SOUNDS
INSTRUMENT OF WAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1:
A Great and Secret Power
Chapter 2:
Music, Race, Empire
Chapter 3:
Music and Guns Go Hand in Hand
- Spotify Playlist
Chapter 4:
The Best-Entertained Soldier in the World
Chapter 5:
The Powers of Song
Chapter 6:
Demythologizing the Rock-and-Roll War
Chapter 7:
Shoot to Thrill
Coda
Seven Elegies
INSTRUMENT OF WAR
Chapter 3: Music and Guns Go hand in Hand
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Songs popular with U.S. soldiers in World War I included both war-related songs (“There’s a Long, Long Trail”) and popular songs of the day (“K-K-K-Katy”). As in other wars, however, soldiers generally preferred the latter and avoided the bellicose songs Tin Pan Alley was turning out of the home front. They did not have to sing “Over There”—they already were over there.
This playlist also features the complete recordings of Lt. James Reese Europe’s 369th U.S. Infantry “Hell Fighters” Band.
