http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55FZnYhCM-Y Great protest songs fall into two categories: those that hit you over the head with the ugliness of war and those that use a sweet melody and haunting lyric to get their point across. Pete Seeger, being the master of the protest song, was adept at both sorts of tunes. "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" is the best of his gentle protests. On top of that, it catapults Seeger into the highest echelon of folk singers: one that actually writes a full-out traditional folk tune. The lyrics to "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" are some of the most haunting of Seeger's career. They teach us that "those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it" (to quote George Santayana) by telling us about the flow of events from flowers to young girls, from girls to their boyfriends, from boyfriends to soldiers, from soldiers to graveyards, and from graveyards back to flowers. As if the message wasn't blunt enough, Seeger drives every transition home by repeating the phrase "When will they ever learn?" There's a hint of desperation in Seeger's lyrics, one that seems all too relevant today as our world becomes more and more violent. Seeger might have gotten the inspiration for the tune from a Cossack folk song, but he took those lyrics and made them his own. It's impossible to listen to this song and not be moved.
Alan Howell is a native of Southern California. He loves movies of any and all kinds, Hollywood, indie, and everywhere in between. He loves pizza, sitcoms, rock and pop music, surfing, baseball, reading, and girls (not necessarily in that order).