Contemporary war protest songs....

[Pacifist Patriot]

I just downloaded James Blunt's "No Bravery" from iTunes. I'd like to find some more anti-war songs. Please recommend with artist and title.

Thanks!

[Paulie]

1. The Pledge of Resistance

http://www.notinourname.net/pledge_about.html

Has it in song as well.

[BOSSHOG]

2. You may want to check out

"Where were you when the world stopped turning" By Alan Jackson. A country and western artist for sure but not in the mold of Toby Keith. Jackson is a very successful word smith and musician and his song, while not necessarily anti-war is certainly thought provoking. Its worth a listen.

[TomInTib]

7. A very well-crafted song. While not a contemporary country fan,...

I tip my hat to Alan Jackson.

[BOSSHOG]

12. I'm lukewarm on C&W

but Alan Jackson is one awesome talent. I have several of his CD's and he is just a fun listen; sometimes thought provoking, sometimes whimsical but always good. And if his music is any indication he certainly ain't "conservative."

[TomInTib]

19. I believe he is a "throwback" to When the Music Really Mattered

[Marie26]

24. "Letters From Home"

I also like John Michael Montogomery's song, "Letters From Home." It's not specifically anti-war, but it is about the sacrifices our soldiers are making. Very touching.

or Dixie Chicks "Traveling Soldier".

[YOY]

18. Just seems to be a "Remember 9-11" song

Last I checked constantly crowing "Remember 9-11" (as if we forgot it) is a RW dipshit thing.

[TomInTib]

21. Remember the Alamo, remember Pearl Harbor, remember Viet Nam

Remember Everything That Matters.

Because when we start forgetting, we are doomed.

Since when is remembering 9-11 a R W dipshit thing?

[YOY]

22. Not actually remembering it

but constantly saying "REMEMBER 9-11!!!" as a justification for everything from Iraq to Domestic Spying.

[FreedomAngel82]

35. And that means you can't write a song about remembering 9/11?

:eyes:

[YOY]

44. No, you're taking it the wrong way...or maybe I am. n/t

[TomInTib]

38. Now THAT crap is inexcusable. And very tired.

I am right with you on that.

[BOSSHOG]

31. I guess we disagree my friend

I believe 9-11 was relatively insignificant in the annals of American History (and the history books will tend to agree with me) but Jackson's song wasn't about remembering 9-11; it was about thinking about its consequences. And you suggest "as if we forgot" - the song was written not long after the event happened. Compared to his country contemporaries, Jackson is a man of peace and his song put forth that thought. Alan Jackson does not involve himself with right wing dipshit things.

[YOY]

46. Just my knee jerk reaction I guess

I have had RWers give me the constantly repetition ad nausem and I has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't know Alan Jackson's work very well, but hey...I guess if you are more informed on the topic than me.

[FreedomAngel82]

34. So anyone who writes

a song about 9/11 is now automatically a rwinger? :eyes:

[YOY]

45. Hardly...n/t

[YOY]

58. But, it's also hardly a protest song n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

33. That's not a bad song at all

It's just a nice song tribute to 9/11.

[YOY]

59. But in the end hardly a protest song now is it? n/t

[AzDar]

3. According to my 9-year-old, Greenday's 'American Idiot' cd is pretty

much in it's entirety an objection to Bush and his policies.
I've never really listened to the whole cd, but my husband and sons (the other one just turned 3!) LOVE it. The songs I've paid attention to are quite good...

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. *sigh* My 9 year old, 5 year old and 37 year old are all big into...

that CD. My 5 year old!

[YOY]

6. This 31-year-old agrees

Greenday is grown-up, pretty punk for a corporate band, and pissed. So is NOFX...try "Idiot Son of an Asshole"...they have a short video on the web.

Bad Religion has been preaching against the Neocons since the late 90s.

"B.Y.O.B." by system of a down is also Anti-shrub but the guys voice annoys the hell out of me!

"Bite the Hand that Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails is a rally call to start kicking ass and to get off of your knees.

[hippiechick]

4. Ray LaMontagne, "How Come?" ...

The Decemberists, "Sixteen Military Wives" (Although that one takes a swipe at EVERYONE)


:hi:

[soup]

8. Stephan Smith - The Bell

Here's his site - links to a download page for some of his music:
http://www.stephansmith.com/

That, and many, many more here:
http://www.newsongsforpeace.org/index.html

[9119495]

9. Prety much everything by Radio 4--but there kind of funk/dance/punk

See "State of Alert" and one other title that escapes me on the disc. Cool disc art too that warnes against the emerging police state.

