Songs As Political Protest

[b.c.]

Funny how a lot of that old stuff still applies today. Here are two "old" tunes that I liked:

YouTube - It's a Mistake - Men At Work (HQ Audio)

Jump down the shelters to get away
The boys are cockin' up their guns
Tell us general, is it party time?
If it is can we all come

Don't think that we don't know
Don't think that we're not trying
Don't think we move too slow
It's no use after crying
Saying

It's a mistake, it's a mistake
It's a mistake, it's a mistake

After the laughter has died away
And all the boys have had their fun
No surface noise now, not much to say
They've got the bad guys on the run
Don't try to say you're sorry
Don't say he drew his gun
They've gone and grabbed on Ronnie
He's not the only one saying

It's a mistake, it's a mistake
It's a mistake, it's a mistake

Tell us commander, what do you think?
'Cos we know that you love all that power
Is it on then, are we on the brink?
We wish you'd all throw in the towel

We'll not fade out too soon
Not in this finest hour
Whistle your favourite tune
We'll send the card and flower
Saying

It's a mistake, it's a mistake
It's a mistake, it's a mistake


YouTube - 03 Shock To The System=

Shock to the system,
But you're going back inside of the light.
Shock to the freedom,
Only one more body of love in the rolling -
They're rolling, they’re rolling,
They’re rolling back to you!
Rolling back to you!

Dreaming all the time;
They be dreaming all the time.

Shock to the politicians;
You know they just got burned by the fire.
Shock to the freedom whispers;
They're only coming after the rolling –
They're rolling, they’re rolling,
They’re rolling coming over!
Coming over, coming over!

Dreaming all the time;
They be dreaming all the time.

So, in answer to the prayer,
The one you want is there,
The one you feel inside of you.
So, in answer to the dream,
This time you are so clear;
It's always got to be
It’s always got to be this way!
Forever...

Shock to the future;
Shock to the rights of Mankind.
And they won't even go blind,
When they can’t see what's going on.

So, in answer to the prayer,
The one you want is there,
The one you feel inside of you.
So, in answer to the dream,
This time you are so clear;
It's always got to be….

So, in answer to the prayer,
The one you feel is there,
The one you feel so close to (The order of the Sun).
And everyone is one,
And all the pieces fit together.
Did it all begin with Someone?
Did it all begin with Someone?
I couldn’t admit to being alive!

Shock to the system...

 

[Lex]

Ths spirit of protest and revolution is truly timeless. As it should be.

 

[ETA123]

My personal all-time favorite protest song? Well, it was originally written and performed by Jackson Browne, but I prefer the way Richie Havens performs it better:

Lives in the Balance

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that youve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is driven to war

And theres a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone

There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Theres a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we cant even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars

I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die

And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Nine Inch Nails, my favoritist band ever, has jumped on this bandwagon lately too. Even though Trent used to say he would never do such a thing, his last album is very political and overtly so. Very out of character for him, not something you'd expect from having listened to the last 15 years of his work.

Normally I don't really care for this sort of preachiness from musicians. Sometimes it works, but often it doesn't. To go against what Lex said, I don't think protest songs are usually timeless. In fact often the inverse is true, they are extremely dated if they get into too many specifics. If they don't... then they CAN become applicable later on when history repeats itself as it has a tendency to do. See A Perfect Circle's album Emotive for a good example of this... the whole album is just covers of old protest songs but each of them could have been written today. In the case of "Year Zero," I like the new album but I sort of wish he had chosen a different direction.

Also FWIW, the new Linkin Park sucks pretty horrendously.

 

[B_Hickboy]

Let's not overlook this one:

Won't get Fooled Again
Words and music by Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the foe, that' all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

And there's this one:

The Times They Are a Changin'

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.


