Historical Background
What is counterculture?
A “counterculture” is a varying or opposing way of life from society’s mainstream culture. A counterculture can often be associated with certain values that differ from the values expected by society. Counterculture often becomes mainstream as exposure to counter cultural values, music, and art increases. In the 1960s, the rise of musical counterculture was largely due to technological advances in the United States. With the rise of small radios came the ability to listen to music outside of the typical family’s single radio in the living room. The younger generation of the 1950s and 1960s utilized this, now being able to independently choose their own music in their bedroom. This allowed for genres like folk and blues to flourish among the youth, which they would continue to listen to as they entered adulthood. These songs often contained messages with anti-war values, contrary to socially expected mainstream opinion. 1
The Cold War in the U.S.
The Cold War in the U.S. was a period of intense tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which lasted from the ending of WWII to the early 1990s. Fear of communism and nuclear warfare was widespread and influenced daily life and drove policies that encouraged loyalty to the U.S. and vigilance against “un-American” behaviors/activities. This era also led to several “proxy wars” in Asia, such as the Cambodian War and the Vietnam War, where the U.S. and Soviet Union supported opposing sides to spread their influence while avoiding direct conflict with each other.2 In reaction to this global tension, the Countercultural movement grew in the 1960s and 1970s. This movement was led mostly by students and young adults across the country who sought freedom and peace. The movement demanded major social changes, and challenged the conservative, fear-driven atmosphere of the Cold War, and protested the U.S. involvement in these “proxy wars,” and questioned many mainstream cultural norms. The Vietnam War marked a time of significant unrest at universities across the United States. Music played a significant role in anti-war counterculture in the early 1970s as many people protested using art, music, and literature to express their ideas. At the University of Maryland (UMD), the anti-war effort and counterculture were driven by students on campus.
The Campus Unrest Records
There is no better way to visualize the campus protests than seeing them firsthand. These pictures are taken directly from UMD’s Campus Unrest Records, a collection filled with documents and pictures taken during student demonstrations on campus.
This set of images from c. May 1970 shows student opposition to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. 3
Multiple pictures show the damage done to the administration building after students broke into it, such as broken glass, torn window frames, and smashed floor boards scattered across the room.
The governor of Maryland at the time, Marvin Mandel, called in the National Guard to help the University of Maryland Police control the protesters as the situation began to escalate. The anonymous photographer of the Campus Unrest Records captured these snapshots of the National Guard as they landed their helicopter in front of the Ritchie Coliseum and arrested student protesters on Route 1. This presence of the National Guard agitated students even further and consequently led to them to protest on campus throughout the rest of the week.4
Images of Policemen unleashes tear gas onto students
Nationalism and a Drum
Nationalism is defined as patriotism and pride for one’s nation. One notable origin of nationalism was the rise of book publishing in 16th century Europe. The establishment of a national language as a unified form of communication had a profound impact on how many nation’s citizens viewed themselves as one unified people. A national sense of community began to form around this shared form of expression.5
History of the University of Maryland – Campus Unrest Records, SCUA. In this image located at the Armory, crowds of student protesters are gathered, including one protester with a bass drum on the right side of the image. The bass drum implies the usage of music for protest, where students used the boom of a bass drum beat to unite people under one sound, possibly so they could synchronize their chants to the beat of the drum.
This highlights one of the core principles of nationalism; There is great power in unified action or a collective form of expression that leads to the unification of a community. National anthems are a great example. People sing that at ball games, naturalization ceremonies, and other large events in a crowd full of strangers. Yet, at that moment in time, singing the same melody, to the same tune, at the same time in the same location, these ‘strangers’ are now united as a community by their own participation in that anthem. In this case, the sound of the bass drum is being used to unite student protesters under one sound, under one rhythm. The student protesters are even standing together in a circle to gather around this sound, further emphasizing music’s ability to unite people. Music is being used as a device to maintain unity under one ideal, which is reminiscent of the mechanics of nationalism.
