Blog 3: "Artists Reveal What the Victor Spoils"

The Second World War was one of the first conflicts to be fought in the era of popular entertainment media. Prior to and through the war, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made ample use of the radio in his weekly "fireside chats." The radio was not only a venue for the speech of the President, but the news of the world, and the popular swing music of 1940's America. The quotation above is a paraphrase of a quotation referring to the injustice of history, as it is always written by the victors ("to the victor goes the spoils"). Well, the artist expresses the views not seen by the victor, even if the artist is the victor. Take this recording for example. The Andrews Sisters recorded this tune, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," in 1941, the year the United States entered World War II. The song itself seems jolly, jumping and jiving in swinging time. The lyrics, however, are a statement against the war effort, which was removing musicians from their bandstands to fight in the armed forces. The "Bugle Boy" was a fine player in Chicago, the "top man of his craft," so now he's been reduced to "blowing reveille," the wakeup call, which the Andrews Sisters cleverly quote in their scat lines. The song picks up, with the clever captain of the company enlisting other men to create a Boogie Woogie Bugle Band, which lightens the anti-war stance of the song. The Andrews Sisters, as women, were among the most inconspicuous to speak out against war, as women at home in America, singing pop tunes for the public. This appearance was what enabled them to make one of the earliest anti-war statements prior to the fiasco in Vietnam, after which anti-war protests became a norm. Enjoy the tune, as recording in 1941: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy