What is the most inspiring protest song?

[ColbertWatcher]

This is the fourth in an unintentional series of poll questions on dissent and protest. Poll question #1, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3535282&mesg_id=3535282">Poll question #2, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3539894&mesg_id=3539894">Poll question #3

Now, before all you whippersnappers go all loud rock and roll on me, I'm not familiar with any of the newer groups, so please, if you choose "Other" post a link to a YouTube video, MP3 or the lyrics so we old fogeys can hear what's behind all your racket.

Today's dissent/protest question: What is the most inspiring protest song?

We Shall Overcome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkNsEH1GD7Q)

A Change Is Gonna Come (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHLJF_ZsLVk)

Give Peace A Chance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk)

What's Going On (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD78i6eoGkM)

Imagine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0)

(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbOVtcSUVjI)

Anonymous Anthem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDzzL3Kzpk)

Freedom (RATM) (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vqcM5lVoteQ)

Other (please help grandpa keep up with the times)

[eShirl]

1. (personal favorite) If I Had A Hammer

IF I HAD A HAMMER (The Hammer Song)
words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

©1958, 1962 (renewed), 1986 (renewed)
TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

[ColbertWatcher]

2. I was going to put up a Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie, but...

...I thought they might be considered a bit dated.

Glad to see someone remembers.

Thank you for posting.

[eShirl]

3. I prefer the adjective, "timeless."

:)

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Excuse me, yes timeless. Classic is good too. n/t

[1Hippiechick]

5. I know it's a poll, but check out this website - proud to have been part of the 60s movement .....

http://www.sfheart.com/protest/index1.html

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Wow. I could have used that page...

... when I was looking for songs to use in this poll!

Thank you for posting the link.

[1Hippiechick]

14. "Imagine" by John Lennon - I miss him so much! His music will always make me cry

Hard for me to go back and read the lyrics to the songs on this site - stirs a lot of memories - some good, some not so good....

[ColbertWatcher]

50. I almost didn't put Imagine in there, only because...

...it is such a peaceful song.

You cannot sing that song angrily.

It is so counter to the other protest songs because of its quietness.

But, it is still very powerful.

[moriah]

174. Have you heard A Perfect Circle's cover of Imagine? Youtube link

... it comes pretty close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpqKA9_ddFk

Y

[elizfeelinggreat]

166. wow - from the link

I remember this song! It was powerful.
Thanks for the link.


WAR
War has shattered
Many young men's dreams
We've got no place for it today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord, there's just got to be a better way
It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War !
What is it good for?
("War", by Edwin Starr was the United States number 1 song in 1970.)

[safeinOhio]

7. ...and it's 1, 2, 3 what are we fighting for. nt

[dipsydoodle]

9. Excellent choice - Country Joe McDonald .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0jxHB3E710

Whoopee we're all goin' to die.

[bamademo]

37. I vote for Country Joe

I get fired up everytime I watch Woodstock.

[medeak]

114. lol

met that dude giving radio interview at 1 am... back in the day..memories!

[lumberjack_jeff]

160. GIMME AN "F" !!... n/t

[Maureen1322]

10. That's it!!

[cleveramerican]

8. ' I ain't marching anymore"

the great Phil Ochs

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3hyq5vD2zc

[dipsydoodle]

12. Ohio - CSNY

A truly black day in American history : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVi-DXOfnAM

[ColbertWatcher]

64. Yes it was. Thank you for posting. n/t

[slay]

120. Yeah I was going to vote this one

but went with Imagine - another truly powerful song. :)

[flor de jasmim]

13. "Where have all the flowers gone?"

I don't know if it's the most "inspiring" (and even what characteristics I would consider to define "inspiring" in this context), but the lyrics are haunting, showing a certain circularity of life, war and death.


WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
words and music by Pete Seeger
performed by Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

©1961 (Renewed) Fall River Music Inc
All Rights Reserved.

[Goldfish]

27. I agree with you.

Unfortunately, we haven't learned the message.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

95. My choice as well.

[pokerfan]

15. Masters of War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWkWSLEW-Ds

[Mojorabbit]

28. That is my pick too. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

65. Here are the lyrics

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

[Echo In Light]

16. War Pigs, By Black Sabbath. Rumors of War, By High On Fire

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgement day comes

Now in darkness, world stops turning
As the war machine keeps burning
No more war pigs have their power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
oh lord yeah!
======================

Rumors of War, By High On Fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89h-X-tZa_w

Howling tracks of Hell track coming, black storm on the rise
They fill out temples with their lies
The snakes come slithering
Anarchy
Chaotic hunters rise
Spit in the evil eyes
Stand our ground with hate and fury; fear that comes will die
Our enemies have come to life
A clashing comes, the haunting presence controlling all that breathes
It's brought the world down to it knees
Now they exalt the fiend
Shotgun
Your nightmare's not a dream
They'll choke you and your screams
Sacrificing sons and daughters, rolls the war machine
The tyrant fills his destiny
The hounds of hell are freed
Desolate
And with their bite, disease
His evil never sleeps

[The Gunslinger]

88. I vote for War Pigs as well

[harun]

125. Me too

[Chulanowa]

153. Sharp War Pigs video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FEABsKGOCCI

Warning: Has some graphicness to it. War footage.

[Thothmes]

17. Always liked "Eve of Destruction".

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Good choice, thank you. (clickable link included)

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

[Thothmes]

79. Thank You, that was well done.

[Sequoia]

151. Catchy tune that's for sure!

Funny how most of the words apply today.

[malaise]

157. One of the great classics n/t

[OhioChick]

19. An Oldie.....

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKhAHR5I

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Fortunate Son! Now, who was that about? n/t

[OhioChick]

23. The Decider (in this day and age)

"Fortunate Son is a controversial biography of current American president George W. Bush by J.H. Hatfield. The book was released in 2000 during Bush's candidacy in the United States 2000 Presidential Election."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Son_%28Hatfield%29

[ColbertWatcher]

26. That's not about the song is it?

That looks like it's about the book.

Apparently, the song was supposed to be about one of Eisenhower's grandkids. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Son_%28song%29)

[OhioChick]

29. Oh, I realize that....

I thought you were referring to this age.

Trick question. :)

[ColbertWatcher]

35. Of course, you are correct. My apologies for the confusion. n/t

[OhioChick]

36. No need for apologies.

:hi:

[opiate69]

21. The Fiddle and the Drum

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Otv953Sy58

Good choices, all, though.

[Ronnie Roach]

22. THIS! HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3000754/8581818

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Do you have a better link? Audio is really low. Thank you n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Beethoven's 9th Symphony, L'Internationale, Saigon Bride

Saigon Bride

Farewell my wistful Saigon bride
I'm going out to stem the tide
A tide that never saw the seas
It flows through jungles, round the trees
Some say it's yellow, some say red
It will not matter when we're dead

How many dead men will it take
To build a dike that will not break?
How many children must we kill
Before we make the waves stand still?

Though miracles come high today
We have the wherewithal to pay
It takes them off the streets you know
To places they would never go alone
It gives them useful trades
The lucky boys are even paid

Men die to build their Pharoah's tombs
And still and still the teeming wombs
How many men to conquer Mars
How many dead to reach the stars?

Farewell my wistful Saigon bride
I'm going out to stem the tide
A tide that never saw the seas
It flows through jungles, round the trees
Some say it's yellow, some say red
It will not matter when we're dead

[skooooo]

30. No Dylan songs!?

:(

[ColbertWatcher]

33. I was hoping someone would pick one for me...

...do you have any you would recommend?