Folk and Protest
Protest music was by no means a new concept to the 1970s. World War II was also heavily characterized by protest music, however those protest songs were generally written for professional singers to be performed in a concert or broadcasting environment. In contrast, Vietnam War and Cambodian War Protest music shifted towards protest music being written in a purposefully simplistic form, allowing for any amateur musician to play them during public protests with crowds of fellow protesters, not needing expertise in music.6 These songs are meant to be sung for hours while blockading roads in the summer heat and made to be strummed mindlessly on the guitar while marching down Route 1. During a protest, energy cannot be wasted on elaborate guitar solos, it must be saved for enduring police harassment or being up on your feet for hours. For these reasons, starting in the 1960s and 1970s, protest music would start to become intertwined with the rustic sounds of the folk genre characterized by acoustic instruments, catchy melodies, and tons of lyrical repetition.7
“Give Peace a Chance”
“Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono is an excellent example of these new trends for protest music set by musicians of the time. Written in July 1969, the song took a firm stance against the Vietnam War and became a cornerstone of the Vietnam Protest Movement. According to UMD’s Diamondback newspaper, 1000–2000 student protesters were heard singing “Give Peace a Chance” while they lined Route 1.8
The song is in a folk style; the only instruments in the official recording are acoustic guitar and tambourines. The entire song alternates between two guitar chords, so any beginner guitar player could join and learn the entire song in a few minutes. The after three verses, the song just repeats the recognizable chorus, “All we are saying, is give peace a chance,” which emphasizes the importance of this message.9 Vocally, anybody could sing this song, musician or not, since pitch-wise it’s within speaking range. The official recording even includes clapping, stomping, chatter, and some cheering, indicating that even if you can’t sing or don’t have a guitar, anyone can still join in by stomping or clapping to the beat. This accessibility makes the song so effective on the day of a protest, negating the need for a boombox when you have a united crowd joined in the same beat.
The official music video for the song provides a blueprint for the song’s intended use. Before the singing begins, the video shows Lennon, Ono, and their fellow musicians cramming themselves into a normal dining room with their recording equipment and instruments. The setting of a home shows that protest is for anybody, not just the rich or famous. The verses are brief and not just sung, but shouted by the whole crowd. Sometimes the camera gets lost in the crowd of people swaying and clapping and we as viewers can’t even see Lennon. He is not placed on a pedestal or a higher stage to be given more attention. Instead, everyone is made equally important. The video directs us to focus on the sound of the whole crowd shouting for peace. The song is meant to be sung in a passionate, righteously angry crowd like this, not to be performed as a solo.
“Ev’rybody’s talking ’bout / Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism / This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying, is give peace a chance”
The terms used by Lennon in his song are make-believe, almost as a way to show how real belief systems are nonsense to Lennon and others.
Lennon argues that people should be less focused on the ideologies behind conflict (ex. Nationalism), and instead should focus on saving people’s lives and protecting peace. 10
Lennon starts by leading the song in, singing the song as is, and then between verses he interjects with his own voice, saying phrases like “Come together altogether!” or “We can have it [peace] tomorrow!”11 It is very reminiscent of a church worship service, with a worship leader leading the praise and occasionally interjecting, but it is the sound of the overall congregation that is essential. Like a church hymn song, Lennon’s song is reliant on the community behind it. If it was just Lennon singing by himself, the song would lose its identity and power behind its call for peace.12
WMUC Radio Playlists
WMUC is a radio station run exclusively by UMD students, and has been since 1948. If a song is played on the radio, WMUC must have a justification behind why a song is worth playing. So if a song was played during the 1970’s, we can assume that these songs were popular or relevant in some way. Therefore we can use the WMUC playlists to examine how anti-war music was received amongst students. In fact, many anti-war songs by popular musicians like Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and The Boxtops were ranked highly on the WMUC playlists.
