We need songs.

[Cleita]

My late husband was Irish and I recently was listening to his CDs of Irish music. It was too painful to do so before. One of the CDs was of Irish rebel songs, which you will find sung in any pub that the Irish gather at anywhere in the world today. It struck me that we had the anti-war protest songs during the counter revolution of the sixties. Remember them? We need songs about health care reform, about unemployment about corrupt government, yes about wars for profit and everything bad going on today. We need to sing them at our protests and our rallys. Recording artists need to put out CDs that can be played in juke boxes across the nation like in the sixties. It's a way of getting the message out that the MSM and corporations are trying to stop. Nothing energizes a crowd like a good song that distills our grievances and woes into poetry set to music. Even the Nazis fired up the crowds in the torchlight parades with patriotic, military songs that they sang through the streets. It will have the effect of scaring the crap out of the opposition who are trying to turn America into a casino you can't refuse to participate in and one where you know the house always wins.

[Bluerthanblue]

1. I agree

:hi:

rec.

[Fumesucker]

2. I was a Marine in the late 60s and early 70s.. Eric Burdon's Sky Pilot was on the jukebox

In the EM club on at least two bases I can remember..

I can't imagine that happening today..

[opihimoimoi]

3. Yup, working on it.....:o)

[Ahpook]

8. Same here:) Maybe some day you will hear us

In the mean time, Jello Biafra is still out there raising enough hell.

Getting the message out widely is the same old shit.

Probably not going to happen:(

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. Agreed. But try some of these...

Actually a lot of the songs of the 30's work because economics haven't really changed the ones at the top of the money:

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Utah Phillips...

More recent artist with good songs for the barricades is Michael Franti and Spearhead

<http://michaelfranti.com/>

I'll bet DUers with rousing songs on their play lists will come forward.

[Cleita]

7. "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" is probably the

the best know of that era.

[Blue Owl]

5. But please, no John Mayer songs.

Thank you.

[Cleita]

6. ...

[mwrguy]

9. try any Dead Kenneys or Jellu Biafra album

There's some very inspirational stuff in there.

[damyank913]

10. I think Springsteen and Mellencamp have a few good ones.

[ChicagoSuz219]

11. Joan Baez had one...

...that included the lyrics:

"I'm only seven,
tho' I died
in Hiroshima,
long ago.

I'm seven now,
as I was then
When children die,
they do not grow."

Just change 'Hiroshima' to 'Oklahoma'... & you've got a song.

:-(

[Cleita]

12. Actually Joan Baez has a lot of them that can be updated and

Buffy St. Marie too. They both came out of the sixties along with Bob Dylan, perhaps the most famous of the protest singers.

[katanalori]

13. Has anyone heard Jack Johnson?

"Sleep Through the Static"

Great song ..........

"Trouble travels fast
When you're specially designed for crash testing
Or wearing wool sunglasses in the afternoon
Come on and tell us what you're trying to prove

Because it's a battle when you dabble in war
You store it up, unleash it, then you piece it together
Whether the storm drain running rampant just stamp it
And send it to somebody who's pretending to care

Just cash in your blanks for little toy tanks
Learn how to use them, then abuse them and choose them
Over conversations relationships are overrated
"I hated everyone" said the son

And so I will cook all your books
You're too good looking and mistooken
You could watch it instead
From the comfort of your burning beds
...Or you can sleep through the static...."

Full lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/sleep-through-the-static-lyrics-jack-johnson.html

[Doc_Technical]

14. James McMurtry- "We can't make it here anymore"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

[azul]

15. I think we need a gunslinger

I think we need a gunslinger,
Somebody tough to tame this town.
I think we need a gunslinger,
There’ll be justice all around.

Someone let the fences go,
Wild-eyed bunch moved in, ya know,
Shootin’ up the streets shoutin’, “Everybody down,”
The dogs all runnin’ loose.

Wrecked the paper, closed the school,
Tired old judge got roughed up too.
No one left to make a stand;
They whisper, “What’s the use?”

-John Fogerty

[upi402]

16. Maybe Henry Rollins can bring back Rage Against the Machine

Henry Rollins can grab their heads and squeeze some serenity into them! yay for forcibly induced serenity! Then a great band can reunite. It was pretty cool when Nirvana and Pearl Jam hit, and corporate music was on its heels.