[Skidmore]

10. Don't just limit it to contemporary. Lets make a catalog of

protest songs. And then give some download place our business.

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. I love the 10,000 Maniacs version of Peace Train.

[Katherine Brengle]

28. Peace Train is my #1 favorite song of all time!!!!!!!! That and.......

California, by Joni Mitchell. Man, she's my hero.

[Katherine Brengle]

29. lyrics...

Sittin' in a park in Paris, France
readin' the news and it sure looks bad...
They won't give peace a chance,
that was just a dream some of us had...

It doesn't get any better than that, and even better to music.

[cascadiance]

36. I think she pulled it after the Salman Rushdie fatwah though...

But now Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) has a newer version of his song out too now.

Speaking of "newer older" anti-war songs, Gil-Scott Heron has a good one that was actually more against Dubya's Dad in the first Persian Gulf War, but in some ways seems more relevant now than before with "Work For Peace". I like that one now.

[soup]

20. links to download anti-war music

Anti War Songs, à la Carte©
With Links to Legal Downloads and Lyrics
http://www.lacarte.org/songs/anti-war/index.html

Davey D's List of
Hip Hop Anti-War Songs
http://www.daveyd.com/commentarylantiwarsonglist.html

A Better World is Possible
Envision waking up to it someday
100's of Inspiring Songs
All FREE
Just
Spread the word
Send these songs to friends
Burn 50 CDs and pass 'em out
Enlighten Yourself and Friends Today ! - ))
Peace Now
http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html

[deek]

60. Perfect! eom

.

[bluetrain]

11. Amy Martin's "It's About Oil"

Erin McKeown's "Civillians"
Bright Eyes' "When The President Talks To God" and, to an extent, "Landlocked Blues"
Cat Power's "Maybe Not", "Rockets", "Break Your Back"
and, not new but Jello Biafra's "Shut Up Be Happy" is chilling

[Katherine Brengle]

13. almost anything by System of a Down.......

I'm not usually into really hard sounding rock, but their music is moving if you listen to the lyrics.

[samdogmom]

15. Steve Earle, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, George Michael, Keb Mo

among others have all released good songs since the advent of Dubya. Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts...Now" has several anti-war/protest songs on it; John Fogerty's "Deja Vu All Over Again", John Mellencamp's "Walk Tall", "To Washington", among others, George Michael's "Shoot the Dog" and Keb Mo's "Talk" are some examples. Bruce Springsteen's "Devils + Dust"; Dave Matthews Band "Everybody Wake Up", Robert Cray's "Twenty", The Rolling Stones' "Sweet Neo Con", Steven Stills "Feed the People", Sinead O'Conner's "Throw Down Your Arms", Stevie Wonder's "A Time to Love", Tracy Chapman's "America" are a few more I can think of. There have been lots of good songs released lately.

[unhappycamper]

16. Here's the video of "Twenty".

http://afsc.org/iraq/cray-video.htm

[madame defarge]

23. Very powerful song & video. Highly recommend n/t

[spuddonna]

27. Thanks so much...

Somehow I hadn't seen that one before...

What a heartbreaking video... That made me cry... So many people have died... for what?

[davekriss]

51. Steve Earle is great

But better than The Revolution Starts Now is Jerusalem. I especially like American Dream v6.0.

Though not strictly "anti-war", I highly recomment Self Evident (or any number of recent poems/songs) by Ani Defranco, which stands defiant against the whole Bush gestalt. See http://www.peace-not-war.org/Music/AniDiFranco/

[lonestarnot]

17. freewayblogger

http://www.freewayblogger.com/iraqomo.swf

[negativenihil]

25. Check out "Boom!" from System of a Down... n/t

[JanMichael]

48. Yes!

It's a bit much for most, not me, but it's unambiguous.

[realisticphish]

26. Great song, but kind of obscure

"March of Death" by Zack de la Rocha (of rage against the machine)

[SeattleRob]

30. Bright Eyes "When the President Talks to God"

It's not just a "war" protest song. It's a protest song about Dubya.


and let's not forget:

"Masters of War" Bob Dylan

"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath

and "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix

[JamesTee]

32. Gods of War...

by Def Leppard. An anti-Reagan/Thatcher song that rocks.

[BushOut06]

37. BYOB by System of a Down, Mosh by Eminem

Although I think Mosh might be more of an anti-Bush song than anything else - but it does have some good anti-war imagery in it.

