I need song suggestions for a protest song play list...

[Reverend_Smitty]

I feel like being rebellious and I want to make a nice little playlist featuring the best protest/anti-war songs on my MP3 player. So hit me with some good ones please! I'd like an eclectic mix of old and new

[evlbstrd]

1. Start with Woody Guthrie,

Early Dylan.

[Jade Fox]

2. "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

A powerful, hard-hitting song if you have every listened to all the lyrics.

A friend told the writer died recently, and that during his life he was hounded
for his leftism.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Yeah that's a depression era song..Judy Collins does a great version

of it...so does Misunderestimator :)

[Generic Other]

3. Here are some

Déjà vu (All Over Again)…...............John Fogerty
Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.....Kris Kristofferson
Rich Man’s War..........................Steve Earle

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. OK

Listener Supported or Rock the Nation..Michael Franti and Spearhead
For What It's Worth...go with oops..think it's COwboy Junkies(for the fun of it)
Wasteland of the Free..Iris DeMint
War..Edwinn Starr
With God on Our Side ..Dylan
Universal Soldier..Donovan
Clean Clean...The Buggles
Tramp The Dirt Down ..Elvis Costello
Graham Nash ...Military Madness

that's a start

[Reverend_Smitty]

17. With God on our Side...

I must not be a very good liberal because I've never heard this song, but I looked up the lyrics...and wow! It's amazing how Dylan could write a song 40 years ago and it be as relevant as ever

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. I forgot to add "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore"

john Prine


yeah that's a great Dylan song

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

23. Here's the words to Wasteland of the Free

Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

[antigone382]

41. Another good Dylan Song: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Also, Country Joe & the Fish's "Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-to-Die-Rag"

[KurtNYC]

5. Fuzzy Math

Free and public domain:
http://www.thebots.net/FuzzyMath.mp3

[mac56]

6. "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy" - Pete Seeger

"Somebody's Coming" - Todd Snider

[warrens]

7. Call It Democracy and If I Had a Rocket Launcher

By Bruce Cockburn, World Destruction by World Destruction (really, Johnny Rotten and Afrika Bamaata), Masters of War by Dylan, Googleplex by The Subhumans, Little Boy Soldier by The Jam, Yes Sir No Sir by the Kinks, Mr. Blue by Clear Light or Tom Paxton...

[arcane1]

8. Paris "Sonic Jihad" - the entire CD

:toast:

[rockedthevoteinMA]

9. Crying Shame and Symbol in My Driveway

By Jack Johnson
War by Bob Marley
Anything by RATM... Wake Up especially
Equal Rights/Downpressor Man Peter Tosh

[Ophelia Rising]

38. I second all of those....

and add "Johnny's Just a Kid" and "The Protest" by Rockets and Cars (you can download from their website), "Soldier Song" by Lucky Boys Confusion (you can also download from their website), "Redemption Song" and "Get Up Stand Up" by Bob Marley, most of the songs off Green Day's American Idiot Album, "March of Death" by Zach de la Rocha and DJ Shadow (you can download off website), "Count Bodies Like Sheep to the Rythym of the War Drums" and other songs off of the new album eMOTIVe by A Perfect Circle (which has remakes of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Memphis Minnie’s blues stomper, “When The Levee Breaks” (made famous by Led Zeppelin), Depeche Mode’s “People Are People,” Devo’s “Freedom Of Choice,” Black Flag’s “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie,” Fear’s “Let’s Have A War,” Joni Mitchell’s “Fiddle And The Drum,” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, and “Annihilation” by Crucifix-all good songs in original form as well)...hmmmmmm....Rise Against has some good stuff...I know there's more, I just can't think of them all....

[Ophelia Rising]

40. And don't forget "Civil War" by Guns n' Roses,

some System of a Down, "Meglomaniac" and other songs from "A Crow Left of Murder" by Incubus.

[achtung_circus]

10. "Rockin' In The Free World", Neil Young

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Although it's aimed at B*SH #1

Keep on rockin' in the free world

Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

[ahem]

11. Army Dreamers -- Kate Bush (lyrics)

Our little army boy
Is coming home from B.F.P.O.
I’ve a bunch of purple flowers
To decorate a mammy’s hero.

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

What could he do?
Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.

Tears o’er a tin box.
Oh, jesus christ, he wasn’t to know,
Like a chicken with a fox,
He couldn’t win the war with ego.

Give the kid the pick of pips,
And give him all your stripes and ribbons.
Now he’s sitting in his hole,
He might as well have buttons and bows.

What could he do?
Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of all that
Army dreamers,
Army dreamers,
Army dreamers, oh...

