What's the greatest civil rights song from the 50's or 60's?

[struggle4progress]

It IS the MLK holiday weekend, after all ...

[Zomby Woof]

1. Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind"

Hands down.

He sang it at MLK's March On Washington in '63.

[struggle4progress]

2. It's pretty good -- but the only Jim Crow reference is ..

.. "before you can call him a man."

Dylan wrote other songs with more of a civil rights flavor ...

[Zomby Woof]

22. It was universal

What you are referring to are topical songs. Topical songs have their place, but are dated in many ways. Long after "Hattie Carrol" is forgotten, people will be singing "Wind". I love Dylan's topical songs, but they serve better as history lessons and not for forging a poetic vision of the ideal world we fight for.

Universality is key to any kind of anthem, in civil rights or other areas.

[struggle4progress]

23. On the other hand, a song like "Oxford Town" really does capture ..

.. the era in an authentic way, even if you want to regard it as "topical" ...

[Zomby Woof]

24. Like I said

They are great songs, but they hold up more as primary source material for history lessons (your defense of 'Oxford Town' backs that up), rather than as visionary works. When you consider that James Meredith, the subject of 'Oxford Town', worked for Jesse Helms and once cut a spot on TV WITH David Duke, and in SUPPORT of his gubernatorial candidacy, it highlights the way the song has aged.

I would add 'Hard Rain' to the category of 'Wind'. I think Dylan was better when he moved away from preachiness (which makes "Times They Are-A-Changing" his most overrated piece from the era) and more towards grandeur and poetics. Ageless songs, as it were.

[struggle4progress]

28. "Hard Rain" is a reallyfine song. But it, too, can be regarded as topical:

it's about the Cuban missile crisis and nuclear war.

"Hard Rain," adds Dylan, "is a desperate kind of song." It was written during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 when those who allowed themselves to think of the impossible results of the Kennedy-Khrushchev confrontation were chilled by the imminence of oblivion. "Every line in it," says Dylan, "is actually the start of a whole song. But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn't have enough time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one." http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/freewheelin.html

[BrewerJohn]

33. OK then, how about "Only a Pawn in Their Game"?

The analysis in that one was way ahead of its time in
explaining just why things were the way they were.
I just reread What's the Matter With Kansas? today, and
it's like Dylan had the basics of the present scam figured out 40+ years
ago, just in a different context.

[benny05]

5. I think both songs are pretty good

Blowin' in the Wind is my fav.

[supernova]

3. We Shall Overcome

It's the official unofficial hymn of the civil rights movement.

[struggle4progress]

7. My church choir will be singing that tomorrow, together with ..

.. "Lift Every Voice." But I thought they're both really from earlier eras ...

[Kali]

32. I vote here. We Shall Overcome

[struggle4progress]

35. If you like hymn tunes, how about "Keep your eyes on the prize"?

... Only thing that we did wrong: we stayed in the wilderness a day too long ...

[Magrittes Pipe]

4. Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come"

Just like others could fight, but Ali was The Greatest; there were no contenders to Cooke -- only pretenders.

[struggle4progress]

9. I'm gonna have to learn this one. Great lyrics!

... There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will ...

[enigmatic]

30. the one and only correct answer..

:thumbsup:

[DanCa]

6. People Everywhere want to be free - The rascals.

Shout it from the mountain top and into the sea people everywhere just want to be free.

[struggle4progress]

11. Yeah, that's a pretty good song. Released the year King died.

[DanCa]

14. I also like everyday people joan jett's version

and so on and so on and scoobie dooby dobie.

[struggle4progress]

16. I don't know why that had gotten buried in the dusty corners of my mind:

I vividly remember standing in a certain room, hearing it on the radio ...

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Nina Simone - "Mississippi Goddamn"

(edit to add lyrics)

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddamn
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddamn

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddamn

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddamn

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddamn

I made you thought I was kiddin' didn't we

Picket lines
School boycotts
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddamn

That's it!

[struggle4progress]

12. Wow! I don't know this one. Looks great!

[xmas74]

15. Fantastic song!

I played it for a woman at work the other day and even she was blown away. She's never listened to anything but country and she said that the song moved her.

[Jamastiene]

10. Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire.

The lyrics to that song send shivers up and down my spine when he sings

"Think of all the HATE there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama.
You may leave here for four days in space,
But when you return, it's the same old place.
The pounding of the drums,
The price and disgrace
You can bury your dead,
But don't leave a trace.
HATE YOUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO SAY GRACE.
and tell me over and over and over and over again my friend..."

