The Vietnam War: "Last Train to Clarksville"

Introduction

Yes, I am doing yet another Vietnam War song. :) I read about this song in my class's textbook (33 Revolutions Per Minute), and as soon as I saw that it was a Monkees song I knew I had to blog about it. I'm going to put the video first, before I explain what the song is about, because I think it would be interesting for you to watch it twice - once before you have the full context and once afterwards.

Context

I told my mom (who loved the Monkees) that they did a song about a war, and she was very surprised - the kind of reaction I would expect after reading about the song in my textbook. Here's what Lynksey had to say about it:

"Some antiwar comments came from unexpected quarters.... the Monkees released 'Last Train to Clarksville,' a veiled account of a draftee who wails, 'I don't know if I'm ever coming home.' 'We couldn't be too direct with the Monkees,' explained cowriter Bobby Hart. 'We couldn't really make a protest song out of it. We kind of snuck it in subtly.'"

Now, watch the video again if you want to, and with all of that in mind, I'll make some comments of my own.

Commentary

I think it's interesting that people were trying to make statements - without really making them - even with bands like the Monkees. I suppose it shows just how big a deal the war was. The writers could have easily said, "No, this doesn't really have anything to do with who the Monkees are, so we're just going to leave it out." However, the war was a big enough deal that they wanted to write about it even if they weren't going to publicize that fact.

If you just listen to the song, it would be easy to miss the war context of it. It would be easy to see it as just a love song, with the guy about to leave town - for whatever reason. However, if you really think about it, listen to the lyrics, and put the song in the context of the times - 1967, in the middle of the Vietnam War - it's not that hard to pick out what the words are referring to.

I think this song also shows something that I've been realizing since I first started this class - it is very important to pay attention to the songs you listen to. Did the hundreds of pre-teen and teenage girls that listened to this song realize what it was about? Probably not - at least not all of them. But they still sang along. We have to pay attention to what we listen to so that we don't send a wrong message to those that learn of our music choices.

"Take the last train to Clarksville
And I'll meet you at the station.
You can be there by 4:30
'Cause I've made your reservation
Don't be slow.
Oh no no no, oh no no no....."

Sources

33 Revolutions Per Minute (Lynksey)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihJWjVDdvs&feature=fvst
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2840 (lyrics)