“All Along the Watchtower”
Bob Dylan wrote the song “All Along the Watchtower” in 1967. A year later Jimi Hendrix released his cover of the song which was ranked 41st in popularity in the WMUC Top 100 for the 1968–69 school year playlist.13 Bob Dylan was known for his anti-war lyrics, and this song is no exception.
“There must be some kind of way outta here / Said the joker to the thief“
It’s widely interpreted that the song is from the perspective of the soldiers in combat in Vietnam at the time, talking about how they can leave the nightmares and human cruelties they’re experiencing there, and go back home to America.
The rest of the song alternates between the voices of the two characters in the story: the Thief and the Joker, which can both be interpreted as social outcasts with connections to counterculture.
The name “Joker” could also reference a Jester/Fool, which traditionally is a character role (most famously in Shakespeare) that corresponds to those of a lower social class who are very wise, self-aware, and often mock the main characters of the upper class. In the song, Joker is not afraid to call out the imbalances and inequalities of the systems of power that have led to them being deployed into Vietnam. While others stay silent, the Joker is vocal in his frustration.
The thief is an outcast due to his criminal behavior. A thief is someone who breaks the law and is excluded from society due to this “deviant” behavior (ex. Being thrown into prison). This incorporation of these countercultural characters shows how intertwined the counterculture movement and the anti-war Protest movement were at the time.
“There’s too much confusion /
I can’t get no relief /
Businessmen, they drink my wine /
Plowmen dig my earth /
None of them along the line /
Know what any of it is worth”
Many students at the time must have related to this feeling of confusion. Some students might have felt pressure to pick a side, while others felt confused and frustrated why changes hadn’t been made fast enough to save people’s lives overseas. It must have been an overwhelming time and this song might have provided relief to the students listening, since it assures them that they weren’t alone in this feeling
This line plays into the anti-war sentiment that people in higher positions of power in the government make decisions that only serve their personal interests, while the working people or in this case, the soldiers are the ones who face the harsh consequences of those decisions.
This line references the popular anti-war sentiment that joining the Vietnam War was unnecessary and America had no right to intervene in this foreign conflict. In this line, the soldiers themselves on the front lines don’t even know what they were really fighting or dying for. 14
The popularity of “All Along the Watchtower” amongst UMD students shows that students found these counter cultural anti-war lyrics relatable, inspirational, and even profound. It suggests that many UMD students identified with the counterculture and protest movement at the time, and viewed this broadcasted music as a way to connect to these national movements.
“American Tune”
The song “American Tune,” released by Paul Simon in 1973, expresses feelings of being overwhelmed and devastated by the politics of the world. “American Tune” consists of Simon playing an acoustic guitar alongside his vocals, drawing more focus to the lyrics as opposed to flashy instrumentals. This calming song was incredibly popular in the UMD community and was played on the WMUC student radio for 5 weeks straight: two weeks before winter break of 1973 and 3 weeks afterwards in January 1974.15
Many soldiers felt their lives were misused for the purpose of an unnecessary war. They felt forsaken by the government who initially encouraged them to fight in Vietnam, but yet when the veterans returned they were treated as villains and outcasts instead of heroes.
These lines could refer to the soldiers killed in combat and how many families back in America were devastated by their loss, struggling to heal from their deaths. The lyrics could also refer to protesters at the time, feeling restless regarding events happening outside yet feeling hopelessly unable to change things for the better.
“Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken and certainly misused…/ I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered / I don’t have a friend who feels at ease”
As mentioned before, book publishing was a major contributor to the rise of nationalism, but it wasn’t just because of the creation of the idea of a national language. It was also because books gradually became an accessible way for normal civilians to access their nation’s past. It is unity behind a shared history that also contributes to the sense of pride and attachment to one’s nation. In the lyrics, Simon lists some of America’s notable history. He believes that amidst war and protest, Americans should think of America’s past successes and trust in America’s ability to succeed. Simon calls upon the shared history between Americans, saying that if America can land on the moon, there is nothing stopping America from overcoming the hurdles of the 1970’s.16
“We come on the ship they call The Mayflower / We come on the ship that sailed the moon / We come in the age’s most uncertain hours / And sing an American tune”
The fact the song still maintained popularity with students even through winter break shows how these feelings of exhaustion and despair felt relevant to UMD students, and how these lyrics about patriotism resonated with them. Over the course of a month of winter break, students still thought about these emotions and weren’t able to even relax at home because the war was unavoidable regardless of where they went, yet they found solace in the idea of a noble, righteous America.
