Protest Songs Puns

Wondering which ones you guys know about/prefer.

For example, I seem to like the classic Blowin' in the Wind sung by Bob Dylan.

But I'm hoping for some good juicy obscure ones that Google/YouTube isn't throwing at me. :)

So, I’m teaching a class and want to incorporate music, specifically protest songs in the second half of United States History. Do you have any recommendations?

There's a complete lack of protest songs in modern popular music. No one seems to write about class warfare or politics anymore.

Folk music of the 60s used to have Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, Billy Bragg.

In the 70s and into the 80s, Bruce Springsteen was and still is a huge advocate for unions. Hell even John Lennon had some working class songs.

Punk and Hardcore music of the 80s and 90s had tons of anti establishment songs, and some them were popular amongst the masses but the movement largely moved underground. Even Read Against the Machine isn't as popular as they were in the 90s.

Today, I can barely find any songs or artists in r past 20 years that support working class. I've scoured Spotify got songs and find some obscure things and a lot of older songs. There's some more popular UK artists like Frank Turner but no one American. At best, there's songs about social issues, but nothing about class inequality or directly about political issues.

At a time when people are so pissed off and there's such a light on politics and inequality, why aren't more artists writing about this?

what are the best grunge protest songs? i want to know because i have to do a project about grunge :)) it's for school

Been visting Dec 2021 playlist since the news around Farmers Laws got announced. Was some good bangers and more importantly, exihibit for enabling community cohesion through music during hard times. Songs on my playlist in the comments - Feel free to add to.

Note: This thread is not for any discussion related to the Indian Farmers Protest or Agricultural Reform Laws.

You know what’s been missing from every protest or rally I’ve been to over the last ten years?

Songs.

Protest songs. Political songs.

Songs that everyone knows and can sing together.

This tradition, at least in the corners of the universe I’ve experienced, seems to have died out. And this is too bad. There was a time when most activists had a few songs in their back pocket. And they were sung to keep spirits up, as a symbol of unity of purpose. They were a demonstration, how beautiful the voices are, of those without a voice.

And most of all because singing is fun.

I remember when I first learned to sing at a protest. It was in the 1990s, in Berkeley, and I learned to sing “We Shall Overcome” at political events from older lefties. (Mostly white actually.)

They really sang it. At marches, strikes, wherever. They knew multiple verses. They knew other songs, but since I hadn’t learned them I couldn’t sing with them, and they were lost to me. It was just a matter of timing, and what kind of music had been popular during their youth.

“We Shall Overcome” is such a good song for political action because it has such a low barrier for entry. The verses repeat almost all of the words, while only the refrain changes:

We shall overcome

We will live in peace

We’ll walk hand in hand

Etc.

…You don’t have to learn a lot of new patterns.

That song is anthemic because it so powerful. No matter what atrocity it is you are protesting, no matter how hard it is to imagine that humans could ever treat each other with more kindness, that song picks you up and carries you on.

When you are first discovering the brutality of human history, protest songs give you a sense of progress. They are your grandparents reminding you that everything is going to be okay. Activists of all ages now need this more than ever.

The other source I know of is the labor movement. There are still union songs being sung too in Philly and in the East, but I don’t know if they are being passed on to the general population.

I recently read a book on the history of political songs, “Songs of America” by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw (the best chapter is on Bruce Springsteen.)

Songs have always a part of movements for change in America, from abolitionist days onwards, but they were much more universal before digital recorded music. In other words, when more people were used to performing music themselves rather than passively consuming it, it was just more normalized.

The other song th