Anti War Songs

A couple of heartfelt pacifist cries for you today. It's perhaps a little hard to believe that the first was a number one hit in the US in 1960. But it's even harder to believe that it made the top ten in the R&B charts. R&B? Really? Anyway, personally I prefer the off-beat charm of the unholy mess that is the "cover version" by John Lennon's favourite doper, David Peel.

"Mr Custer" - Larry Verne

"Hey Mr Draftboard" - David Peel & The Lower East Side

I am no stranger to the pacifist cause myself. Back in my student days in the early 1980s - the last time that nuclear armageddon seemed like a realistic possibility - some friends and I went up to London to join a CND march. We were encouraged to sing anti-war songs, but then severely reprimanded by one of the more po-faced organisers when we started belting out the chorus to this one.