Protest Songs: If I Had a Rocket Launcher
I’m starting a new series at The Road and it commenceth here.
I’m a big, big fan of protest songs as a genre. Even if I don’t agree with the sentiment of a particular tune, I love that music can be a powerful conveyor of ideas, and can still fulfill one of art’s greatest functions: criticism and questioning of the prevailing culture’s values and actions. Over the next few weeks (or months…we’ll see), I’d like to share some fine examples of songs of protest. I’ll try to give some background on the situation the artist was addressing when he/she penned the lyrics and then try to point out why I think the song is still relevant and even applicable to our current circumstances. (This is, I believe, a hallmark of a truly great protest song: that it transcends the time and place and situations in which it was written by capturing an idea that is somehow universal.) Feel free to chime in with your agreement and hearty amens…okay, and also any dissenting views. Please be aware that I have a smidgen of a left-leaning bias, and know that I’ll try not to get too soap-boxy. (Who am I kidding? No, really. I’ll try.)
Our first entry in the Wonderful World of Protest Songs comes to us from a friendly — yet occasionally critical — neighbor to the north, Bruce Cockburn (pronounced KO-burn). Cockburn became a devout Christian early in his career, and his beliefs have had a profound influence on both his songwriting and his activism, even as his fanbase remains largely outside the “Christian ghetto.” In 1983, he spent time in refugee camps in Mexico for the hundred-thousand Guatemalans who had fled the civil war, and was so impacted by his experience that he wrote the lyrics to “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” a protest song that explores the impulse to retaliatory violence (which inevitably leads to still more violence, in a never-ending cycle of death and destruction).
Here comes the helicopter — second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they’ve murdered…only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
I’d make somebody pay.
I don’t believe in guarded borders and I don’t believe in hate
I don’t believe in generals or their stinking torture states
But when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
I would retaliate.
On the Rio Lacantun one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation — or some less humane fate.
Cry for Guatemala, with a corpse at every gate
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
I would not hesitate.
I want to raise every voice — at least I’ve got to try.
Every time I think about it, water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate echoes of the victims cry
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
If I had a rocket launcher
Some sonofabitch would die.
The first time I heard this gut-crunching song three years ago, the insurgency in Iraq was just revving up. I saw clips on the news of mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters combing the streets of Baghdad, filled with rage and helplessness that their kids, spouses, parents had been taken from them. And then I remembered the horrible days following September 11, seeing clips of mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters combing the streets of Manhattan, filled with rage and helplessness that their kids, spouses, parents had been taken from them. Cockburn’s song captures the futile — yet seemingly inescapable — human compunction to avenge, and laments (even though he doesn’t come right out and say it) no end in sight.
[After writing this whole thing, I suddenly realize this series may be depression-inducing for some sensitive souls. Oops. Sorry. I guess protest songs aren't, as a rule, terribly happy-clappy...unless they're written by Woodie Guthrie. Maybe I'll get voted off the island for thinking this was a good idea.]
Next week: “The Arrangement” from Joni Mitchell’s album The Ladies of the Canyon.
june, 
Morphea 4:08 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Whoooooaaaa. Whoa whoa whoa.
Al, I thought the Disneyland thing was a filibuster against Harmonicminer, so I joined in – better than putting my hands over my ears and saying “La, la, laaaaa”, right? Sorry – didn’t mean to filibuster you, too. Or your excellent topic.
All right – growing up now. Time to engage. But I’m not engaging Phil.
Cerise
michael lee 4:20 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Here’s the joke.
Morphea 4:26 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Being more or less new to the protest song as a genre (except I have “Everybody Must Get Stoned” memorized, of course), and to political studies as a school of thought, I’m intrigued by the fact that, as Aly said, protest songs and protests in general are thought to be, ideally, one form of self-examination within a nation. Bush is an American, so are the World Can’t Wait people calling for his impeachment – therefore, the WCW protests are an American form of self-examination, which makes protests and protest songs extremely healthy for a country to engage in. Right? It’s when the protesters and the governing body are seen as two different sides of a battle that the message of protest seems to lose its usefulness, at least as far as a tool to get the “other side” thinking. The other side just brushes it off as useless rabble-rousing.