[damyank913]

17. "Monster" by Steppenwolf

[damyank913]

19. "Once the religious, the hunted and weary...

chasing the promise of freedom and hope
came to this country to build a new vision
far from the reaches of kingdom and Pope

like good Christians some would burn the witches
later some got slaves to carry riches

but from near and far to seek America
they came by thousands
to court the wild

and she just patiently smiled
and bore a child to be the spirit
and the guiding light..."

[annabanana]

43. wonderful wonderful song... As relevent as ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFKphodBQI&feature=PlayList&p=5629F801DD58E1B6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=33

[damyank913]

46. Great link-thanks alot.

[mmonk]

18. I would like to know how

we went from this to supporting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs">this man's ideas again. While some young people have songs such as those from Green Day that are very critical of the right, how do we go back to a movement? Songs do help but they would have to get air play and people have to come together again.

[Cleita]

21. Carefully orchestrated propaganda brought us from Woodstock to Reagan.

I believe the movie "Network" brilliantly told us what was happening to our journalistic media. We don't seem to have the revolutionary leaders that we had back then and the artists dedicated to singing the songs that would be played on the air and on juke boxes. The IRA didn't have air time either to run the British out of Ireland, but they did come together in the pubs to organize, spread news and sing their songs. So we need leadership in each community, a place to gather on a regular basis, maybe a park, not necessarily a pub and we have to spread the news the MSM doesn't and we need to sing songs.

[mmonk]

22. We all need a commons I suppose?

[Cleita]

23. That would be a start. n/t

[bethdoc]

20. Yell Fire!

"A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never sends you an omen
A revolution just arrived like the morning
Ring the alarm, we come to wake up the snoring

They tellin' you to never worry about the future
They tellin' you to never worry about the torture
They tellin you that you'll never see the horror
Spend it all today and we will bill you tomorrow
Three piece suits and bank accounts in Bahamas
Wall street crime will never send you to the slammer
Tell all the children in the arms of their mommas
The F-15 is a homicide bomber

TV commercials for a popping pill culture
Drug companies circling like a vulture
An Iraqi babies with a G.I. Joe father
Ten years from now is anyboby gonna bother

Yell Fire, yo, yo ,yo
Here we come, here we come
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Revolution a comin'
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo

Everyone addicted to the same nicotine
Everyone addicted to the same gasoline
Everyone addicted to a technicolour scream
Everybody trying to get their hands on same green
From the banks of the river to the banks of the greedy
All of the riches taken back by needy
We come from the country and we come from the city
You play us on the record, you can play us on the CD
All the shit you given us is fertilizer
The seeds that we planted you can brutalize them
Tell the corporation you can never globalize you
Like Peter Toss said Legalize It
Girls and boys hear the bass and treble
Rumble in the speakers and it make you wanna rebel
Throw your hands up, take it to another level
And you can never, ever, ever make a deal with the devil

Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Here we come, here we come
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Revolution a comin'
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo"

-Michael Franti and Spearhead

[asdjrocky]

25. Good one. nt

[asdjrocky]

24. Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTafZRecy2k

WORKERS SONG

Yeh, this one's for the workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead

In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth?

All of these things the worker has done
From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can


I sing it once a day, everyday.

[Cleita]

26. Love it and it's one everyone can sing it together in a march or a rally.

Looking at the YouTube videos of this group, they seem to have a lot of songs that would work well.

[asdjrocky]

27. You have to understand about the Murphy's-

They have a very, very rough edge and some questionable fans, but I just go too far back with the boys to hold much against them. Their basically good lads from Boston.

But yeah, the Irish songs are good ones.

Edited to add-
And this is still my favorite Amazing Grace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip-COzs42LQ

[Codeine]

39. The Murphys are like the Sox.

I love em but damn their fanbase can drive me up the fucking wall.

[asdjrocky]

41. I'm pretty sure that's the first thing we've agreed on.

But I still love em.

[a la izquierda]

55. Questionable fans: frat boys or skin heads?

:)

[asdjrocky]

67. I'm neither, but I've seen both at their shows.

:)

[a la izquierda]

74. yeah, when i lived in LA you'd get an odd variety...

of folks. rather annoying to the Murphys purists. i admit it, i'm a punk rock snob.

[a la izquierda]

56. It's called anthem punk and there's a lot of it.

The best one is probably "Which side are you on?"
My husband knows the band personally. I wonder what they'd think about all this.

[Cetacea]

28. Working on it.

Excellent post.