[skooooo]

34. Here are a few --

Masters of War

It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding (little more abstract)

Times they are a Changing

[lame54]

52. Hands down the best - NOFX - The Decline - have a listen...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7678699283388177257

[jakem]

136. "Idiot Son of an Asshole" NOFX

http://www.ericblumrich.com/idiot.html

[lumberjack_jeff]

161. The Times they are a Changing. There you go. n/t

[zauberflote]

91. Here's one

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. A favorite
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYxuUgFsAM>

[Iris]

102. How about "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall?"

I first heard it in that Tom Cruise movie from the late 90s - Born in the USA?

[jayfish]

31. BYOB

YouTube Link
Lyrics Link

Why do they always send the poor?
My God is of Bible blood with pointed ears
Victorious, victorious steel
Can your spending kneel?
Marching forward hypocritic
And hypnotic computers
You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth
La la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Kneeling roses
Disappearing into Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox
Stealing our intentions
Every city, gripped in oil
Crying freedom!
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
la la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Blast off, it's party time
And we all live in a fascist nation
Blast off, it's party time
And where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor? x4
Kneeling roses
Disappearing into Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox
Stealing our intentions
Every city, gripped in oil
Crying freedom!
Handed to a obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
la la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sun
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor? x6
They always send the poor!
They always send the poor!

Jay

[OhioChick]

32. Not so much a "protest song" per say....

But gets the point of war across:

Metallica "One"

I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god, wake me

Back in the womb it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live

Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this LIFE off from me

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god, wake me

Now the world is gone I'm just one
Oh god, help me

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god, help me

Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Landmines has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my heart
Taken my soul
Taken my life
Left me with life in hell


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwW9L_qzqp8

[LWolf]

38. In addition to the great songs in the poll, I'd add

"Eve of Destruction"
"Masters of War"
"The List" John McCutcheon
"Long-haired radical socialist jew" and many others, by Hugh Blumenfeld

and the following, in no particular order, some old, some new:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1YMiUDLGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos-dDxpJlQ

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo

[PurgedVoter]

40. "Masters of War" is the greatest,

but to hear that greatness, the Don Mclean version must be heard.

Coldest use of a banjo ever done!

http://www.youtube.com/v/yzDj_gfHsQw&hl=en

[LWolf]

42. I have a few different versions, including that one.

I pulled that one out for my playlist in late 2001, thinking it fit too perfectly, and it's been there ever since.

[Wilms]

142. The Grave - Don McClean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4G2iKDzHrs

The Grave

Don McClean

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors,
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone.
He’s gone.

When the wars of our nation did beckon,
A man barely twenty did answer the calling.
Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation,
He’s gone,
But eternity knows him, and it knows what we’ve done.

And the rain fell like pearls on the leaves of the flowers
Leaving brown, muddy clay where the earth had been dry.
And deep in the trench he waited for hours,
As he held to his rifle and prayed not to die.

But the silence of night was shattered by fire
As guns and grenades blasted sharp through the air.
And one after another his comrades were slaughtered.
In morgue of marines, alone standing there.

He crouched ever lower, ever lower with fear.
"they can’t let me die! the can’t let me die here!
I’ll cover myself with the mud and the earth.
I’ll cover myself! I know I’m not brave!
The earth! the earth! the earth is my grave."

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors,
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone.
He’s gone.

[countryjake]

39. Grandpa forgot the best one - "When the Ship Comes In"

(this gramma's opinion)


When the Ship Comes In

Oh the time will come up
When the winds will stop
And the breeze will cease to be breathin'.
Like the stillness in the wind
'Fore the hurricane begins,
The hour when the ship comes in.

Oh the seas will split
And the ship will hit
And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking.
Then the tide will sound
And the wind will pound
And the morning will be breaking.

Oh the fishes will laugh
As they swim out of the path
And the seagulls they'll be smiling.
And the rocks on the sand
Will proudly stand,
The hour that the ship comes in.

And the words that are used
For to get the ship confused
Will not be understood as they're spoken.
For the chains of the sea
Will have busted in the night
And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean.

A song will lift
As the mainsail shifts
And the boat drifts on to the shoreline.
And the sun will respect
Every face on the deck,
The hour that the ship comes in.

Then the sands will roll
Out a carpet of gold
For your weary toes to be a-touchin'.
And the ship's wise men
Will remind you once again
That the whole wide world is watchin'.

Oh the foes will rise
With the sleep still in their eyes
And they'll jerk from their beds and think they're dreamin'.
But they'll pinch themselves and squeal
And know that it's for real,
The hour when the ship comes in.

Then they'll raise their hands,
Sayin' we'll meet all your demands,
But we'll shout from the bow your days are numbered.
And like Pharaoh's tribe,
They'll be drownded in the tide,
And like Goliath, they'll be conquered.

When the Ship Comes In by Bob Dylan


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrk25hHEb4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vhNCRlXm1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY0lYgBQrJI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7G_bq4iWk8

[blindpig]

41. 'Grandpa' oughta remember this one, it's a golden oldie.

Come all you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.

CHORUS:
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My dady was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son,
And I'll stick with the union
'Til every battle's won.

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.

Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don't scab for the bosses,
Don't listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize.

Florence Reece

[ColbertWatcher]

55. I must have had a "McCain moment". Thank you for posting. n/t

[anaxarchos]

105. Not so old...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vp_tmExO3k

[Ronnie]

43. Bobby Darin - "Simple Song of Freedom"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvY99BJzN-M

[Forkboy]

45. I love that song.

:thumbsup:

[dixiegrrrrl]

172. Thank you for the Darin clip

I had forgotten how good his voice was.....

so nice to hear again.
And I now remember that tune...

[sufrommich]

44. Marvin Gaye's "What's going on?" is the most

beautiful protest song ever written. I've heard it a million times and it still can make me cry.

[elizfeelinggreat]

164. Absolutely the most beautiful

I agree with you and I still listen to it often and it still brings tears to my eyes all the time.

"Mercy, Mercy Me" is an awesome song also.

[ceile]

46. "War" Edwin Starr

Simple and to the point.

[ColbertWatcher]

57. And it sounds awesome sung by a giant crowd of protesters! n/t

[LWolf]

47. My Hero, Mr. President. Paula Cole.

I put it in my list upthread, but I hadn't listened to it in a few years. She put it out in '03 (I think,) and listening to it just now brought tears and rage. She took considerable flack then, just like the Dixie Chicks. It's bitter, it's razor-sharp, and it's a dead-on picture of the bush administration all the way through:

Lyrics:

Yea, Yea
Yea, Yea, Yea

Well hello there, blue blood boy
Your bed is lined with dollars
I bet you're cumming oil

I love the way you take control and push the world around
United Nations- ha, ha
No one can keep you down

CHORUS:
Daddy's little helper, silver foot in your mouth
The policeman of the world is gonna start another war
Connecticut yankee in a cowboy hat
You're my hero, Mr. president

Remember the elections for the presidency
No matter that Gore had the majority
Your cousin married Fox TV, he declared you were the one
Your brother came through with his promise he'd get Florida

chorus

Now what you gonna do about our economy
You spend three trillion dollars in a heartbeat
Now what about us folks who live hand to mouth
We can't afford our lives, and we're working three jobs

chorus

Now don't you want your grand children to see the Colorado River?
You're kissing so much corporate ass that
You're selling away our future
We can all wear our geo-thermal suits and toast to you 'W'

Now wiping out the terrorists, that's fine by me
But please don't erode our civil liberties
The America we fight for and hold so dear
Includes a woman's right to choose
Freedom of religion, freedom of assembly
And free speech like the song I'm singing here

CHORUS:
Daddy's little helper, silver foot in your mouth
The policeman of the world is gonna kick Hussein's butt
Connecticut yankee in a cowboy hat
You're my hero, mr. president
You're my hero, mr. president
You're our Nero, mr. president

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1YMiUDLGM

[ColbertWatcher]

59. Ha ha!

It's got that smart ass, but children's song sound to it.

