An EP for the Howard Years
While procrastinating yesterday I started thinking about protest songs. Protest songs have been a significant part of music and popular culture for the last half a century. I’d go as far to say some of the best songs are protest/political songs.
Think about the Vietnam War and you think of songs like God On My Side by Bob Dylan, Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon. The civil rights movement inspired songs such as We Shall Overcome by Pete Seeger and A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke.
There’s been a resurgence of protest songs under the Bush Administration, songs by like the likes of Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, Green Day and Eminem just to name a few.
It got me thinking, what songs would be good to sum up the last decade under Howard? A few have been written such as 77% by the Herd or Home Is Where The Heart Is by John Butler Trio but not a lot comes to mind.
Eventually I came up with five tracks that I think would do it well.
Electioneering by Radiohead (from OK Computer LP)
I will stop at nothing
Say the right things
When electioneering
I trust I can rely on your vote
Was it a core or a non-core promise?
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
It’s a classic song about the Vietnam War that resonates well with any conflicts,
Short Memory by Midnight Oil (from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 LP)
If you read the history books you'll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they've all got it
When are we going to play it again
There’s a Midnight Oil song about any and every aspect of politics. I chose this one since it sums up how Howard has gotten away with so much and it kept happening again and again.
Which Side Are You On? by Billy Bragg (from Back To Basics LP)
This government had an idea
And parliament made it law
It seems like it's illegal
To fight for the union any more
Though Billy Bragg wrote the song about Thatcher’s
Cunts Are Still Running The World by Jarvis Cocker (from Jarvis LP)
The free market is perfectly natural,
Do you think that I'm some kind of dummy?
It's the ideal way to order the world;
“Fuck the morals, does it make any money?”
And if you don't like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your right but don't imagine that it's heard,
A great song by Jarvis which simply summarises the general state of society.
What five songs would you pick?
12:15 PM
I'm not exactly a rap fan, but these two songs spring to mind:
The Mosh - Eminem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcpJ3LafwbY
Tell the Truth: Mos Def - Immortal Technique - Eminem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD5WlQ54Sg0
6:12 PM
As much as they say it's not a protest song, 16 Military Wives by the Decemberists is a pretty great political song. It's about the US, but these lines are kinda scarily relevant to Howard's stance on the whole thing -
Cheer them on to their rivals
Because America can
And America can't say no
And America does
If America says it's so
It's so
And the anchorperson on TV
Goes la-di-da-di-da-didi-didi-da
La-di-da-di-da-didi-didi-da
Ani DiFranco has some truly epic protest stuff - it's kinda what she does best. There are great songs like Decree -
Cause daddy knows best, yes this is the news
In ninety second segments officially produced
And aired again, and again, and again
By the little black and white pawns of the network yes men
While the stars are going out and the stripes are getting bent
Or she has a couple of epic spoken word pieces like Self Evident, that while are US orientated are still pretty awesome -
And we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 George W. Bush is not president
#2 America is not a true democracy
#3 The media is not fooling me
I love the song Intervention by the Arcade Fire and I think that's a kind of protest song too. People in the last 10 years have become very, very scared and the religious right seems to be increasing momentum at an alarming rate.
1:40 PM
ooh, I love Self Evident. It makes me feel a bit more optimistic about the way the world is going.
I don't have five songs, but I've always thought Powderfinger's 'Like a Dog' and 'The Day You Come' were good for the Howard times. A bit of Rage Against the Machine can also be good for what (politically) ails you, I find. And I have been known to turn Dan Kelly's 'Drunk on Election Night' up loud and wail along.