Hair During The Vietnam War

Throughout history, music has been influenced by the events and politics during a specific era, for instance, the Vietnam War. One of the most notorious wars the United States has been involved in was the Vietnam War, which spanned from the early 1960s to around 1973. However, the United States started to deploy U.S regular combat units beginning in 1965, in which was can say the “official start date” of the war began for the United States and their citizens. During American involvement in the Vietnam War, a large portion of the population was opposed to U.S. involvement in South Vietnam. The American public turned against the war in 1967 and by 1970, two-thirds of Americans believed that the government had made the wrong decision by sending

troops overseas to fight in the ongoing war. Many young people protested against the war because they were the ones whose numbers were being called. The anti-war agenda grew rapidly within American counterculture and in the period’s music – creating some of the most powerful songs to date.
1) Three-Five-Zero-Zero – Hair Original Broadway Cast (1968)
Topping the “Top Five Anti-War Songs from the Vietnam Era” is “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” from the 1968 rock musical, Hair. Written by James Rado and Gerome Ragni with its music by Galt MacDermot, Hair is a product of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the 1960s with several of the songs anti-war anthems. The musical broke musical theatre history by its depiction of drugs, sexuality, race, misuse of the American Flag, and a nude protest scene. Hair tells the story of a “tribe” of politically active hippies living the bohemian live in New York, protesting the Vietnam War, among other things. The musical hit Broadway in 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances, influencing an influx of performances across the United States and in Europe. The success of Hair included a 3 million-selling original Broadway Cast recording where some of the songs off the album becoming Top 10 hits, including “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In” and becoming a film adaptation in 1979. When Rado described his inspiration for Hair, he stated "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging the draft, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long.” His goal was to transmit the excitement of hippie counterculture onto the stage and went to Be-Ins to research and hung out with the various hippie tribes in the New York area. Some of the original cast was even recruited right off of the street.
“Three-Five-Zero-Zero” consists of a montage of words and phrases similar to those of a 1966 Allen Ginsberg poem called “Wichita Vortex Sutra.” These phrases are combined to create various images of the military violence and suffering in the Vietnam War. Its first line, “ripped open by metal explosion” and is followed by the lines “caught in barbed wire/fireball/bullet shock.” After a slow and somber beginning, the tone and tempo changes into a dance number, satirizing American military’s media attempting to gain support from America’s unsupportive population by celebrating Vietnamese casualty statistics. This emotionally charged song, along with its lyrics is what makes it so groundbreaking and important to the protests during the Vietnam War, which makes it place number one on this list because of its attack on the U.S Military and depicting such suffering with just emotions and words that sound like pure poetry that really can only be sang to have its full potential.
Since this specific song came from the rock musical Hair, I cannot talk about critical reception without bringing the whole musical back to the scene.

Hair challenged many norms of 1968 Western society and caused controversy when it was first staged. The Act I finale ended with the performers standing nude before the audience, that and the show was filled with the desecration of the American flag and used obscene language. Many of the controversies, including the anti-war theme attracted threats and violence in the show’s earlier years and forced legal action of occur, two of the cases reaching the Supreme Court. However, the reception of Hair upon its Broadway premiere was mainly positive, with a few exceptions. When it premiered, a New York Times journalist stated in a review "What is so likable about Hair...? I think it is simply that it is so likable. So new, so fresh, and so unassuming, even in its pretensions." The musical was even nominated for Grammy awards and Tony awards in 1968 and 1969. In my opinion, Hair deserved every positive review it had received because of its brave depiction of the counterculture and anti-war movements which was a very prominent population in this era and would have never been depicted if it wasn’t for this rock

