Rich Mans War by Steve Earle

[goarmysinknavy]

I remember we had to read this poem for a college discussion. I'm in the United States Army and it really hits home.

[ame2pete]

@sunflowergypsy Maybe you missed the memo, we are an all volunteer military.

[darlincommitme]

@ame2pete

"Volunteer" is a relative term - sure there are genuine volunteers, but there are a lot of people who join because they don't see any other opportunity. There is a reason the rank and file are predominantly from poor backgrounds. There are also a lot of false promises made by recruiters. Again - there is a reason so many homeless men are vets.

[shagisland]

Blah, Blah, Blah.

Things change-- You gotta change with it (educate yourself either formally or learn a trade) & don't blame others for your bad choices. Sick of these whiny liberals crying about EVERYTHING.

[sunflowergypsy]

@shagisland Who's crying? Oh yeah.. the families of the dead soldiers, that's who..

[Blueforlifefry]

This song says so much in so few words.

[indahsaragih]

at 1.39 missed " Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air " :)

[bradleypark1]

Just saw Steve play live here in London Ontario,Canada....Just an amazing live show and I got to meet him!! He is very down to earth and cool.All the people who hate on him due to his political views are morons,he just isn't afraid to speak the truth,which some people are not happy about...well....those people can go shove their heads back up their asses where they may enjoy the company a little more.

[wheelmanstan]

Henry Kissinger once said "soldiers are dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy" and Robert Mcnamara once said "if we had lost the war we would have been tried as war criminals" one was the head of the NSA and secretary of state and the other was secretary of defense. Both men even served in the U.S. Army and this is how they felt, now think about that. Oh yeah and Prince Philip once said "if reincarnated I would come back as a killer virus to lower population levels"-royalty?

[reducrider]

"The worst of men shall fight and the best of men shall die..." from The Sinking of the Reuben James

[NOVFP]

The U.S.A. where everyone is treated the same. Rich and poor alike, Right? One that declared "freedom has a price". n reality, some pay with their lives, while some pay just with their income. The ones that die are by fare and away the poor yet they pay taxes too. The rich just keep getting richer.

[MoreInfo24]

@NOVFP Because the rich profit off wars that the middle class pay for.

[KellyKrewDaddy]

Great song

[Axmedkoole]

Tune to Steve Earle if you want to make America a better place for your kids to grow up and embrace one another and others without the presence of culture of fear. Or else, you can tune to Toby Keith that will tell you love USA and others DIE.

[dmkmuse]

a canadian guitar player turned me on to steve earl at a lenape reserve near london ontario a few years back. s. earl is truely an inspiration and this song speaks volumes. it should be the national anthem for the usa,imo. i am definately including this one in my cover rep. along with ft worth blues and down the road.

[ZOGGYDOGGY]

‎...meanwhile back at home the finance company took away his car.....

[Axmedkoole]

@ZOGGYDOGGY True stories. It happaned to a friend of mine.

[wookie20f]

Such a beautiful, sad commentary on our flawed society. Thank you, Steve. Well done.

[stoneyjewel]

Gotta be one of the finest protest songs of recent times

[countrybill45]

Amazing and sadly true song. There's one line that I don't quite understand,... "a fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the door"...what exactly does that mean? Could someone tell me? Thanks in advance.

[darlincommitme]

@countrybill45

The last verse is about a poor Palestinian kid who comes to believe he is fighting for Allah and, presumably, agrees to be a suicide bomber or commit some other act of terrorism. Steve is saying that behind the extremists are men with money who are funding the violence as a way to maintain their power. Yet it is the young, poor men who die, just like in any war.  The rich man in the Mercedes drives him to the door, figuratively if not literally.

[countrybill45]

@darlincommitme Thanks.

[truthseeker1164]

3 people must be in favor of war....

[darlincommitme]

@truthseeker1164

Steve's music always attracts a few right wing trolls.

[AlkhaniStudios]

this song shows the bitter truth about what people are doing on both sides. a really sad song. the 3 dislikes are heartless monsters.

[KICKYOASH]

Great songwriting at its best..Fucking awesome!!!

[sunflowergypsy]

This song is so powerful.

We are all human, that's easy to forget when at war.

[vudu8ball]

Jesus this had me in tears!

[TH3PEAR]

The strong have a duty to protect the weak and oppressed.

[Jiggs46]

Steve Earle is a true patriot.

[medicvet]

damnit...good song.

[MrCopperhead1861]

End the wars of exploitation and greed NOW!

[amylea234kl]

Love it.

[EndNeoConsNow]

where can i get a mp3?

[bull9stud]

good song.....thank you for posting it.. from occupied iraq, El Toro.

[ilikemylife]

be safe

[Jackanator12345]

@bull9stud what is it like there? i am considering joining the army.

[arbeitsscheuer]

@Jackanator12345 Are you out of your fucking mind?

[Jackanator12345]

@arbeitsscheuer nope

[flash46196]

@Jackanator12345 I did Afghanistan twice as Canadian Infantry, being on tour is great but army life when your not deployed sucks. I got out about a month ago after five years. I would not tell you not to join, just be prepared to be pissed off all the time.

[boomac62]

so...ww2 aside....this is a good song.

[tyronetooting]

pay you back we had fuck all left after the war you stupid fucking yank

[toothfairytats]

It's ironic that 65 years later, after we all celebrated in unity over the defeat of the germans, that the once allied countries people are making ridiculous statements about paying countries back and cursing the americans. It just doesn't make sense! We were together to fight a common enemy, and now we poke fun, insult and put down other nations who were are comrades. Theres no reason for any of that, we aren't Brits or Yanks or any sort of nationality, were human beings doing the best we can.

[SteerDawgLeventy5]

Thanks "pittsburghbulldogs" thatll give me something to listen to ridin in the farm truck out in the fields

[SteerDawgLeventy5]

I have recently discovered Steve earle and went out and purchased the copperhead road cd but was dissappointed not to find any cds anywhere not even on line that contained this. can anyone help me out and give me a title if there is any?

[pittsburghbulldogs]

"The Revolution Starts Now" is the name of the cd

[tyronetooting]

steves spot on fuck those who make war

[hmwwv]

ha ha i am a soldier in the army and if your so poor the finance company is takin your car and you got a bunch of overdue bills your an idiot with your money we dont get paid that bad

[jedirock]

haha, guess what happens when you come home boy? No Jobs, no nothing, for nobody, soldier or not! Wake up to the game that is being played, we need you soldiers to see what is really happening.

[moparmyke]

i agree with both of you, if you live beyond your means you have an issue, when you come home, you reup cause you got no job.

[herculeze]

I came back with 26 grand and now i'm negative 1500, on the second of this month there was a fifteen yr old removed from his family by the FBI, no trial no charge no word, still gone 2 weeks, no posse comitatus, no habeas corpus, look into IVAW

[herculeze]

i forgot to mention that my biggest purchase was a tv

[jdd323]

Here's a thought bud.  Maybe the guy in the song was a reservist or a national guardsman. Maybe he made pretty good money and then got called up. Making E-1 salary. Tell me an E-1 makes good money. All I'm saying, things aren't always as they seem. Thank you for your service.

[NYCESOL11211]

You're analysis is spot on for many servicemen. Friend of mine was making over 60K per year base as a tradesman, plus all the overtime he wanted, before he got called up as a reservist. Went over to Iraq on E-4 pay. Pretty goddamn significant pay cut. You can infer what that might have meant for his family at home.

[thepoeteamon]

Furthermore, I did have sympathies for what happened them in WWII but they appear to be becoming as bad as the Nazis were so, again, war begets war and the cycle just keeps turning and young men and women keep joining up and invading countries willy-nilly just like the US did in Iraq, which by the way was an ILLEGAL invasion. So the good guys in WWII are now, just like Israel, the bad guys. As I said, no matter who thinks they're good, war is WRONG and the only winners are the greedy rich.

[54fordgasser]

Your missing what im saying. If we wouldnt have gone to war millions of more jews would have died. I stated that we had no idea about what was happening but that is beyond the point. Because we did go to war millions of innocent civilians were saved from the gas chambers and all other kinds of terrors. This doesnt even take in to account what Hitler would have done had he realized victory, a probable ending without American intervention.

[thepoeteamon]

I do realise what you're saying and I respect your opinion, but we were talking about the wars alluded to in Steve's song. You may be right in saying millions more were saved by American intervention in WWII, but who knows? It all goes back to my main point: which is that no matter who are perceived as the bad or good guys war is wrong, especially these days when we hear of US and Isreali troops killing innocent women and children "in error". At the end of the day it's a rich man's war,period.

[matcormpuff]

Do you think that the US single handedly won that war?

[sportiboye]

sorry Dude, but like them or not......the Soviets won the war for the Allies back at Stalingrad. The British have a saying going something like this: "the only thing the Yanks charged on time was interest on the money they lent us!" Important to look at the whole picture, without diluting for a moment American contribution.

[EthanSurbaugh]

You've got some of it right, however, the brits never did pay us back for the lend lease, and the russian army would have been very bad off had it not been for the large sum of goods we sent them, including Bombers, winter clothing, food rations, jeeps, and other equipment. Not to mention Europe abandoned the south pacific for the Australians and the Americans to fight alone. I have a feeling you already now this so I'll agree that yes the Russians took the brunt of the third reich's fury.

[sportiboye]

very true about the tractors, jeeps etc, Ethan. Thanks for the South Pacific 411. I imagine the Brits were pretty "all in" after the pounding they endured early on. thomas

[EthanSurbaugh]

I guess I am kind of harsh on the brits. Considering they had their pacific fleet smashed, and the defeat they took at Singapore (who knew those darn japs would attack one of the greatest sea ports on earth from land!?) lol. Also I'll say that you are right once more, considering the effort put in by the soviets and the chinese against the japanese in manchukio and eastern china.

[tyronetooting]

how many german bombs were dropped on america you no nothing cunt

[EthanSurbaugh]

Nothing I said was meant to negate the immense sacrifice the British people made against the third Reich. This isn't an apology, since your statement proves your just a hotheaded asshole who writes on impulse without thinking.

[tyronetooting]

ethan i am a hot headed asshole but not all the time sometimes im quite laid back funny eh

[EthanSurbaugh]

well I can't throw stones, lol

[wingsuitfreak]

how many deliberate civilian targets were bombed by the allies? We still do the same, once we sought the ring of power, we became as big a dick as any other country. Look where it's gotten us, we are about to fall just like Russia did a few years back.

[tyronetooting]

you tell it like it is wingsuit

[thepoeteamon]

I won't go into this in detail here except to say how could I have this on my conscience? I wasn't even born at the time, but it's my understanding that it was not known in general that 6m Jews were being murdered by the Nazis until the evil deeds were done. Now let me ask you, considering what happened to them, do you condone Israel's recent attacks on Gaza? Did they not learn from their own experiences i WWII? Apparently not... War begets war and the victims before seem to be aggressors now.

[thepoeteamon]

"When we will ever learn/When will we ever see?". Good question, WHEN?  No matter who thinks they're the good guys war is wrong and cruel and only for the greedy rich guys.

[54fordgasser]

Although World War II wasnt about the Holocaust, if war is always wrong tell me you could deal with having it on your concious the millions of more jews that would have been killed if we would have minded our own buisness and took to your ideals.

[Jiggs46]

Great!

[maddiedog81]

Damn it, I love this song. That's all I can say.

[USDAChuckSteak]

Why doesn't he enunciate the words properly? It sounds like he's taking a dump while singing. The song is OK, but I think it would be much better if he sang instead of mumbled.

[coleyman1]

Take a hike! This is nothing short of genius..Makes Dylan sound like Donald Duck..

[ilikemylife]

Maybe you could sing us a tune you wrote yourself and demonstrate your superior singing abilities.

I'll await your failure to do so.

[USDAChuckSteak]

I didn't say I could sing better let alone write now did I?

I asked a question. A rather simple one at that. And you not only failed to answer it you completely failed to even comprehend it. I said the song was OK. I think it has a decent message, it's just my (now hold on to your socks here) opinion that it would be better if he enunciated the words better. Or are opinions that are different than yours not allowed in your little world?

[ilikemylife]

You must think my readers are idiots. Grammatically, you asked a question but I surely know your intent was to insult and not to question. Since I know that to be the truth, that would make you a liar.

I fully comprehended what you were trying to do, and you are the one who failed miserably. But what you succeeded in doing is ensuring you wont troll on my page or videos ever again under your current user name. Ta Ta

[thenewmontoya]

@ilikemylife I love Steve Earle, I think he's got a great voice and he's probably the best songwriter I've ever come across. As for ilikemylife your just a fucking pompous twat!

[Bobbo63]

if you think this is bad, listen to johnny walker blues. but it is the style he created. to each his own

[blogward]

Steve tells it like it is. Thanks ilml.

[LunaCat59]

amazing. i love this song. the clip is very moving.  steve, tellin' it like it is!

[twiztedforever]

howard stern interview with steve earle  <<thats what this fucked up world needs

[DolphinsPenguins]

this song is so true, too bad you don't hear songs like this on the radio, instead we get I love USA Toby Keith stuff...what a shame

[GavDuggan1983]

Hear hear my friend. Nice to know that there are Americans like you who see it like it is. I do some singing and picking myself if you fancy checking my vids out, nothing political as of yet though haha

[Ngaroc]

@DolphinsPenguins Interestingly, Toby Keith is a lifelong Democrat and has had a change of heart about his support of Bush in '04 and The Repugnicans in general.

[boomac62]

Want REAL change...?....one small thing we can all do is cast a vote for Nader/Gonzalez in Novemeber..but don't stop there...continue to think outside the box and work for justice & peace...in that order. One will follow the other.

[spyder130]

Amen. Both Obama and McCain have done nothing but vote to continue funding the War.

[rebelskull18]

Amen. Both Obama and McCain have done nothing but vote to continue funding the War. Perfectly said!! The whole Obamamania pissed me off cuz he talked big game in primaries but I knew as soon as he won he would tone it down and go with the same game plan that Bush has... The Pentagon says we will be out in 2011 Obama will not change that plan at all. He is a talking head just like the rest. Money talks...

[PforPanchetta]

Simply one of the greatest "protest songs" ever! Steve Earle is a true American treasure and one of the "balance points" I lean on when I find myself down on the good ole' new world order US of A.

Thanks soooooo much for posting this! and Cheers!

[mfighter96]

Man Steve Earle is incredible.One of the best singers ever.Who else likes him?Check out my channel and watch the video Pivotmaster dx is back i have hardcore troubador as the soundtrack.

[guyglowmore1]

dam good. this guy belongs with neil, bob, john, paul, and all those other sensitive songwriters. john prine ish ish. this song reminds me of bruce in his nebraska days. thans for posting

[boomac62]

Put in good old Jerry Jeff...yes Steve is an american GIANT!

[abececil]

sounds like jimmys a dumbfuck tryin to be a rich man

[midgley22]

Oh,stop being a wat with a T.

[abececil]

im a lil slow like jimmy, trying to be a what?

[midgley22]

Oh for shites sake.Wat with a T. As in, unt with a C.

[vaudree]

Steve Earle is going to be on The Hour next week.

No Copperhead Road, but a pretty good song just the same. I liked how SE put it all together.

[doran44]

Steve Earle is an amazingly talented songwriter/musician.His body of work contains so many great songs.I know that he is very popular with his core group of fans,like us,but this guy should be getting more recognition than he seems to get.Now bare in mind Im just basing that from what I am aware of in Canada.Maybe he is bigger in the States than I think.

[ilikemylife]

He only really had a couple of 'hit' songs, back in the 80's. Copper Head Road and Guitar Town.

Seems to me like his messages contained too much common sense for the main stream.

[brentdos]

AHMEN!

[MIKEDABUC]

Sad sad song, this is the simple truth. every war has been fought over one thing insuring the power structure of the elite few, may god allah or jesus save us from the few who are hell bent on enslaving the whole godless damn world.

[Felecia1]

amen, indeed

[BrynMawrYamBag]

AMEN

[lokos83]

A video is not needed idiot!!! read the words ...and if that doesn't touch your heart .....im sorry for you ...but i'll hate your indifference Nickjeff12

[x0addictive]

great song

[gibblespeak]

nice 1 thanks

[seef0]

Man I so hate new country, but I love Steve Earle. The album, The Revolution Starts Now, is rock solid from start to finish. This is one of those times where the artist completely transcends the genre.

[markiparky]

Into the Valley of death rode the 600,, ours is not to question why ours is but to do or die. Sadly nothing has changed for thousands of years....

[Nickjeff12]

song great, video, a pice of shiite.

[ilikemylife]

You are not nice. Notice the video is only a display of the song lyrics.

[liftwaffe]

Thanks mate,very moving.

Steve Earle gets the world in this song

waffe

[Bjornsdotter]

Excellent, and sadly so very true.