Protest Song Thread

[Eric the Green]

(09-26-2020, 02:53 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: But deliverance is the objective and revolution (in the most desperate situations) is the means.

With a divine connection the most important human resource in the struggle, according to many who are part of it.

And for some as well, that connection can be gained through some kind of smoke ("you light up those big cigars in Cuba, you won't be the same again"?) Rags would agree

[gabrielle]

Thank you, Eric.

Of course, we can't mention the great Bob Dylan without also mentioning the man who inspired him--the great Woody Guthrie.

From the Asch Recordings, 1944-45:

[gabrielle]

According to genius.com this song was recorded in 1952 but the song is older: https://songofamerica.net/song/joe-hill    When I first heard this song, Pete Seeger was singing it.

[gabrielle]

1993.  Sadly, very relevant today, with the prospect of a remade Supreme Court before us.

[gabrielle]

The late Chris Cornell and company, in 1989.  This is my favorite Soundgarden song.





Don't touch me
Hands all over the eastern border
You know what I think we're falling
From composure
Hands all over western culture
Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures
Into vultures
Got my arms around baby brother
Put your hands away
Your gonna kill your mother, gonna kill your mother
Kill your mother
And I love her, yeah I love her
Hands all over the coastal waters
The crew men thank her
Then lay down their oily blanket
Hands all over the inland forest
In a striking motion trees fall down like dying soldiers
Yeah like dying soldiers
Got my arms around baby brother
Put your hands away
Your gonna kill your mother, gonna kill your mother
Kill your mother
And I love her, yeah I love her I love her
Hands all over the peasants daughter
She's our bride she'll never make it out alive
Hands all over words I utter
Change them into things you want to
Like balls of clay
Put your hands away
Yeah, put your hands away
Put your hands away
Gonna kill your mother
Gonna kill your mother
Gonna kill your mother
And I love her I love her I love her I love her
And she loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[Eric the Green]

I love this connection I found this year from my iconic favorite song and the equally-iconic overture from Fidelio. The main theme is almost the same, and much of the progression of elements similar, especially at the end: the orchestral synthesizer riff that anticipates Pete's, both conceived as "music for humanity," with the backward little crescendo for each note, and each note cut off; followed by a build up to the iconic scream, a vocal one by Roger, orchestral one by Beethoven, followed by a short recap of the main theme (vocalized by The Who with the song's most famous line), then the final, similar razzamatazz, and the final 5 tonic chords.
follow the url links to hear the excerpts I mention:
https://youtu.be/dRhwyzJABvI?t=890




https://youtu.be/Un5oEdfrm_A?t=395




Was Pete's Won't Get Fooled Again (1971) directly inspired by Beethoven's Leonore Overture #3? Well, we know Pete is British, and his lyrics are a perfect soundtrack for the UK's Kenneth's Clark's "The Fallacies of Hope," which featured Beethoven's Overture near the start and the Prisoner's Chorus later on in the film, which Kenneth Clark called "the greatest of all hymns to liberty," and that this documentary came out a couple of years before The Who's song.

[gabrielle]

Single released in 1980





1984

[sbarrera]

"Biko" is a great choice. It reminds me of how the Boomers kept up the spirit of the Awakening into the 1980s, even though some of the more popular musical artists (MJ, Madonna) were picking up on a new zeitgeist.

[sbarrera]

This is probably the best example of a hit that manages to be both an anti-war song and a full-blown 80s pop song.