Gimme shelter and the 60’s

On the 5th of December 1969, the Rolling stones released a song that might their best ever :  Gimme shelter. This song is about the decade it has been written in. As Mick Jagger says himself, “it's a very rough, very violent era : The Vietnam War, Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn't like World War II, and it wasn't like Korea, and it wasn't like the Gulf War. It was a real nasty war, and people didn't like it. People objected, and people didn't want to fight it..." . Then he explained the objective of this song : it was meant to be kind of apocalyptical, with a very dark atmosphere in order to awake people’s conscience about the hard time they were going through… it might be necessary to do a quick review of this time

The 60’s are now know as a time of political trouble with the Cold war and the civil right movement in America. But, even if gimme shelter speaks about violence in general, it focuses more on the Vietnam war. 

As the cold war was in its higher stage, USA and USSR were both in need of influence territories all around the world. Indochina (Laos, Cambodia an Vietnam) was once a French territory, consequently ally with western block. But when the independence war showed Vietnam as winners, the country was divided into two parts : Northern Vietnam, a communist government and southern Vietnam, a pro-American country. Somehow Ho Chi Minh wanted the unification of those two countries and decided to invade southern Vietnam. meanwhile, the viet cong organized guerrilla action in order to get supported by village population. The US, desirous to have influence in Asian territories, decided to help defending southern Vietnam. 
An enormous war power has been deployed to crush communists fighters. But actually, they were fighting against an invisible enemy, into the jungle. even though their striking force (air force for instance) was huge, they had to retire from Vietnam and declare their defeat. It is still today the most savage and useless war in people's minds.

Let us now analyse the lyrics of our song.
 

Oh, a storm is threat'ning   
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

Mick Jagger places himself as a Vietnamese. the storm is a reference to the operation "Rolling Thunder", which is a continuous air strike during several years, touching civilians.

 
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

The chorus shows American's indifference in front of all the violence commited by GIs. "It's just a shot away" says that it is far, so it does not matter.

 Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way

This verse is about napalm, an incendiary  component used during this war. "Mad bull" refers to American government, who authorizes such subhuman practice.

 Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

this part is sung by Merry Clayton. she breaks her voice singing, giving more strength and emotion in it. It shows violence commited by by GIs to civilians, all suspected to be part of the viet cong. So rape and murder of innocents were not that rare.


 The flood is threat'ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away

We can analyse this verse saying it speaks either about the flow of western soldier in Vietnam or about the use of defoliant, chemical substance used to strip leaves out of trees in order to find the Vietnamese fighters, which is really dangerous for civilians because of the damages it causes on cultures.
 
 I tell you love, sister, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away

This last part is a reference to the protest movement caused  by this war in America. the hippie movement advocated peace and love, not war. it is a bit of hope at the end of this apocalyptic song.