Songwriter Jack O'Neill (above) is just one of many of today's musicians who have written songs about war. With our nation not in any great global conflict since Vietnam, looking at songs about war that are written today are very telling of how our society feels about it. These songwriters look back at wars of all kinds, and leave their message, be it a positive or negative one. But in looking at how they look back at war in their songs, one can better understand how our society remembers war in hindsight as well.

O'Neill has been writing songs for over ten years. Though not an artist in mainstream, "radio friendly culture," O'Neill has become known for his ability to capture the essence of war with his acoustic guitar, and gruff, hoarse vocals.  Being the son of a military man who went to Vietnam, O'Neill certainly had inspiration to write, and his songs have set him apart from others on the circuit of clubs and venues where he performs. Perhaps his best known song about war is March, which tells the story of a family whose father has to go to war, and the impact it has on his family. O'Neill paints a negative picture of war, with lyrics like "Whose hair was longer I think his she might say, but in the army they cut it all away, there's too much room for wild thoughts to grow." He talks about how we as a society keep making the same mistakes in sending men to war, and how families are torn by this. Another song with a similar theme is Rain in which O'Neill sings:

O'Neill paints the prospect of war as inglorious.  Rain is very much an anti-war song, saying that you can be as excited as you want to go to war, but being there in the middle of the fighting with your life on the line, "for your country," is not all that one was told it would be.

Even with his anti-war messages in some songs, O'Neill shows his range in song writing ability by taking up the cause of the Russian Revolution in Woman as Salvation.  Speaking of the war effort like a woman, O'Neill does a remarkable job in giving a sense of what the people of the Revolution felt and believed in. He says, "Conversion on the spot to her, woman as religion, it's time for holy war. Raise my fist above my head, to her I swore, my allegiance." Jack O'Neill puts one in the situation he is talking about. He can sing about what it is like to fight for a real cause, and at the same time give a commentary on how this society views war now. He is an exceptional writer about war because he looks at both sides of it in a song. He seems to understand what it is to fight for a cause, but at the same time what it is to be against one. O'Neill remembers war in different ways as societies do.

Another lesser known writer of war songs is Nathan Church.  Not as an experienced writer as O'Neill, Church gets to the heart of every soldier's dilemma in his song Doves Outside My Door.  Church speaks of a soldier who cannot comprehend what he is doing in war. He does not know why he is there, or for what he is fighting.  He writes "The bomb's in the air and the fire's in the hole and we all play a part, but no one knows their role."  Like Jack O'Neill, Church seems to write how society feels about wars today. What were we doing in Vietnam? Why were we fighting? What's the point of continuing to send men to wars to die? The music of both Church and O'Neill in their own ways are a reflection of how American society remembers war today.

A more mainstream artist who has written about war is Billy Joel. His very popular Goodnight Saigon  is a very powerful song about the Vietnam War. Opening with the sound of crickets chirping and a helicopter flying by, the lyrics really give the listener an idea of what men in Vietnam were going through.  In this song, Joel gives society a way to remember the war and the men as well. His musical devices also add to the song's effectiveness in remembering war. It starts out very slowly, and increasingly builds up to the first chorus. There is a very deep snare drum, sounding almost like a rifle being fired. There are small drum rolls throughout as well. The climax has numerous singers (sounding like a unit) singing together, and the song, rounding out at 7:02, ends with the same crickets and helicopter which opened the piece.

All of the songs in this section point to how musicians, and in turn, society, remembers war today. In all of the O'Neill, Church, and Joel songs, there are similar themes about the atrocities of war. There are questions about why men, sons, husbands, etc., are involved in war. They talk of war as a dreary and desolate situation, and their soldiers are confused, left wondering what it is they're doing there.  In these themes is society's view as well. Like these songwriters, most Americans feel that war is something that should be avoided and that conflicts like Vietnam should never be a part of our society again.  Like the writers, our culture wonders what happened there, and why. These songs speak for our society, and are another good indication that the music we hear has an impact on the the way we remember war, in any era.