[cherokeeprogressive]

29. Something Like This Good Irish Rebel Song: Come Out Ye Black and Tans

Last spring we went to a music festival in the mountains and there played a band called The Sligo Rags. They played this song which I searched high and low to find because I love to hear the Irish singers calling out the Brits for what they were. Would that we could find songs like this to call out the repugs with.

Condolences on the passing of your Husband. Here are some Irish blessings/toasts/proverbs I found for you. http://www.quotegarden.com/blessings.html

Come Out Ye Black and Tans!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9D38J0yH9w&feature=related

On a lighter note, here's a good song about how The Whisky Never Lies (When the bottle's empty, I can see through your disguise, so you better watch your tongue because the Whisky never lies). Just click the link, the song should play automatically.

http://www.sligorags.com/music.cfm

Have a Wonderful Day Cleita. You do a lot for this place and we all appreciate it.

[anigbrowl]

30. No thanks

I'm Irish. Guess what happened to a lot of the money raised from performances of rebel songs? It went to fund the purchase of guns and bombs. Such songs are not in fact find sung in 'any pub that the Irish gather at', only at those operated by those with (Irish) Republican sympathies. There are places where you will be made unwelcome, or worse, if you do not join in with supporting a particular political view about Irish history. This is the equivalent of expatriate Americans sending money to the tea party because they get a nostalgic twinge for the homeland when they hear a Ted Nugent or Toby Keith song.

I'm sorry about your recent bereavement, but it's a sad fact that some people exploit honest and quite legitimate feelings of national or ethnic pride to fund violence and terrorism, or exploit legitimate grievances for private profit - consider the dichotomy between socially conscious and gangster rap.

Nothing energizes a crowd like a good song that distills our grievances and woes into poetry set to music. Even the Nazis fired up the crowds in the torchlight parades with patriotic, military songs that they sang through the streets.

:puke:

I am a working artist. I have political causes that I support, but I deeply resent any suggestion that art should serve political ends. You're free to create or support art that coincides with your political views, but Nazis and other totalitarians were equally enthusiastic about persecuting art and artists whose ideas they disagreed with. Art doesn't owe you a thing.

[Cleita]

31. According to your POV, no nation should have flags or national anthems

either. The Star Spangled Banner was originally a tavern song. There is a reason corporations sell their products with jingles. It's effective. I'm sorry you have been treated rudely by the IRA wing of the Irish. I've met those people too, but they aren't popular among the Irish either. As far as pub singing, I feel you are wrong. It's not a popular pastime today but it certainly was during the revolution. The Irish love to sing and I recently went to a wake with immigrant Irish who were friends of my husband and they all sang the old songs, not necessarily rebel songs but Irish songs, some singly and some in chorus while others danced.

[anigbrowl]

32. Absolutely untrue.

I explicitly said that people are free to create or support art that reflects their political views, including views deriving from patriotism or community pride.

My objection is to your original suggestion that artists have some kind of obligation to create such work in response to your belief that the supply is inadequate. If you can't find enough politically motivated music to get behind, that is not my problem, or the problem of any other artist.

[Cleita]

34. As an artist you are perfectly free to not participate, however, the

songs I have in mind aren't very artistic anyway. They are music that everyone can participate in and that have a message much like church hymns do, but instead of religious themes they would be secular and for us, espouse progressive ideas.

[anigbrowl]

37. Artistic is not the opposite of popular

It's not the same either but I dispute the idea that folk or populist art is more or less artistic than any other kind. It seems to me there's plenty of 'progressive' art out there already; you might want to consider that music has changed less than demographics, and the number of youthful voters & music consumers has fallen significantly since the 1960s as a proportion of the population:



In short, the audience for such music has shrunk in relative terms. Furthermore, changes in the way music is recorded, distributed and sold have made music into more of an individual than a collective experience, reducing the size of the audience for any given artist. The upside of this is that it's much easier for someone obtain and/or publish music than it used to be, regardless of how accessible it is.

