the Protest Song
There have been huge protests around the world recently in reaction to the killing of George Floyd in the U.S. Throughout history, music and songs have marked such events and been the vessel for artists to make their own voice heard. They have been used as a barometer of the mood, the feeling and the sense of injustice felt by the public and by the country as a whole.
Below are 17 examples of protest songs written in times of civil unrest, particularly in but not exclusively to, the U.S.:
Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday, 1939
Is there a more chilling song in popular music? A poem by Abel Meeropol - written under the name Lewis Allan - felt that Lady Day had to sing it. Covered by Diana Ross, Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sting and many others, its lyric about lynching and Southern trees with "blood on the leaves and blood at the root", are unforgettable.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan, 1964 from The Times They Are A-Changin'
Known in his early career as a protest singer with songs such as "Blowin' In The Wind", it was nevertheless this song that confirmed his status as king of youth protest, a song directed at his parent' generation and written about ripping up the rule book. It was helped by its triple-time signature and neat lyrical steals from Irish/Scottish ballads, Shakespeare and the Bible.
A Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke, 1964 from Ain't That Good News
Written in response to numerous events Sam Cooke experienced where racism was at play, this song would become his greatest song and a Civil Rights anthem. The endearing "It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come" of the refrain lives long in the memory.
Mississippi Goddam
Nina Simeone, 1964 from Nina Simone in Concert
"This song is called Mississippi Goddam. And i mean every word of it" starts this live recording which is greeted with laughter from the audience, which is in hindsight quite chilling. The writer of a number of classic protest songs, for me this live recording hits the spot sharper than most. "I think every day is going to be my last. I don't believe here, I don't belong there, I've even stopped believing in prayer." As she signs off "I bet you thought I was kidding, didn't you...". Devasting.
Sing It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud
James Brown, 1968 from Sing It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud
JB wrote this simple direct plea about the treatment of Blacks in America and the need for Black empowerment. A funk song but with a direct message, it affected people like Chuck D who said he was convinced to call himself a Black man going forward.
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye, 1971 from What's Going On
Witnessing police brutality first hand, Marvin Gaye's writing partner and he wrote this song, the title track to his classic album of the same name. It's as much about dismay than it is about protest...
Hurricane
Bob Dylan, 1975 from Desire
A simple tale of miscarriage of justice of the champion boxer Ruben "Hurricane" Carter who was wrongly locked up for murder.
Guns Of Brixton
The Clash, 1979 from London Calling
Protest songs were at the heart of punk's greatest band, "White Riot", "Know Your Rights, "I Fought The Law" etc but this gets my pick. It preceded the riots of the 1980s in Brixton and was a scarily accurate prediction of the world to come.
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, 1982 from The Message
With not one word wasted, Grandmaster Flash raps about urban decay and inner city squalor and how maddeing it is, to such an extent that "I might hijack a plane!".
Sunday Bloody Sunday
U2, 1983 from War
Reacting to Bloody Sunday and the deaths of 14 unarmed protesters in Derry, U2 launched into this call to arms sounding song with military style drumming and questions of "How long do we sing this song".
Fight The Power
Public Enemy, 1989 from Fear Of The Black Planet
Protest is central to what PE do and a little like The Clash, they have numerous offerings, tracks such as "911 Is a Joke" and "He Got Game" which incorporated Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth", a song about the Sunset strip curfew riots in '66. However it's "Fight The Power" - originally written for Spike Lee's movie Do The Right Thing - that tops the tree, with it's aggressive sound and revolutionary rhetoric.
Killing In The Name Of
Rage Against The Machine, 1992 from Rage Against The Machine
Perhaps with repeated plays and the way it was contrived to get this to Christmas Number 1 in the UK years later has taken the edge off but make no mistake this is a powerful tirade against institutional racism and police brutality particularly the line "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" and the infamous main phrase.
W.M.A.
Pearl Jam, 1993 from Vs.
'White Male American'. Written by singer Eddie Vedder about when, whilst outside the recording studio in a break from rehearsals and having not washed for a day or so, he got into an altercation with police officers who hassled his black friend but ignored him, despite his friend being washed and dressed far more respectably.
Changes
2Pac, 1998 from Greatest Hits
Sampling Bruce Hornsby and the Range's Civil rights song "The Way It Is", 2Pac raps about racism, drugs, police brutality, and poverty. It was released posthumously and was his swansong having been murdered two years earlier.
Free Satpal Ram
Asian Dub Foundation, 1998 from Rafi's Revenge
British band ADF wrote this in protest at the jailing of Satpal Ram for murder despite evidence suggesting he knifed the assailant in self-defence in an apparent racist attack.
Born Free
M.I.A., 2010 from Maya
Having spent early childhood growing up in Sri Lanka and fathered by a Tamil separatist, British artist M.I.A. knew a thing or two about rights, oppression and such and this, at times shocking video explicitly shows what that can look like in the cruelest sense i.e. genocide, where red haired people are rounded up...
Alright
Kendrick Lemar, 2015 from To Pimp A Butterfly
Probably the greatest single from his masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lemar's "Alright" became the anthem for "Black Lives Matter" that year when it was heard being chanted at youth led protests.
