The Grave - Don McLean (Vietnam War)
Song Lyrics:_
The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors, And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone. He's gone. When the wars of our nation did beckon, A man barely twenty did answer the calling. Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation, He's gone, But Eternity knows him, and it knows what we've done. And the rain fell like pearls on the leaves of the flowers Leaving brown, muddy clay where the earth had been dry. And deep in the trench he waited for hours, As he held to his rifle and prayed not to die. But the silence of night was shattered by fire As guns and grenades blasted sharp through the air. And one after another his comrades were slaughtered. In morgue of Marines, alone standing there. He crouched ever lower, ever lower with fear. "They can't let me die! They can't let me die here! I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth. I'll cover myself! I know I'm not brave! The earth, the earth, the earth is my grave." The grave that they dug him had flowers Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors, And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone. He's gone. |
Commentary
"The Grave" is an anti-war song written by Don McLean and released in 1971, which addresses the Vietnam War. This
song uses powerful language to draw the listener
in and communicate its message. The following lyrics in particular stand out to me:
“But the silence of night was shattered by fire As guns and grenades blasted sharp through the air. And one after another his comrades were slaughtered. In morgue of Marines, alone standing there.” This verse catches my attention because it describes the Marine’s experience of watching the deaths of all of his fellow marines in a way that allows the listener to picture the combat zone and imagine how it might have felt to be there. “The Grave” presents the Vietnam War as a negative conflict and the cause of the loss of innumerable lives. The song focuses on the experience of a Marine, fighting the war in constant fear of death, and how he and his comrades all end up dying while they are there. By doing so, it conveys a strong anti-war message. In “The Grave,” McLean is critical of sending citizens of the U.S. to their death under the impression that they can trust their country with their life. The American foreign policy of the time, which was based on the Truman Doctrine, was to engage in war in other countries in order to stop the spread of outside forces (mainly communism). McLean implied that it was unnecessary for the U.S. to send troops to Vietnam, and wrong for the government to do so by taking advantage of the “American” pride of the young men in order to convince them to fight. This song shows us that part of the cost of war is the loss of an entire generation, either to death or to the damaging emotional effects of war on those who survive. I agree with the message of this song because I believe that the United States should have stayed out of the Vietnam War, or found another way to support those fighting against the Viet Cong without engaging in war. Although as a leading nation of the world the U.S. is responsible for protecting other less powerful nations, it should not address that responsibility by making the deaths of countless numbers of people possible. -Aubrey Pelz |