[dana_b]

33. The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello) - "Union Song" and "The Road I Must Travel"

"Union Song"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3rwdq_the-nightwatchman-union-song-wga-wr_music

For the fired auto workers
Who were twisted, tricked and robbed
To the peasant in Guatemala
In a sweatshop got your job
And she can't feed her family
On the pennies that she makes
Meanwhile the crime rate's rising
Up and down the Great Lake states

Like vegetables left in the field
The signatures smell rotten
On the contracts and the deeds
That push the race down to the bottom
As they load the rubber bullets
As they fire another round
I'm heading into the tear gas
Dig in man, hold your ground

For Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
For our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
For the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
For the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

Si nos quedemos
Juntos vamos a ganar? Si!
Hit em where it hurts
And bite the hand that feeds
You might get one to three
Or probation and a fine
But I know where I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be right on that front line

For Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
For our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
For the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
For the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

Now dirty scabs will cross the line
While others stand aside and look
But ain't nobody never got nothin'
That didn't raise their voice and push
Like the steel worker in Ohio
The miner in West Virginia
The teacher in Chicago
Janitor in Mississippi
From the sweatshops of L.A.
To the fields of Mission Flats
There's a thunder cloud exploding
And I'm free at last

Like Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
Like our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
Like the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
Like the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

"The Road I must Travel"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPhkAqVTyU

Well I climbed the seven summits
And I swam the seven seas
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
I fought in the jungles
And I fought in the streets
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
Once I had a reason
Don't know what it could be
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
Well I sang to myself
That I want to be free
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see

I walked the empty desert
And I was burned in the heat
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
I crossed the frozen wasteland
And in the bitter cold did freeze
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
And I will knock on every door
For I do not have a key
And the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
Well I sang to myself
That I want to be free
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see

They shot a man in Soho
Couldn't guess his age
I found his empty journal
I filled up every page
I called up my state senator
They said he wasn't there
The secretary took my name
And man she sounded scared
So I counted my misfortunes
I added up the blame
I picked through all the garbage
I checked off all the names
I read in the newspaper
They'd questioned all my friends
They hoped that they could find me
Before I struck again
Well I sang to myself
That I want to be free
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see

So when thirsty I will drink
When hungry I will steal
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
So tonight I walk in anger
With worn shoes on my feet
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see
And I will sing to myself
That I'm gonna be free
But the road I must travel
Its end I cannot see

There's a sign along the highway
But it's too dark now to read

[8 track mind]

35. "The man who built America" by the Horslips

Irish rock band!

[walldude]

36. I'm in the process of recording this:

I may do a live version and post it on youtube tonight..

The Toll


Wanna tell you a story
bout a soldier I once knew
Vietnam was his war
Back in 1972

His platoon was out on patrol
when they encountered the Vietcong
Dove for cover in a nearby hole
and the fire fight was on

The shooting started
and they called for aid
Then he saw a pregnant woman
with a hand grenade

He took aim and fired
saved 10 men
but he would never
be the same again

He would never
be the same
Again

He looked at me with questioning eyes
but I had no reply
After a moment he began again
and there were teardrops in his eyes

Can't get her face out of my head
and I can't sleep at night
Saw the shrink at my local VA
and he tried to set me right

Son, he said
You;re a good soldier
but you gotta get this weight
down off your shoulders

I just looked at him
My heart turned colder
I said I might have been
a good soldier

But I was a lousy
Human
Being.

Lost 30 years now I can't find me way
her face behind closed eyes every night and day

I try to live with what I've done
but I'm just passing days

Sometimes I see someone like me
and I just can't believe

That we still
haven't
learned

It was a mighty toll he paid
to carry the government gun
no deferments no delays
awarded to the poor mans son

Freedom is what they told him
he was fighting for
'but he was a free man
long before they started their war

They gave him a medal
for what he had done
Moved on to a new war
and a new victim

I heard he shot himself
after 30 years
Of constant pain
and constant tears

He finally
won
That Freedom..

Freedom..

Freedom..

Freedom..

[DailyGrind51]

38. "It's the End of the World and We Know It!"

[asdjrocky]

44. And I feel fine.

[Codeine]

40. Protest music is almost always shit.

Art for a political end is almost invariably art compromised and diminished.

[Cetacea]

45. So much for Lennon, Dylan, Baez, and a good portion of the 60's musicians

If you think their music was shit, I'd love to hear what you think of the current field. Though you did qualify your post with the word "almost".

[walldude]

54. Yeah not to mention Henry Rollins, Rage Against The Machine,

Roger Waters, U2, Pearl Jam, and a host of others.. if you want to move up to the 70's 80's 90's and 00's. There is plenty of good political music out there.

[Cetacea]

61. Indeed.

[likesmountains 52]

71. Phil Ochs...not shit

[KonaKane]

42. There has been no real protest music since the 60s.

And don't give me any of this "well you old fuddey how about *insert no name, forgettable rap artist here*. Also, as funny as NoFX's song "Idiot Son of An Asshole" was about GWB, it was not what we are really missing - ANTHEMS.

Anthems. Powerful, infectiously melodic refrains that can easily be picked up by thousands of people gathered in a place. Anthems than ring out with a multitude of voices and give power to movements. We seriously haven't had any for 40 years.

Come on, ye budding songwriters. GET GOING.

[FailureToCommunicate]

50. Lotta good anthems since the 60's: Springsteen, Mellencamp, Benatar, U2, Dixie

Chicks, Queen...

They don't have to have overtly political lyrics to be popular at gatherings.

[LeftyMom]

47. Every few months somebody starts a thread like this.

Every few months those of us who are sort of young-ish point out that there's a ton of music that fits the bill. We helpfully post links on youtube. Often we create whole new threads with links to dozens of fantastic songs, artists and albums. In a few more months somebody will start another thread complaining that there's no political music about the current times. Again.

[Cleita]

49. People aren't singing them. Just going to a concert and listening is nice

but I'm talking about songs that people sing on the march or rally. Remember in the Civil Rights movement, the people sang "we shall overcome" as they marched. I haven't seen any of that so we evidently don't have music for the masses for this crisis we are in.

[LeftyMom]

51. That just has to do with current genres and cultural differences.

Most of those old songs were folk-ish, so they were easy to sing and had very simple instrumentation. Current popular genres, for the most part, don't tend to lend themselves to easy singing in groups because the songs aren't simple, folky songs like that. Plus young people are more fragmented in our tastes, and older folks don't even know that music continued to be made after 1974, so you can't really count on the people at a rally all knowing the same songs.

[Cleita]

52. They need folksy new songs and they would be taught at the rallies just

like they were in the past.

[LeftyMom]

53. That's the underlying problem, right there.

This is not the sixties, we are not hippies, and we have our own culture and our own ways of expressing ourselves. Implying that we're less activist or that we're somehow doing activism wrong because we don't do it in the same way is disrespectful and suggests that one is extremely out of touch with the culture.

Instead of telling younger people that we're going at activism the wrong way for doing things differently, maybe the more open minded thing to do would be to ask what we are doing, and find out why, then take a look at if and how those things work for us.

[Cleita]

63. Then it's your loss and the world you will live in, not me. I will be long dead.

It's what kept tribes together for millenniums. Songs kept them company while they worked. Songs passed down the stories and histories. If you younger people can't learn from the past then you are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

[Codeine]

57. Young people don't want to sing folk songs.

It is a genre that never had meaning for even for people my age (I grew up in the 80s.) It's a remnant, an historical curiosity that reminds us of our parents or grandparents.

The notion that we need songs now just because your generation had them is goofy and bespeaks a cultural arrogance. Music was much different back then; now there are dozens of genres and scenes and tastes even among the politically active young. Some kids are into hip-hop, others are indie kids, some are digging Goth, while still others are cranking up death metal -- hell, a few saddos are probably still listening to corporate Top 40.

I find it difficult to imagine the Cannibal Corpse fans singing folks songs alongside the bearded indie dudes and the Brother Ali listeners while the Adam Lambert fans keep time on tambourines, y'know?

[Cleita]

64. That's because you need your own songs.

You don't need the songs of previous generations. You need simple, poetic songs you can sing together.

[johnroshan]

48. U2

I can't believe no one mentioned U2!!

Peace on Earth.
Bloody Sunday.

Peace on Earth is one song for all eternity. The voice of everyone throughout the ages wanting peace, waiting for peace, and end up never witnessing that elusive peace.

"They say that what you mock
Will surely overtake you
And you become a monster
So the monster will not break you"

Peace on Earth - U2

[Codeine]

58. U2 were monsterously important in my youth.

They are spectacularly, utterly irrelevant now. They are a nostalgia act, and I say that as a fan.

[Bjorn Against]

59. There is some good protest music out there you just have to search for it

Michael Franti, David Rovics, Serj Tankian, Tom Morrello, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Anti-Flag and Propagandhi are some names of protest artists which are still writing music and performing today. These are just the ones that come to me off the top of my head, there are many others as well you just need to search for them because the corporations that have hijacked the airwaves do not play them often if at all. When you do find the good protest artists however you should buy their music and attend their shows, because the best way to see protest music gain traction is to support it.

