By Steve Newton
While I was out driving around just now, shopping for a birthday cake, I heard a tune that caught my attention. Since the boy got his driver’s license he’s been raiding my physical music stash and getting into a lot of ’70s rock (finally), and he had Disc 2 from the four-disc 1991 box set CSN playing in the Corolla. (That stands for Crosby, Stills and Nash, in case you didn’t know.)
I was enjoying a typical CSN tune–yearning vocals, beautiful harmonies, catchy melodies–when some lyrics struck me as particularly pertinent to today’s f**ked-up world:
Military madness is killing our country
So much sadness, between you and me
Studying the back of the CD I discovered that it was a song by Graham Nash called “Military Madness” that I didn’t recognize. It was the opening track off his 1971 debut solo album, Songs for Beginners, which I never owned because back then I was too busy rockin’ out to Killer, Who’s Next, and Master of Reality.
The Vietnam War was still raging at that time, so no doubt that’s what inspired Nash’s protest song, released just one year after the Neil Young-penned “Ohio”, a better-known indictment of American military bloodlust.
I’ve listened to “Military Madness” a few times now, and quite like it. I’ve learned that Dave Mason–who passed away five months ago–played guitar on the song, and Rita Coolidge, now 81, provided backing vocals.
The lyrics of the final verse also offer food for thought…
And after the wars are over
And the body count is finally filed
I hope The Man discovers
What’s driving the people wild
…but something tells me that the song won’t be showing up on Trump or Hegseth’s playlists any time soon:
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