[achtung_circus]

12. Fortunate Son, CCR

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no millionaire's son.
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate son, no no no,

- John C, Fogerty

[Hobarticus]

13. Ship of Fools, by World Party

Save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't wanna sail with this ship of fools...

[Kikosexy2]

14. "Eve of...

Destruction", "Fortunate Son", "Masters of War", "Street Fighting Man"

[Pirate Smile]

15. I found this list of VH1's Greatest Protest Songs - 25

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/68962/episode_countdown.jhtml
We have the entire list of protest songs from Elvis Costello all the way to Bob Dylan. Click on song title or speaker icon to listen to clip. Click on artist name for bio, CDs & more.


25
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
Elvis Costello
24
Rockin' in the Free World
Neil Young
23
Where Is the Love?
Black Eyed Peas
22
Do They Know It's Christmas (Feed The World)
Various Artists
21
Nelson Mandela
The Specials
20
London Calling
The Clash
19
Fortunate Son
Creedence Clearwater Revival
18
Boom!
System of a Down
17
People Have the Power
Patti Smith
16
The Message
Grandmaster Flash
15
Biko
Peter Gabriel
14
Freedom
Rage Against the Machine
13
Sun City
Various Artists
12
Anarchy in the U.K.
The Sex Pistols
11
Get up, Stand Up
Bob Marley
10
Born in the U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
9
Fight the Power
Public Enemy
8
Sunday Bloody Sunday
U2
7
Ohio
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
6
Strange Fruit <#2>
Billie Holiday
5
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye
4
Give Peace a Chance
John Lennon
3
Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud), Pt. 1
James Brown
2
This Land Is Your Land
Woody Guthrie
1
Blowin' in the Wind
Bob Dylan

[Richardo]

16. My favorite is still "For What It's Worth"

:)

[mac56]

18. "Gun Shy" by 10,000 Maniacs

I always knew that you would take yourself far from home
as soon as, as far as you could go.
By the quarter inch cut of your hair and the Army issue green,
for the past eight weeks I can tell where you've been.
For I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
there was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it
promise me
you won't meet it with your gun.

So now you are one of the brave few, it's awful sad we need boys
like you.
I hope the day never comes for
"Here's your live round son. Stock and barrel, safety,
trigger, here's your gun."
Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
there was soldiers blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it
promise me
you won't meet it with your gun taking aim.
For I don't mean to argue, they've made a decent boy of you
and I don't mean to spoil your home coming,
but baby brother you should expect me to.

"Stock and barrel, safety, trigger, here's your gun."

So now does your heart pitter pat with a patriotic song
when you see the stripes of Old Glory waving?
Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
there was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it
promise me
you won't meet it with your gun taking aim.
I don't mean to argue, they've made a decent boy of you
and I don't mean to spoil your homecoming my baby brother Jude
and I don't mean to hurt you by saying this again,
they're so good at making soldiers but they're not so good at
making men.

[Richardo]

19. It Better End Soon - Chicago

[lenidog]

20. Here is a couple

Clampdown- Clash
Masters of War -Bob Dylan or the Eddie Vedder cover done during the Dylan 30 anniversay concert
Redemption Song- Bob Marley
Last Great American Whale - Lou Reed (enviroment, NRA, native americans its packed)
Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley

[Coventina]

24. "Holiday" by Madonna!

:hide:

[livetohike]

25. Patriot's Dream - Gordon Lightfoot

The songs of the wars are as old as the hills
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs

The patriot's dream is as old as the sky
It lives in the lust of a cold callous lie
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills

The train pulled away on that glorious night
The drummer got drunk and the bugler got tight
While the boys in the back sang a song of good cheer
While riding off to glory in the spring of their years

The patriot's dream still lives on today
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills

Well there was a sad, sad lady, weeping all night long
She received a sad, sad message from a voice on the telephone
Her children were all sleeping as she waited out the dawn
How could she tell those children that their father was shot down
So she took them to her side that day and she told them one by one
Your father was a good man ten thousand miles from home
He tried to do his duty and it took him straight to hell
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well

Well there was a young girl watching in the early afternoon
When she heard the name of someone who said he'd be home soon
And she wondered how they got him, but the papers did not tell
There would be no sweet reunion, there would be no wedding bells
So she took herself into her room and she turned the bed sheets down
And she cried into the silken folds of her new wedding gown
He tried to do his duty and it took him straight to hell
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well

Well there was an old man sitting in his mansion on the hill
And he thought of his good fortune and the time he'd yet o kill
Well he called to his wife one day, "Come sit with me awhile"
Then turning toward the sunset, he smiled a wicked smile
"Well I'd like to say I'm sorry for the sinful deeds I've done
But let me first remind you, I'm a patriotic son"
They tried to do their duty and it took 'em straight to hell
They might be in some prison, I hope they're treated well