[Cleita]

65. It's not up to me to search for it. It's up to the generations to find it

and spread it among their political groups. They have to try to find what clicks with the largest amount of people and then get out and use it.

[Bjorn Against]

68. "Generations" do not discover music, people discover music and let their friends know about it...

Some of the artists I mentioned aim for a younger audience while others aim for an older audience, but if you want protest artists to be successful then you do need to search them out and tell your friends about them.

Some of the names I mentioned have been quite successful. Tom Morrello was formerly a member of Rage Against the Machine and Serj Tankian is a former member of System of a Down, both of which were able to sell out stadiums by playing protest music. Anti-Flag also has a very large following even though they get no radio airplay, and Billy Bragg is a pretty well known name with many in the older generations.

[Cleita]

69. Artists are nice, but I'm not really thinking of that.

We in America are very passive. We have been fed our bread and games. We are told that if we are not the top performers in anything we are failure. There is no reason to play games because you won't make the leagues. There is no reason to paint stuff because you won't get a show. There is no reason to do music because you won't make the labels and the award shows. Yet, we plunk our money down for games, for concerts, for designer goods, for movies and passively sit there with our tongues out as we are fed our bread and games. We don't do for ourselves actively anymore because we have been told that anything we do is worthless unless we can make the top. Is it any wonder that no one can take this country back? They are all sitting around waiting for someone to entertain them or change things or fix what is bad. The objections on this thread have somewhat proved to me that people won't go out into the streets anymore because as one poster said, they aren't hippies.

Okay, I was never a hippie but many of my friends were because they got attracted to the movement. The hippies were not afraid to do art, to write music and to challenge society and they didn't feel that it had to be superior to the professionals. The fact that they could get together and farm a piece of land, make their own clothes and a lot of what they used in daily life and sit around with guitars singing bad music and enjoying it because it was among friends, was a testament to the fact that they had dropped out of society as we had known it. It's time to drop out again. This time though we need to take society with us and mold it into something everyone can be a part of. To do this we need anthems as another poster noted to keep everyone motivated.

[Bjorn Against]

70. As someone who is one of them damn hippies that marches in the streets I get your point

Believe me, I am in the streets literally every single week and I am frustrated at how few people join me. I am frustrated at the number of people who simply want to be entertained but don't get out and try to make change, it is a problem that effects both young and old. Too many people these days think that watching Keith Olbermann is a form of activism, but if we really want to change things we need to get out into the streets and raise some hell. In most major cities there are protests going on every week, and if there are not protests going on then someone should be organizing them because we need more people to be out there.

I will say however that I have seen popular entertainment have a powerful effect on people. When Rage Against the Machine played during the RNC riot police actually surrounded the Target Center and believe me the crowd felt the intensity and knew that this was no ordinary concert. The attempts to suppress dissent were so obvious that it made the message of the music extremely powerful and I don't think anyone left that show without feeling the political tension.

I do understand that there are really no modern songs that people sign at protests, the groups I march with are still singing "We Shall Overcome" and "Down by the Riverside". These are the songs that people have been singing for generations and I don't think there is anything wrong with that, "We Shall Overcome" is still an extremely powerful song today and I really don't think any modern song could compare. People still like to sing the old songs, but there is so much variety in modern music that it is hard to find songs that can unite people. Some people like rock, some like hip hop, some like country, some like pop, there is no genre that unites people in the same way that the old folk songs from decades past did. I think this makes it very difficult to find new songs that masses of people will sing together, but people are still singing the old songs and hopefully that will never end.

[David Zephyr]

60. Too late to rec, but here's a kick and I wish I'd seen this sooner.

We need songs. Yes, we do.

[MagnusLiberal]

62. Faithless - Mass Destruction

Great anti-war song from an unlikely source. Here's the chorus to Mass Destruction by Faithless:

Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether saw it in Sun or BBC 1
Misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction
You coulda Caucasian or a poor Asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether inflation or globalization
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction
Whether Halliburton, Enron or anyone
Greed is a weapon of mass destruction
We need to find the courage, overcome
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

[Cleita]

66. I like it.

And welcome to DU. :toast:

[MagnusLiberal]

72. Thank You

I've been lurking for a while ... what better time for action than now, right?

[Throd]

73. This isn't 1967.

[Echo In Light]

75. Saint Vitus, Black Sabbath, anti-war tunes

War is Our Destiny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07DZBBd81e4&feature=PlayList&p=95A1D31710BCD1A6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

War Pigs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg