Songs about (the) War

May 6, 2007... A couple weeks ago, the song "Rat Patrol" started spinning unbidden on the turntable in my mind.

Naked Raygun - Rat Patrol

I am struck by how apropos the lyrics are, what with coalition forces bogged down in a war in Iraq for more than four years now, and no end in sight. But "Rat Patrol" was written and recorded more than twenty years ago. It's the lead-off track on the Naked Raygun album, Throb Throb, an album with a tank on its cover, and that closes with another subtly anti-war anthem, "Managua."

For those of you too young to remember, Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua, a tiny country in Central America that the US government threatened to invade during the 1980s before deciding to pay terrorists to destablize it instead.

The US government sure does throw its not inconsiderable weight around. Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Panama, Grenada, Libya... And there are always so many dead civilians left in its wake. Somewhere between 62,000 and 69,000 in Iraq alone, apparently.

All those human lives--including the dead soldiers on all sides--plus the trillions of taxpayer dollars spent on the invasion and occupation, all just to ensure that oil will continue to flow from Iraqi oilfields into the gas tanks of the West... That's an awfully big subsidy.

If I was an American without health insurance, and whose kids are in sub-standard schools, I'd be pretty bitter every time I bought a liter of water and was reminded that it actually costs more than a liter of gasoline.

Anyway, in answer to the Moistworks reader who wondered aloud if anyone other than Neil Young had written any songs about the current war, here's the only one I could think of.

Herbert - The Movers and the Shakers

Can anyone think of any others?

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