Many people have forgotten the true meaning of Veterans Day. Veterans Day is not to celebrate the power of America’s military. Veterans Day is not even to celebrate the end of World War I, as the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs says it’s predecessor, Armistice Day, was.
Veterans Day is to commend and give respect to the Soldier, the brave men and women who choose to serve in our global chess games-- who suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune to protect us and our interests, who fight on foreign lands so that we do not have to fight on our own.
Regardless of our own opinions on a particular war, the soldiers who fight them deserve our respect. Below are three songs that emphasize not the glory of battle or praise for the Army, but the hardships that the soldier must suffer through.
John Brown’s Body, by Traditional
“John Brown’s Body” started as an off color joke, yet somehow became a Union marching song during the American Civil War and spawned one of America’s most patriotic songs, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The authorship of the tune to “John Brown’s Body” continues to be highly disputed, but the lyrics seem. to have evolved from the campfire ribbing of a Union soldier.
According to Civil War soldier George Kimball, there was a soldier in the Massachusetts 2nd Infantry Battalion named John Brown. John Brown, as any grade school student knows, is also the named of the famed abolitionist who led the failed attack on Harper’s Ferry. The name made Brown the butt of jokes, such as “This can’t be John Brown, he’s a-moldering in his grave.” The jokes eventually joined with the hymn “Say Brother’s Will You Meet Us,” and the song was born.
The tune was later used by Julia Ward Howe for her “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in an attempt to reclaim the melody from the black humor of “John Brown’s Body.”
Dixieland, by Steve Earle
“Dixieland” is an upbeat ballad by Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band on their album, The Mountain. “Dixieland” tell the story of Kilrain, an Irish immigrant who joins the “20th Maine” under Col. Joshua Chamberlain (who later advanced to Brigadier General and Governor of Maine) during the Civil War.
“Dixieland” is effective in capturing the hardships of the soldiers during the Civil War, as well as the pride of the many immigrants who served during the war “Well we come from the farms and the city streets and a hundred foreign lands/ And we spilled our blood in the battle's heat/ Now we're all Americans.”
Despite, or perhaps because, of his leftist bent, Earle has strong empathy for the common soldier, further proven by his songs “Ben McCulloch,” and “Rich Man’s War.” Both of these songs focus on the soldier’s hardships rather than the war itself.
Day After Tomorrow, by Tom Waits
“Day After Tomorrow” is a heartbreaking song by Tom Waits about a modern soldier far from his home. Introduced with a musical quote from “John Brown’s Body,“ and delivered in his unmistakable rasp, Waits half speaks, half croaks his tale.
What “Day After Tomorrow” has that so many other songs about war lack is the moral struggle a soldier has to face while doing his job. A soldier, in order to do good, has to kill, as evil an act as possible. Waits sings, “I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel/ About all the blood that's been spilled.” Yes, the physical struggles of soldiering are great, but the spiritual ones are greater.
These three songs for Veterans Day above capture the part of soldiering that is so often ignored. Yes, soldiers get to see the world, and yes, soldiers serve their country, but soldiers also suffer horrible wounds, scream aloud as their brothers die around them, and miss Thanksgiving dinner at home. Never forget, war is hell, a hell made by Man.
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