Mike's Minute - Why The Peace Song?

While Peace Songs flourished on the pop music platform in the late 50s / early 60s there was an inherent focus where a spotlight was shone on men in suits or formal military uniforms.  They played managerial and authoritative roles in the Vietnamese War. A war against an Asian populace who had never asked for an altercation such as what happened. The songwriters who sang these protest songs varied in their truth and accuracy. To pin this movement to the record grooves or the floor of music stages, one had to stand back and pay special attention. There was much to learn.  Bob Dylan and his song ‘Masters Of War’ played a powerful role the spotlight shining onto the protest songs that filled the Peace Song sections of all the record stores.

Listen to Bob Dylan 'Masters Of War' HERE 

Now, in the twenty-twenties, a Peace Song has a much wider brief and with that is the collective realisation, in my summation, that they are more important than they’ve ever been.  The student songwriters who enter the Play It Strange Peace Song Competition are an impressive collective. They cover a number of elements that are all important in their projection. And these are…

The Inner Peace of the self. From those on the neuro-diverse arc where mental health finds them carrying autism, Tourette's, Phobias such as agoraphobia, social phobia, claustrophobia and onwards there is healing in action. A song is an ideal vehicle for such youngsters in that those who have open, warm connections can hear the words and music of songs that reach out from their own individual plateaus.

And then there are the songs of a wider brief. Teenagers with sibling tensions or celebrations; and the familial issues of domestic life. And further on into school life, love or hate, celebrations or regret and withdrawal. And the rest.

The song lyrics to Rainbow Skies are to share the feeling of going from darkness to
light, a metaphor for the bad days we all have, and creating them into something
beautiful, such as special moments with special people. Rainbow Skies is about
finding the light through the darkest times and knowing that when you go through
rough patches, there is always hope, because “that’s just how the world seems
to spin”. It’s about loving yourself, and being a little bit selfish - doing things for
yourself, things that make you happy, without worrying about if it makes others
happy. And lastly, it’s also about having people you love and letting them be there
for you in your bad times, so they can pull you towards the good again.

“Rainbow Skies” by Guntaas Oberoi Listen HERE

The subject of Peace in our Peace Song competition brings a poetic sensibility and a succinct, three minute revelation which brings the inner-life of the songwriting teenager to a reality. And it is in the listening of those songs that we, the listener, learn about the writer.

In short, there is much to learn.