A broadside ballad is a topical song that deals with a social or political issue. The issues these songs deal with are ephemeral or the topic is something temporary, of the specific time period. Many times these ballads were simply popular melodies that most people knew that had the lyrics changed to address the specific topic. This was done so the song could easily be picked up by the masses. In the 16th century these ballads came out on single sheets of paper, and were sold in the streets which made them widely accessable. An important part of broadside ballads are that they cannot be censored. This allowed people to voice their opinions on these important topics in society.
"Alice's Restaurant" is a song by Arlo Guthrie during the Vietnam War.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo
Arlo Guthrie is an American folk singer who often sung songs of protest of social injustice. He is the son of a folk singer, Woody Guthrie. This song "Alice's Restaurant" is one of Arlo Guthrie's better known songs. It is an anti-war song that protests the draft during the Vietnam War. This song is based on some real events that took place during his life. An interesting fact is that the length of the song is the same length as the gap in one of Nixon's Watergate tapes.
http://www.arlo.net/bio.shtml
This broadside ballad was an important part of its time. During the 1960's this song was widely played accross America. This song was good for protest because it was mostly played live due to the length of the song. This song was not on the radio so it could not be censored, and people throughout America would play this song to protest the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment