Once again, we delve into Bruce Springsteen’s 1968 songwriting notebook, which surfaced for auction and public preview in 2006.
One of the earliest entries in the notebook is simply entitled “The War Song,” and like other entries in the notebook, nineteen-year-old Bruce Springsteen is thought to have actually performed it that year during his acoustic gigs at the Off Broad Street Coffee House.
“The War Song” bears a date stamp in Bruce’s own handwriting of April 26, 1968, although given how polished the entry is (many of the other entries bear scratch-outs, notes, and alternate lyric suggestions), it’s likely that Bruce had written the song previously and transcribed it into the notebook for safekeeping.
Bruce’s solo gigs at the Coffee House started just days later in May and continued through October. Given the events of that tumultuous year and the surging social activism among Bruce’s generation, it’s indeed likely that Bruce performed “The War Song” at least once during those engagements.
“The War Song” doesn’t feature Bruce’s strongest or subtlest lyrics, but I always feel compelled to point out when we spotlight these notebook entries: the kid–and I mean that literally–was only nineteen years old.
But even at nineteen, Bruce’s empathy is remarkable. Although he never served in uniform, he paints the landscape as if he had.
Barren land unto me
Hungry faces in my dreams
Got a rifle slung over his brown shoulder
Only fifteen and a veteran soldier
Bloodthirsty cries pierce the night
Killing children, is it right
And is it for freedom that they fight
Or the will to live and the fear to die
Body’s sweatin’ out all the inborn hate
Live for that moment in the shade
Or to get out of the tarred sun
Bodies I know droppin’ one by one
Thousands come one and all
Hear the sound of the battle call
The big men say boys you all have to go
Ask any question and you face the wall
Listen now what I tell you boy
There’s got to be some changes
And they have to be made now
Hear the sound of the battle call
Soon you won’t hear no sound at all
Because “The War Song” is so on the nose, there’s not a lot I can add to what you’ll glean simply by reading the lyrics. Bruce is clearly grappling with the horrors expected of, inflicted on and committed by American soldiers in Vietnam, young men pressed into and unable to refuse service.
The last verse is a haunting one–Bruce clearly recognizes the need for those at home to press for change, or else sooner or later it’ll be their turn, too.
The War Song
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: 1968 (unconfirmed)
Last performed: 1968 (unconfirmed)
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