3 Folk Protest Songs About the Vietnam War That Baby Boomers Still Can’t Forget

The Vietnam War era had a profound effect on culture around the world. And in America, it was a particularly big deal that led to the counterculture movement, endless protests, and an enormous wealth of protest music. In fact, folk-leaning protest songs really defined the era, and some Vietnam War songs from back in the day might have had a big effect on you if you were young at the time. Let’s look at just a handful of songs that might have gotten under your skin.

“I Ain’t Marching Any More” by Phil Ochs from ‘I Ain’t Marching Any More’ (1964)

“It’s always the old who lead us to the war, always the young to fall.”

Phil Ochs put out quite a few Vietnam War protest songs back in the day. But one of his most memorable has to be the 1964 song “I Ain’t Marching Any More”. This anti-war folk tune is about the military-industrial complex, an early song criticizing the Vietnam War that many a listener resonated with. This wasn’t the kind of song that made it to radio; it made it to protests, gatherings, and rallies instead. Ochs famously performed the song in 1968 outside the DNC, where many young men burned their draft cards.

“Waist Deep In The Big Muddy” by Pete Seeger from ‘Waist Deep In The Big Muddy And Other Love Songs’ (1967)

“We were waist deep in the Big Muddy / And the big fool said to push on.”

“Waist Deep In The Big Muddy” by Pete Seeger is one of dozens of songs by the folk icon that could have made it to this list. I went with the song, specifically, because it was famously censored in 1967 when Seeger performed on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. “Waist Deep In The Big Muddy” specifically criticizes then-president Lyndon B. Johnson’s escalation policies.

“Universal Soldier” by Buffy Sainte-Marie from ‘It’s My Way!’ (1964)

“He’s the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame / His orders come from far away no more / They come from him and you and me / And brothers, can’t you see / This is not the way to put an end to war.”

This is a bit of a controversial entry on our list of folk-leaning Vietnam War songs. But it was a big enough deal when it was released that I feel it’s worth mentioning. “Universal Soldier” by Buffy Sainte-Marie touches on the personal responsibility individual people, namely soldiers, had for the then-new conflict going on in Vietnam. Donovan famously covered the song the following year, as did Depeche Mode in 2026.

(Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)