What bothers me in politics is the absolute dearth, it seems, of self-examination on the part of the Presidential branch of the government. I know that having a three-branched government is supposed to take care of that – if the President and their Cabinet won’t examine themselves once in a while, you can bet your booties that Congress and the Supreme Court will raise some hairy questions to the light – but it seems like in the government of today, at least, that there’s an awful lot of doing going on and not much evidence of thinking. I’m not saying they’re not, but it’s obvious that the President doesn’t want to be seen mish-moshing around trying to come to a decision about anything when firm resolve is what’s needed. It doesn’t seem like most governments, once established, WANT to be questioned or to question themselves. They don’t want to be challenged – don’t want the status quo to be shaken or toppled. If that’s true, within an entity such as the U.S., then protest songs and protest-ERS are terribly necessary. What’s the other recourse? Voting? How are the opposing voices to the government in power supposed to be heard in order for the Democratic process to work? Campain ads? Gag me. Television debate? Change the bloody channel. Reading pundits online? Not when I’ve got Dooce to read. The art of Protest is the most visceral message that can be taken to the American public, I think.
Cerise
Morphea 4:37 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
BTW, I got really excited on this topic until I realized y’all weren’t talking about Bruce Hornsby. THAT’s how ignorant of protest music I am.
Cerise
Chad 5:10 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Als…
Sorry sweetie… I thought new random topics were pretty funny.
aly hawkins 5:39 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Sorry, guys…I was totally kidding. I think new random topics are pretty funny, too. And also a good reminder not to take myself so damn seriously.
And as to Cerise’s contribution to the original dialogue…what she said, what she said!
Morphea 5:42 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Oh, dear God. I have no sense of humor.
[slaps own face]
So, uh, Al, did you get my caring ‘What’s wrong?’ email?
Cerise
june 6:37 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Potty-training tips anyone?
Gretchen 6:45 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
bribery
Sharolyn 7:06 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
“External reward decreases internal motivation.”
-some educational philosopher with no actual children
june 7:26 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Oh brother!!!! I know that always true in my own life… (philosopher shmilosopher!)
Gretchen 8:10 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Try a skittle jar
Gretchen 8:11 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
I of course, have never tried this…yet. You may want advice from actual tried and true, “been there done that” folk of ADR.
Sharolyn 8:32 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
I learned this from another mom:
If you are in the “in-between” phase, have the child wear underwear under the pull-up. Upon an accident, they get the discomfort (a naturally negative consequence) and you don’t have a mess (especially in public).
I’m sure this matters to everyone.
june 9:07 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
Gretchen, the really sad thing is I AM that folk! And yet still I ask…because even though I’ve done it once…let’s just say, every child is an individual. Siiiiiiigh.
Sharolyn, it should matter to everyone. Think of the kind of place this world would be if not for potty-training.
Ok, don’t. Gross. Sorry.
harmonicminer 9:30 pm on 17 October 2006 Permalink
We tried this book with our first.
“Toilet Training in Less Than a Day”
http://www.amazon.com/Toilet-Training-Less-Than-Day/dp/0671693808/sr=8-1/qid=1161144805/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3918789-2834306?ie=UTF8
Thereby demonstrating the utter futility of the written word to communicate complex processes…. and the utter gullibility of first time parents.
Save your money. You’ll need it to clean the carpet.
I eventually figured out that by playing “If I Had A Hammer”, she’d go every time.
Remarkably precocious child.
corey 6:24 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Aly, thank God you caved in. I typed and saved a LOOOOOOOOOONG response last night that was 3 parts defensive, 2 parts offensive, 4 parts whining, bleeding heart, and 1 part total Richard. New meaning to the word “cocktail”. If for a second, you weren’t actually kidding, I sincerely apologize.
June: we actually blocked out two weeks of our lives (Beth PT’d the boys and I PT’d Ellie) and did the “Crap Around The House” method. It’s where you give away 2 weeks of your life to focus on nothing other than your child’s excretory system. 2 weeks was what it took for each kid. RARELY an accident after that. Sleeping through the night is a different story. We went for months with Ellie trying to keep her dry.
corey 6:27 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
I forgot to mention that the C.A.T.H. method involves the child being sans-britches and the parent literally running him off to the commode when he thinks nature might be dialing.
Sharolyn 8:02 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
I could likely commission my daughter to write a protest song about toilet training. Like her bra-burning sisters of the past, she would burn her Dora undies while chanting, “Pampers Size Five! Pampers Size Five!”
june 8:45 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Sharolyn, that is perhaps the funniest thing I’ve ever read on the Road!!! (To just me I’m sure.) “Huggies Size Five” is the melodious mantra around these parts. (If you’d call screeching and whining and fit-throwing melodious.)
