Thanks to an endless stream of news documentaries from the era, as well as movies like Apocalypse Now, we have a pretty good idea today of what our soldiers listened to back in the sixties to help them get through the Vietnam War.
Hendrix, or maybe The Doors anyone?
But while we have it ingrained into our collective subconscious that artists like that — along with the protest songs of people like Dylan, John Lennon, and the Buffalo Springfield — provided the soundtrack to that unpopular war, few of us have any idea how our boys escape through music in today's Iraq. Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran, is a double disc set that provides just such a peek into the iPod of one Iraq veteran, Tomas Young.
Young's story is also the subject of a new documentary film — also called Body Of War. In the film, produced by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, we learn how Tomas signed up to defend his country in Afghanistan days after the 9/11 attacks, only to be shipped instead to Iraq.
Five days into his tour of duty there, Tomas was shot through the collarbone while on a mission in an uncovered, unarmored truck. There, he suffered a severed spinal cord which left him paralyzed from the chest down. The film chronicles the aftermath of this, as Tomas deals first with the depression, pain, and debilataing effects of the injury, and then eventually discovers new purpose as a voice against the war.
As something of an unofficial soundtrack to the film, Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran is described by Tomas himself as a collection of the music that got him through the experience — from the combat he saw, to the physical and psychological aftermath. Every song that appears here was selected by Young himself.
Article comments
1 - Marnye
Hmm... Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" is one of the "more modern" tracks, since it's from 2005.
2 - Kent
Here's one anti-war song of mine you have probably never heard.
Its So Wrong - "sounds like John Lennon"
3 - Kevin Eagan
Sounds like an excellent collection. Thanks for the review.
4 - Justin
You're forgetting the fact that te music of the Vietnam era was heartfelt and not economically oriented or politically expedient. Their intent was purely about humanity. Surely politics was involved, but it was the broader scope of those in power. The supposed devisiveness of this war is because people are choosing to call out one man or one small group as being responsible. Look at how George Bush is lambasted in the titles of most of these songs. Do not foget that there was a nearly unanimous vote to start the war. Left vs. Right is BS. Do you want to win the war or not?
Finally, look up the number of casualties in in Veitnam. They were 10 times as high for U.S. military and 5 times higher for civilians in a similar 5 year period. Then you will realize, to a much greater degree, why people were so outraged.
5 - Glen Boyd
Justin,
The outrage on college campuses was fueled in large part by the draft.
-Glen