Another oldie:

Give Peace A Chance
John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Two, one two three four
Ev'rybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m.
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
C'mon
Ev'rybody's talking about Ministers,
Sinisters, Banisters and canisters
Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Pop eyes,
And bye bye, bye byes.
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Let me tell you now
Ev'rybody's talking about
Revolution, evolution, masturbation,
flagellation, regulation, integrations,
meditations, United Nations,
Congratulations.
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer,
Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare, Hare Krishna All we are saying is give peace a chance




People sing, and the young men who sang these songs because they didn't want to be sent off to die are now the old men who send the young men off to die with these songs on their lips...

 

[B_Hickboy]

A final two. First, one of my favorites, rooted deep in Jewish tradition and coming from a completely different place:

Redemption Song
Traditional tune, words by Bob Marley

Old pirates, yes, they rob i;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took i
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy
cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? ooh!
Some say its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil de book.

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! have no fear for atomic energy,
cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil de book.
Wont you help to sing
Dese songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

And while we're on the subject of Bob Marley here's one that challenges the established order and you can dance to it. It's the official anthem for Amnesty International:[

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!
]
Preacherman, dont tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you dont know
What life is really worth.
not all that glitters is gold;
Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
[Stand up for your rights. come on!


Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. jah!

Get up, stand up! (jah, jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Dont give up the fight! (life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (so we cant give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord!)
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on!)
Dont give up the fight! (yeah!)

We sick an tired of-a your ism-schism game
Dyin n goin to heaven in-a Jesus name, lord.[
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you cant fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do? ),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah!)

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight! (dont give it up, dont give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Dont give up the fight! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight! /fadeout/

Now I have to put on a tie and go to work so I can make some rich white man richer. How ironic. This morning I shall walk in all defiant, and skank in my cubicle.

YOU CAN FOOL SOME PEOPLE SOMETIME...

 

[Onslow]

I have always had a fondness for Tracy Chapman's work including this one which gets me every time--for those who see me as a nothing, keep in mind I have been working along with the homeless since the early 1980s--even during my drinking days. Subcity and Talkin' About a Revolution still move me and I do not see them as being that far from our grasp if people would just pull together and stop chasing the almighty dollar.

Subcity
[FONT='Times New Roman', serif]People say it doesnt exist
cause no one would like to admit
That there is a city underground
Where people live everyday
Off the waste and decay
Off the discards of their fellow man
Here in subcity life is hard
We cant receive any government relief
Id like to please give mr president my honest regards
For disregarding me

They say theres too much crime in these city streets
My sentiments exactly
Government and big business hold the purse strings
When I worked I worked in the factories
Im at the mercy of the world
I guess Im lucky to be alive

They say weve fallen through the cracks
They say the system works
But we wont let it
Help
I guess they never stop to think
We might not just want handouts
But a way to make an honest living
Living this aint living

What did I do deserve this
Had my trust in god
Worked everyday of my life
Thought I had some guarantees
Thats what I thought
At least thats what I thought

Last night I had another restless sleep
Wondering what tomorrow might bring
Last night I dreamed
A cold blue light was shining down on me
I screamed myself awake
Thought I must be dying
Thought I must be dying[/FONT]

 

[Shelby]

I always liked Tracy Chapman Onslow but never got around to actually buying one of her cd's. If you were to recommend one which would it be?

 

[Gillette]

One example where the video helps to make the point of the song. In this case where resourses could have been better spent in a time of crisis.

The_Saints_Are_Coming - U2 & Greenday

 

[Wyldgusechaz]

I practically only listen to war protest music. The stuff nowadays is shyte. I have them all the real good stuff downloaded and categoried


Country Joe and the Fish

Country Joe And The Fish - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag Lyrics print version

Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Come on Wall Street, don't be slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,
But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Now you can go out and get those reds
'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, and don't hesitate
To send your sons off before it's too late.
And you can be the first ones in your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Almost Cut My Hair Lyrics


Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin kinda long
I coulda said it wasn't in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Cause I feel like I owe it to someone

Must be because I had the flu' for Christmas
And I'm not feeling up to par
It increases my paranoia
Like looking at my mirror and seeing a police car
But I'm not giving in an inch to fear
Cause I missed myself this year
I feel like I owe it to someone

When I finally get myself together
I'm going to get down in that sunny southern weather
And I find a place inside to laugh
Separate the wheat from the chaff
I feel like I owe it to someone

Dylan

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Buffalo springfield

For What It's Worth
Buffalo Springfield

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Crosby Still, Nash Young

Ohio

[FONT='Times New Roman', serif]Tin soldiers and nixon coming,
Were finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and nixon coming,
Were finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in ohio.[/FONT]

 

[Shelby]

Well shit. Nice thread Lex. After all the good stuff I can't let it die without representing my man John Prine.

