Songs of Protest

I love a good protest song. Some, like Dylan's "Hurricane" really drew attention to their issue and continue to do so years after their release. Others are poorly worded and bluntly deliver their political message.

I feel these days a lot of the onus for delivering songs with political messages has been handed over to the alternative hip-hop genre. Still, there are some great protest artists around today. In fact, one of my favourite protest songs of all time was done recently, by Ani Difranco, called "Self-Evident". It's a live performance somewhere, and she holds the audience in the palm of her hand as she delivers a political speech in the form of a spoken-word poem with musical backing. The lyrics are astounding (warning: very mild profanity is contained). However, I would strongly recommend hearing the recording before reading the words, as it has so much more impact that way. And yes, they are rabidly left-wing - but aren't most protest songs?

So, what's your favourite political song, or song of protest? I've got a few more I want to contribute to this thread but I thought I'd do them one at a time . . .

 

My favorites have always been CCR's "Fortunate Son" and Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" is also up there.

But if you want to go old school...then La Marseillaise.

 

"Bad Moon Rising" was written to celebrate Nixon's election, according to John Fogerty.

 

The top 3 are...

1. "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (maybe the first major modern protest song, despite its subject matter, it hit the top 20 in 1939. Absolutely chilling.)
2. "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan (Dylan didn't write many protest songs in his rock years, but the impact of this song on all of popular music in the 60s is enough to explain his reputation as a protest-song writer.)
3. "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke (This song was actually inspired by "Blowin'", and is Cooke's greatest work. The greatest civil rights song of the civil rights era. The versions by Otis and Aretha are worth seeking out too.)

 

Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind is legendary as is the debut of that song: "This ain't no protest song, cause I don't write no protest songs." He was wrong; it is a protest song.

My all time favorite, however, has got to be Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On.

Father, father, we don't need to escalate

Strange Fruit is a brilliant song as well. Instantly haunting and burns itself into your brain. You'll never forget the first time you heard it. Never.

 

Can't argue with that choice of song. The Whats Going On album may be the greatest protest album... Its too bad that Marvin didn't do much social commentary after that...

That line seems bitingly ironic today... RIP Marvin.

That's true. I heard it in probably 4th or 5th grade, when learning about civil rights in history class, I believe as part of the soundtrack on some film reel... I daresay I don't recall any other songs I first heard in that setting... It was truly an amazingly bold choice of song for 1939... This is a period when Ella Fitzgerald is singing such challenging material as "A-Tisket A-Tasket," and Bing Crosby is doing movies with Bob Hope... And Billie Holiday comes out of nowhere with this most explicit of protest songs... Of course Holiday couldn't record the song with a major label, and of course the song was banned in tons of markets, but it became a hit anyways, I believe because of the jukebox market... The song was so controversial that jazz radio STILL refuses to play it, nearly 70 years later...

 

Ministry and System of a Down still manage to do a good one every now and then. I still maintain that my band's The Perks of Being In Office is the most ridiculous Protest Song ever, seeing as it doesn't even mention what it's protesting

 

There's a good number of them on the Forrest Gump Soundtrack, Fortunate Song and For What It's Worth among them. They're some of my favorite songs.

Another favorite, for me is a song called Cat Stevens by a small band called rane.

Here are the lyrics:

Cat Stevens
music: Prindle, Veniscofsky
lyrics: Veniscofsky, LaMothe
Is it still okay to
listen to Cat Stevens anymore?
I know it's just music,
but we're at war
Besides "The Wind" and "Peace Train,"
what were you good for?
Is it still okay to
listen to Cat Stevens anymore?

We grow stronger still

So now you got me
much more afraid to fly
The safest place on Earth
Used to be the sky
And now the heavens are fighting
Over some god's land

We grow stronger still
You know longer will

When I was on my way out
I thought I was in
Only when I shut it off
Then did I begin
And so it goes...


Written September 2001 in response to the attacks on the WTC.

Here's a downloadable copy, with the band's blessing: http://www.projectflood.com/downloads/live2004/rane-live2004-05-catstevens.mp3

 

It's not an American protest song, but it's powerful nonetheless.

"Pra Não Dizer Que Não Falei de Flores" (also known as "Caminhando") by Geraldo Vandré. It was written about the oppression by the Brazilian government. The title means "So it Can't Be Said That I Didn't Talk About the Flowers" (roughly). Try to find a translation of it as you listen to it. Awesome stuff.

 

The paternal unit loves Irish folk songs, so I know a few. Here's the lyrics to "The Foggy Dew" (traditional)

As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by
No fife did hum nor battle drum did sound its dread tatoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey swell rang out through the foggy dew

Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Sulva or Sud El Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's sons, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew

'Twas Britannia bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Sulva's waves or the shore of the Great North Sea
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their names we will keep where the fenians sleep 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew

But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew

Ah, back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go and I'd kneel and pray for you,
For slavery fled, O glorious dead, When you fell in the foggy dew.


