Memorial Day Songs?

I think Memorial Day is a tricky thing - you want to honor the fallen and remember the service of all our men and women in uniform - but you also might want to steer clear of the maudlin. Don't want too much fake drama, but there's very real emotion involved, especially for anyone who has family or friends serving/served/to be remembered.

I think a lot go country with this - Taste of Country has a list of their Top 10 Memorial Day Songs.


For me, I think I lean away from songs that are calculated to make one cry (some country) and more towards thoughts of freedom and remembering the importance of sacrifice. Memorial Day was founded initially to honor the fallen of the Civil War - a war which I think we can all agree was needed. Some things are worth fighting for (please take the political debates on this to political blogs though, that is not my aim here).


The video for "Why We Fight" - The Decemberists is not my favorite, it has a Lord of the Flies dystopian ragtag childrens fighting thing going on; but I do love the song and the lyric:

When we die
We will die with our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight

Morrissey's "Irish Blood, English Heart" is about the UK but contains the fabulous line:

And I will die with both my hands untied

And then, though not perhaps originally intended for this purpose, and I think the word "hero" gets thrown around too much and verges on the overused, but the men and and women who give their lives in service for others - we benefit, we have freedom... that's real.