Sam Stone
©John Prine

Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....
Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...
Repeat Chorus:
Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.
Repeat Chorus​

 

[ETA123]

Well shit. Nice thread Lex. After all the good stuff I can't let it die without representing my man John Prine.

Since we're talkin' 'bout John Prine:

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.​

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.


​

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.​

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

​

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...​

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."​

 

[earllogjam]

Remember this catchy pop tune from Germany? It is a protest song about nuclear war breaking out in Deutschland during the Cold War due to some mistaken red balloons.

Nena - 99 Red Balloons Lyrics

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons
With the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message
"Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here
From somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by

99 Decision Street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by

[Instrumental Interlude]

99 Knights of the airway
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a Silverhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
As 99 red balloons go by

As 99 red balloons go by

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go


Here is the Wiki excerpt explanation of the song:

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by the military force.

The song came during a period of escalating rhetoric and strategic maneuvering between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. In particular, its international chart success followed the United States deployment of Pershing II missiles in West Germany in January 1984, which prompted protests across western Europe.


Who says pop songs can't have substance?

 

[whatireallywant]

Remember this catch pop tune from Germany? It is a protest song about nuclear war breaking out in Deutschland during the Cold War due to some mistaken red balloons.

Nena - 99 Red Balloons Lyrics

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons
With the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message
"Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here
From somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by

99 Decision Street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by

[Instrumental Interlude]

99 Knights of the airway
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a Silverhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
As 99 red balloons go by

As 99 red balloons go by

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go


Here is the Wiki excerpt explanation of the song:

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by the military force.

The song came during a period of escalating rhetoric and strategic maneuvering between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. In particular, its international chart success followed the United States deployment of Pershing II missiles in West Germany in January 1984, which prompted protests across western Europe.


Who says pop songs can't have substance?

I've always loved this song.

Here's another contribution of mine: Morrissey - "Everyday Is Like Sunday", another of my favorite songs.

YouTube - Morrissey - everyday is like Sunday=


[FONT='Times New Roman', serif]Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come armageddon!
Come, armageddon! come!

Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come - nuclear bomb

Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(and on your face...)
(on your face ...)
(on your face ...)
(on your face ...)

Everyday is like sunday
Win yourself a cheap tray
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey[/FONT]

 

[whatireallywant]

Not a war protest song, but one that many people may not be familiar with. I'm one of the very few Americans who has even heard of this band!

Warumpi Band - Black Fella, White Fella:

YouTube - Blackfella Whitefella by The Warumpi Band 1985 (AUS)

 

[B_ironsoul]

B.C.-- good to see you as always. I sometimes wonder if people even REALIZE they are listening to songs about protest?!?

I am quite young in comparison to a lot of people here I think (25). Yeah, I wasn't around during vietnam, during the times that revolutionary artists made such incredibly important music. I do however, listen to them now, and always have, since this music echoed throughout most of my life in my home.
I do know what the music is about, I know what went on during that time, and I can feel what it was like through that music. I can recite every word of Ohio, California, The times they are a changin', Imagine... the list goes on so long.
It is rare that I ever relate to music made today. I never listen to the FM radio anymore because it just makes me so sad. I feel such a lack of passion for music, replaced by money making machines like the Matrix. I know that some good stuff is out there, but it is so hard for me to embrace it, I've become so numb and disillusioned to it all. I'm content in letting another's past speak for my present.

 

[Onslow]

We are in a time where we have not seen this high an amount of musicians using their artistic talents to spread and incite political debate and protest. The only recent time I can think of would have been the 60s and 70s. Iraq is clearly the Vietnam of my lifetime.

