Protest Song Report

Report on Protest Song 'This Bomb has Got to Go' by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl.

Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl were popular Folk musicians prior to and during the Vietnam War Era. They had a love of humanity and a great desire for justice and peace in the world. The subjects of their songs were real people in a real world. They wrote and sang about survival. Their lyrics were simple and sometimes traditional melodies formed the basis of their songs. Their musical equipment was mostly acoustic and they performed to large audiences throughout the world. They released many albums.

A favourite peace march song around 1963 was 'That Bomb has Got to Go'. In this song Seeger and MacColl describe the feelings and relate the events surrounding the times of the 1960's when many nations were arming themselves for war and they warn of the dangers of using all bombs(including nuclear bombs)as weapons.

This can be seen through such lyrics as 'fall out here and fall out there' and 'strontium ninety everywhere'. The song also describes their prophetic dream where the Prime Minister calls for disarmament in an over-crowded world and the Tories 'see the light'.

The main points of the song tell about the size of the bomb and the number of people one bomb can kill. It tells of the hopes of old folk, children at school, and the newly-born Prince, all of whom have a plan to march to Trafalgar Square, London to protest 'That Bomb Has Got to Go!'

The purpose of the song is to encourage the audience to take action and to attend the protest march which ends in the gathering of protestors at Trafalgar Square, London, where the politicians, the Queen, the Prime Minister would notice them and be forced to re-think their Defence Policies.

The lyrics, 'I dreamed the Tories saw the light' and MacMillan (the Prime Minister) spoke in Parliament, 'let's stop this damned rearmament' indicate that the songwriters believed that their cause would result in successful disarmament and ban of nuclear bombs. Even the newly-born prince who could not yet walk was supposed to have said 'We're marching to Trafalgar Square, ... to declare 'THAT BOMB HAS GOT TO GO'.

Because everyone, including babies and old folk were marching, the audience would have felt compelled to join in. They were being positioned to feel that it was normal to protest.

The song appeals to all persons who want to see peace in an overcrowded world, to those who want to 'live to a ripe old age', and to those persons who practice 'the golden rule'.

The songwriters claim that old folk and the school students all 'repeat the golden rule'. The golden rule requires us all to do unto others what we would want them to do unto us. 'Do you want people to drop nuclear bombs on our country?' is what Seeger and MacColl ask the audience. That is, they are asking everyone. World War II and its atomic bombing in Japan was still in the memories of many persons and this was a confronting question. Even more so in London which had been bombed by the Nazis.

The mood of the song is stirring. The songwriters keep returning to the chorus which encourages the audience to march to Trafalgar Square to protest.

The song commences with a warning that it is better to live in an overcrowded world than in no world at all. The steady marching tempo and the use of 'oh yes oh'(shout) indicates a possible uprising if the bomb is not banned.

The song encourages the people to get angry at injustice and to do something about it - march