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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
1
Songs Lyrics: Global Revolutions of 1968
Introduction: In 1968, massive protest movements all over the world took to the streets, rattling govern-
ments and challenging long-held assumptions about how societies should work. Young people led many of
these protests, as they criticized their governments and demanded broad political and social changes. Popular
music reected their demands but also inspired others to join the calls for social change. Many songs focused
on ghting injustice, poverty, racism, sexism, and colonialism. Some of these songs protested the eects of the
Cold War, including the U.S. war in Vietnam.
Song #1
Country: Brazil
Artist: Zelia Barbosa
Song title: “Opinião” [Opinion] <https://youtu.be/O039HryLHMk>
Year: 1968
Historical context: Brazil became a military dictatorship in 1964 aer the right-wing ocers in the Brazil-
ian military overthrew the democratically-elected President João Goulart. e U.S. government actively supported
the right-wing military coup, as it did in a number of other Latin American countries during the Cold War. U.S.
ocials worried that President Goulart opposed U.S. Cold War policies and were concerned his domestic policies
might lead Brazil toward socialism.
Aer it seized power, Brazil’s military government used repression and censorship to limit political opposition.
e media and press remained free in the early days of the military regime. However, as the years passed Brazil’s
military government grew more and more repressive—even regulating music and art. Tens of thousands of Brazil-
ians were arrested and detained, oen without charges. Brazil’s government sought out those whom it considered to
be threats, killing hundreds, torturing thousands, and exiling many. e military government created a climate of
fear and oppression throughout Brazilian society.
Original Portuguese Lyrics
Podem me prender, podem me bater
Podem até deixar-me sem comer
Que eu não mudo de opinião
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Podem me prender, podem me bater
Podem até deixar-me sem comer
Que eu não mudo de opinião
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Se não tem água, eu furo um poço
Se não tem carne, eu compro um osso
E ponho na sopa e deixa andar
Deixa andar, deixa andar
Translated English Lyrics
ey can arrest me, they can beat me
ey can even leave me without eating
I don’t change my opinion
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
ey can arrest me, they can beat me
ey can even leave me without eating
I don’t change my opinion
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
If there is no water, I drill a well.
If there’s no meat, I’ll buy a bone
And I put it in the soup and let it go
Let it go, let it go
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
2
Original Portuguese Lyrics (cont.)
Fale de mim quern quiser falar
Aqui eu não pago aluguel
Se eu morrer amanhã, seu doutor
Estou pertinho do céu
Podem me prender, podem me bater
Podem até deixar-me sem comer
Que eu não mudo de opinião
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Daqui do morro eu não saio não
Translated English Lyrics (cont.)
Talk about me if you want to talk
I don’t pay rent here
If I die tomorrow, your doctor
I’m close to heaven
ey can arrest me, they can beat me
ey can even leave me without eating
I don’t change my opinion
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
From here on the hill, I don’t leave
Song #2
Country: Czechoslovakia
Artist: Milan Knížák
Song title: “Rusové jdete domu!” [Russians, Go Home!]
<https://youtu.be/S4_J2wVT10Y>
Year: 1968
Historical context: During the Cold War, Czechoslovakia was a member of the Warsaw Pact, a military al-
liance controlled by the Soviet Union. In 1968, “socialism with a human face” became the motto of an emerging
reform movement within the Czechoslovak Communist leadership. Its goals represented a signicant challenge to
the Soviet Union’s authority in Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe. e Soviet government declared that it
alone had the right to determine how other communist countries could rule themselves and made it clear that they
would use force to maintain their control of the communist system in Czechoslovakia. In August 1968, 650,000
Soviet and other Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and removed the reform government from power.
[Note: Original Czech lyrics for the song were unavailable.]
Translated English Lyrics
I had a strange dream last night
A stranger-yet morning woke me up
Under my windows cannons and tanks
A friendly red visit—so I heard
Russians go home
We don’t want you near
Russians go home
Just get…out of here
Back to Siberia
Your tanks you take
ere you have your own stinky garden to rake
Stick your communism right up your [behind]
Watch out—your brother Hitler may still be awake
Russians go home
We don’t want you near
Russians go home
Just get…out of here.
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
3
Song #3
Country: Mexico
Artist: Judith Reyes
Song title: “La tragedía de la Plaza de las Tres Culturas” [The tragedy of the Plaza
de las Tres Culturas] <https://youtu.be/RWfqWoN6Yog>
Year: 1968
Historical context: A single political party known as the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI)
controlled Mexico’s presidency and politics from 1935 through the end of the twentieth century. e PRI’s repression
of its opponents reached new heights in July 1968, when Mexican riot police brutally attacked a group of students.
Government violence and the jailing of many student leaders sparked major protests, not only of students but of
middle-class and poor workers across the city. e PRI-led government arrested hundreds and led raids against
suspected dissidents. On October 2, 1968, protesters organized a demonstration in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas
in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. Many spectators, including children, joined the protest rally. e Mexican
army and police surrounded the plaza and opened re on the crowd, killing as many as four hundred people and
arresting two thousand more. is became known as the Tlatelolco Massacre.