musical.
2) “Give Peace A Chance” – John Lennon/Yoko Ono (1969)
John Lennon was born on the ninth of October in 1940 and died on the eighth of December in 1980. Heavily influenced by Elvis Presley and Skiffle music, Lennon sparked an interest in music and form The Quarrymen which eventually led to the formation of the Beatles, which is one of the most commercially successful bands in popular music. When the Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon embarked on a solo career and produced iconic songs such as “Imagine” and “Instant Karma!” He married Yoko Ono in 1969 and soon departed from the business for a short time to produce another album with Ono, but was murdered a few weeks after the release. Lennon was known for his rebellious nature and wit in his music and on film and was often caught in the middle of controversial political settings and peace activism, which almost caused him to get deported across the pond. Most of his anti-war songs during the Vietnam era were adopted as anthems by the counterculture and movement. Overall, Lennon is the proud owner of 25 number one singles on the US Hot 100 and Rolling Stone voted him as the fifth greatest singer of all time. He is a member of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame since 1994.
“Give Peace a Chance” was recorded during John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s famous “Bed In” in Montreal. One of his first big hits after his departure from the Beatles, the song became an anthem to the anti-war movement during the early 1970s even though there is no mention of the war in the lyrics. Protestors sang the lyrics from the West coast to the East coast during the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam – one of many protests that occurred during this era.
The backstory of this song is quite interesting. When John Lennon was asked by a reporter what he was trying to achieve while staying in bed, the songwriter responded with “just give peace a chance.” Lennon went on to say the phrase multiple times during his honeymoon Bed-In and finally on the first of June, 1969, they recorded the song with the help of André Perry, using a very simple setup of only four microphones and a four-track recorder which was rented from a local studio. This recording session was attended by a few dozen journalists and many celebrities of the time, some of who are mentioned in the lyrics. Lennon led on acoustic guitar and vocals and was assisted by Tommy Smothers, also on the acoustic guitar.
When released, “Give Peace a Chance” was credited to Lennon-McCartney, but on later releases, only Lennon is credited. Yoko was the one who actually wrote the song with John, according to an interview. He stated being regretful of feeling “guilty enough to give McCartney credit as co-writer on my first independent single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually written it with me.” However, many suggest that crediting McCartney to the song was a way of being grateful for Paul’s help “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”
This song speaks to me because of the simple, yet powerful lyrics. The song is simple – vocals only accompanied by acoustic guitars and hands beating on the body of the guitar. The fact that it was sung and recorded in bed makes it even more groundbreaking and simple! The simplicity but power in the song is what makes it so valuable and important to the anti-war movement, but also in today’s society as well, though I don’t think it has been used in any of today’s protests, but the message remains relevant – even forty something years later.
The song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 in England, but quickly became a protest song in the American counterculture and an important contribution to the anti-war movement, sang by over a half a million demonstrators in the nation’s capital in November 1969. The protestors were led by the folk singer Pete Seeger and improvised phrases like “are you listening, Nixon?” into the song. “Give Peace of Chance” was also one of Lennon’s three solo songs that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll – which is well deserved due to the fact it had such a great influence and power on the counterculture of the era.
3) “Draft Morning” – The Byrds (1968)
The Byrds were formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Although they went through many lineup changes through the course of the band’s history the original five members were Jim McGuinn on lead guitar and vocals, Gene Clark on the tambourine and vocals, David Crosby on rhythm guitar and vocals, Chris Hillman on bass guitar and vocals, and Michael Clarke on the drums. According to music critics, The Byrds are considered one of the most influential groups of the 1960s because they helped pioneer folk rock and psychedelic rock. Influenced by Bob Dylan and The Beatles, The Byrds melded the influences together to create their sound in country rock, raga rock, and of course, psychedelic rock. One of the band’s signature sounds was their harmonies and a twelve-string guitar played by McGuinn. Of the band’s hits, their cover versions of “Mr. Tambourine Man” originally sang by Bob Dylan and “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)” originally sang by Pete Seeger are two of their most enduring songs. However, “Ballad of Easy Rider,” “Eight Miles High,” and “Chestnut Mare” are two of their self-penned hits. The final Byrds’ album was released in 1973 and soon broke up afterward in the same year. In January of 1991, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where the five original members performed together one last time.
“Draft Morning” is a song about the terrors of the Vietnam War as well as a protest against the drafts into the military throughout the war. Before being fired from the band, David Crosby, the writer of the song, introduced it to the band and began the song’s instrumental backing tracks before Crosby’s departure from the band. However, the band decided to continue to work on the song. After a troubled evolution, “Draft Morning” is considered one of Crosby’s best songs while he was with The Byrds.
The song follows a newly recruited soldier from the morning of his induction and draft into the army through his experiences of combat in Vietnam – which illustrates something many young men had to face during the Vietnam era.

The song uses a unique mixture of battlefield sound effects such as guns firing and trumpet fanfares. These military-like sound effects really accentuate the meaning of the song and really gets the song’s message across, as it is a draft and war protest song and one of the most underrated songs performed by The Byrds. This song is so powerful because it is simple and short, but really depicts the horrors of what the men in Vietnam experience. The last stanza of the song is “Today was the day for action/Leave my bed to kill instead/Why should it happen?” These lines in the song are in my opinion the most important because the solider is asking himself why his killing should even happen because he assumingly doesn’t see a reason for

it.
As it may have not been the most popular song by The Byrds or the most sought after anti-war song, I believe it is one of the most underrated songs of the Vietnam era. While many bands incorporated different sound effects into their songs during the time, I think The Byrds did it the most justice because the song starts off soft and calm and then leads into the middle of the song, guns blazing and fanfares blaring. The song is almost misleading in a way, which further depicts the horror of it all because they originally didn’t know what they were being drafted into. “Draft Morning” is a beautifully composed song and deserves to be on this list, despite its lack of critical reception because of its portrayal of the horrors the military had to face during the war – even when their number was called and they never wanted to shoot a gun in their life.