http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBdeCxJmcAo

The song “Feel-like-I’m-Fixin-To-Die” was written by Joe McDonald and originally performed by Country Joe & The Fish in 1967. It was a specfic anti-war protest song about the Vietnam war. McDonald used “What are we fighting for?” to indicate the Vietnam war was totally unnecessary and he also used the word” we’re all gonna die” to show the war was a disappointment and hopelessness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTKDlPXCQg

The second song is “21 Guns” by Green Day. It was released in 2009. The song shares the same idea which is anti war. It does not mention what specfic war is and I think it fights for general peace. Some of examples like ” Do you know what’s worth fighting for?”, “Lay down your arms, give up the fight” and ” Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I”, are showing the idea of the song.

War is always exist in the history, even today. I think the protest songs in the past are mainly focused on a specfic issue, like the first song about Vietnam war; but today war protest songs are more general.