The International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies

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Star Spangled Lyrics: The Cultural and Historical Importance of Analyzing Popular American War Songs


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1 University of Louisville, United States
     

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When studying a country's national cultural history, confining one's research to literature, anthropological studies, and historical documents reveals a limited space of knowledge that hinders proper understanding of a culture or nation. An often overlooked and undervalued method of gaining deeper insight into cultural history is through close readings of popular song lyrics composed by a country's artists. Treating lyrics as poetry, and thus giving lyrics the same literary critique as we do poetry, allows us to reap a broader picture of the general cultural mood of an era; by incorporating lyrical study alongside disciplines of cultural history, such as philosophy, historiography, biography, etc., we can allow that music lyrics render a better-shaped vision of the cultural past.

Keywords

United States History, Music Lyrics, War and Music.
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  • Buffalo Springfield. "For What It's Worth." 1965. MP3.

  • Cohan, G. M. "Over There." 1917. MP3.

  • Dunbar, C. "John Brown's Body." 1858. MP3.

  • Duffy, M. "Over there." FirstWorldWar.com. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. .

  • Hixson, W. L. (2008). The myth of American diplomacy: national identity and U.S. foreign policy. New Haven: Yale University Press.

  • James, D. (1989) The Vietnam War and American music. Social text, 23, 122-143.

  • McCarthy, H. "Bonnie Blue Flag." 1865. MP3.

  • Ray, D. and Prince, H. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B." Perf. The Andrews Sisters. 1941. MP3.

  • Shuckburgh, R. "Yankee Doodle." 1754-1763. MP3.

  • Sloane, P.F. "Eve of Destruction." Perf. Barry McGuire. 1965. MP3.

  • Small, M. (2002). Antiwarriors: the Vietnam War and the battle for America's hearts and minds. Wilmington (Del.): Scholarly Resources.

  • Tubb, E. "Missing in Action." 1952. MP3.

  • Vowell, Sarah. The wordy shipmates. New York, Riverhead Books, 2008.

  • Woodward, S. "The Patriotic Diggers." Perf. John Allison. 1812. MP3.

  • "'Yankee Doodle' turns 250 - maybe." U.S. News & Life at MSNBC.com. Microsoft/NBC, 4 July 2008. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. .

  • Zinn, Howard. (1999). A people's history of the United States; 1492-present. New York: Harper Collins.


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  • Star Spangled Lyrics: The Cultural and Historical Importance of Analyzing Popular American War Songs

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Authors

Erin R. McCoy
University of Louisville, United States

Abstract


When studying a country's national cultural history, confining one's research to literature, anthropological studies, and historical documents reveals a limited space of knowledge that hinders proper understanding of a culture or nation. An often overlooked and undervalued method of gaining deeper insight into cultural history is through close readings of popular song lyrics composed by a country's artists. Treating lyrics as poetry, and thus giving lyrics the same literary critique as we do poetry, allows us to reap a broader picture of the general cultural mood of an era; by incorporating lyrical study alongside disciplines of cultural history, such as philosophy, historiography, biography, etc., we can allow that music lyrics render a better-shaped vision of the cultural past.

Keywords


United States History, Music Lyrics, War and Music.

References