Very good, thank you.

[LWolf]

78. You're welcome.

:hi:

[bunkerbuster1]

48. the Jam -- Little Boy Soldiers

Only one of many great protest songs, but this one always gets to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS7uwhgMQ18

Its funny how you never knew what my name was,
Our only contact was a form for the election.
These days I find that you don't listen,
These days I find that we're out of touch,
These days I find that I'm too busy,
So why the attention now you want my assistance -
what have you done for me?
You've gone and got yourself in trouble,
Now you want me to help you out.
These days I find that I can't be bothered,
These days I find that it's all too much,
To pick up a gun and shoot a stranger,
But I've got no choice so here I come - war games.
I'm up on the hills playing little boy soldiers,
Reconnaissance duty up at 5:30.
Shoot shoot shoot and kill the natives,
You're one of us and we love you for that.
Think of honour, Queen and country.
You're a blessed son of the British Empire,
God's on our side and so is Washington.
Come out on the hills with the little boy soldiers.
Come on outside - I'll sing you a lullabye,
And tell the tale of how goodness prevailed.
We ruled the world - we killed and robbed,
The fucking lot - but we don't feel bad.
It was done beneathe the flag of democracy,
You'll believe - and I do, yes I do - yes I do -
Yes I do -
These days I find that I can't be bothered,
To argue with them - well, what's the point?
Better to take your shots and drop down dead,
Then they send you home in a pine overcoat.
With a letter to your mum
Saying 'find enclosed one son, one medal' - and a note to say he won

[ColbertWatcher]

49. I have to admit, I picked the Anonymous Anthem!

(Rick roll for the win!)

I remember when I first saw that video, however. It was very inspirational for me anyway, considering the circumstances.

It was February 10th and the pics and video for Anonymous' protest against the world's most dangerous cult were coming in from around the globe.

Every protest was scheduled for 11:00am, and the first country to begin uploading images was Australia. They were so proud to be first! There was one video showing the empty street in front of the Co$ building and as the video progressed the people began to fill the street to join the protest!

As the day went on, more and more videos and pictures poured in.

Students in Georgia facing armed SWAT officers, 300 people in London, 400 in Los Angeles and it was all organized over the internets. Few of these people had ever met in real life, but they came together for something they all believed in.

Oh, back to the song.

People began posting their stories too: from Tokyo, where one lone protester dared face the Co$ goon squad, or the hearty dozen or so people who got together in Canada and Wisconsin and Minnesota in rain and sub-freezing temperatures.

Everyone had a great stories and pictures, but the one that served as a reminder of where they had come from was that video of kids in Seattle (I think it was Seattle) Rickrolling the Co$! It was as if the internets had come to life!

Every time I see that video it reminds me of how brave those kids are to face such litigious and powerful evil with a sense of humor.

And for anyone who stuck it out through this post, a gift sung by Willie Nelson and Arlo Guthrie, http://youtube.com/watch?v=kgl0W7k_Q-4">Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

[CBGLuthier]

51. Not sure which is most inspiring but

A Change is Gonna Come is so beautiful it always makes me tear up just a bit.

[lame54]

53. Hands down the best - NOFX - The Decline - have a listen...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7678699283388177257

[Forkboy]

54. Yell Fire!

Michael Franti and Spearhead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viYdHvYM6ao

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
Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
Revolution a comin'
Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
Put em up, Put em up
Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never sends you an omen
A revolution

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 Tosh 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
Put em up, Put em up
Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo

Throw your hands up
Put em up, Put em up
Throw your hands up
Put em up, Put em up
Throw your hands up

A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never sends you an omen
A revolution never come with a warning

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
Put em up, Put em up
Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
Throw your hands up

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

Fire, yo, yo, yo, Fire
Here we come Here we come
A revolution here it come
Put em up, Put em up

[ColbertWatcher]

58. Wow.

This is brilliant.

It's like kind of reggae and rap and rock, but I don't feel like kicking anyone off my lawn while I'm listening to it.

Thank you for posting.

[countryjake]

62. Thanks for posting that, Forkboy!

Great song!

[lame54]

56. Remember this one?...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZxOYF9ZAe0

[ColbertWatcher]

61. And you know it's right! We have got to get it together. NOW!

Thank you for posting.

[lumberjack_jeff]

163. Right on. I'm holding up a lighter. n/t

[Asgaya Dihi]

60. Not most inspiring, but perhaps most true

I love a lot of the old "change is coming" type songs but I've also been hearing that tune without seeing it lived up to for too many years now. Too many in the nation these days don't even remember a time before things were like this and before long nobody will, there won't be anything to go back to anymore. So, I've pretty well settled into songs like this one. Inspiring, no. Honest and protesting/dissenting, yes. Nation of Assholes by Disenfranchised Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0FUBS3i7fs

[ColbertWatcher]

63. Beautiful piano and vocal harmonies.

It rhymes and the lyrics are easy to sing.

It brings tears to my eyes to know that someone has finally set "sphincter with ears" to music.

Thank you.

[SidneyCarton]

66. Eve of Destruction

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

67. I voted for We Shall Overcome - but Blowin' In The Wind is a strong second

I love that Dylan tune.

[LeftishBrit]

68. Of those listed here, "We Shall Overcome"...

but perhaps my all-time favourite is Pete Seeger's "One Man's Hands"

ONE MAN'S HANDS

One man's hands can't tear a prison down
Two men's hands can't tear a prison down
But if two and two and fifty make a million
We'll see that day come round
We'll see that day come round.

One man's eyes can't see the future clear. . .

One man's voice can't shout to make them hear. . .

One man's strength can't ban the atom bomb. . .

One man's strength can't roll the union on. . .

[ColbertWatcher]

71. I should have made three separate polls...

...one for Peter Seeger songs, one for Bob Dylan songs and one for everyone who isn't Seeger or Dylan!

Thank you for your contributions.

[LeftishBrit]

69. And never mind Grandpa, what about Great-Great-Great-Grandpa?

This is a song from the mid-19th century; the words are by Scottish poet Charles Mackay. Sadly, it is just as relevant today as then.

There's a Good Time Coming
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
There's a good time coming, boys,
Wait a little longer.
We may not live to see the day,
But earth shall glisten in the ray
Of the good time coming.
Cannon-balls may aid the truth,
But thought's a weapon stronger;
We'll win our battle by its aid:
Wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
The pen shall supersede the sword,
And right, not might, shall be the lord,
In the good time coming.
Worth, not birth, shall rule mankind,
And be acknowledged stronger.
The proper impulse has been given:
Wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
Hateful rivalries of creed
Shall not make their martyrs bleed
In the good time coming.
Religion shall be shorn of pride,
And flourish all the stronger;
And Charity shall trim her lamp:
Wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
War in all men's eyes shall be
A monster of iniquity
In the good time coming.
Nations shall not quarrel then
To prove which is the stronger,
Nor slaughter men for glory's sake:
Wait a little longer.

