This week in class we
listened to a Peter, Paul and Mary rendition of Where Have All the
Flowers Gone. Originally written by Pete Seeger and first performed by
the Kingston Trio in 1958, Where Have All The Flowers Gone is
one of the more impactful songs of the 1950's. The song captures the emotions
present at the time due to the Vietnam war. The song in whole is meant to
describe the circle of life and how the war has intervened and become a part of
it. The song follows a set pattern in which the singer is constantly looking
for something, to eventually find the cause. It starts off describing a lack of
flowers and presents the questions of where have they all gone? The singer then
says that all the young girls have picked them all. Next the singer asks where
have all the young girls gone. This is where we start to see a pattern. The
song almost appears to become a time line in which we see the young girls who
had picked flowers go on to become wives. The wives then must watch as their
husbands are the next thing to go missing as they are taken away to fight in
the war. This is an impactful part of the song especially for people at the
time who experienced this process of having a family member or loved one drafted
to fight in the war. When the next verse of the song is sang it comes with a
much more powerful tone to it which is especially evident in Mary's lines and
when the eventual misplacement of the soldiers comes.
"Where have all the soldiers
gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?"
The
grim lines are sang with an according tone to match their mortality. The deaths
of the young soldiers come as an impactful, life changing event. A sudden change
in the seemingly simple lives of these affected families is devastating and is
meant to represent the real-life tragedies people experienced during the
Vietnam war. The song then takes a turn which brings everything full circle.
The singers ask where have the grave yards gone so many years later. Where the
graveyards once stood now stand the flowers picked by the girls at the beginning
of the song. This is meant to show how life goes on and continues and is meant
to offer comfort to the listener. This song is very obviously in opposition of
the Vietnam war and was created in a political protest by the creator. Overall,
I think that the sing does a good job of displaying a powerful message that is
easy to understand and connect with emotionally.
I think that you provided a good analysis of this song. I think a lot of us overlooked the plethora of information that we had to write about this week. Nobody did a bad job, but I really enjoy seeing people go off and choose something different to talk about. I hadn't really paid much attention to this song when we covered it in class but you sparked a genuine interest in it. I do have to say however that calling it "one of the more impactful songs of the 1950's" is a very bold statement to make. I urge you to explore the music of this era more because it is indeed very rich in content, though I know you didn't mean any harm by it! I just like exploring so any time I see an opportunity I get excited. Also, fun fact: did you know that The Kingston Trio also played the song "Charlie on the MTA?" It more or less provides an origin story for the Charlie-Cards that we use to get on and off the T.
ReplyDelete*We technically don't need them to get off the T, that was an awkward choice of words.
Delete