DC DEEP, Bubba and I talked about this over breakfast a few weeks ago. We all wondered if (a) the artists spoke to the younger members of our generation and (b) If the current generation of music listeners realizes what the songs are supposed to inspire them to do?

Here are some lyrical and musical examples:

I wonder how our parents and grandparents would respond if they were young and had musicians attempting to inspire them to action?

Here's a quick answer to what happened--Corporate Radio-- From The New York Times in February of 2003-- (link from another site as well: The Day the Protest Music Died )Trouble With Corporate Radio:
The Day the Protest Music Died
by BRENT STAPLES 2/20/03

Pop music played a crucial role in the national debate over the Vietnam War. By the late 1960's, radio stations across the country were crackling with blatantly political songs that became mainstream hits. After the National Guard killed four antiwar demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio in the spring of 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded a song, simply titled "Ohio," about the horror of the event, criticizing President Richard Nixon by name. The song was rushed onto the air while sentiment was still high, and became both an antiwar anthem and a huge moneymaker.
A comparable song about George W. Bush's rush to war in Iraq would have no chance at all today. There are plenty of angry people, many with prime music-buying demographics. But independent radio stations that once would have played edgy, political music have been gobbled up by corporations that control hundreds of stations and have no wish to rock the boat. Corporate ownership has changed what gets played and who plays it. With a few exceptions, the disc jockeys who once existed to discover provocative new music have long since been put out to pasture. The new generation operates from play lists dictated by Corporate Central lists that some D.J.'s describe as "wallpaper music."
Recording artists were seen as hysterics when they complained during the 1990's that radio was killing popular music by playing too little of it. But musicians have turned out to be the canaries in the coal mine the first group to be affected by a 1996 federal law that allowed corporations to gobble up hundreds of stations, limiting expression over airwaves that are merely licensed to broadcasters but owned by the American public.
When a media giant swallows a station, it typically fires the staff and pipes in music along with something that resembles news via satellite. To make the local public think that things have remained the same, the voice track system sometimes includes references to local matters sprinkled into the broadcast.
What my rock 'n' roll colleague William Safire describes as the "ruination of independent radio" started with corporatizing in the 1980's but took off dramatically when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 increased the number of stations that one entity could own in a single market and permitted companies to buy up as many stations nationally as their deep pockets would allow.
The new rules were billed as an effort to increase radio diversity, but they appear to have had the opposite effect. Under the old rules, the top two owners had 115 stations between them. Today, the top two own more than 1,400 stations. In many major markets, a few corporations control 80 percent of the listenership or more.
Liberal Democrats are horrified by the legion of conservative talk show hosts who dominate the airwaves. But the problem stretches across party lines. National Journal reported last month that Representative Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, was finding it difficult to reach his constituents over the air since national radio companies moved into his district, reducing the number of local stations from five to one. Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, had a potential disaster in his district when a freight train carrying anhydrous ammonia derailed, releasing a deadly cloud over the city of Minot. When the emergency alert system failed, the police called the town radio stations, six of which are owned by the corporate giant Clear Channel. According to news accounts, no one answered the phone at the stations for more than an hour and a half. Three hundred people were hospitalized, some partially blinded by the ammonia. Pets and livestock were killed.
The perils of consolidation can be seen clearly in the music world. Different stations play formats labeled "adult contemporary," "active rock," "contemporary hit radio" and so on. But studies show that the formats are often different in name only and that as many as 50 percent of the songs played in one format can be found in other formats as well. The point of these sterile play lists is to continually repeat songs that challenge nothing and no one, blending in large blocks of commercials.
Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin has introduced a bill that would require close scrutiny of mergers that could potentially put the majority of the country's radio stations in a single corporation's hands. Lawmakers who missed last month's Senate hearings on this issue should get hold of the testimony offered by the singer and songwriter Don Henley, best known as a member of the Eagles, the rock band.
Mr. Henley's Senate testimony recalled the Congressional payola hearings of 1959-60, which showed the public how disc jockeys were accepting bribes to spin records on the air. Now, Mr. Henley said, record companies must pay large sums to "independent promoters," who intercede with radio conglomerates to get songs on the air. Those fees, Mr. Henley said in a recent telephone interview, sometimes reach $400,000.
Which brings us back to the hypothetical pop song attacking George Bush. The odds against such a song reaching the air are steep from the outset, given a conservative corporate structure that controls thousands of stations. Record executives who know the lay of land take the path of least resistance when deciding where to spend their promotional money. This flight to sameness and superficiality is narrowing the range of what Americans hear on the radio and killing popular music.


Of course since monies were brought in from protest songs, it makes one wonder why these tunes are no longer being done. Perhaps in part it's a matter of the young people who are creating the music were not raised to protest anything. Look around, protests are not what they once were, these days they're often tepid gatherings with less people for the protest than there are officers on hand to keep things from getting out of hand.

 

[Lex]

How could I have forgotten this one:

Fight The Power by Public Enemy

1989 the number another summer (get down)
Sound of the funky drummer
Music hittin' your heart cause I know you got sould
(Brothers and sisters, hey)
Listen if you're missin' y'all
Swingin' while I'm singin'
Givin' whatcha gettin'
Knowin' what I know
While the Black bands sweatin'
And the rhythm rhymes rollin'
Got to give us what we want
Gotta give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power

Chorus

As the rhythm designed to bounce
What counts is that the rhymes
Designed to fill your mind
Now that you've realized the prides arrived
We got to pump the stuff to make us tough
from the heart
It's a start, a work of art
To revolutionize make a change nothin's strange
People, people we are the same
No we're not the same
Cause we don't know the game
What we need is awareness, we can't get careless
You say what is this?
My beloved lets get down to business
Mental self defensive fitness
(Yo) bum rush the show
You gotta go for what you know
Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say...
Fight the Power

Chorus

Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother fuck him and John Wayne
Cause I'm Black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps
Sample a look back you look and find
Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check
Don't worry be happy
Was a number one jam
Damn if I say it you can slap me right here
(Get it) lets get this party started right
Right on, c'mon
What we got to say
Power to the people no delay
To make everybody see
In order to fight the powers that be

(Fight the Power)

 

[ManlyBanisters]

A little something from the other side of the pond for you all.

Originally Elvis Costello about the Falklands War - reused for the Balkans by Suede on War Child - both excellents tracks.

Shipbuilding

Is it worth it
A new winter coat and shoes for the wife
And a bicycle on the boys birthday
Its just a rumour that was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon well be shipbuilding
Well I ask you
The boy said dad theyre going to take me to task
But Ill be back by christmas

Its just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The result of this shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

Its just a rumour that was spread around town
A telegram or a picture postcard
Within weeks theyll be re-opening the shipyards
And notifying the next of kin
Once again
Its all were skilled in
We will be shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

 

[Onslow]

and of course this favorite from the late great Dave Van Ronk~~it is a Vietnam era ditty~~

Luang Prabang
When I came back from Luang Prabang
I didn't have a thing where my balls used to hang
But I had a wooden medal and a fine harangue
Now I'm a fucking hero

Mourn your dead land of the free
you wanna be a hero follow me
Mourn your dead land of the free
You wanna be a hero follow me

And now the boys all envy me
I fought for Christian democracy
With nothing but air where my balls used to be
Now I'm a fucking hero

Mourn your dead land of the free
you wanna be a hero follow me
Mourn your dead land of the free
you wanna be a hero follow me

and one and twenty cannon thunder
into the bloody wild blue yonder
for a patriotic ball-less wonder
now I'm a fucking hero

Mourn your dead land of the free
If you wanna be a hero follow me
Mourn your dead land of the free
you wanna be a hero follow me.


In Luang Prabang there is a spot
Where the corpses of your brothers rot
And every corpse is a patri-ot
every corpse is a hero.


Mourn your dead land of the free
If you wanna be a hero follow me
Mourn your dead land of the free
you wanna be a hero follow me...