war songs
Martial musical compositions
War songs are musical compositions associated with armed conflict—songs that celebrate military victories, rally troops, commemorate the fallen, or protest war itself.
They range from patriotic anthems and martial hymns to soldiers' folk songs and anti-war ballads: The civil rights movement repurposed old war songs as freedom songs.
War songs often outlast the conflicts that inspired them, becoming cultural touchstones.
- patriotismDevotion to one's homeland
- valorCourage in danger
- battle cryShout to rally fighters
- rallying cryPhrase uniting supporters
- call to armsUrgent summons to fight
anthem · drumbeat · marching band · protest song · dirge · resistance · ballad · battle hymns · cadence · bugle call · mourning · heroic epics · grief · Marseillaise · military march · folk song · sacrifice · fallen soldiers
- Russian songslaments, byliny, romances, carols, anthems
- dainos
- song themesnursery rhymes, anthems, carols, laments, spirituals
- vocal songslieder, folk ballads, ballads, chansons, spirituals
- African traditionsinitiation ceremonies, naming ceremony, ancestral worship, rites of passage, tribal chiefs
- Americana Musicspirituals, folk ballads, hymn books, Camptown Races, Beautiful Dreamer
war songslullabies
Soothing songs for children
peace songs · cradle songs · healing songs · sleep music · nursery rhymes
war songspeace songs
Music promoting nonviolence
love songs · protest songs · laments · elegies · harvest songs