Ho Chi Minh goes to China, a Communist Country, and asked for their assistance. They agree, so then Vietnamese were kick out French. Vietnam was formerly divided into to sections. The North was communist while the south was democratic. The North attacks the south. The US advisors were sent. There was the incident at the Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnamese torpedo boats supposedly attacked the USS. There were Escalation and finally the US pulls out. Most people, found this event senseless. A form of protest to the war came through pop culture and songs. “War” was first recorded with The Temptations. Edwin Starr took the song and redid it and went all out. The song was made as an anti-protest song. The over all message of this song, is that war is not necessary. All it causes is pain and suffering. Lyrics such as “Oh war is an enemy to all mankind. The thought of war blows my mind. War has caused unrest within the younger generation. Induction, then destruction who wants to die” and “War, huh yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, oh hoh, oh” shows that this protest song, about the Vietnam War, makes a broader statement of the need for harmony in our everyday lives. This song pumps me up, and makes me want to end war too. Every one who heard this song, looked at the war differently. The song would be played everywhere, and the people would learn the lyrics. This song was the pump up song for the nation. “War” had many
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