Doggie In The Window Analysis

On August 15 1969, hundreds of thousands of people fled onto a dairy farm in New York City, they were there for a music festival advertising “three days of peace and music” and peace was what these people wanted. The Vietnam War was a controversial time in American popular music, because this generation was challenging the norms of the past. As skirt hemlines got shorter and teens challenged the traditional lifestyle their parents lived, songs about the vicious war played through people’s hearts. The days of sweet pop artist Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson were over; the youth in America were tired of this music and decided it was time for change. The war ushered in the rebellious tunes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and many others alike

Singers like Patti Page sang the parent-approved music that teenagers were told was alright to listen to. Popular music during this time had a common happy tone and was often about appropriate topics like innocent love and “how much that doggie is in the window” as mentioned in the song “Doggie in the Window” by Patti Page. Music wasn’t as much as a matter of expression for most popular musician during this time as it was a performance or even a distraction from the Cold War taking place. During the pre-Vietnam era most parents of white children did not find it acceptable for their children and teens to listen to music made by black musicians, so many white musician dedicated their careers to adapting the soulful, pain filled music from the oppressed black musician into the “white-style” that was found appropriate by parents (Covach, An Intro to Rock and its History). Many parents from the traditional era previous to the rockin’ 50s found music made by African-Americans to be “jungle music,” because of the dependence jazz and R&B had on drums and heavy rhythms from its African roots (Hasdovic). However, many teens often listened to whatever music pleased them, and once the Vietnam War began, many shifted over to listening to Rock n’

The United States allied with Southern Vietnam, while Northern Vietnam allied with communist allies. Through fighting in this war the United States was practicing their policy of “containment” and wanted to prevent Southern Vietnam from falling to communist rule (Hasdovic). As stated in an article written by Ani Kington, “Some Americans believe it was the duty of the nation to defend other nations from the threat of Communism. Others believe it was not the U.S. 's place to get involved and that it was a costly mistake (Kington, U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War). Many people lost their lives during the war, and most of those people were sent to fight without a choice. People protested the war all over the country, prominently on college campuses in the U.S. On October 20, 1967, one of the biggest Vietnam War protests took