Let me tell you right off the bat that I’m a music illiterate. Sure, I have my favorite tunes and groups but, unlike some folks, music is not my life. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
But it was music that got me thinking recently. A friend sent an email with a link to “Simon & Garfunkel - The Story of Bridge Over Troubled Water” on YouTube. To me, the song has always been one of comfort and healing. This excellent video is the story of Bridge’s development and it’s an interesting description of the serendipity of its genesis.
While “Bridge” is not overtly an anti-war piece, it made me think of contemporaneous anti-war and peace music. Tunes like George Harrison’s "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" and John Lennon’s “Imagine” which topped the charts originally and now have entered the mainstream of music. Even Creedence Clearwater Revival’s "Fortunate Son" gets playtime today.
These are all songs that my grandmother could love. Folks get on the bus humming “Imagine.” They’re playing John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (The War is Over)” in the grocery store during the holidays. Today the “protest” part of the music has dissipated and we’re left with the beauty of the music. I wonder how many of those people humming “Imagine” even know that it was written as a protest song?
But I thought more about protest music. In my sheltered world, after Vietnam protest music seemed to vanish. Not that our lives were copacetic by any means, but the war was over, what was left to protest?
I started looking into protest music and boy were my eyes opened! It seems like there’s a lot more to protest today than there was fifty years ago.
Also, I realized that another aspect of protest music is that earlier music seemed (to me at least) to be more about ideas - end the war, peace on earth, etc. - whereas modern protest music often was more virulent and was aimed at a person or organization. For example, these are protests about George Bush:
“When the President Talks to God” – Bright Eyes
“Bu$hleaguer” – Pearl Jam
“Let’s Impeach The President” – Neil Young
And there are protest songs about George Floyd:
"The Bigger Picture" - Lil Baby
"Song 33" - Noname
Of course, there are still songs about ideas. These were written about police violence and racism in general:
"Hooded Procession (read the names outloud)" - Ambrose Akinmusire
“Long Violent History” - Tyler Childers
"Hella F*****' Trauma (Enough Is Enough)" - Juicy J
But now the Ukraine war has brought a whole new batch of protest music.
Here’s a little Ukrainian girl who sang 'Let It Go' (from the movie “Frozen”) from a bunker:
Ukrainian opera singers are singing for peace and Russian rappers are giving a voice to end Putin’s war.
Even before Vietnam, there was protest music. “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” was a protest song from the Civil War. There were protests about slavery, women’s suffrage, the labor movement, the Great Depression and World War I.
So, I’ve learned that protest music is universal and timeless, just like the reasons we protest.
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Did you know that the sunflower is the national flower of the Ukraine?
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Just Bend Over and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye
Not to be macabre, but our government is telling us how to prepare and survive a nuclear explosion. Ready.gov has all the instructions. Comforting, no?
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You may have already seen this but I don’t care because it’s so gosh darned cute!
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