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PROTEST & REBELLION SONGS.."get it off your chest"

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Recognized Social Butterfly

PROTEST & REBELLION SONGS.."get it off your chest"

The only stipulation here is that the song should be commentary,  controversial, expressing a rebellious, protesting "frame of mind"; generally, or speciffically, about society, culture, economics, wealth, poverty, politics, war, peace, relationships, etc, etc, etc.

 

How about some songs which, when you heard them, you thought, "Yeh, those lyrics tell it like it is!" or maybe you were offended by the controversial lyrics.

 

Your song selection may be from any time period in history and about any topic you choose, old songs and new songs.

 

Please be free to post protest & rebellion songs which either you agreed with or which "honked" you off.

 

Here is an opportunity to "Get it off your chest!" Go ahead and briefly include memorable lyrics of the song if you like [ if you remember 🙂 ]

 

To begin.....here's a protest song:     Subterranean Homesick Blues     Bob Dylan

 

 


Merely OneTokeOTL
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Periodic Contributor

Let's not forget SDS, the Students for a Democratic Society.
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Social Butterfly

WE SHOULD INCLUDE THE WEATHERMEN, BLACK PANTHERS, ET AL.
"IF I HAD A HAMMER"- VARIOUS ARTISTS, NOT SURE WHO WROTE IT.
SUPERGIRL, NO REALLY I MEAN IT! HER REAL NAME & MINE ARE THE SAME( FIRST 2 NAMES ARE)
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Trusted Contributor

Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes.
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Honored Social Butterfly

We’re not gonna take it by Twisted Sister

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LOL!

And DITTO!

 

FYI only: I was a member of SDS (RYM 1, "the teach-in" educational faction) and a student on the Kent State campus '68-'71. Yep, you could say I was exposed to many protest songs.

 

psssst.....don't tell anyone else. I'm still in hiding  🙂

 

PS.....those bullets just barely missed me...that was close.

 

And in the song "Ohio" CSN&Y ask "what if you knew her". I knew her.


Merely OneTokeOTL
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Honored Social Butterfly

Gone the Rainbow -- Peter, Paul & Mary

3,985 Views
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Honored Social Butterfly

Light One Candle -- Peter, Paul & Mary

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Kudos
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Bronze Conversationalist

MONSTER by Steppenwolf

3,894 Views
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Conversationalist

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - Joan Baez, among others

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Honored Social Butterfly

The Last Resort - The Eagles 1976 

 

She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee,
Just as her father came across the sea

She heard about a place people were smilin',
They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide

Down in the crowded bars out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all what it's like up there
And they called it paradise, I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high

Then the chilly winds blew down across the desert,
Through the canyons of the coast to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play hungry for power
To light their neon way and give them things to do

Some rich man came and raped the land, nobody caught 'em,
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes and, Jesus, people bought 'em
And they called it paradise, the place to be,
They watched the hazy sun sinking in the sea

You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina
Just like the missionaries did so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign 'Jesus is Coming',
Brought the white man's burden down, brought the white man's reign

Who will provide the grand design, what is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds
In the name of destiny and in the name of God

And you can see them there on Sunday morning
Stand up and sing about what it's like up there
They called it paradise, I don't know why
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye

 

Written by Glenn Frey, Don Henley • Copyright © Cass County Music / Wisteria Music / Privet Music, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Red Cloud Music
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix
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Honored Social Butterfly

Pre-dating The Last Resort by some 14 years was this song -

 

Little Boxes - written in 1962 by folk singer-songwriter and political activist Malvina Reynolds, 

 

from Wikipedia:

"The song is a political satire about the development of suburbia, and associated conformist middle-class attitudes. It mocks suburban tract housing as "little boxes" of different colors "all made out of ticky-tacky", and which "all look just the same." "Ticky-tacky" is a reference to the shoddy material used in the construction of the houses."

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix
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Where Have All the Flowers Gone -- Peter, Paul & Mary 

3,880 Views
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Periodic Contributor

"The Authority Song" by John Cougar

3,675 Views
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Recognized Social Butterfly

Workin' It     Don Henley   from Inside Job in 2000


Merely OneTokeOTL
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3,759 Views
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Recognized Social Butterfly

Something In The Air     Thunderclap Newman   #37 in 1969

 

Call out the instigators
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know it's right

 

Hand out the arms and ammo
We're going to blast our way through here
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know that it's right


Merely OneTokeOTL
3,757 Views
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Honored Social Butterfly

Cruel War -- Peter, Paul & Mary 

3,761 Views
10
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Fernando -- ABBA

0 Kudos
3,780 Views
9
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Hawaii '78     Israel (Bruddah Iz) Kamakawiwo'ole

 

From CD entitled "Facing Future", the lyrics address the Hawaiian people's loss of sovereignty to the United States, Jan. 17, 1893 at the hands of Sanford Dole (of sugar cane fame). In January 1893, a revolutionary “Committee of Safety,” organized by Sanford B. Dole and resident American businessmen, staged a coup d'etat against Queen Liliuokalani and overthrew her Kingdom of Hawaii monarchy with the tacit support of the United States.

 

If just for a day our king and queen
Would visit all these islands and saw everything
How would they feel about the changes of our land
Could you just imagine if they were around
And saw highways on their sacred grounds
How would they feel about this modern city life?

Tears would come from each other's eyes
As they would stop to realize
That our people are in great, great danger now
How would they feel?
Would their smiles be content, then cry?

Chorus:
Cry for the gods, cry for the people
Cry for the land that was taken away


Merely OneTokeOTL
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Indian Givers -- Neil Young

 

 

Written in protest of DAPL

 

"Behind big money

Justice always fails" 

3,751 Views
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The Ballad Of Ira Hayes -- Pete Seeger

3,740 Views
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The Faucets Are Dripping (In New York City)   Malvina Reynolds    1963


Merely OneTokeOTL
3,710 Views
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That's What Makes Us Great     Bruce Springsteen       ( new protest song)

3,723 Views
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Conversationalist

War - Bob Marley

3,763 Views
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Honored Social Butterfly

I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier -- The Peerless Quartet

 

 

This is the first protest song to be a hit record -- 1915.

3,883 Views
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Honored Social Butterfly

Apache Tears

 

The Vanishing Race

 

As Long As the Grass Shall Grow

 

 

A trio of Native American laments/protests, all recorded by Johnny Cash.

3,948 Views
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Recognized Social Butterfly

In a similar vein....

 

Indian Reservation (Cherokee People)   Paul Revere & The Raiders  #1 in 1971


Merely OneTokeOTL
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Contributor

Four Dead in Ohio

By Crosby, Stills,Nash,&Youg

3,920 Views
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Regular Contributor

Good one!

3,890 Views
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Regular Contributor

Thanks Penny!!!

0 Kudos
3,885 Views
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Honored Social Butterfly

I Shall Be Released -- Joe Cocker

3,921 Views
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