"On The Path Of Glory" (1967): Petula Clark's anti-war/anti-racist song

The Vietnam War inspired the greatest protest songs of any era in popular music. Much of that material naturally came from America but the impact of the conflict was felt around the world. There was a strong grassroots movement in Britain, reflected in and strengthened by music that far outreached the protest movement’s familiar folk milieu, incorporating everything from ska to psychedelia.

While Petula Clark was hardly renowned as a protest singer, this orchestrated ode to the futility of war was a rare co-write for her. The generic lyric makes no explicit reference to Vietnam but the timing of the record’s release related to contemporary events. 

Petula Clark provoked a political storm when she performed the song as a duet with Harry Belafonte on US television and touched the arm of the Black performer. In one inadvertent moment she had become an icon not only of the anti-war movement but also the fight for racial equality.