Anti-War Songs

[Mr Awesomer]

ok, i'll bite. how's that?

World War II helped Lindy Hop gain mass popularity and world recognition? A great recreational escape in a time of war, and traveling servicemen took it to forgein shores.

[Lawrence]

ok, i'll bite. how's that?

World War II helped Lindy Hop gain mass popularity and world recognition? A great recreational escape in a time of war, and traveling servicemen took it to forgein shores.

Seems like World War II was most likely an incidental player in Lindy Hop's initial popularity. Although it was of course associated with the wartime culture, I don't see any huge boost it received from the War. Lindy Hop's popularity more so followed from the popularity of Swing music, in general.

Arguably, World War II could have even prematurely ended the interest in Lindy Hop. First, it broke up the big bands and everyone (musicians and dancers) marched off to war instead of staying home to go to big band shows and dance. Even if there was some boost from spreading the dance (in its Jitterbug form) to Europe, the war certainly changed priorities. Even if they used dancing as an occasional escape, it was far more occasional than in our peacetime lives.

Second, people were understandably interested in "moving on" from pre-war and wartime fads into post-war fads. Because of Lindy Hop's coincidental association with the wartime era, it arguably went out of vogue because it was a part of wartime memories that most people who endured the war wanted to put behind them. They re-lived them in the 60s and so, but at the time, they wanted to move forward and not re-live anything about the war.

I might be mistaken, but I don't think Lindy Hop was more popular after the war than before it. It might have lingered, but didn't it dimish in popularity significantly immediately after the war?

[Mr Awesomer]

The War is mostly significant for it's spreading factor. Also, while the dance was popular before the war, but it was at it's peek of "popness" during, and agruable because of, the War.

[Roy]

Dead Kennedys-Holliday in Cambodia

Doesn't swing, doen't make me want to swin dance, but man I get emotionally charged when I hear it.

[Lawrence]

The War is mostly significant for it's spreading factor. Also, while the dance was popular before the war, but it was at it's peek of "popness" during, and agruable because of, the War.

"Agruable:" is that some sort of highly-capable, Russian financial agriculture??

Point taken, but I still think WWII was more coincidental than causally-connected to Lindy Hop.

[szarka]

I mostly like to keep politics off the dance floor, too.

I've played Bill Elliot's "Swinging Stars & Stripes" on a few appropriate occasions (e.g. July 4th). I don't really consider that a "political" song, though in the current context I can see how it might be construed that way.

I do think it's possible, though, to play music that relates to the current situation without being in-your-face about it. For example, in addition to "Swinging Stars & Stripes" I played Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?" recently. I played it without comment--the song already says as much as I want to say on the subject, because a dance is not a soapbox or a pulpit--but it was there for those who wanted to think about it.

I see that as similar to my approach with songs about faith and "sin" (sex, drugs, etc.). The music we have to draw from as DJs is rich in songs about both subjects; to avoid them altogether at the risk of offending someone's delicate sensibilities would not only mean missing some great songs, it would mean misrepresenting the roots of the music and dancing we enjoy and appreciate. I may play an hour of "gospel" music, but I may also play an hour of "lowdown" music in the same night. I think folks enjoy the music and appreciate the balance.

[Greg Avakian]

I'll never forget when Riley faded Martin Luthor king's "I have a dream" speach in and out of a song I was dancing to. I loved it.

[Lawrence]

I see that as similar to my approach with songs about faith and "sin" (sex, drugs, etc.). The music we have to draw from as DJs is rich in songs about both subjects; to avoid them altogether at the risk of offending someone's delicate sensibilities would not only mean missing some great songs, it would mean misrepresenting the roots of the music and dancing we enjoy and appreciate. I may play an hour of "gospel" music, but I may also play an hour of "lowdown" music in the same night. I think folks enjoy the music and appreciate the balance.

Your message there does not seem to endorse playing anti-war songs in the context of American military action so much as being somewhat oblivious to the content and playing songs that are danceable even if they might offend someone with a hypersensitive ear. I'm all for that. That is quite different from the original post making a call for "anti-war songs" in the present context. To use the legal rhetoric, it was not the "content neutral" approach you seem to advocate.

Trust me, I am also very much inclined toward free expression over censorship: even to the extent of supporting Nazi rights to protest in a nearby Jewish suburban Chicago neighborhood even though I am Jewish. (It's perhaps the best way to remind people to not forget that, as Brecht said of Hitler, "the Bitch that bore him is in heat again.") But the political arena is outside of an entertainment venue. I also like to push the envelope on introducing new styles of music so as to break the monotony of what we always hear at every dance. I do play christian, spiritual songs even though I am Jewish, and play some Gangsta rap where the violent message does not overwhelm the music. But that is not a political message so much as it is designed to bring in new forms of fun/escape/entertainment. It's the music, not the message.

Of course, I don't make the rules or have power of censorship--indeed, there are no such "rules" or censors--and that guy can play what he wants, but he should know that many people do not want to hear anti-war songs in this context, and he's going to do a lot more damage to his reputation as a DJ than he is going to do good for advancing his political beliefs.

[scratchy]

Anyone out there making a collection of danceable antiwar songs? "In a World Gone Mad" is a free-download from the Beastie Boys. It's pure hiphop so if you have hiphop lindy dancers, it would work for them. The lyrics are also available at www.beastieboys.com

Any others?

Anything Dixie Chicks....

[scratchy]

"Down by the riverside" by Lucky Millander ...hardly provacative.

Lucky Millender "Loose Lips sink ships" & "Slap the Japs".....WW2 Pro USA propaganda music at it's finest, but you would NEVER catch me playin them at a dance.

[CafeSavoy]

Anyone out there making a collection of danceable antiwar songs?

just listened to a Dodo Greene cd and she did a cover of
"Down By The Riverside" which i guess might qualify. Supposedly
jimmie lunceford has a version too, but i haven't heard it.
and benny green has an instrumental version that's sometimes played.

[Lorenzo1950]

Jake, thanks for the Percy Mayfield lyric.
Great, great song.
One I like is "GI Jive" by Louis Jordan or Woody Herman.