Corey…I……just………ca…n…’t……buuuring myself to do that. Yet. I’m so impressed that you and Beth did. Again I say, you both should be wearing capes.
Aly, if I had even a remanant of mental ability to join in the conversation (emergent alert!) I would. As it is, I’m holding my nose in the pee-filled, altogether too warm kiddie pool while you and Phil play Olympic water polo in the big pool. Sorry. Such is the blog-world: lame brains get to cut in on the honor society.
Phil, I disregarded that book and method based on the title alone. I guess I’m a pessimist.
aly hawkins 9:22 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Sharolyn asked me to post this…Camille’s Big Month!
Morphea 9:55 am on 18 October 2006 Permalink
All right Camille!! Gold stars all around. I’m buyin’.
Cerise
june 2:19 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Green with envy I am.
Morphea 3:39 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
No, June! You get a gold star, too! OK? No, don’t cry, sweetie, shhhhhh…
Oh, that’s not what you…sorry.
Cerise
Sharolyn 4:23 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
June, don’t feel bad. She got the starts for SITTING on the potty throughout the day, but only about half the time did she GO! :)
So, protest songs.
Since I am a monogamous blogger, I don’t know blog ettiquite. Is it tacky when the topic changes like this, or is free form the point of blogging?
I admire everyone who blogs, but today I specifically affirm Mike for posting Tower of Power, and June for making it a part of her wedding! Super cool.
aly hawkins 4:29 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Sharolyn – I don’t think it’s generally considered good form on other blogs to change topics abruptly as the whim takes you…but “generally” and “Addison Road” don’t often appear in the same sentence, so you’re good to go for any Tower of Power or Power Puff Girls or Girls Gone Wild or Wild Wild West or West Wing or Wings of Desire comments you’d like to make. Go crazy. Free-form IS the rule.
Morphea 4:42 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Besides, anyone feeling particularly tenacious about a subject can usually yank it back around.
Gretchen 5:38 pm on 18 October 2006 Permalink
Nice free form of thought there Aly. That was cool. Tower of Power to Wings of Desire. Nice.
grammy 12:42 am on 24 October 2006 Permalink
When Chad was 2 1/2, he was eligible to start pre-school 3 mornings a week IF IF IF IF he was toilet proficient. And here was the brilliant technique developed by a desperately tired mother of a two-year-old and a newborn: “Chad, if you wet your pants today I’m going to beat the crap out of you, too. Do you understand me, son?” Bright kid that he was, he never wet his pants again (yeah, sure, there’s still that weird tic…) This is not exactly a technique you can easily get approval for publication, ya know?
michael lee 8:09 am on 24 October 2006 Permalink
Teri, when is your book coming out? “The Technically Not Illegal Guide To Just Barely Not Screwing Up Your Kids For Life.” I know an editor and a publisher, if you need some names.
aly hawkins 8:29 am on 24 October 2006 Permalink
I think we already publish that book.
june 8:48 am on 24 October 2006 Permalink
I know I should get more out of everything else on the blog, but honestly, the potty-training discussion has had me laughing, crying and thinking just as much as anything here! (Sad, sad commentary on my life.) Yesterday it occurred to me that I might have success in the potty realm if I combined my two-year-old’s love of computer games with going pee-pee. So, the new rule around here is: If you’re going to play computer games on mommy’s laptop, you have to be sitting on the potty at the same time. Scoff if you must, but yesterday we had two successful moments!
(Potty-training discussions are perhaps one of the best forms of birth-control for those who have not joined the parenting realm, yes? Another good method: take a stroll through your local church’s children’s wing on a busy Sunday morning. If you’re able to hear your own thoughts above the din, they may be telling you ‘You’re not ready for this! You’re not ready for this!…’)
Grammy is my hero.
Protest Songs: Advent Edition at Addison Road 9:01 pm on 14 December 2006 Permalink
[...] Not long ago I started a series (which quickly fizzled out due to my burgeoning ADD) about protest songs. I may or may not get back to writing it regularly (Look! A bird…), but I thought it might be cool to highlight one very special song during this season of Advent. You can read the lyrics from the NIV here, as I have opted for the KJV (used in the Book of Common Prayer) for poetic reasons. [...]