mmediately after the terrorist attacks of last Sept. 11, most songwriters said that the acts were of such magnitude that they could not respond to them in song so soon. As months passed, however, a variety of musicians — Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Papa Roach, Alan Jackson, Sleater-Kinney, the Wu-Tang
Clan — began to set their thoughts to music. A year later, there are scores of such songs.
A lot has changed since last year, however, and as the country discusses going to war against Iraq, there has been almost no response from musicians, despite a tradition of political commentary and protest.
"It's been strangely quiet," said Damon Krukowski, a founder of Musicians for Peace and a performer with the psychedelic folk duo Damon and Naomi. "I think that people are worried that since it is a time for mourning and grief, it's awkward to mix it up with the plain talking that's necessary to combat the aggressive foreign policy initiatives being taken by the administration right now. A lot of musicians are afraid that songs speaking against war will sound unpatriotic at this time."
But on Monday, one of the first major songs to directly address the nation's stance toward Iraq was released. It is "The Bell," by Stephan Smith, a folk singer whose songs echo Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. For the song, Mr. Smith collaborated with Dean Ween of the innovative rock band Ween, the rhythm-and-blues singer Mary Harris and Pete Seeger.
Musicians weren't writing songs protesting President Bush's aggressive approach toward Iraq, Mr. Smith said, speaking by telephone yesterday. "When I discussed this with Pete Seeger, we said, `If not us, who is going to do it?' Now is the time when we really have to do something. We thought, `If we do a song like this, we could really tie the generations together.' "
"The Bell" is a sparse folk song with a slow-marching rhythm taken from the sound of a pile driver. The lyrics are based on a folk song called "False Knight on the Road," in which an ominous man — be he the devil, the grim reaper or a plague — stops a boy on his way to school and tries to lure him away. In "The Bell," there is a new false knight. Mr. Smith sings, " `Oh, I'm sounding drums of war,' said the man at his desk/ `Oh, I will not fight the war,' said the child, and he stood."
"The purpose of the song is to create an awareness," Mr. Smith said, adding that other musicians might follow. "I could even mention the artists in the order they'd appear," he joked.
What makes the song even more interesting is Mr. Smith's background. "My real father, who I didn't know until I was 16, is Iraqi," he said. "My mother is Austrian with traces of Jewishness, so her family died in the Holocaust. So you have both sides that are fighting now. It's highly inspirational."
Mr. Smith is not the only musician speaking out about the push toward war in Iraq. A few others have, too, offering mixed views. Members of the British groups Blur and Massive Attack designed and paid for a print advertisement and poster opposing British involvement in United States intervention in Iraq.
Moby, the electronic-dance star, posted his opinions on his Web site, expressing, on one hand, the need for "the democratic world" to do something about Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president, if his country is developing nuclear weapons, and on the other, ambivalence about "saber rattling" and "talk about war around election time" in Washington.
Others are making a more general plea for peace. Last night about a dozen groups representing Arabs and Jews — including Hassan Hakmoun and Frank London — were scheduled to perform a free show for peace and solidarity at the Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan.
Still others have not lost their taste for the ironic. "I have no views," Mickey Melchiondo, known as Dean Ween, said in a philosophical moment. "I am way too stupid. I have no strong feelings about anything. I'm really into television and the computer. I believe everything I see on TV and read on the Internet."
