The Sixties
The Sixties was a time when corruption and cultural conflict were prominent in society. One source states that it was also a decade that was defined by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, riots, and assassinations. This tumultuous decade is expressed through the music. John Orman author of The Politics of Rock Music, writes that "Rock music reflects society." Music is in Clive Davis's phrase, "a footnote to the events within society." The origin of popular music in the sixties, the Farber source states, is undeniably African American. Black innovators including Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and B.B. King, never gained the critical or commercial respect due to them. White groups such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Young Rascals openly acknowledged their debt to the black music tradition, but all reaped the benefits far beyond those available to black artists. Many artists didn't just use black tradition in their music, but they used great works by famous poets. Jim Curtis, author of Rock Eras observes, that if we compare Paul Simon's "Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)" to Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," we see that Simon rewrote and r
The social reforms that had been achieved in the sixties were hard won victories over a society that was rigid and un-moving. The War in Vietnam ended in 1975 with the evacuations of both civilians and soldiers. The civil rights battles would also continue into the next decade, but the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a clear-cut victory for Martin Luther King. Woman's Liberation had come into the forefront and gave women hope for the future. The sixties will be remembered as a time of social turmoil and as a time when people realized that they didn't have to be bullied around by more powerful people and that they could make a difference in their society. The music of the sixties was a powerful driving force for the youth of America that alerted them to the problems of society. There was an impact because the music and the lyrics weren't created by marketing executives. They were made by people who cared about the things that they wrote and sang about. People that listened to these songs heard the emotion in the voices of the popular musicians. People heard someone who cared about something and then they cared too. This first verse is pointing the finger at the people who were profiting from the war. Dylan is expressing his hate for the people who were making money off the war. Country artist Arlene Harden recorded best seller "Congratulations" which was told in the perspective of an army wife. She's congratulating the army on making a tormented and bitter person out of her husband. Ten years earlier Johnny Burnette had a minor hit with "For God, Country, and My Baby" an affirmation of a soldier's willingness to serve. These song gave an important clue to the cultural distance between these ten years for some Americans. Songs about Vietnam were used to inform people that innocent people were getting killed, and the soldiers that were over there fighting didn't have a choice because of the draft. Through song, writers encouraged people to speak out against the war and ask the government to stop it. The problem was there was enough eversed Frost's poem whose final quatrain goes:
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2377
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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