ProudProgressive

Music can be used to make powerful political statements. Contrary to popular belief, however, political protest songs didn’t begin and end in the 1960’s. Here’s a chronological list of my favorite songs with a political bent from the 1930s to the present.

1. Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit. 1937. This haunting song about racism and lynching was actually written by Abel Meeropol, but Holiday made it famous. Here are the lyrics from the first verse:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

To get the full impact of the song, however, you need to listen to it (ignore the annoyingly jiggling photo of Holiday in the video and be patient, as Holiday doesn’t come in until about 1:10):

It must have taken a lot of courage for Holiday to perform this song in the ‘30s.

2. Pete Seeger, What Did You Learn in School Today? 1963. Seeger wrote quite a few political songs, but this one is my favorite. It’s a great critique of the patriotic brainwashing that can occur in school. Consider the final verse of the song:

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
I learned that war is not so bad;
I learned about the great ones we have had;
We fought in Germany and in France
And someday I might get my chance.

Watch Seeger performing it in 1964.

3. Bob Dylan, Blowin’ in the Wind. 1963. This song, structured as a series of rhetorical questions, became quite popular in the anti-war movement of the 1960s. Interestingly, it was Peter, Paul, and Mary’s recording that really made the song famous. Here’s a clip of Dylan performing the song in 1971.

4. Country Joe and the Fish, I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag. 1967. Performed at Woodstock in 1969, this anti-war song isn’t subtle. Consider the lyrics from the second verse (third verse at the Woodstock performance):

Come on generals, let’s move fast
your big chance is here 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

Obviously a very different approach from Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. But sometimes the direct approach is necessary. Watch Country Joe and the Fish perform the song at Woodstock (note that I don’t know if this is original footage or a recreation with actors):

5. John Lennon, Imagine. 1971. Although the Beetles shied away from politics, John Lennon wasn’t so reluctant in his solo career. The sound of this song isn’t at all strident, but the lyrics certainly don’t pull any punches, starting with the first verse:

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Lennon himself said, “’Imagine’ is a big hit almost everywhere — anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it is sugarcoated it is accepted. Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey.””

Listen to Lennon performing it:

6. Midnight Oil, Beds are Burning. 1987. This Australian band put a political message in almost every song they wrote. Beds are Burning is about giving land back to the Aboriginal people of Australia, as illustrated in the second half of the chorus:

The time has come
a fact’s a fact
it belongs to them
let’s give it back

Watch the music video for Beds are Burning:

7. R.E.M., Orange Crush. 1988. Although known as political liberals, R.E.M.’s songs are mostly non-political in nature. Even the ones that have more of a political bent contain cryptic lyrics, so are difficult to interpret. However, there seems to be general consensus that Orange Crush is about Vietnam, referring specifically to the Agent Orange chemicals used by the US.

Watch the music video for Orange Crush:

8. Bad Religion, American Jesus. 1993. Bad Religion has had a long career as political and social critics wrapped in up-tempo punk rock. This song, written from the perspective of a self-centered nationalist American contains brilliant lyrics lambasting United States nationalism and sanctimonious morality. Consider these lyrics from the second verse:

I feel sorry for the Earth’s population,
‘Cuz so few live in the U.S.A.
At least the foreigners can copy our morality,
They can visit but they cannot stay.

Watch the music video for the song:

9. Bad Religion, Let Them Eat War and The Empire Strikes First. 2004. I’m cheating here and listing two songs off the same album in one entry. I feel justified, because both songs are an obvious reaction to the Iraq War. The first, Let Them Eat War, cynically asserts that the Bush administration used the fear and patriotism associated with the war to control the US population and to distract from domestic problems. Here’s my favorite verse, plus the chorus:

from the force to the union shops
the war economy is making new jobs
but the people who benefit most
are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts

who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
all they ever gave to them was a war
and a foreign enemy to deplore

let them eat war
let them eat war
that’s how to ration the poor
let them eat war
let them eat war

The second song, The Empire Strikes First, is a criticism of the United States’ pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. The final verse refers to the world-wide demonstrations against the war in February, 2003:

Well, we spit and we cursed
and our bleeding hearts burst
but even ten million souls
marching in February couldn’t stop the worst,
couldn’t reverse

The chorus is self-explanatory:

don’t wanna live
don’t wanna give
don’t wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E
don’t wanna live
don’t wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E

Watch Bad Religion perform Let Them Eat War live:

Listen to The Empire Strikes First, with an “interesting” stop-motion show that someone put together. Note how the song starts with music vaguely evoking the sounds of a military attack. And note that the two minutes hate line is a reference to 1984 by George Orwell.

10. Green Day, Holiday. 2005. Moving far beyond their frivolous first few albums, pop-punk band Green Day’s latest album, American Idiot, is an astute social commentary. The song Holiday is an obvious criticism of the Bush administration’s unilateral approach to foreign policy. The title is, I think, meant to imply that the Bush administration has abdicated its responsibility and is essentially on Holiday, doing whatever it wants in the world. Consider these lyrics:

Zieg Heil to the president gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don’t agree

Interestingly, the song immediately following this one on the album, called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” received quite a bit of airplay and attention, with few people realizing that it’s actually illustrating the results of the failed foreign policy described in Holiday. Consider the repetition of the line, “I walk alone”, indicating that the US now walks alone in the world.

Watch Green Day perform Holiday live. As lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong says at the beginning of the clip, “This song isn’t anti-American; it’s anti-war!”

Let me know what you think of these songs, and what your favorite political protest songs are!

Tags: American Jesus, Bad Religion, Beds are Burning, Billie Holiday, Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan, Country Joe and the Fish, Green Day, Holiday, I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag, Imagine, John Lennon, Let Them Eat War, Midnight Oil, Orange Crush, Pete Seeger, Political Songs, Protest Songs, R.E.M., Strange Fruit, The Empire Strikes First, What Did You Learn in School Today?