Where are our protest songs?

[dharmagrrl]

This morning I was talking to my girlfriend about how the current war in Iraq is probably the best thing to happen to contemporary country music. You cannot turn on CMT without seeing some flag-waving, troop-praising, trite video mess. I was a country fan but I cant even bear to listen to the radio anymore much less watch it on tv. My girlfriend pointed out something that hadnt occured to me, even though it seems many people in the entertainment industry do not support this war, no one is writing songs about it or making videos to protest or even just to show dissatisfaction. I know I can hear some protest songs when I tune into my local community radio station but you would think that at least a few mainstream artists would be speaking out. Anybody have any insight on this? Does our current administration have that much power over the entertainment industry?

[GentleHeartLamb]

I heard that there is a song that may become the protest song of today but I don't rember what it's call and I looked iut up on the net can could not find it but after june you may hear it around or maybe not because someone is going to play the song at something happening in toronto in june so if I find the name I will let you know of it ok

[Dakota's Mom]

David Rovics has a lot of new protest stuff out. One particular song, called "Song for Bosra" talks about the second city of Iraq that was bombed out. In fact it is the most bombed city in one of the most bombed countries in the history of the world. This song is on his cd "Living In These Times". You can read lyrics or get more info from

www.davidrovics.com

Personally I think he is great.

Kathi

[mimosa]

thanks, Kathi, i learn a lot of new info from you, again thanks!! I will check him out. and I agree, we need new songs, and I'd love to see a new protest song go mainstream to make people sit up and notice. but some of the old ones are so fitting too.

I was just thinking of Buffalo Springfield.
There's somethin' happenin' here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there
A-tellin' me I've got to beware.

I think it's time we stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.

There's battle lines bein' drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speakin' their minds
A-gettin' so much resistance from behind.

I think it's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.

What a field day for the heat.
A thousand people in the street
Singin' songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly sayin' hooray for our side.

It's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.

Paranoia strikes deep.
Into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid.
Step out of line, the MAN come and take you away.

You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..

[sassure]

Strange, isn't it? So many seem to be so fed up with things as they are, yet there is a decided lack of protest music.

A few months back, I wrote a protest song, "When You've Had Enough", and cruised the net for some good protest sites to submit it to. But time after time, the protest sites I found were either shut down or shutting down.

There are occasional protest-song compilations from Protest Records, but it's a refreshing little drop in a very large, empty bucket......

[~Sam~]

Protest songs are great, as far as identifying and complaining about the way that things are. But the place to begin changing things is within yourself. I know that this song might be considered schmaltz by some, but I think it's telling...

Put A Little Love In Your Heart
Annie Lennox & Al Green

Think of your fellow man
Lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart

You see it's getting late
Oh please don't hesitate
Put a little love in your heart
And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you and me
You just wait and see

Another day goes by
And still the children cry
Put a little love in you heart
If you want the world to know
We won't let hatred grow
Put a little love in your heart

And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you and me
You just wait and see
Wait and see

Take a good look around
And if you're lookin' down
Put a little love in your heart
I hope when you decide
Kindness will be your guide
Put a little love in your heart
And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you and me
You just wait and see
Put a little love in your heart
Put a little love in your
Love in your heart

With Love,

[sassure]

Yes...very true! While you are trying to change the outside world, you must also be changing your inside world.

[peacegypsy]

Megalomaniac~Incubus
Whats the world coming to~Fleetwood mac
Hole in the world~Eagles

None really say much about the war but I like these songs and they all have great lyrics. Megalomaniac is an anti-bush song with great lyrics and a great video. you can check out both on their website!

[TerminalMadness]

In our shallow, superficial, youth obsessed dumbed down, money grubbing, mindless culture its no surprise we dont have protest music.

[TerminalMadness]

Megalomaniac~Incubus
Whats the world coming to~Fleetwood mac
Hole in the world~Eagles

None really say much about the war but I like these songs and they all have great lyrics. Megalomaniac is an anti-bush song with great lyrics and a great video. you can check out both on their website!
God I loooooveeee Megalomaniac!!

I pump my radio all the way up and just revel in its glory! "Hey megalomaniac, you're no jesus, yeah you're no fucking elvis."

Fucking A!

[SvgGrdnBeauty]

In our shallow, superficial, youth obsessed dumbed down, money grubbing, mindless culture its no surprise we dont have protest music.
You took the words right out of my mouth...

[dharmagrrl]

In our shallow, superficial, youth obsessed dumbed down, money grubbing, mindless culture its no surprise we dont have protest music.

Yeah, that's kind of what I came up with too. It's so depressing. It's awesome that there are a few songs floating around out there, but I wish there were more.

[SvgGrdnBeauty]

I agree...there are so many of us out here ready for a change...


...we just need one of us to break through the superficial barrier and make a musical revolution, Beatle-style...ya know what I'm saying? We need something to kick off the change...a spark!

[Dakota's Mom]

Here's the words to a really great song:

If I could sing a song for every bomb that flies
I'd sing each and all the days
If there were to be a verse for every dying child's cries
For every helpless father's gaze
If I wrote a love letter to each corpse as it is carried
I'd never still my pen
If I had to stop a moment for each one that's been buried
I'd never move again
And the stocks are going up in some safe place in America
Sing a song for Basra

If I could shed a tear for every home that bombs destroy
I'd never stop crying
If every broken brick were a heart of a little girl or boy
All the world's children would be sighing
If I could hold each shattered body, each baby stilled at birth
I'd have no time for loneliness
I'd spend all my time embracing the people of this savaged earth
Feeling the poisoned wind's caress
And the billionaires are laughing in some safe place in America
Sing a song for Basra

If each barren pharmacy were a woman's shining eyes
I'd fall in love forever
If every bombed-out kindergarten were a factory in disguise
Wouldn't that be clever
But bricks are only bricks, and dust is only dust
And death is all around
Each day another missile falls and sometimes the only thing to trust
Is the shaking of the ground
And they're loading up the warplanes in some safe place in America
Sing a song for Basra

Created July, 2001
Copyright David Rovics 2001, all rights reserved

[Dakota's Mom]

This one has so much truth in it:

Who Will Tell the People
by David Rovics

The CIA is pushing crack in the ghettoes of LA
While the food crops in Colombia get sprayed by the DEA
The FBI is reading your email with something called the carnivore
And the rich are getting richer while the poor are staying poor
They're launching nuclear-powered ships up into space
One little accident could wipe out half the human race
And they're putting radioactive waste into your silverware
Or maybe your toaster or perhaps your wheelchair

The Air Force is bombing people in Iraq every other day
They don't like the government so the children have to pay
The ozone hole is spreading and the sheep are going blind
While the US spends more on arms than the rest of the world combined
Journalists are getting fired from San Jose to Atlanta
When they write about reality, not a fluff piece for Fanta
A death threat every week and sometimes life is short
When the truth is too dangerous for someone to report

(Chorus)
Who will tell the people that free speech is a ruse
The corporations run the country and then they make the news
Is it media or mind control, heroic victories or crimes
Who will tell the people that we're living in these times

The cancer rates are skyrocketing though people are smoking less
If you live near a nuke your life is bound to be a mess
Clean water's almost gone all over the earth
And what's left they want to privatize and see how much it's worth
Chevron is gunning down the students of Nigeria
Turning the land to waste while the babies die of dyptheria
And the weather's getting hotter, the world's forests are on fire
Pretty soon Brazil will be one giant funeral pyre

(Chorus)

One in three adult Americans cannot read or write
And their children go to bed hungry every night
And two million US citizens are rotting behind bars
And while they're there they're working hard building parts for cars
And the Army's running torture schools to keep the earth under control
And they're relocating Navajos so they can mine some extra coal
Our taxes pay McDonald's to sell tumors in Shanghai
While a hundred thousand poisoned vets are just about to die

(Chorus)

And the people are resisting wherever you may go
And this is the single biggest fact they don't want you to know
From New Delhi to New Mexico there are battles going on
And the darkest hour is just before the dawn
And in Berkeley and New York they're raiding radio stations
Trying to turn the voice of the people into the voice of the corporations
Will we seize the airwaves, wipe the sweat off of our brow
Stand and face the beast and shout, "Democracy Now!"

(Chorus)

[homebudz]

I like the lyrics in the last two posts.Too bad there isn't more.For me,I have found that our protest songs from the 60's and early 70's are still relevent today,and should be played more.Perhaps that would inspire more of the younger generation to start writing and playing.Music plays an extremley inportant role in our lives.

[Dakota's Mom]

But there is more, so much more. This guy is really great. You can down load his stuff at

davidrovics.com

He encourages you to copy his music just to get it out there.

From Kabul to Khartoum
David Rovics

From Guatemala to Korea
To the tunnels beneath Hanoi
From Tulsa to El Chorillo
Fat Man to Little Boy

We fought them in Nicaragua
And upon the Cuban shore
We killed Khaddafi's daughter
See what the fatwa's got in store

(chorus)
We're gonna bomb our way to freedom
With the cruise missiles of justice
And the spent shells of democracy
Oh, say, can you see

From Kabul to Khartoum
Where Allah's martyrs bled
To the Iraqi desert
Two hundred thousand people dead

(chorus)

From the School of the Assassins
To Argentina's dirty war
From Arizona to Nevada
We'll nuke our way to heaven's door

(chorus)

[Dakota's Mom]

Shut Them Down
David Rovics

[Shut Them Down in SPANISH (http://members.aol.com/drovics/shutsp.htm)] [Shut Them Down in ARABIC (http://members.aol.com/drovics/shut_ar.htm)] [Shut Them Down in FRENCH (http://members.aol.com/drovics/shutfr.htm)] We shall fight them on the beaches
We shall fight them on the shore
They will bring us exploitation
We'll bring them their class war
We'll lock down to the gates
As they're spreading vicious lies
They want to dominate the world
And we see through their disguise

If they'd have one big multinational
With their corporate flag unfurled
Searching everywhere
For the lowest wages in the world
Then we'll have One Big Union
From Melbourne to Prague to Seattle-town
Wherever they may go
We will shut them down

(Chorus)
We'll shut them down, we'll shut them down
We will shut them down

And CNN will spread the lies
This is just how it's gotta be
Well they can have their CNN
'Cause we got our IMC
And we will tell the truth quite clearly
Though they don't want to hear it
And they'll try to stop our broadcasts
'Cause the truth is that they fear it

(chorus)

They want a world full of strip malls
Plants grown by biotech
As long as they get richer
They just don't give a heck
But we don't want their ecocide
We want a world we can live in
That's why we're here to stay
And we're not gonna give in

(chorus)

And they'll infiltrate us
Provocateurs within our ranks
And if they can't divide us
They'll send in the tanks
But we will stand together
Pacifists and Zapatistas
Workers, farmers, the indigenous
Tree-huggers and baristas

(chorus)

And we will build a new world
Without the corporate elite
And we will see the day
Of their international defeat
We'll have self-determination
And equality for all
For what choice do we really have
But to rise up and see them fall

(chorus)

Created September, 2000
Copyright David Rovics 1998, all rights reserved

[Dakota's Mom]

After We Torture Our Prisoners
David Rovics

We'll get rid of the dictator, rebuild your country
Make sure all your kids go to school
We'll clean up the cities, get the sewage plants running
Institute parliamentary rule
We'll bring you autonomy, senators and judges
And a shiny new blue banner
We'll bring you pride and prosperity, food in your bellies
In every home a phone, fax and scanner
After we torture our prisoners

We'll bring you decades of peace, spiritual release
Free religious expression
You can say what you want in the papers you run
We'll never force a confession
After we torture our prisoners

The oil will flow just where it should go
Across the desert and into the sea
And you'll thank your God and the CIA
That finally you are free
After we torture our prisoners

You'll all be safe with us to protect you
And keep you out of harm's way
You'll thank creation and your liberation
From the dark into a new day
After we torture our prisoners

You can all jump for joy, each girl and boy
And look boldly into the distance
You'll be so happy for all that we've done
For such invaluable assistance
After we torture our prisoners

You won't have to worry about tyrants and bullies
Now that you have sovereignty
You can hold your head high, kiss Saddam goodbye
Say hello to democracy
After we torture our prisoners

Created May, 2004
Copyright David Rovics 2004, all rights reserved