[rucky]

70. Billy Bragg - All You Fascists

Are Bound to Lose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDRIJC31tU&feature=related

[ColbertWatcher]

72. I was thinking there wasn't enough punk on the list.

Thank you for adding your pick.

[LeftishBrit]

126. One of my very favourite political songs is Billy Bragg's "Between the Wars"

Not sure if it's exactly a protest song; but it's a great song, and expresses so much of how I feel about politics and about Britain:



I was a miner
I was a docker
I was a railway man
Between the wars
I raised a family
In times of austerity
With sweat at the foundry
Between the wars

I paid the union and as times got harder
I looked to the government to help the working man
And they brought prosperity down at the armoury
"We're arming for peace me boys"
Between the wars

I kept the faith and I kept voting
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand
For theirs is a land with a wall around it
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory
Mine is the green field and the factory floor
Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers
And mine is the peace we knew
Between the wars

Call up the craftsmen
Bring me the draughtsmen
Build me a path from cradle to grave
And I'll give my consent
To any government
That does not deny a man a living wage

Go find the young men never to fight again
Bring up the banners from the days gone by
Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars

[A-Schwarzenegger]

73. The Great Mandella - Peter Paul & Mary

[ColbertWatcher]

74. Do you have a link? n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

77. Sorry, i dunno about youtube but there's a sample on this page ...

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1098995/a/Album+1700.htm

Here're the lyrics:

So I told him that he'd better shut his mouth
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?


Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.

Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years



Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations

We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.

[NanceGreggs]

112. Was just going to post that one ...

Here's a great rendition by Peter (of PPM) and Richie Havens:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vj1YxTl1e2I&watch_response

[CatholicEdHead]

75. John McCutcheon "Know When to Move"

http://www.folkmusic.com/record/r_like.htm#move

Of course if you look for his music library, there are many, many songs that fit as "protest" songs.

http://www.folkmusic.com/f_music.htm

[zanne]

76. Mercy Mercy Me is a good song about the environment.

Marvin Gaye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BA6fFGMjI&feature=related

[DutchLiberal]

80. I don't care for inspiring protest songs. They have to be dark, bitter and leaving no hope at all.

Only then, people who hear it might wake up and start doing something. I don't care much for the rose-colored utopian songs like 'Imagine' (good as it is in its own right). I prefer e.g. 'Working class hero':

"There's room at the top, they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill"

Other personal favorites:

-'The universal soldier' (in the original version by Buffy St-Marie; Donovan's too soft): expressing the idea that you can't shift all the blame from the soldiers to the commanders in chief: "he's the universal soldier and he really is to blame". We should stop glorifying the military and those who are in it.

-'Eve of destruction': the raw, unpolished voice of Barry McGuire adds a feeling of desperation to the dystopian world view expressed in the lyrics. Scorning those who believe the world may still become a better place, and criticizing the hypocrites: "Think of all the hate there is in Red China; then take a look around in Selma, Alabama".

-'Hard day on the planet': written more than 15 years ago by Loudon Wainwright, and still appropriate word for word today. It covers the falling dollar, destruction of the environment, terrorism, and contemplates whether it would be that bad if humanity got extinghuished...

-'Welterusten, mijnheer de president': literally translated it means: 'Good night, mister president'. It was written in 1966 by Lennaert Nijgh, Holland's finest lyricist and sung by Boudewijn de Groot, Holland's most talented and influential musical performer. It was a dark, sarcastic and even deeply cynical good night's wish to president Johnson, condemning the Vietnam War. Many Dutch protest songs have been written since, but this one continues to be the most popular. Sadly, the song got a revival and was played a lot again the past few years, since it applies also to George Bush and the Iraq War (since neither Johnson nor Vietnam were specifically mentioned).

[FreeStateDemocrat]

81. F The CC by Steve Earle

I used to listen to the radio
And I don’t guess they’re listenin’ to me no more
They talk too much but that’s okay
I don’t understand a single word they say
Piss and moan about the immigrants
But don’t say nothin’ about the president
A democracy don’t work that way
I can say anything I wanna say

So fuck the FCC
Fuck the FBI
Fuck the CIA
Livin’ in the motherfuckin’ USA

People tell me that I’m paranoid
And I admit I’m gettin’ pretty nervous, boy
It just gets tougher everyday
To sit around and watch it while it slips away
Been called a traitor and a patriot
Call me anything you want to but
Just don’t forget your history
Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free

[blues90]

82. I have two not on the list.

Lennons just give me some truth and Hendrix star spangled banner .

[DutchLiberal]

83. Listen to the 100 best protest songs (for free):

Last year, Dutch Radio 2 had a special initiative: to put together a Top 100 of the best protest songs. Dutch listeners could vote and they decided on the definitive list. Because of the success, they decided to save the entire top in the form of video streams. You can listen by clicking on the yellow time indications (they saved the show per hour). It opens in winamp or any other application you use to listen to your music. This way, you can skip the Dutch news and commercials.

http://www.radio2.nl/page/nieuwsitem/111152

[ColbertWatcher]

87. WOW! Thank you for posting! n/t

[DutchLiberal]

154. You're welcome. I hope my explanation came across clear enough.

After all, it's hard to navigate a website in a language you don't understand. Were my instructions helpful?

[Juche]

84. Sepultura - Refuse/Resist

Here you go grandpa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwD5Jk7fJb4

The way this video used a song by the Killers made it into a great protest song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwD5Jk7fJb4

[slay]

121. Sepultura.. fuckin a.. great vid too

Thanks for posting this.

[Vidar]

85. Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land" with all the verses sung.

[ColbertWatcher]

89. Link to lyrics...

http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/this-land.shtml

Thank you for posting.

[Vidar]

140. Thanks for the link.

[Mz Pip]

86. For What It's Worth

by Buffalo Spring Field.

Feel Like I'm Fixin'to Die Rag by Country Joe.

Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane.

Baba O'Reilly by the Who.

[The Gunslinger]

90. American Idiot - Green Day

[nashville_brook]

143. oh hell yeah! that whole record.

[Zomby Woof]

92. "Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)" - Woody Guthrie

Sad, beautiful, and subtle, in contrast to the normal mode of most 'protest' music.

10 more:

"Trouble Every Day" - The Mothers of Invention
"Hungry Freaks, Daddy" - The Mothers of Invention
"It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" - Bob Dylan
"Things Goin' On" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Don't Look Now (It Ain't You Or Me)" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
"What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye
"If 6 Was 9" - Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Pretty Boy Floyd" - Woody Guthrie
"Bombtrack" - Rage Against The Machine
"Maggie's Farm" - Bob Dylan

[ColbertWatcher]

93. I would expect a good list from someone with a Zappa avatar! TY n/t

[DefenseLawyer]

94. "To Washington" by John Mellencamp

Released in 2003 when almost every other major star was either biting his tongue or worse, jumping on the pro-war bandwagon.

[LBJDemocrat]

96. The Ghost of Tom Joad - covered by RATM

Nothing else comes close. Certainly not John Lennon. Sorry, but that stuff is so cutesy that it destroys the will.

[ColbertWatcher]

100. Most of those protest songs were meant to be sung at a rally...

...by hundreds of people without the electronics and perhaps without accomp...accomp...gitars...