This song was written about the Easter Rebellion (1916). England was engaged in the First World War at the time, and though the rebellion was put down, it led to the Irish Free State in 1922. The couplet: "While Britannia's sons, with their long-range guns, sailed in through the foggy dew" is a great one.

 

Couldn't agree more to "Strange Fruit", "What's Going On?" and "Blowin' In The Wind". Three great songs right there.

A (relatively) recent Australian protest song I'd like to mention is "400 Miles from Darwin" by a band called "The Whitlams". Even if you don't agree with them, the lyrics are hard to fault.


We pay to shed a sombre tear in the darkness together here
One among the hundreds, crying for the millions
And when the house lights break the trance
Only then unclasp our hands
Compose ourselves and fix our hair
"We would have all been Schindler there"
Drive in silence slowly home
Now horror's more than skin and bone

And can you see in twenty years
We'll pay to shed the same cheap tears
In a film about an island, watch our hero take a stand
Pay our money gladly to wash our hands

Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight
Kept driving on quietly home
Left the Timorese alone - 400 miles from Darwin

The two-minute hate is now the three-hour love
With any action left to up above
Those people then could turn their heads
Now all the same we sleep instead
While 400 miles from Darwin
East Timor is dying

Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight
Kept driving on quietly home
Left the Timorese alone - 400 miles from Darwin

 

Fight the Power by Public Enemy is one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard.

 

Thats a good one A_J.

Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need is another good PE protest song.

 

Let's not forget U2.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday is the standout, but they've written several other great ones as well. Mothers of the Disappeared always chokes me up.

 

There Were Roses by the Wood's Tea Company, a folk band from Vermont is also a great one, this one dealing with North Ireland.

 

Blowing my own horn, but here's Perks:

The Perks of Being In Office

Life-Force of the Thousands Enflamed,
The destruction of the human race enchained,
Caused by the eventual decay
Of the foreign policies that our governments interchanged.
The life of luxury enjoyed by the high,
Opposed by the **** of poverty in the sty
Losing the trust of the people they relied.
(They?re) pulling blinds across our faces to make their people blind.

Enslaved and Deranged
The People Suffer Rage
At the Ones that Caused them Pain
Unleash the Fury
Abused and Chained
The Pitiful shall reign
The Bloodlust and the Fever
Unleash the fury

The Glory and the high life reign
The rich are a plague to the game we play
We go to war at the drop of a hat
Then we end up losing and (we) call the government crap
Lives are lost at the Parliaments will
?Lives don't cost as much as swill,?
In their eyes we are but pigs,
But (we?re) not as bad as the people from the streets.

(They) Sit in their office and decide who to slay
They target the people that are unlikely to sway
Why do we even elect to put them there?
In the place where they can do most damage and wear?
Abusing their power everyday
Mocking the people that let them have their way
Trust is a concept - to them unknown
And we'll only find out long after they've flown.

Why do we not try and oust them from their seats?
Kick them out of power and trample them on the streets
We could do much more than wait
Like awake the new governmental earthquake.
Get up from your seats and put an end to war,
(It?s) more exciting than the sofa where you (go to) snore.
Join us now in this new Eruption
the siege of power marks this revolution!

(c) Cobranaconda, November 2004


Hehe, makes no sense, but its teh funnay

 

CSN&Y - OHIO

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four dead in Ohio.

 

Napalm Death do some good ones.

Multinational Corporations:

Multinational Corporations
Genocide of the Starving Nations

You Suffer:

You suffer
But why?

 

There are plenty of protest songs out there.
And as for the statement about the mantle of protest being handed over to alternative rap, well, what about reggae? Dating back to the late 60s or so, reggae's been full of protest songs, and there hasn't been a year since when reggae artists haven't recorded protest songs.
And as for rap, as of late, political/message raps have really fallen off as the mainstream (as in most, if not ALL music forms now) go for the silly, mindless, formulaic junk than anything presenting any sort of message.
here's some protest songs, going strictly off of memory here... not a best-of list....
Peter Tosh's "No Nuclear War" (Tosh has numerous good ones...)
Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" (as does Marley...)
Michael Rose's "Chant It Higher"
Sting's "Fragile"
Pearl Jam's "W.M.A"
N.W.A's **** tha Police"
Body Count's "Cop Killer"
Tupac's "Trapped"
Nicole Renee's "Ain't Nothing Changed"
Pato Banton's "My Opinion, Pt. 2"

 

Rogue, I did forget U2. Great song, "Sunday, Bloody Sunday". The live at Red Rock performance is essential.

 

Props.

 

I think it was the performance at Red Rocks where they prefaced that song, per Dylan, by having Bono state that is wasn't a protest song. I find that hilarious; if Sunday, Bloody Sunday isn't a protest song, there's no such thing.

 

The Unknown Soldier by the Doors. Very underappreciated, but an excellent protest song.

 

Yeah, well, there's no bigger protest MUSIC than Britney Spears' music.... her CDs are full of track after track that goes against the grain of what is MUSIC... they can't even be called music.... and threaten to rip the bottom out of the very fabric of music... talk about power! wow!

 

Rage Against The Machine anyone?