Wanted: A Few Good Songs

... A while back, I asked a bunch of folks in the progressive community what their favorite protest song is. I got a few responses. Al Franken said "We Shall Overcome," Molly Ivins' favorite was an Irish folk song named "The Ballad of Kevin Barry," and David Crosby's choice was Billie Holiday's version of "Strange Fruit." Pete Seeger told me his was "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and Studs Terkel said it was Frank Warner's "Grasshoppers Arise" ("It's about guerilla fighters in the American Revolutionary War defending their homes against the Red Coats. It doesn't really apply today, but the analogy was so stark during the Vietnam Era," he told me).

Norman Mailer responded: "Not a song, but some old-time Brooklyn Doggerel:

Why should the masses Kiss the asses Of the wealthy... It ain't healthy" ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060322/cm_thenation/1570995;_ylt=A86.I0VXnCFEPeUAfwn9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

Also "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix, "Kick Out the Jams" by the MC5, and "Ohio" by Neil Young.

Another one I've always loved is "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones, but it never really ranked up there with my top protest songs. But now, thanks to V for Vendetta, its my new anthem.

This might help!


http://www.vietnamsongbook.org/setlist_jp.htm

http://www.peace-not-war.org/Jukebox/index.html

The Peace Jukebox plays hours of anti-war music for free. Songs written during the Bush Presidency can be heard as high-quality MP3s, with lyrics, on this ad-free independent website. The Peace Jukebox features anti-war songs by Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Public Enemy, Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Ani DiFranco, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Faithless, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Lenny Kravitz, Paris, System of a Down, Propagandhi, Banco de Gaia, Zach de la Rocha, Noam Chomsky... hiphop, rock, punk, acoustic, classical and spoken word.

to get my brother to re-release a song that his early 80's local Chicago band wrote
called State of Affairs. I listened to it the other day and it sent chills up my spine.
Unbelievable how appropriate the words are for today. Fear, corruption, lies, ignoring the enviornment. I just sent him this article in hopes of persuasion. The song needs to be heard.

So when I finally convince him, DU will be one of the first to hear it.