Song that defined a generation

With the Dylan programs on PBS this week, then Get Up Stand Up (about protest songs), and last night The Sixties (which has been on before), it got me thinking about what THE definitive song of the Sixties would be. I mean, if you could only choose ONE song that defined or explained the Sixties, what would it be? It might NOT be by the Beatles! :)

I would probably choose For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield, but could be persuaded otherwise. Some others that come to mind are The End by The Doors, Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane, one of several Marvin Gaye songs, Blowin' in the Wind or one of several by Dylan, ... I could go on and on. Would you choose a Beatles' song or some other song?

For the ONE you choose, why do you think that song is the one that defines the '60s?

I think it would have to be Revolution...yes The Beatles. If the sixties wasn't a Revolution (worldwide) I don't know what is. :)

Woodstock, CSN / My Generation, The Who

I would definately go with My Generation also, because the 60's was about the revolution of youth.

'Ohio' by CSNY always reminds me of the sad part of 60's. From 'Decade' liner notes: Neil Young says 'My best CSNY cut.'......'David Crosby cried after this take'.

I would agree with My Generation. Not in any way the best 60's song but a defining one, yes.

Interesting question, but I don't think you really can have a song that sums up a whole decade or a whole generation. For example, my (much...lol) older brothers were born in 1947, 1950 and 1952, prime teen years for the mid-late 60's and the whole hippie, counterculture, youth revolution, sex-drugs-rock-n-roll thing was so foreign to their whole experience of the 60's that it might not even have existed. They had short hair, were polite, wore suits, got good grades, would never have even THOUGHT of drugs or even cigarettes. In my own little kid memories of the late 60's, most of the teens in our area were like that. There weren't protests going on. There were no hippies (I remember being VERY excited to see an actual hippie on a 1972 trip to Chicago because I'd never seen one before). Maybe it's cuz we were from small town Michigan, where people aren't too radical, but it's hilarious to think of my brothers being represented by a song like "Revolution" or "My Generation"...

Just an observation that not everybody was caught up in that kind of movement. Let me try to think what might have been a good song to sum up that side of the 60's...hmmmm...

aaawwww small town Michigan in the sixties....what memories that stirs up :)

You are choosing some good ones! I really like Ohio and Woodstock as well. My Generation is a great one. Rell, maybe your brothers would choose something like Yesterday! Or maybe something by the Everly Bros. :)

Originally Posted by pattiboyd's slave

Woodstock, CSN / My Generation, The Who

and Mr. Tambourine Man/Like A Rolling Stone, Satisfaction, Purple Haze