Tomorrow is Memorial Day, when we pay tribute to those who have given their lives in service to their country. The thing about war is that anybody who has ever been in one never wants to be in another and doesn’t want his children to experience it either. The best way to pay tribute to fallen soldiers is to work to end war.

So this week Cover Freak presents songs to remind you of why war should be avoided if at all possible.

Ian Whitcomb “I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier” (The Peerless Quartet)
This song was written during World War I. That war was such a horrific meat grinder that there was quite a bit of opposition to it in the U.S, probably more so than any U.S. war until the Vietnam War.

I like how this song advocates for nations to arbitrate their differences. And I wholeheartedly agree that there would be no war today if mothers all would say “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier.”

Sparklehorse “Galveston” (Glen Campbell)
When this song came out people thought that Jimmy Webb wrote it to protest the Vietnam War. In fact he wrote it about a soldier in the Spanish-American War. He did a good job of capturing the emotional uncertainty of war, as a soldier prepares for battle and thinks of his hometown and the girl waiting there for him.

DOA “Eve Of Destruction” (Barry McGuire)
The specific threats have changed, but the overall threat of global conflagration is still there. Maybe it always has been that way and always will be. But at least now they let you vote when you’re old enough to enlist.

Joan Osborne “War” (Edwin Starr)
The original is one of the most pissed-off songs ever written. Joan Osborne’s version is much sadder, and I think it has a much stronger emotional impact because of it.

Maura O’Connell “Shipbuilding” (Robert Wyatt)
The horrible contradictions of war are spelled out in this one. It was written during England’s Falklands War, when England’s depressed shipbuilding towns became prosperous building ships to replace the ones being blown up in Argentina. But at the same time those towns were sending their children off to die on those very ships they were building.

People are most familiar with Elvis Costello’s version of this song. He cowrote the song but his recording came out a year after Robert Wyatt’s. This a capella version is just incredible.