Maybe all Lennon's songs need is a different arrangement.

[lastliberalintexas]

97. How about a poem for a change?

Some of the best anti-war poetry came from the war to end all wars.

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Dulce.html

Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

[ColbertWatcher]

98. Tomorrow's poll question...

...was going to be either photography or speeches.

Maybe I'll do both?

[latebloomer]

99. I love most of these songs- but can't resist posting this

"The Folk Song Army"- Tom Lehrer


One type of song that has come into increasing prominence in recent months is the folk-song of protest. You have to admire people who sing these songs. It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee-house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on. The nicest thing about a protest song is that it makes you feel so good. I have a song here which I realise should be accompanied on a folk instrument in which category the piano does not alas qualify so imagine if you will that I am playing an 88 string guitar.


We are the Folk Song Army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.

There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience.
Why they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.

If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.

The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English,
And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne.

Remember the war against Franco?
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.

So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! Aim! Sing!

[ColbertWatcher]

101. It might not have 88 strings, but...

...it certainly isn't Guitarmass



I wonder, though, if the GOP have any pro-war songs? Or pro-hate songs?

[latebloomer]

103. Quite an instrument!

Good question about the GOP-

"Okie from Muskokie"?

"The Green Berets"?

Can't think of anything current.

[ColbertWatcher]

104. Can't think of anything current.

I think that's true of everything the GOP is involved in; they've done nothing new for at least 50 or so years.

[dipsydoodle]

130. Me thinks a bunch of us must be the same age

within a few years or so :hi:

Youtube link for that song is here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygMhtNQJ9M

[PerfectSage]

106. Other: Iraq our great land or as I like to call it :Fuck you America I won't do what'cha tell me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbXXwoE3sOk

[NuttyFluffers]

107. rather partial to: 4 Non Blondes - Dear Mr. President

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTPjWoXimc0

yeah, the 90s were a rather happy, childlike time.

ooh, i just had to add a few more...

The Temptations - Ball of Confusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrihp7g0bgs

Dead Prez-Propaganda
(not official vid, but an appropriate creation for the times)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdgRH_p3XI&feature=related

[bridgit]

108. Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz9sjMGUM9k

[cherokeeprogressive]

109. Don't bogart that Joint.

[petgoat]

110. Phil Ochs, "Power and the Glory" and "There But for Fortune," "I Ain't a'Marchin' Any More"

Power and the Glory

Come and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land
Walk thru the meadows and the mountains and the sand
Walk thru the valleys and the rivers and the plains
Walk thru the sun and walk thru the rain

Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too
Virginia and Alaska, from the old to the new
Texas and Ohio and the California shore
Tell me, who could ask for more?

Yet she's only as rich as the poorest of her poor
Only as free as the padlocked prison door
Only as strong as our love for this land
Only as tall as we stand

But our land is still troubled by men who have to hate
They twist away our freedom & they twist away our fate
Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry
We can stop them if we try

Here it's sung by a kid who probably wasn't even born
when Ochs died--good going, kid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8ZUdfLLok

There But for Fortune

Show me a prison, show me a jail
Show me a pris'ner whose face has grown pale

And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I

Show me an alley, show me a train
Show me a hobo who sleeps out in the rain

And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I

Show me the whiskey stains on the floor
Show me a drunk as he stumbles out the door

And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I

Show me a country where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of buildings so tall

And I'll show you a young land
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I
You or I

Here's Phil Ochs singing this one, in 1967:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTjRPugJ8CA

I Ain't a'Marchin' Anymopre

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

chorus)
It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning
That I ain't marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin'
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"
Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more,
No I ain't marchin' any more

Here's Ochs singing this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pgrKSwFJE

[snot]

111. Billy Bragg's version of the Internationale,

here: http://c-cyte.blogspot.com/2008/05/billy-braggs-version-of-internationale.html

and Joan Baez's Joe Hill at Woodstock.

[Radical Activist]

113. New Kicks by Le Tigre

Not a traditional song but I'm always excited by the end.

And the classic Solidarity Forever.

[medeak]

115. thanks for your work ColbertWatcher

loving all the nostalgia

m

[Voice for Peace]

116. Universal Soldier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLzUNDaF00U&feature=related

He's five foot three and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen,
been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill, and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you

...
and brothers can't you see
this is not the way we put an end to war

[PDJane]

181. My all time favourite,

but I prefer Buffy Ste. Marie........*shrug* I'm a Canadian, eh?

[Hardrada]

117. Vengo Jaleo, Viva La Quince Brigada, Joe Hill

[poppysgal]

118. I would like

to nominate "American Woman" by THE GUESS WHO.:hippie:

[Norrin Radd]

119. I don't know about inspiring, or protest songs, per se

but I thought I'd add a few not usual ones to this growing list. ;)
I can think of many more, but they are fairly common.

Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Snehl2bAk

Run to the hills
Alright let's spare me those hands in the air everybody c'mon, yeah

White man came across the sea
He brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need

We fought him hard, we fought him well
Out on the plains, you sing it
But many came, too much for Cree
Oh will we ever be set free

Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes
Galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes
Fighting them at their own game

Murder for freedom the stab in the back
Woman and children and cowards attack

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Soldier blue in the barren wastes
Hunting and killing their game
Raping the woman and wasting the man
The only good Indians are tame

Selling them whiskey and taking their gold
Enslaving the young and destroying the old

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives



Morrissey - Interesting Drug

(the lyric is "bad people on the rise" but pay attention to what the boy writes on the wall in the video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEXsFbuF2E

There are some bad people on the rise
There are some bad people on the rise
They're saving their own skins by
Ruining other people's lives
Bad, bad people on the rise
Young married couple in debt
- ever felt had ?
Young married couple in debt
- ever felt had ?

On a government scheme
Designed to kill your dream
Oh mum, oh dad
Once poor, always poor
La la la la la
Interesting drug
The one that you took
TELL THE TRUTH - IT REALLY HELPED YOU
An interesting drug
The one that you took
God, it really really helped you
You wonder why we're only half-ashamed ?

"Because ENOUGH is TOO MUCH!
...and look around ...
...can you blame us ? CAN you blame us ? "

On a government scheme
Designed to kill your dream
Oh mum, oh dad
Once poor, always poor
La la la la la
Interesting drug
The one that you took
TELL THE TRUTH - IT REALLY HELPED YOU
An interesting drug
The one that you took
God, it really really helped you
You wonder why we're only half-ashamed ?