Original Spanish Lyrics
El dos de octubre llegamos
todos pacícamente
a un mítin en Tlatelolco
quince mil en la corriente.
Ano del sesenta y ocho
que pena me da acordarme
la plaza estaba repleta
como a las seis de la tarde.
Grupos de obreros llegaron
y el magisterio consciente
los estudiantes lograron
un hermoso contingente.
De pronto rayan el cielo
cuatro luces de bengala
y aparecen muchos hombres
guante blanco y mala cara.
Zumban las balas mortales
rapido el pánico crece—
busco refugio y la tropa
en todas partes aparece.
Translated English Lyrics
On the second of October we went
peacefully
to a rally in Tlatelolco,
About 15,000 of us, in the year of ‘68.
It makes me sad to remember it,
the jam-packed plaza
at about six o’clock in the evening.
Groups of workers arrived,
politically aware teachers, and students,
together they made a beautiful contingent.
Suddenly, the sky is pierced by four
ares.
Many men appear, white gloves and
bestial faces.
Bullets zing, panic creeps in.
I look for shelter, and the troops are
everywhere.
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
4
Original Spanish Lyrics (cont.)
Alzo los ojos al cielo
y un helicóptero miro
luego sobre Tlatelolco
llueve el fuego muy tupido.
¡Que fue fuerzas tan desiguales!
¡Hartos tanques y fusiles!
¡Armadas los militares,
desarmados los civiles!
¡Doce años tenía un chiquillo
que muerto cayó a mi lado
y el vientre de una preñada
como lo han bayoneteado!
Hieren a Oriana Falacci
voz de la prensa extranjera
¡Ya conoció la cultura
del gobierno de esta tierra!
Ya vió que vamos unidos
estudiantes con el pueblo
contra un sistema corrupto
y la falacia de un gobierno.
Recordará a los muchachos
contra la pared sus caras
las manos sobre la nuca
y su derecho entre las balas.
Jóvenes manos en alto
con la V de la Victoria
V de Vallejo me dicen
los de la Preparatoria.
Translated English Lyrics (cont.)
I raise my eyes to heaven, and see a
helicopter over Tlatelolco,
It is raining heavy re.
How unequal the forces!
So many tanks and guns!
e military armed, the civilians with
empty hands!
Next to me, a twelve year old boy fell
dead,
and the belly of a pregnant woman
was pierced with bayonets!
Oriana Falaci, voice of the foreign
press, is wounded.
At last she met the culture of the
government of this land!
She saw that we are united, students
and the people,
against a corrupt system and a false
government.
She will remember the students, faces
to the wall,
hands clasped behind their heads,
with their rights between the bullets.
University students with raised arms
making a V for Victory.
High school students making a V for
Vallejo*.
[* an imprisoned labor organizer]
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
5
Original Spanish Lyrics (cont.)
Piras de muertos y heridos
solo por una protesta
el pueblo llora su angustia
y el gobierno tiene esta.
¡Qué cruenta fué la matanza
hasta de bellas creaturas!
¡Como te escurre la sangre
Plaza de Las Tres Culturas!
Y porque en esto murieron
mujeres y hombres del pueblo
el presidente le aumenta
al ejercito su sueldo.
Translated English Lyrics (cont.)
Pyre of dead and wounded, all because
of a rally,
while the people cry in anguish,
and the government gives a party.
How bloody was the slaughter. Even our
beautiful young women!
Oh Plaza of ree Cultures, you are
dripping blood!
And because of this, men and women
of the people died,
the president raises the salary of his
army.
Song #4
Country: Poland
Artist: Czesław Niemen
Song title: “Dziwny jest ten świat” [This World is Strange]
<https://youtu.be/wTjLZwpmufw>
Year: 1968
Historical context: In 1968, Poland was a member of the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance controlled by the
Soviet Union. Student groups, factory workers, artists, and intellectuals began to lobby for political reforms and in-
creased freedom of speech that led to a series of protests around Poland in the winter of 1968. As the protests grew,
so did crackdowns by police that resulted in mass arrests and violence against demonstrators. In addition to state
violence, the Polish government cracked down by ring people from their jobs, dissolving university departments,
and mounting a propaganda campaign blaming Jews for problems in Poland. Polish government leaders hoped to
draw on longstanding anti-Semitism to discredit and weaken the movement for political reform.
Original Polish Lyrics
Dziwny jest ten świat,
gdzie jeszcze wciąż
mieści się wiele zła.
I dziwne jest to,
że od tylu lat
człowiekiem gardzi człowiek.
Translated English Lyrics
is world is strange
As it’s still
Filled with much evil
And it’s strange
at for so many years
A human despises another human being.
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Brown university department of history
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
6
Original Polish Lyrics (cont.)