[rickrok66]

39. Protest and Lefty Songs

As others have mentioned,

Green Day's American Idiot album
Song - American Idiot
Song - When September Ends

System of a Down - Mesmerize Album
Song - BYOB
Hypnotize Album and song Hynotize

Rage Against the Machine - even thoug they broke up in 2000, they still have a lot of lefty songs
Bulls on Parade
Guerrilla Radio

Nine Inch Nails
New one is "Bite the hand that feeds you"
an old song of theirs is "Head like a hole" which is Trent Reznor's indictment of organized religion

NIN wanted to play for one of the MTV awards shows last year with a large banner of President Bush behind them. MTV refused - NIN refused to play and Treznor's reply was, "I guess Bush disgusts MTV as much as he disgusts me" (something like that).

Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People is also about organized religion

Sonic Youth's "Youth Against Fascism"

[leeroysphitz]

40. "Exodus Damage" by John Vanderslice n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

41. Sandpeople - if you like Rap, which I usually don't

but these kids played at the World Can't Wait protest, and I got a copy of their 2nd CD - The Hate

You can hear clips of their first one here - Points of View.

http://www.sandpeoplemusic.com/audio.htm

on edit - here too
http://www.myspace.com/sandpeople

About Sandpeople

Basically, a bunch of rockstars who happen to rap, joined together to form the most unorganized musical union this world has yet to see. A brilliant fusion of talent and dependencies.

[Bryan]

42. The Fiery Furnaces, "We Got Back the Plague"

http://blueberryboat.no3rdw.com/lyrics/we-got-back-the-plauge.html

Lovely, pointed, if a bit oblique ("And I don't care if he bombs Babylon to hell/Except for he's building Babylon here as well").

I also like Primal Scream's "Swastika Eyes", a kickass dance number which, although it was actually written in response to UN intervention in Kosovo, is more applicable to current events.

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/primal-scream/110879.html

[katamaran]

43. "Holiday" by Green Day

As mentioned before, anything on "American Idiot" is pretty good for an angry protest. I'm hung up on "Jesus of Suburbia" right now...rather anti-RW and anti-fundies.

/200th post...w00t!

[CatholicEdHead]

47. Lots from John McCutcheon

http://www.folkmusic.com/f_music.htm

Some are free MP3s.

http://www.folkmusic.com/f_mp3.htm

[Bluerthanblue]

62. yay!! i'm not alone in my fondness for him-

he's good- !!

[fishwax]

49. 2000 Funerals

it's a song by Graham Parker, an alt.country singer, and it's really a pretty moving song. I recommend it.

[fishwax]

50. Camilio, by State Radio (and it's available for free)

is a song about one of the vets returning from Iraq who was imprisoned for refusing to go back. And it also has the advantage of being available for free from their website:

http://stateradio.com/camilo.html

[Virginia Dare]

52. Just heard one tonight

"The Way" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (the new band), Steve Earle is good too.

Going back to old school, I haven't been able to get this song out of my head lately:

Call out the instigators
because the revolution's here...

[Berserker]

53. Sweet Neo-Con

Rolling Stones one of the best ever. This song kicks ass I just wished they could play it at the superbowl for everyone to hear.

[rndmprsn]

54. "i fought in a war" by belle and sebastian

rules!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

55. Has anyone mentioned Merle Haggard's, Rebuild America First?

I don't think I saw it in anyone's post, but it is absolutely great.

[davekriss]

56. It was for GHWB's Gulf War, but...

...still applies. "Bombs over Baghdad" by John Trudell. From that same early nineties album, "Rich Man's War". Highly recommended if you like poetry put to music.

Patti Smith's Peacable Kingdom fading into Radio Baghdad ain't bad and hasn't been mentioned yet.

[politicat]

57. From our collection

The Chumbawamba has the advantage that it's easy to sing along with and to teach the words - also, since they tend to be anarchists, they don't tend to go after people who use their songs in a non-commercial way.

Oingo Boingo: War Again (for Iraq I, but some things are relevant again...) and Wake Up (it's 1984)
Bad Religion: Let Them Eat War, others
Chumbawamba: Buy Nothing Day, Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name), Salt Fare North Sea, Smart Bomb (and a lot of other progressive cause songs - most are very melodic and not at all like that horrid tubthumper song), the entire album entitled :English Rebel Songs. Also, from chumba.net there are downloads of some of their more subversive music for free (such as Bella Ciao and Enough is Enough)
VNV Nation: Chrome
Travis: The Beautiful Occupation

There are also 28 iMixes at the ITMS that come up if you search under iMixes for "anti-war". You might find something to your taste in there.

[Marleyb]

61. long list of FREE anti war anti bush MP3's

http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html

[Bluerthanblue]

63. Perfect Circle- Joni Mitchells "Fiddle for the drum" is my favorite-

on it-
"Like sheep to the slaughter' is my sons-