"Because ENOUGH is TOO MUCH!
...and look around ...
...can you blame us ? CAN you blame us ? "



When Ya Get Drafted - Dead Kennedys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJe-mvFRlGs

Are you believing the morning papers?
War is coming back in style
There's generals here, advisors there
And Russians nibbling everywhere
The chessboard's filling up with red
We make more profits when we
blow off their heads

Economy is looking bad
Let's start another war when ya get drafted
Fan the fires of racist hatred
We want total war when ya get drafted

Drooling fingers
Panic buttons
Playing with missiles like they're toys
There's easy money, easy jobs
Especially when you build the bombs

That blow big cities off the map
Just guess who profits when
we build 'em back up
Yeah, what Big Business
wants Big Business gets

It wants a war when ya get drafted
Trilateral Commission goonies laugh
and scheme for more when ya get drafted
Call the Army!
Call the Navy!
Stocked with kids from slums
when ya get drafted
If you can't afford a slick attorney
We might make you a spy

Forget your demonstrations
Kids today sit on their ass
when ya get drafted
Just a six-pack
And you're happy
We're prepared
For when ya get drafted



Your Racist Friend - They Might Be Giants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHxEnQZi3Ow&feature=related

This is where the party ends
I can't stand here listening to you
And your racist friend
I know politics bore you
But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
And your racist friend

It was the loveliest party that I've ever attended
If anything was broken I'm sure it could be mended
My head can't tolerate this bobbing and pretending
Listen to some bullet-head and the madness that he's saying

This is where the party ends
I'll just sit here wondering how you
Can stand by your racist friend
I know politics bore you
But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
You and your racist friend

This is where the party ends
I can't stand here listening to you
And your racist friend
I know politics bore you
But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
And your racist friend

Out from the kitchen to the bedroom to the hallway
Your friend apologizes, he could see it my way
He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking
Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding

This is where the party ends
I can't stand here listening to you
And your racist friend
I know politics bore you
But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
And your racist friend

[Chulanowa]

122. Just a few that come to mind...

First, an oldie but a goodie...

Rudyard Kipling, A Pict Song

Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass on--that is all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.

Chorus:
We are the Little Folk--we!
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone and you'll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!

Mistletoe killing an oak--
Rats gnawing cables in two--
Moths making holes in a cloak--
How they must love what they do!
Yes--and we Little Folk too,
We are busy as they--
Working our works out of view--
Watch, and you'll see it some day!

Chorus

No indeed! We are not strong,
But we know Peoples that are.
Yes, and we'll guide them along
To smash and destroy you in War!
We shall be slaves just the same?
Yes, we have always been slaves,
But you--you will die of the shame,
And then we shall dance on your graves!

Performed by Emerald Rose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fYj2V19G8E

Eminem's "Mosh"

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all...
It feels so good to be back..

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'mma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi-task
And in juggling both perhaps mastered his craft
Slash entrepreneur who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who's had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mr. kisses ass crack, he's a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back


Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c'mon)

All the people up top on the side and the middle
Come together lets all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people some white and some black
Don't matter what color, all that matters we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause don't matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain't gonna stop us they can't, we stronger now more than ever
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, Fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home (c'mon)



Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's tryina tell us something,
Maybe this is God just sayin' we're responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head noddin'
How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six...
Teen million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country, we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.



And as we proceed,
To Mosh through this desert storm,
In these closing statements, if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction
That we call our President, for the present
And Mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
Do you guy's hear us...hear us... (Hailie)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcpJ3LafwbY

Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day"

Ive wept for those who suffer long
But how I weep for those whove gone
Into rooms of grief and questioned wrong
But keep on killing
Its in the soul to feel such things
But weak to watch without speaking
Oh what mercy sadness brings
If God be willing

There is a train thats heading straight
To heavens gate, to heavens gate
And on the way, child and man
And woman wait, watch and wait
For redemption day

Fire rages in the streets
And swallow everything it meets
Its just an image often seen
On television
Come leaders, come you men of great
Let us hear you pontificate
Your many virtues laid to waste
And we arent listening
What do you have for us today
Throw us a bone but save the plate
Oh why we waited til so late
Was there no oil to excavate
No riches in trade for the fate
Of every person who died in hate
Throw us a bone, you men of great

There is a train thats heading straight
To heavens gate, to heavens gate
And on the way, child and man
And woman wait, watch and wait
For redemption day

Its buried in the countryside
Its exploding in the shells of night
Its everywhere a baby cries
Freedom

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

Iggy and the Stooges, "Search and Destroy"

Im a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm
Im a runaway son of the nuclear a-bomb
I am a worlds forgotten boy
The one who searches and destroys

Honey gotta help me please
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby detonate for me

Look out honey, cause Im using technology
Aint got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a fire fight

Honey gotta strike me blind
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby penetrate my mind

And Im the worlds forgotten boy
The one whos searchin, searchin to destroy
And honey Im the worlds forgotten boyt
The one whos searchin, searchin to destroy

Forgotten boy, forgotten boy
Forgotten boy said hey forgotten boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYALsp-sIg

Johnny Cash, "Man In Black"

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCqpPj87ekE

Steve Earle (and the Pogues), "Johnnie Come Lately"

I'm an American, boys. I've come a long way
I was born and bred in the USA
So listen up close, I've get something to say
Boys, I'm buying this round
Well it took a Little while but we're in this fight
And we ain't going home 'til we've done what's right
We're gonna drink Camden Town dry tonight
If I have to spend my last pound
When I first got to London it was pourin' down rain
Met a Iittle girl in the field canteen
Painted her name on the nose of my plane
Six more missions I'm gone
Well I asked if I could stay and she said that I might
Then the warden came around yelling "shut out the lights"
Death rainin' out of the London night
We made love 'til dawn

When Johnny Come Lately comes marching home
With a chest full of medals and a G.l. loan
They'll be waitin' at the station down in San Antone
When Johnny comes marching home

MY P-47 is a pretty good ship
She took a round coming cross the Channel last trip
I was thinking 'bout my baby and letting her rip
Always got me through so far
Well they can ship me all over this great big world
But I'll never find nothing like my North End girl
I'm taking her home with me one day, sir
Soon as we win this war

When Johnny Come Lately comes marching home
With a chest full of medals and a G.l. loan
They'll be waitin' at the station down in San Antone
When Johnny comes marching home

Now my granddaddy sang me this song
Told me about London when the Blitz was on
How he married Grandma and brought her back home
A hero throughout this land
Now I'm standing on a runway in San Diego
A couple o' Purple Hearts so I move a little slow
ain't nobody here, maybe nobody knows
About a place called Vietnam

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

And if you're for something a little more uplifting... I wouldn't exactly call it a protest song, but there's this beauty: http://youtube.com/watch?v=z_znb0MlHTY

[cascadiance]

123. Gil Scott Heron - Work for Peace... (and a bunch of others)

Was written for the first Gulf war, but applies to this one too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88SkWMdIo6o
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faxUbpyBHRo

Some other good ones:

Pink - Dear Mr. President:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4

Pink - I Have Seen the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJrftgq6KKw

Lizzie West - 19 Miles to Baghdad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ebCceiWlTM

The NightWatchman (Tom Morello) - The Road I Must Travel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrBfPLUm5so

Richie Havens - Freedom (Woodstock concert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGPrPIWda9E

Fairuz - Li Beirut (hard to understand the words, but not the feelings of the Lebanese here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeWFohe4srE or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HlxqursgjU

John Fogerty - Deja Vu All Over Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-KaZ6NCJGU

Michael Franti - Bomb the World (another good tune!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICL-4Onk0PA

Midnight Oil (lead singer is now Australia's new Environmental minister!) - Beds Are Burning!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10BbpGKLXqk

Nena - 99 Luft Balons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYQTFudrqc

David Bowie - This is Not America (Falcon and the Snowman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRF8xGzvj4

Patti Smith Group - People Have the Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgXdJqWc1U4

John Lennon - Power to the People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos-dDxpJlQ

John Lennon - Give Peace a Chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk&feature=related

John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War is Over) (Hope we can sing this this year!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8jw-ifqwkM&feature=related

Paul Hardcastle - Nineteen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSGvqjVHik8

The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWg3b15ITS8

[FloridaJudy]

124. "Down by the Riverside"

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
I ain’t gonna study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more

Listen to my Mariachi band
With a friend in Mexico
With a friend in Mexico
With a friend in Mexico
Listen to my Mariachi band
With a friend in Mexico
We won’t study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more

I’m gonna learn to play a sitar
With a friend in India
With a friend in India
With a friend in India
I’m gonna learn to play a sitar
With a friend in India
We won’t study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more

I’m gonna learn to play those conga drums
With a friend in Nigeria
With a friend in Nigeria
With a friend in Nigeria
I’m gonna learn to play those conga drums
With a friend in Nigeria
We won’t study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more

I’m gonna learn to live in peace
With my friends around the world
With my friends around the world
With my friends around the world
I’m gonna learn to live in peace
With my friends around the world
We won’t study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Study war no more

[TexasObserver]

127. ... and no religion, too

[LeftishBrit]

128. 'Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream'

(originally by Ed McCurdy, I think; though others have done it since):




Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful pray'rs were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing 'round and 'round
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd never dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.