“One Student’s Memories:” Doris Plummer’s Scrapbook
Doris Plummer was an undergraduate UMD Nursing student at the time of the c. May 1970 protests. From 1969 (age 18) until 1971, she documented the protests happening at UMD via journal entries, newspaper clippings, and writing down song lyrics relevant to the anti-war movement at the time. Plummer was very active in the anti-war movement at UMD. In her journal entries, she writes about running away from tear gas in the c. May 1970 protests, letting protesters sleep in her dorm, participating in the campus-wide strikes, and attending student protester meetings in Francis Scott Key Hall.17
Some of her journal entries give a glimpse into a more light-hearted student life back then that’s more reminiscent of modern day college life, such as her describing a student struggling to teach his dog to follow while running away from tear gas, joking about many protesters needing a haircut, trying to find affordable concert tickets with her friends, or complaining that she had four final exams during the protests while her friend only had to take one, writing lines like “Each individual teacher will decide on finals. Unfortunately, I have all the wrong individual teachers.”18
Plummer’s Top Artists
Plummer cited lyrics from 49 songs and 1 poem, indicating her wide knowledge of folk, folk rock, and psychedelic rock music at the time. It may not reflect UMD’s student body’s music taste as a whole like the WMUC playlists do, but it is a very unique case study on how an actual UMD student relied on music to understand and cope with the historic protests unfolding around her. Below is a chart of the artists she cited lyrics from in her scrapbook, showcasing her taste in music:
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (CSNY) were Doris Plummer’s most referenced and arguably favorite band. In her journal entries about protest, she would spend paragraphs talking about the war, and suddenly switch to commentating about CSNY’s latest news. For example, the first draft lottery for the Vietnam War was broadcasted on December 1st, 1969. The next day, Plummer writes “The war has got to end now. I can’t even write about it. There are so many men being needlessly killed “over there” (and so many men needlessly killing)… It’s all so sad.”19 Following this, Plummer abruptly changes subjects and writes about how Neil Young from CSNY had an album that dropped 40 popularity rankings.
This trend continues even to May 4th, 1970, where she describes the protests and the students who were killed in Kent, then writes about when Steve Stills in CSNY got in a car crash, CSNY’s concert was postponed, and how Neil Young might be quitting CSNY.20 This pattern of venting in her journal about her feelings regarding the ongoing war and protests and then switching to news about her favorite band suggests that Plummer uses her connection to CSNY to cope with the multiple stressors in her life. Plummer relies on their music in her scrapbook as well, referencing CSNY ten times in the scrapbook with various lyrics pertaining to anti-war values. This shows the power behind music and how it was incredibly important to some students or student protesters for processing their emotions.
“Woodstock”
Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” was written on page 25 of Plummer’s scrapbook. Named after the American Musical Festival, this song uses references to Christianity to depict Mitchell’s anti-war stance, and became iconic to the Counterculture movement.
“…we are caught in the devil’s bargain, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden’
The continous mention of Christianity throughout the song would suggest that the “Garden” Mitchell refers to is the Garden of Eden, which is regarded as a place of purity and peace before sin was introduced to the world. Mitchell alludes to war as a “devil’s bargain” and that the world needs to get back to a place of peace. This message resonated with the younger generation as they protested against the Vietnam War.21
Analysis of Plummer’s Chapel Hill Page
Standing out from her scrapbook are photos cut from the Diamondback newspaper showing tear gas and smoke surrounding the University Memorial Chapel. This photo puts into perspective the magnitude of the protests at the University, and the inclusion of song lyrics on these pages shows how music and protest are closely correlated during the anti-war protests. The lyrics are surrounded in circles and doodles, which humanizes Plummer even more as a normal college student who would doodle when she got bored, overwhelmed, or perhaps was meditating on a message.