The songs of the wars are as old as the hills
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs

The train pulled away on that glorious night
The drummer got drunk and the bugler got tight
While the boys in the back sang a song of good cheer
While riding off to glory in the spring of their years

The patriot's dream still lives on today
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills

[NoPasaran]

26. I'll add a few

Graham Nash: Miltary Madness & Won't You Please Come to Chicago
Phil Ochs: I Ain't Marching Anymore, Draft Dodger Rag, The Big Parade, Is There Anybody Here
Tom Paxton: Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
Any number of artists: Where Have All the Flowers Gone
Tom Lehrer: Pollution

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. Or Werner Von Braun...Lehrer

Gather round while I sing you
of Werner Von Braun
a man whose allegiance
is ruled by expedience
call him a Nazi
he won't even frown
Nazi schmazi
says werner von Braun

Don't say that he's hypocritical
say rather that he's apolitical
once rockets are up
who cares where they come down?
that's not my department
says Werner Von Braun

[NoPasaran]

33. You too may be a big hero

If you learn to count backwards to zero
"In English or German
I know how to count down
Und I'm learning Chinese"
says Werner von Braun

[name not needed]

28. RX Bandits - Overcome (The Recapitulation)

[atreides1]

29. Here's some

These are some from a 2CD set titled:
Vietnam:Songs From A Divided House


Eve of Destruction: Barry McGuire
Sky Pilot: Eric Burdon & The Animals
War-Edwin: Starr
Universal Soldier: Donovan
Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Kingston Trio
Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation: Tom Paxton
I Ain't Marching Anymore: Phil Ochs
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die-Rag: Country Joe & The Fish

[Reverend_Smitty]

30. You guys are great!

some awesome song choices, thanks!!!:grouphug:

[enigmatic]

31. Here you go, from my overnight show playlist:

I Ain't Marchin' Anymore- Phil Ochs
Doesn't Have To Be That Way- Jay Farrar
Sky Pilot- The Animals
The Revolution Starts Now- Steve Earle
Anything by Woody Guthrie, really


That's off the top of my head..

[punpirate]

32. Older ones...

... Phil Ochs has a number of good ones. "I Ain't Marching Anymore," "Talking Vietnam," "Here's to the State of Mississippi."

Some of the old songs from Spirit are pretty hip protest stuff--"Fresh Garbage," "1984," and "Mechanical World."

Tom Paxton's "If You Love That Politician (Pull The Chain)" is pretty good. Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." Bob Marley and the Wailers--"Get Up Stand Up." "Kill the Poor" by The Dead Kennedys. Randy Newman's "Political Science." Patrick Sky's "Ira Hayes." "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" by The Ramones. George Scherer's "Two Bush Blues," and "Election Year Waltz." Jimi Hendrix's "Up From the Skies." "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. "Biko" by Peter Gabriel.

Maybe I'll think of more later.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

34. Well if we're talking Phil Ochs, then you gotta include

"Love me, I'm a Liberal"..just for shits and giggles..it's a good slam at the people who are FOS about it

[Reverend_Smitty]

36. Thats a good 'un

I guess the 60's had "limosine liberals" too

[punpirate]

45. Yeah, thought about that one...

... but decided it's a bit too snarky (it is that :) ). "Cops of the World" would be very appropriate these days, though, now that I think of it.

Certainly, one would have to include Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," and Edwin Starr's "War (What Is It Good For?)" and maybe Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," and Richie Havens' "Freedom."

Wouldn't forget Pete Seeger's "Bring Them Home." (I read that Seeger has a new, updated version of that song going into a collection coming out in August.)

[miss_kitty]

35. Michael Franti

Bomb the World, ( http://www.spearheadvibrations.com/index.html ) and Sara Thomsen Is it for Freedom ( http://www.protestmusic.org/thomsen/ )

[Dave Sund]

37. Here's some new ones

Green Day - "Holiday."
- The best anti-Iraq war song.
Rise Against - "State of the Union."
- Angry as hell.
Anti-Flag - "Operation Iraqi Liberation." "Turncoat."
- Turncoat's a catchy one. "Turncoat! Killer! Liar! Thief!"

Some System of a Down, Rage Against The Machine, and Bad Religion would fit well with the new ones too.

[nytemare]

39. "Games without Frontiers" Peter Gabriel

"Fortunate Son" would have to go on there!! Wyclef had a good version of it on the Manchurian Candidate soundtrack.

:)

[HeeBGBz]

42. Something in the Air

Thunderclap Newman

[TheProphetess]

43. "(What's so Funny 'bout) Peace, Love, & Understanding"

by Elvis Costello gets my vote!

[flvegan]

44. "Price of Oil" by Billy Bragg

Shit, I love that one.