[kydo]

129. I'd love to change to world - Ten Years After

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzrUqAtUcpU>

I'd love to change to world - Ten Years After

Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you


Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, No more for me

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

o yah

World pollution, there's no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Senators stop the war


I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

[noel711]

131. "We Shall Overcome...."

1. Because everyone knows the words, and you don't need a songsheet.

2. Because you don't need a rock n' roll band to play the accompaniment

3. Because it fits with many situations.

4. Because whenever anyone sings it, his/her voice is joined to the voices of the millions
who have marched, sat in, were imprisoned, were dragged out, were hosed, were abused,
were beaten, were killed... for the right to sing, the right to believe, the right to speak out,
the right for freedom.

5. Because it is the protest song of the common man/woman, and of the angels.

[KansDem]

132. I've always liked "The Famer is the Man"

The farmer comes to town
with his wagon broken down
The farmer is the man who feeds us all
If you'd only look and see
I know you will agree
That the farmer is the man who feeds us all

Yeah the farmer is the man the farmer is a man
buys on his credit till the fall
Then they take him by the hand
and they lead him from his land
And the merchant he's the man who gits it all

The banker says he's broke
the grocer's up in smoke
They forget that it's farmer feeds us all
If we'd put them to the test
if the farmer took a rest
Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds us all

Yeah the farmer is the man the farmer is the man
lives on his credit until Fall
Well his pants're wearin'
thin his condition it's a sin
Because the taxes on the farmer feeds us all

I said the farmer is the man the farmer is the man
the farmer is the man who feeds us all

I believe this song became popular during the end of the 19th century and was the song of the Greenback Party.

From Wikipedia
The Greenback Party (also known as the Independent Party, the National Party, and the Greenback-Labor Party) was an American political party that was active between 1874 and 1884. Its name referred to paper money, or "greenbacks," that had been issued during the American Civil War and afterward. The party opposed the shift from paper money back to a specie-based monetary system because it believed that privately owned banks and corporations would then reacquire the power to define the value of products and labor. Conversely, they believed that government control of the monetary system would allow it to keep more currency in circulation, as it had in the war. This would better foster business and assist farmers by raising prices and making debts easier to pay. It was established as a political party whose members were primarily farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873.

[Recursion]

133. Rain on a tin roof, it sounds like a drum...

...we're marching for freedom today
Turn on your headlights, and sound your horns
If people get in the way...

[Recursion]

134. But, more seriously, "Killing in the Name Of"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY

[Echo In Light]

135. Half Mast, By The Hidden Hand

Passive we stare down these chequered halls
Massive yet spare sound these measured walls
Wanting is more than life will allow
The colors they fly at half mast from the bow

Early frost arrives
Winter heralds near
Blood moon to rise
Premonition's clear

Precious the lives that are uncaringly stole
Treacherous minds, just brains without souls
Greed is the core of their sheltered ideals
The flag it unfirls at half mast o'er fields

Earthly wind divides
Goddess hearlds near
Early frost arrives
Destiny is clear

We will overcome
You will overcome
Love will overcome

Free listen: http://www.last.fm/music/The+Hidden+Hand/_/Half+Mast



The Hidden Hand was fronted by legendary underground metal guitarist/songwriter Wino. Most of their material served to warn of Bushco and the NWO.

[jakem]

137. "Idiot Son of an Asshole" NOFX

http://www.ericblumrich.com/idiot.html

[guitar man]

138. Alice's Restaraunt

Humorous and inspiring at the same time. :hi:

[jeepnstein]

139. Steve Earle "Rich Man's War"

Rich Man's War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjT6B6IFUU8

Oh, and of course. Biko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNQuJm67OzE&feature=related

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

141. Lives in the balance

Jackson Browne

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

[nashville_brook]

144. Jefferson Airplane -- Volunteers.

It's something about the arrangement -- it has that *feeling* of overcoming.

[mia]

145. Bob Marley - Get Up, Stand Up

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5zTxUxFjLB0&feature=related

Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up
www.lyrics007.com


Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
'Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. Come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. Jah!

Get up, stand up! (Jah, Jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (Oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Don't give up the fight! (Life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (So we can't give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (Lord, Lord!)
Get up, stand up! (Keep on struggling on!)
Don't give up the fight! (Yeah!)

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (In the morning! Git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (Don't give it up, don't give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Don't give up the fight! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight!

[Chulanowa]

152. Oh god, how did I forget Bob Marley?!

Well, to make up for my idiotic omission of reggae...

Matisyahu, "Youth"

Some of them come now
Some of the running
Some of them looking for fun
Some of them looking for away out of confusion
Some of them don't know where to be
Some of them don't know where to go
Some of them trust their instincts
That somethings missing from the show
Some don't fit society
Their insides are crying low
Some of them teachers squashed the flame
'fore it had a chance to grow
Some of them embers still glow
Them charcoal hushed and low
Some of them come with hunger supressed
Not fed them feel the death blow, yo

CHORUS:
Young man control in your hand
Slam your fist on the table
And make your demand
Take a stand
Fan a fire for the flame of the youth
Got the freedom to choose
You better make the right move
Young man, the power's in your hand
Slam your fist on the table and make your demand
You better make the right move

"youth is the engine of the world"

Storm the halls of vanity
Focus your energy
Into a laser beam
Streaming shattered light
Unites to pierce between the seams
And it seems
The world open peering
The children see
Rapid fire for your mind
Half a truth is just a lie
They rub me the wrong way
They say their way or fall behind
Seventeen disconnect left out
The concept as to why
There's a spiritual emptiness
So the youth them get vexed
Skip class and get wrecked
Feel with beer and cigarettes
To fill the hole in their chest!

CHORUS:
Young man control in your hand
Slam your fist on the table
And make your demand
Take a stand
Fan a fire for the flame of the youth
Got the freedom to choose
You better make the right move
Young man, the power's in your hand
Slam your fist on the table and make your demand
You better make the right move
You got the power to choose

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8PVt4Yix02A

[malaise]

158. Joe Hill

by Joan Baez

Lovely version here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6SMAJQW8Y

[FSogol]

146. Punk Rock Song by Bad Religion or Redemption Song sung by Joe Strummer n/t

[mia]

147. Michael Jackson - We Are the World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxT21uFRwM

[aspergris]

148. Won't Get Fooled Again

by the Who

Almost anything by RATM

[L0oniX]

149. "Up Against the Wall Muthafuckas" ---The Fugs

:evilgrin:

[hopewell1985]

150. ohio

[DutchLiberal]

155. I forgot Neil Young's slam of the Reagan's/Bush's America:

'Rocking in the free world'. :headbang:

Is it true US radio stations played the song repeatedly after the attacks of 9/11, because of the line "keep on rocking in the free world" and these lyrics?:

"There's a lot of people saying we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget in every way I can"

I vaguely recall reading that somewhere.