Dziwny ten świat,
świat ludzkich spraw,
czasem aż wstyd przyznać się.
A jednak często jest,
że ktoś słowem złym
zabija tak, jak nożem.
Lecz ludzi dobrej woli jest więcej
i mocno wierzę w to,
że ten świat
nie zginie nigdy dzięki nim.
Nie! Nie! Nie!
Przyszedł już czas,
najwyższy czas,
nienawiść zniszczyć w sobie.
Lecz ludzi dobrej woli jest więcej
i mocno wierzę w to,
że ten świat
nie zginie nigdy dzięki nim.
Nie! Nie! Nie!
Nadszedł już czas,
najwyższy czas,
nienawiść zniszczyć w sobie.
Translated English Lyrics (cont.)
is world is strange
e world of human aairs
And sometimes it’s a shame to admit
But it happens oen
at someone kills
With a bad word as if with a knife.
But the people of good will are the majority
And I believe deeply
at this world
Will never die, thanks to them
No, no, no!
e time has come
It’s high time
To destroy the hatred within us.
But the people of good will are the majority
And I believe deeply
at this world
Will never die, thanks to them
No, no, no!
e time has come
It’s high time
To destroy the hatred within us.
Song #5
Country: South Africa
Artist: Harmonious Serenade Choir & Vusi Mahlesela
Song title: “Senzeni Na?” [What Have We Done?] <https://youtu.be/FMgQ2DrdA98>
Year: 1950s [but performed throughout apartheid era, including 1968]
Historical context: Apartheid, an Afrikaans word that means “separate” or “apartness” in English, was the
law of the land in South Africa from 1948 to 1990. is system of racial discrimination was designed to keep
white, Black, and Asian South Africans separate from each other in every way. e white government segregated
all schools, housing, jobs, and transportation. People were oen forbidden to speak against the government. Black
South Africans were not allowed to vote and lived with the threat of government violence. e government could
detain people for months and even years without charging them. By the mid-1960s, most political opponents of
apartheid were in exile or jail. While overt political opposition was dicult, if not impossible, a new generation of
resistors emerged. Many of them believed that a critical piece of the struggle against apartheid was to make more
people around the world aware of what was happening in their country. One way this happened was through song.
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
7
Original Xhosa Lyrics
Senzeni na?
Senzeni na?
Sono sethu, ubumnyama?
Sono sethu yinyaniso?
Sibulawayo
Mayibuye ¡Afrika!
Translated English Lyrics
What have we done?
What have we done?
Our sin is that we are black?
Our sin is the truth?
ey are killing us
Let Africa return!
Song #6
Country: United Kingdom
Artist: The Beatles
Song title: “Revolution” <https://youtu.be/6MbqzDm1uCo>
Year: 1968
Historical context: ere were large protests against the Vietnam War and against U.S. foreign policy in the
United Kingdom in 1968. Students also led protests to improve conditions at their schools and universities. In
Northern Ireland, a civil rights movement led a series of marches to protest government discrimination against
Catholics. e marches were put down violently by the police. e global protests of 1968 provoked musical and
political responses from some of the world’s inuential musical groups, including e Beatles.
Original English Lyrics
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right?
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that
hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We’d all love to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead
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The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies
Part II: Songs of the Global Revolutions of 1968
8
Original English Lyrics (cont.)
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
Song #7
Country: United States
Artist: Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions
Song title: “This Is My Country” <https://youtu.be/z_esbRoOeR0>
Year: 1968
Historical context: e U.S. war in Vietnam changed dramatically in 1968, as did how it was viewed within
the United States. By 1968, the mostly white and middle-class anti-war movement from the rst years of the U.S.
war in Vietnam had given way to a much more diverse movement. Civil rights activists applied the ideas and
tactics from the ongoing ght for racial and social justice to protest the war. On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. On June 6, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy—an antiwar candidate for president
and former President John F. Kennedy’s brother—was assassinated. Kennedy and King’s assassinations contributed
to many Americans’ fears that the nation was spinning out of control. Protests expanded and intensied across the
country. In August 1968, police in Chicago attacked anti-war protesters gathered in the city to protest outside the
Democratic Party National Convention.
Original English Lyrics
Do do do
Do do do
Some people think we don’t have the right
To say it’s my country
Before they give in, they’d rather fuss and ght
an say it’s my country
I’ve paid three hundred years or more
Of slave driving, sweat, and welts on my back
is is my country
Do do do
Do do do
Too many have died in protecting my pride
For me to go second class
We’ve survived a hard blow and I want you to know
at you’ll face us at last
And I know you will give consideration
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation
is is my country
Do do do
Do do do
And I know you will give consideration
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation
is is my country
Do do do
Do do do
Do do do
Don’t you know it’s gonna be (all right)
All, all, all, all, all, all, all, all, all, all, all right
All right, all right, all right, all right, all right
Name: ______________________________________________
