Current Events: Ain't No Fortunate Son - Songs for Veterans, pt. 1

Playlist

It all started with radio deejays smartly arranging their sets to tell a story, educate or maximize the music's impact. Later, it was picked up by legions of amateur cassette-dubbing artists who specially tailored mixes for their friends, boyfriend or girlfriends (or that one person for whom they so deeply pined). Now, in the age of iTunes, the Playlist is the new mixtape. Paste carries on a proud tradition with this new blog.

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The Dixie Chicks - "Travelin' Soldier"

"Two days past eighteen, he was waitin' for the bus in his army greens / Sat down in a booth at a café there, gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair / He's a little shy so she gives him a smile / And he said would you mind sittin' down for a while / And talkin' to me, I'm feelin' a little low / she said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go ... One Friday night at a football game, the Lord's Prayer said and the anthem sang / A man said folks would you bow your heads for a list of local Vietnam dead / Cryin' all along underneath the stands was a piccolo player in the marching band / And one name read and nobody really cared but a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair"

Jim Carroll - "People Who Died"

"Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head / Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed / They were two more friends of mine / I miss 'em, they died / These are people who died, died / They were all my friends, but they died!"

Pink Floyd - "Bring the Boys Back Home"

"Don't leave the children on their own / Bring the boys back home!"

Check back tomorrow for part Ain't No Fortunate Son: Songs for Veterans, pt. 2 (featuring Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Beck, The Arcade Fire, Elvis Costello and more!)