Below are 17 examples of protest songs written in times of civil unrest, particularly in but not exclusively to, the U.S.:
Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday, 1939
Is there a more chilling song in popular music? A poem by Abel Meeropol - written under the name Lewis Allan - felt that Lady Day had to sing it. Covered by Diana Ross, Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sting and many others, its lyric about lynching and Southern trees with "blood on the leaves and blood at the root", are unforgettable.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan, 1964 from The Times They Are A-Changin'
Known in his early career as a protest singer with songs such as "Blowin' In The Wind", it was nevertheless this song that confirmed his status as king of youth protest, a song directed at his parent' generation and written about ripping up the rule book. It was helped by its triple-time signature and neat lyrical steals from Irish/Scottish ballads, Shakespeare and the Bible.
A Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke, 1964 from Ain't That Good News
Written in response to numerous events Sam Cooke experienced where racism was at play, this song would become his greatest song and a Civil Rights anthem. The endearing "It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come" of the refrain lives long in the memory.
Mississippi Goddam
Nina Simeone, 1964 from Nina Simone in Concert
"This song is called Mississippi Goddam. And i mean every word of it" starts this live recording which is greeted with laughter from the audience, which is in hindsight quite chilling. The writer of a number of classic protest songs, for me this live recording hits the spot sharper than most. "I think every day is going to be my last. I don't believe here, I don't belong there, I've even stopped believing in prayer." As she signs off "I bet you thought I was kidding, didn't you...". Devasting.
Sing It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud
James Brown, 1968 from Sing It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud
JB wrote this simple direct plea about the treatment of Blacks in America and the need for Black empowerment. A funk song but with a direct message, it affected people like Chuck D who said he was convinced to call himself a Black man going forward.
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye, 1971 from What's Going On
Witnessing police brutality first hand, Marvin Gaye's writing partner and he wrote this song, the title track to his classic album of the same name. It's as much about dismay than it is about protest...
Hurricane
Bob Dylan, 1975 from Desire
A simple tale of miscarriage of justice of the champion boxer Ruben "Hurricane" Carter who was wrongly locked up for murder.
Guns Of Brixton
The Clash, 1979 from London Calling
Protest songs were at the heart of punk's greatest band, "White Riot", "Know Your Rights, "I Fought The Law" etc but this gets my pick. It preceded the riots of the 1980s in Brixton and was a scarily accurate prediction of the world to come.
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, 1982 from The Message
With not one word wasted, Grandmaster Flash raps about urban decay and inner city squalor and how maddeing it is, to such an extent that "I might hijack a plane!".
Sunday Bloody Sunday
U2, 1983 from War
Reacting to Bloody Sunday and the deaths of 14 unarmed protesters in Derry, U2 launched into this call to arms sounding song with military style drumming and questions of "How long do we sing this song".
Fight The Power
Public Enemy, 1989 from Fear Of The Black Planet
Protest is central to what PE do and a little like The Clash, they have numerous offerings, tracks such as "911 Is a Joke" and "He Got Game" which incorporated Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth", a song about the Sunset strip curfew riots in '66. However it's "Fight The Power" - originally written for Spike Lee's movie Do The Right Thing - that tops the tree, with it's aggressive sound and revolutionary rhetoric.
Killing In The Name Of
Rage Against The Machine, 1992 from Rage Against The Machine
Perhaps with repeated plays and the way it was contrived to get this to Christmas Number 1 in the UK years later has taken the edge off but make no mistake this is a powerful tirade against institutional racism and police brutality particularly the line "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" and the infamous main phrase.
W.M.A.
Pearl Jam, 1993 from Vs.
'White Male American'. Written by singer Eddie Vedder about when, whilst outside the recording studio in a break from rehearsals and having not washed for a day or so, he got into an altercation with police officers who hassled his black friend but ignored him, despite his friend being washed and dressed far more respectably.
Changes
2Pac, 1998 from Greatest Hits
Sampling Bruce Hornsby and the Range's Civil rights song "The Way It Is", 2Pac raps about racism, drugs, police brutality, and poverty. It was released posthumously and was his swansong having been murdered two years earlier.
Free Satpal Ram
Asian Dub Foundation, 1998 from Rafi's Revenge
British band ADF wrote this in protest at the jailing of Satpal Ram for murder despite evidence suggesting he knifed the assailant in self-defence in an apparent racist attack.
Born Free
M.I.A., 2010 from Maya
Having spent early childhood growing up in Sri Lanka and fathered by a Tamil separatist, British artist M.I.A. knew a thing or two about rights, oppression and such and this, at times shocking video explicitly shows what that can look like in the cruelest sense i.e. genocide, where red haired people are rounded up...
Alright
Kendrick Lemar, 2015 from To Pimp A Butterfly
Probably the greatest single from his masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lemar's "Alright" became the anthem for "Black Lives Matter" that year when it was heard being chanted at youth led protests.
A good selection of protest songs here. One I'd like to add to the list is Fuck Tha Police by N.W.A. I'm sure a lot of people share the anger displayed in this song right now.
ReplyDeleteBelated thanks for your reply and comment. Couldn't agree more - I hadn't realised just how many protest songs had been written at the start of writing this and I found it a challenge whittling it down to just these. I tried to have a good mix of styles and points of view - e.g. why I included Asian Dub Foundation as they never seem to be mentioned in any narrative - so Fuck Tha Police only just lost out to Fight The Power; I didn't want to have too many tracks from one particular genre. I agree this track holds a lot of resonance at this moment in time. Indeed when compiling the list I could have just kept the list to Hip Hop tracks about police, the list is endless (Ice-T, KRS-One, Cypress Hill etcetc). Cheers Jono
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