[Chulanowa]

159. That and Springsteen's "Born in the USA"

I cannot - flat out CANNOT stand that song. Bruce Springsteen massacres it, rolls it in his own filth, then crams it in a closet to ferment. It's an atrocious, hideous musical abomination. "BAAAAAAAWRn... in tha YOO ESH AAAAAAY Iwuz BAAAAAAWWWWWWWRN... In tha YOO ESH AAAAAAY" - over... and over, and over again. I want to hit my radio with a hammer every time.

But the lyrics are nice. And so I present them to you in much more pleasant to listen to, bluesey slide guitar cover

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

[DutchLiberal]

175. So they played two songs full of criticism of the USA just after the attacks?

A bit like Bush (Reagan?) used 'Born in the USA' in his election campaign?

God, these people are stupid. They hear something about "free world" and "born in USA" and don't bother to get the rest of the meaning of the song. :banghead:

By the way, I happen to think 'Born in the USA' is one of Springsteen's best songs, and one of the best protest songs. :thumbsup:

[malaise]

156. Marley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7iXcKKpdx0
Get up Stand Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7iXcKKpdx0
Crazy Baldheads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ayBPVFFR0k
Dennis Brown - Revolution


add link

[lumberjack_jeff]

162. WAR! Huh! Good God y'all! What is it good for? (absolutely nothin' - say it again!). n/t

[anakie]

165. Zombie by the Cranberries

about the troubles in Northern Ireland. It also has a very moving video clip



Peace

[LeftishBrit]

167. We can't have such a list without Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger

THAT BOMB HAS GOT TO GO!
Words by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Tune: 100 Years on The Eastern Shore.
We're marching on Trafalgar Square, Oh yes, oh!
Today we're marching to declare that bomb has got to go!

That bomb it weighs a ton or so;
Can kill a million at one go.

The old folks and the kids at school;
They all repeat this golden rule.

I asked my girl to marry me;
She said - Of course, if you'll agree

I had a dream the other night;
I dreamed the Tories saw the light.

MacMillan spoke in Parliament;
Let's stop this damned rearmament.

Fall-out here and fall-out there;
And strontium 90 everywhere.

This overcrowded world is small;
But it's better than no world at all.

Oh dropping bombs is all the rage;
But I'd rather live to a ripe old age.

The Prince was born the other day;
The very first words I heard him say

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust;
If the bomb doesn't get you then the fall-out must..

[LeftishBrit]

168. Self-deleted (posted in wrong place)

[LeftishBrit]

169. Radio Baghdad by Patti Smith

radio baghdad

Suffer not
Your neighbor's affliction
Suffer not
Your neighbor's paralysis
But extend your hand
Extend your hand
Lest you vanish in the city
And be but a trace
Just a vanished ghost
And your legacy
All the things you knew
Science, mathematics, thought
Severely weakened
Like irrigation systems
In the tired veins forming
From the Tigris and Euphrates
In the realm of peace
All the world revolved
All the world revolved
Around a perfect circle
City of Baghdad
City of scholars
Empirical humble
Center of the world
City in ashes
City of Baghdad
City of Baghdad
Abrasive aloof

Oh, in Mesopotamia
Aloofness ran deep
Deep in the veins of
the great rivers
That form the base
Of Eden
And the tree
The tree of knowledge
Held up its arms
To the sky
All the branches of knowledge
All the branches of knowledge
Cradling
Cradling
Civilization
In the realm of peace
All the world revolved
Around a perfect circle
Oh Baghdad
Center of the world
City of ashes
With its great mosques
Erupting from the mouth of god
Rising from the ashes like
a speckled bird
Splayed against the mosaic sky
Oh, clouds around
We created the zero
But we mean nothing to you
You would believe
That we are just some mystical tale
We are just a swollen belly
That gave birth to Sinbad, Scheherazade
We gave birth
Oh, oh, to the zero
The perfect number
We invented the zero
And we mean nothing to you
Our children run through
the streets
And you sent your flames
Your shooting stars
Shock and awe
Shock and awe
Like some, some
Imagined warrior production
Twenty-first century
No chivalry involved
No Bushido

Oh, the code of the West
Long gone
Never been
Where does it lie?
You came, you came
Through the west
Annihilated a people
And you come to us
But we are older than you
You come you wanna
You wanna come and
rob the cradle
Of civilization
And you read yet you read
You read Genesis
You read of the tree
You read of the tree
Beget by god
That raised its branches into the sky
Every branch of knowledge
Of the cradle of civilization

Of the banks of the Tigris
and the Euphrates
Oh, in Mesopotamia
Aloofness ran deep
The face of Eve turning
What sky did she see
What garden beneath her feet
The one you drill
You drill
Pulling the blood of the earth
Little droplets of oil for bracelets
Little jewels
Sapphires
You make bracelets
Round your own world
We are weeping tears
Rubies
We offer them to you
We are just
Your Arabian nightmare
We invented the zero
But we mean nothing to you
Your Arabian nightmare

City of stars
City of scholarship
Science
City of ideas
City of light
City
City of ashes
That the great Caliph
Walked through
His naked feet formed a circle
And they built a city
A perfect city of Baghdad

In the realm of peace
And all the world revolved
And they invented
And they mean nothing to you
Nothing to you
Nothing

Go to sleep
Go to sleep my child
Go to sleep
And I'll sing you a lullaby
A lullaby for our city
A lullaby of Baghdad
Go to sleep
Sleep my child
Sleep
Sleep
Sleep
Run
Run
Run
Run

You sent your lights
Your bombs
You sent them down on our city
Shock and awe
Like some crazy t.v. show

They're robbing the cradle
of civilization
They're robbing the cradle
of civilization
They're robbing the cradle
of civilization

Suffer not
The paralysis of your neighbor
Suffer not
But extend your hand

[Janeite]

170. Eve of Destruction

Barry McGuire '66

[dixiegrrrrl]

171. Depends on my mood

Wistful:
Imagine

Pissed:
A Patriots Dream, Gordon Lightfoot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTrZ2FEETvs
the graphics in this will get to you...

Determined:
I Shall Be Released-Baez


I'm getting a familiar mood on of late......

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

173. Other----'What Are We Fighting For?' by Live

and Pink's 'Dear Mr. President' and James Blunt's 'No Bravery'

[scheming daemons]

176. Free Will - by Rush

"You can choose a ready-guide in some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear.... I will choose Free Will"


The ultimate Agnostic/Atheist anthem

[closeupready]

177. Gimme Shelter, I suppose.

or The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" (a/k/a Teenage Wasteland).

[cureautismnow]

178. Add "Monster/Suicide/America" by Steppenwolf

...along with "Draft Resister" and "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam."

Monster/Suicide/America

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 gather riches

But still 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 their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still 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 their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has its share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But its protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seem generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

[otohara]

179. Free Nelson Mandella

Special AKA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NJwyzFlTE

[kgnu_fan]

180. Yell Fire - Micheal Franti and Spearhead

Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WASrQFg8o

:bounce: :bounce: