Hello Sailor

[harkrider]

This is simply the greatest political song ever written, by man, woman or beast.

It doesn't really protest the war so much as its "currency"  -- the "business" war creates, and the players involved.  Instead of protesting warfare outright, Hello Sailor takes armed conflict for granted, as being merely another industry, and deals with its consumers.  Soldier boys back from the fight expect certain perks.  They've risked their lives, and expect Free Love in exchange for their hard work.   In other words, sex is legal tender, "for all debts, public and private" -- just like the American dollar bill tells us.  Free love isn't free at all.  It's prostitution without cashflow. 

If you research the term Free Love, you will also find that it means "love without constraints" -- sex outside of wedlock.  Fuck who you want, not whom you owe.  But Free Love, like many concepts from the 1960s, didn't work very well, and is also, as sung, bullshit.

But despite its subtleties, Hello Sailor also a great anti-war song, with it's broadway-chorus-friendly chorus, and it's inflammatory language.  "Sailor, look out, cause your pussy is showing."  Those are fighting words, real "Kent State" kind of shit.  Living in a big college city, I see lots of war protesters.  Most of them don't know shit about shit.  WAR = BAD is pretty much their thought process.  That said, they would love Hello Sailor for its sound bites.  If Liz were to suddenly appear at "west mall" -- a famous campus protest spot -- and start singing Hello Sailor, she would get some nice press coverage. 

[wooden and alone]

thanks for that. you said everything i wanted to hear said about the song.
kinda pissed about how she remade it, well not remade but changed the whole thing.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Interesting how that song was the first to be cleaned up.

[avj]

Interesting how that song was the first to be cleaned up.

Hah, nice observation! I only wish I was that clever.

I just happen to be partial to the song -- it evokes the same feelings and sentiments in me that harkrider mentions above.

[PantherCageCode]

Great  ideas, I feel that  love doesn't necessarily mean sex.  She takes the role of a despot first, claiming that free love is bullshit.  A despot is generally not very kind, so that makes sense.  A prostitute clearly cannot live with free love; they'd lose their business!  And a liberal, well, we know that many strongly opinionated people have trouble giving away respect and love to those who they disagree with. 
 God! This is such a great song!