The Vietnam War affected the subject matter of songs in the sixties in a profound way. Robert Hillburn noted in his column for the Los Angeles Times (3 October 1982)

Social reforms that were needed in the sixties were constantly being brought onto center stage. One source states that the student activism had some liberal white students taking their spring breaks in the South to join in freedom rides and bus boycotts with black brothers and sisters in the movement for full black equality. The Farber source says that the riots that took hold in Los Angeles in 1965 left 34 dead and 900 injured. 1967 saw riots in New Jersey and Detroit where police and national guardsmen killed 43 and wounded more than a thousand. This is when police brutality and corruption came to the forefront and put terror in the lives of many youth. Women’s liberation, and the sexual revolution were more reforms that were seen by society. Women started breaking out of their traditional roles and achieving new heights. The sexual revolution saw the relaxing and expanding of social mores. Many young women and men acted in defiance to the rules, but that didn’t make the rules irrelevant. They rejected a system of sexual controls. Thus music called most of these social reforms into the public eye. Society

In Simon’s version the crux of the song occurs in a couplet:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

Some topics in this essay:
Cynthia Weil, George Lipsitz, Jersey Detroit, Woman’s Liberation, Evening” Simon, Eyed Girl’s”, Paul Simon’s, Creedence Clearwater’s, Songs Vietnam, Grateful Dead, civil rights, popular music, music sixties, martin luther king, social reforms, change lyrics, luther king, recording artists, martin luther, popular recording, janis joplin, popular recording artists, luther king robert, lyrics popular recording, popular music sixties,