We need some good contemporary protest songs and you can help.
Something is very wrong in this land of ours. The ruling class is systematically looting the public trust. The nation's wealth, built up over the last century by a strong working class, is being drained through financial chicanery into obscene private fortunes while the living standard for the rest of the population is in sharp decline. Our politicians, both Republican and Democrat are part of the problem, not the solution. As MinistryOfTruth so succinctly spelled out in her brilliant diary STUNNING article: It's "D-day in the class war" we can not sit by and watch this disaster unfold. Like it or not we are in a class war. We didn’t ask for it, but the working class and the middle class must stand up and protect this country from these thieves. We have to take back the power that has been taken away from us, and we must use every organizing tool at our disposal including songs of protest.
Protest songs have been a galvanizing force in human rights struggles through the ages. In the early 19th century "...drawing on traditional work songs, enslaved African Americans originated and began performing a wide variety of Spirituals and other Christian music. Many of these songs were coded messages of subversion against slaveholders, or that signaled escape." 1 The labor movement of the early 20th century gave us singers like Joe Hill, "...an IWW activist who traveled widely, organizing workers and writing and singing political songs. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky," which appeared in his most famous protest song "The Preacher and the Slave" (1911)." 2
During the Great Depression music sustained the labor movement with songs like "Which Side Ore You On?", written by Florence Reece (1900-86) during a strike by the United Mine Workers of America, in which her husband, Sam Reece, was an organiser. This organizing song was later famously recorded by Pete Seeger. In the 40s and 50s protest music continued to play a major role in race, class and labor struggles. Woody Guthrie was perhaps the most famous singer pro-union protest singer of the time. His often misunderstood "This Land Is Your Land" may be the most well known protest song of all time and is familiar to most every American today, although the lyrics have been somewhat cleansed from the original version. Seager restored some of the original lyrics when he and Bruce Stringstein sang "This Land Is Your Land" during Obama's inauguration:
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
Of course, the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s were characterized and sustained by hundreds of well known protest songs that transformed both music and society. Punk rock in the 1970s and 1980s brought us groups like "The Clash" whose angry songs about social injustice again captured a generation. In South Africa, the anti-apartheid movement would not have been possible without the unifying and hauntingly beautiful Freedom Songs like "Ayanqikaza" and "Rolihlahla" sung by the masses often in the face of armed police squads.
The cowards are scared saying that it's better to go back home. Forward South African heroes - we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
All over the world protest music has played a major role in liberation movements, rebellions and struggles against prosecution: The Irish Rebel Songs, French 'protest singers', German DeutshPunk, Chilean, Filipino, South Korean, Israeli and Palestinian protest music. In fact, it is almost impossible to find a popular movement or revolution that is not characterized and propelled by its music.
So what has happened? Just try to name one popular contemporary protest song. Where are the protest songs of today? Is it that corporate control over the airwaves has denied protest music a place on radio? Is it the huge amount of money now available to a successful performer so long as they toe the line and stay away from politics, in combination with a few object lessons like the Dixie Chicks? Is it a splintering of collective attention due to the shear array of music choices available now due to the Internet and iPod? Is it that things haven't gotten bad enough... yet? Likely it is a combination of all these factors.
But good contemporary protest music is out there, and as shown by this site the Internet can be a force for unification as well as differentiation. If, as with news and information, main stream outlets restrict access to contemporary protest songs, we should endeavor to find alternative ways of getting the word out. That's the idea behind this diary series.
In each installment I will link to two protest songs by contemporary artists and give the community the opportunity to vote on which they like better. In the next installment I will keep the winner and add a new song. I will also link to one historical protest song in each installment to gain insight and inspiration from those who have come before us. In the comments it would be great if people suggest other good protest songs.
Contemporary Protest Song #1 - 2004 Steve Earle "The Revolution Starts Now"
Steve Earle's ballad "The Revolution Starts Now" seems a fitting song to begin this series. Like many good protest songs "The Revolution Starts Now" has a catchy sing along refrain. "The Revolution Starts Now" was deliberately released to coincide with the run-up to the 2004 US presidential election. The song was used in the promotion of Michael Moore's anti-war documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 and opened Earle's weekly Sunday-night show on Air America Radio.
Contemporary Protest Song #2 - 2007 The Nightwatchman "The Road I Must Travel"
Compared to a modern day Woody Guthrie with a ripping guitar, Tom Morrello of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave performs solo 'folk' numbers as The Nightwatchman. One of the most politically outspoken contemporary artists, Morrello has sued the US Government over the use of rock music in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. "Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me."
Historical Protest Song - 1940 Woody Guthrie- This Land Is Your Land
"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio, he wrote a response originally called "God Blessed America for Me". Guthrie varied the lyrics over time, sometimes including more overtly political verses [see above] than appear in recordings or publications.3
There are so many great protest songs across the world and through the ages, but it is only fitting to start with "This Land Is Your Land." Brothers and sisters, this is our land. It does not belong to Citi Goldman Sachs Wells Chase Bank Of America and their crony politicians. It's our land.
So, let's start searching for some songs of protest for this time, some new protest music for our modern day class struggle. Which do you prefer: Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" or Tom Morello's "The Road I Must Travel"?
Thanks for voting, and please feel free to suggest a few good protest songs for these hard times.