Now, that is powerful.

And not only are the words powerful, but he sings it with conviction. We need music with that kind of passion to call out this current administration.

I just listened to this song again. It's sort of what I do on MLK's birthday every year now. Back when I had access to my web site, I would start early on Black History Month and make a mini bio of civil rights leaders and highlight what they did along the way. When February began, I would change it. I should have archived it. Not having it now makes me feel powerless, because I want to say something. *sigh*

[struggle4progress]

13. He did a really remarkable job with "you tell me over and over and ..

over again my friend, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction" ... I'd forgotten the civil rights references in the song ...

[Jamastiene]

19. It hit me hard the first time I heard it.

It still hits me hard.

There is a good reason. I have a strange bad memory from childhood. I was watching television when I was about six years old. It was my first taste of the real world. I'll never forget it. Althought I wasn't born until 1970, that documentary really opened my eyes. I was horrified and went to bed crying that night after seeing those images. To this day, I have never gotten the videos of firehoses and german shepherds being turned loose on children and marchers who merely wanted an equal chance to learn. I will never get over seeing that as a kid, I guess. It's bad enough to see it as an adult, but I was just a kid. I saw that. They show that video like it's nothing. They don't warn about that video. It's footage worthy of a warning. I still cry sometimes when I remember the feelings I had as a kid when I saw that.

I am still horrified by it. That is why it is sometimes very hard for me to control my emotions on here (DU) sometimes when people are talking about the south. It's that history (and present in too many situations) that I want to make sure people never forget. They shouldn't deny it. It's part of why I end up getting deleted when I debate about the south. I wish I had Dr. King's self control. I admire him for more than the typical reasons. I admire him for his self discipline. He knew the secret to righting wrongs. He knew how to win the debates on the subject. I don't have that self control. Non violence and love beat hate every time when people are willing to put themselves on the line like that.

[DanCa]

25. what scary is that the lyrics are still applicable to todays predicament.

[Jamastiene]

27. Timeless, they are.

Many of those songs still fit today. Civil rights justice is an ongoing thing. Having some rights put in place back then was only a baby step toward what should be. The thing that most people don't realize is that we could all easily lose our rights if we don't fight to keep the ones we have AND push to have others we have already lost restored. That cheerleading silver spoon village idiot in the WH took them away. I wish more of the people we elected would do their damn jobs and make this civil rights violation nightmare known as the Bush presidency go away.

[struggle4progress]

29. "Many still fit today." Yes. Indeed they do.

[DanCa]

17. If you stretch it to the seventies Coven's one tin soldier stands out.

Listen people to a story that was written long about. About a kingdom on a mountain and the valley folk below. On the mountain was a treasure buried beneath the stone and the valley people swore it for their very own. Sorry had to sneak in mine and Billy Jack's theme song.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Oh yeah

[struggle4progress]

20. From the forties, "Strange Fruit"

[struggle4progress]

37. For the seventies, with an international flavor, Marley's version of War

... Until the philosophy
which holds one race superior
and another
inferior
is finally
and permanently
discredited
and abandoned
Everywhere is war
me say war ...

[taterguy]

21. The intro the MC5's Kick Out the Jams

[Floogeldy]

40. Cheers

:)

[Initech]

26. CCR's Fortunate Son

[lizziegrace]

31. Abraham, Martin and John

it's about that era

[struggle4progress]

34. "I looked around and he's gone." 1968 makes me want to cry.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

36. As an elegy,

there's nothing more sad than "Abraham, Martin and John"

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. "What's That I Hear?" by Phil Ochs

What's that I hear now ringing in my ear
I've heard that sound before
What's that I hear now ringing in my ear
I hear it more and more
It's the sound of freedom calling
Ringing up to the sky
It's the sound of the old ways falling
You can hear it if you try
You can hear it if you try

What's that I see now shining in my eyes
I've seen that light before
What's that I see now shining in my eyes
I see it more and more
It's the light of freedom shining
Shining up to the sky
It's the light of the old ways a dying
You can see it if you try

What's that I feel now beating in my heart
I've felt that beat before
What's that I feel now beating in my heart
I feel it more and more
It's the rumble of freedom calling
Climbing up to the sky
It's the rumble of the old ways a falling
You can feel it if you try


This song invokes such positive energy!

[u4ic]

39. I don't think Lenny foresaw Dubya

in this one...(this wasn't from the era you described, however)

LEONARD COHEN LYRICS

"Democracy"

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol; (HERE's a reference to W! lol)
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.