6 Best Songs of Peace from the 1960s

The 1960s marked a period of change in the United States. From the Civil Rights movement and the rise in rock and roll to the lasting image of the two-finger peace sign and a daffodil poking out the barrel of a shotgun, the era was one when peace was pushed by artists and young people alike.

One of the biggest aspects of the decade, creatively speaking anyway, was music. From Jimi Hendrix to the Beatles to folk artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, the decade was as much about passivity as it was about pot and LSD.

[RELATED: 6 Soft Rock Songs from the 1960s]

Below, we wanted to honor the soundtrack of the ’60s. These are six of the best songs of peace from the decade.

1. “Give Peace a Chance,” Plastic Ono Band (1969)

The iconic live performance of “Give Peace a Chance,” written by John Lennon, took place in a hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The song also marked the first solo single from Lennon, released just before the dissolution of the Fab Four.

Everybody’s talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

2. “All You Need Is Love,” The Beatles (1967)

Released in 1967 as a non-album single some two years before the song above, “All You Need Is Love” is the Beatles’ (as a whole) attempt at writing an anti-war song. Or, at least, a song that says aggression, greed, and fighting aren’t where it’s at. No, it’s love. And that’s all you need. Written by Lennon, the former Mop Tops sing:

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There’s nothin’ you can do that can’t be done
Nothin’ you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothin’ you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy
Nothin’ you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothin’ you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy

3. “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Bob Dylan (1963)

From Bob Dylan’s 1963 LP, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind” is about curiosity and thoughtfulness, not brutish strength, dominance over another, or the economy. The song is about the numinous quality of truth and how it’s ever-changing, running cold and strong right through your fingertips. “I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong. I’m only 21 years old and I know that there’s been too many wars,” said Dylan around the song’s release, according to The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

4. “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” Jackie DeShannon (1965)

Written by acclaimed songwriting duo Hal David and Burt Bacharach, “What the World Needs Now is Love” was made famous by Jackie DeShannon. Released in 1965, the song hit No. 7 on the Hot 100 thanks to its delicate message of love and affection, not war and aggression.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some, but for everyone

Lord, we don’t need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last ’til the end of time

5. “We Shall Overcome,” Joan Baez (1963)

“We Shall Overcome” is a gospel song that enjoyed a resurgence during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Folk singer Joan Baez, then just 22 years old, sang the song in 1963 in front of 300,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial during a March on Washington.

We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid
Today!

6. “Draft Resister,” Steppenwolf (1968)

From the 1969 album, Monster, by the North American rock band Steppenwolf, this song is all about what its title indicates: flouting the U.S. military draft. The lyrics criticize the U.S. government and their penchant for violence.

He was talkin’ ’bout the army while he passed his pipe around
An American deserter who found peace on Swedish ground
He had joined to seek adventure and to prove himself a man
But they tried to crush his spirit ’til his conscience ruined their plans
And we thought of those who suffer for the sake of honesty
All those who refuse to follow traitors to humanity

Here’s to all the draft resisters who will fight for sanity
When they march them off to prison in this land of liberty

Photo by Susan Wood/Getty Images