The song on this page is “American Eagle Tragedy” by the psychedelic rock band Earth Opera.
The chart of all the genres referenced in the scrapbook was created to identify Plummer’s listening trends and what music stood out to her.
Although psychedelic rock was referenced more than other genres at 16%, it still pales in comparison to the genre Folk Rock at 51%, and merits some attention. While many protest songs like “Give Peace a Chance” were written in a folk style to be intentionally simplistic, there was a niche of musicians like Earth Opera who used elaborate music as a personal expression of internal despair.
A Sonic Analysis of “American Eagle Tragedy”
Introduction
The ten-minute song starts with a two-minute somber saxophone quartet entrance. It begins as a solo, then more saxophones are added as they crescendo into the beginning of the song. This is a sharp contrast to typical rock at the time which was typically upbeat, high energy, and rarely featured just wind instruments for the introduction to the song. Earth Opera used this solo to firmly establish the grave and sorrowful nature of the song, cueing the listeners to pay attention to what they’re actually saying, since it’s more than “just a rock song.” As you listen to the introduction, consider how the unique sound cues the atmosphere and prepares you to take note at what comes next.
Chorus
After a lengthy silence, the song enters a more standard structure with three repeats of the chorus and then a verse, ending with three minutes of a final iteration of the chorus alongside desperate screams of various phrases like “Stop the war!” “Die” “I can’t stand this anymore” and “Oh God!”.
“And call out the border guard /
The kingdom is crumbling /
The king is in the counting house /
Laughing and stumbling /
His armies are extending way/ Beyond the shore/
As he sends our lovely boys to die / In a foreign jungle war”
Similar to “All Along the Watchtower”, this chorus touches upon a common sentiment amongst Vietnam War protesters. Many felt that the government was sending American soldiers to die in a war that wasn’t America’s to begin with. It also mentions how many felt betrayed by the U.S. government for sending them away, as if their lives were inconsequential to the people in power.
Verse
Although the choruses are loud and passionate with vigorous electric guitar strumming, drums, saxophone, and chaotic flutes in the background, the verses are characterized by more calm guitar, relaxed drums, and even quiet string parts to highlight Peter Rowan’s vocals and his poignant lyrics.
“The scarlet cloaked and white horsed huntsman / Rides upon the meadow green /
His silver arrow scars the sky /
and I can hear the eagle scream/
The peasants watch in dumb struck wonder /
The gay procession passed them by /
The victory silence is consuming me/
And we’ve at last killed the eagle’s cry”
Many pro-Vietnam people viewed America as “knights in shining armor,” or the hero of the story, fighting against communism.
The sound of the eagle is referenced twice in this verse. The eagle is America’s national bird, and is often synonymous with American values of freedom and justice. The first eagle announces the American’s soldiers presence, since initially the soldiers believe they’ve won.
Usually, a victory parade is welcomed with cheering, but instead there’s silence, because America didn’t actually win anything or save anyone — the very people America was supposedly saving were killed at the hands of American soldiers. This song was written after the My Lai Massacre of March 16, 1968, where American soldiers murdered hundreds of Vietnamese civilians. The singer is consumed by guilt hearing this silence.
To close out the verse, Rowan references the eagle again by saying they’ve “killed the eagle’s cry”. This represents how the American involvement in Vietnam has killed the very freedom American nationalism supposedly idolizes. 22
The way this song alternates between the calm quiet verses and the loud angry choruses highlights two sides of grief. One is the bitter anger towards the government for purposefully sending American soldiers to die in a “foreign jungle war” and overall fury towards how preventable these unnecessary deaths were. The other side is the sorrowful mourning for how many innocent lives were stolen from both American, Cambodian, and Vietnamese families. The quiet verses with empty instrumentation seems to imply that there is nothing they could say that could explain the magnitude of loss this war caused.
These wild psychedelic rock bands like Earth Opera that gave student protesters like Plummer the ability to voice their own opinions and vent their emotions regarding the Vietnam and Cambodian wars. Plummer’s decision to include these lyrics alongside the image of the chapel is poetic. A recognizable landmark of campus representing divinity and peace is seen drowning in tear gas as peace is being destroyed both domestically and overseas due to America’s savior complex.
“What will tomorrow bring? Paranoia strikes deep. Into your hearts it will creep. It starts when you’re always afraid. Step out of line the men come and take you away. The whole mess is very sad. America, where are you now? Don’t you care about your sons and daughters? Don’t you know we need you now?”
Doris Plummer may 4, 197023
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Earth Opera. “American Eagle Tragedy”. Track 6 on The Great American Eagle Tragedy. Recorded 1969. Elektra, 1969. Earth Opera – Topic, posted November 8, 2014. Official audio video. https://youtu.be/Vs6Ca-5b294?feature=shared&t=477.
Gainen, Susan, Alan Lewis, Nancy Parker, and Steve Petranek. “Police Use Clubs, Gas to Quell Disorder.” The Diamondback. May 4, 1970. Digital Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. https://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/76173.
Hendrix, Jimi. “All Along the Watchtower.” Track 4 on John Wesley Harding. Recorded October 17, November 6, and 29, 1967. Columbia Studio A, 1967. Jimi Hendrix, posted October 5, 2012. Official Audio video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY.
Lennon, John, and Ono, Yoko. “Give Peace a Chance.” Official Music Video released as a single on July 4, 1969. Yoko Ono, posted September 21, 2016. Official Music Video. https://youtu.be/ftE8vr0WNus?si=ueJCFcfwhRLQAyM6&t=30.
Memos and Administrative letters from the Democratic Radical Union of Maryland (DRUM). Early 1970s. Box 13, Folder 9. Series 3: UMCP Offices and Non-Academic Departments, 1967–1979. Office of the Chancellor Records. Special Collections and University Archives, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries.
Mitchell, Joni. “Woodstock.” Track 11 on Ladies of the Canyon. Recorded 1970. Joni Mitchell, posted November 7, 2014. Official audio video. https://youtu.be/CEBmKi2xmoU?t=231.
Photographs of a Protest at UMD against the Vietnam War. May 1, 1970. Box 1. Campus Unrest Records. Special Collections and University Archives, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries.
Plummer, Doris. “One Student’s Memories:” Scrapbook of Doris Plummer. 1970. Box 1. Campus Unrest Records. Special Collections and University Archives, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries.
Simon, Paul. “American Tune.” Track 6 on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. Released November 9, 1973. Columbia, 1973.
WMUC Extra Playlist for the Week of October 22, 1967. Box 13, Folder 1. Series 1 and 2: Administrative Records, 1948–2011. WMUC Records. Special Collections and University Archives, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries.
WMUC Playlists 1968–1974. Box 3. Folder 4. Series 1: Administrative Records, 1948–2011. WMUC Records. Special Collections and University Archives, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries.
Scholarly Sources
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, 1983.
Deaville, James A. “Vietnam: Music of Patriotism and Protest.” In Music and War in the United States, edited by Sarah Mahler Kraaz, 211–227. Routledge, 2019.
Gair, Christopher. The American Counterculture. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
Kitts, Thomas M. “The Festival for Peace: Some Ruminations on My Journey through Music.” Popular Music & Society 43, no. 2 (May 2020): 163–175. doi:10.1080/03007766.2019.1687676.
Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Vintage Books, 1977.
Thurmaier, David, and John Cox. “You Say You Want a Revolution? A New Analysis of John Lennon’s Political Music.” Protest Music in the Twentieth Century. Music, Criticism & Politics. Brepols, 2015.
Whitfield, Stephen J. The Culture of the Cold War. JHU Press, 1996.