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?
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
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
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'..
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......
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,
Yes...very true! While you are trying to change the outside world, you must also be changing your inside world.
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!
In our shallow, superficial, youth obsessed dumbed down, money grubbing, mindless culture its no surprise we dont have protest music.
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!
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.
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!
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
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)
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.
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)
Shut Them Down David Rovics [Shut Them Down in SPANISH] [Shut Them Down in ARABIC] [Shut Them Down in FRENCH] 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
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