I should have posted this yesterday.

[TexasProgresive]

I was thinking about all who have died in our wars and war in general this morning and I had this song start playing in my head. A question I would add to the lyric in this day and age, Where have all the protest songs gone, long time ago? We are living in a period of never ending war without a real public swell for or against. It just is. I am a veteran.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. In second grade, my teacher taught me this song (among others)

I became a liberal and progressive because of her.

[hermetic]

2. Good question

PP&M were the best! We just don't have the same kind of music coverage as we used to. But, if you look you can find stuff like this:

Even though Ritter isn’t specifically known for political music, at times his lyrics possess a social awareness. Notable examples include “Girl in the War” and “Thin Blue Flame,” two tunes off his 2006 album “The Animal Years,” which used the Iraq War as his narrative backdrop. Also, “The Temptation of Adam” off his 2007 album, “The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter” was a socially conscious love song in a world on the brink of a pending apocalypse.

Ritter’s upcoming album, “Fever Breaks,” will be released on April 26. The album was produced by Jason Isbell, another respected singer-songwriter who is unafraid to speak out on political issues. Isbell’s 400 Unit served as Ritter’s backing band.

The album features a few songs influenced by the current political climate. “The Torch Committee” is a pointed critique of bureaucratic corruption. “Silverblade,” one of two songs which Ritter composed for Joan Baez’s 2018 album Whistle Down the Wind, is a murder ballad, which touches upon issues important to #MeToo.

But perhaps the album’s most direct protest song is “All Some Kind of Dream.” Back in October 2018, Ritter posted a demo version and lyric video. On the YouTube page, Ritter made the following statement: “I’ve always avoided writing overtly political songs in the past, but recently I’ve been so enraged I didn’t know what else to do.”

https://shadowproof.com/2019/04/24/protest-song-of-the-week-all-some-kind-of-dream-by-josh-ritter/

[steventh]

6. The lyrics are awesome.

Thanks for posting the video and text.

Josh Ritter Lyrics
"All Some Kind Of Dream"

I saw my brother in a stranger's face
I saw my sister in a smile
My mother's laughter in a far off place
My father's footsteps in each mile
I thought I knew who my neighbor was
We didn't need to be redeemed
Oh, what could I have been thinking of?
Was it all some kind of dream?

I saw my country in the hungry eyes
Of a million refugees
Between the rocks and the rising tide
As they were tossed across the sea
There was a time when we were them
Just as now they all are we
Was there an hour when we took them in?
Or was it all some kind of dream?

I saw the children in the holding pens
I saw the families ripped apart
And though I try I cannot begin
To know what it did inside their hearts
There was a time when we held them close
And weren't so cruel, low, and mean
And we did good unto the least of those
Or was it all some kind of dream?

I saw justice with a tattered hem
I saw compassion on the run
But I saw dignity in spite of them
I prayed its day would finally come
There was a time when we chose our sides
And we refused to live between
We rose to fight for what we knew was right
Or was it all some kind of dream?

Last night I lay in my true love's bed
And she lay there close beside
And we lay thinking 'bout what lay ahead
And wondering if the sun would rise
For it seems that these are darker days
Than any others that we've seen
Oh, how we wished that we weren't wide awake
And this was all some kind of dream
Josh Ritter Lyrics

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/joshritter/allsomekindofdream.html

[Bayard]

7. Poetic and profound

Thanks for posting this.

[hermetic]

3. Oh wow! Look what else

I found.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2018/07/23/how-to-write-a-protest-song-in-the-trump-era/#7b79e57d7149

Watch those videos.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. The way we produce, consume, share and find new music has changed a lot since the days of PPM.

There are plenty of protest songs out there. You're just not going to find them on the charts or on the radio.

[pazzyanne]

5. There were many anti-war protest songs and artist.

One of my favorite is "One Tin Soldier"

One of the posts on this page says it all:


George Vreeland Hill

The 1960s and 1970s stood up to hate. Today, there is so much hate. Maybe we better listen to the voices of the past.

[Bayard]

8. Traveling Soldier

Dixie Chicks