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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway
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 Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:27 am Post subject:
Best 5 protest songs? |
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1. "Beds are burning" by Midnight Oil. Rousing anthem about the plight of the Australian Aborigines. saw the live at Roskilde in 1990, along with 70 000 others. I tell ya, when they played the opening riff to that song, it induced a local seismological event!
2. "How can a poor man stand such times and live" by Ry Cooder. Old dustbowl ballad reinvented by the original world musician.
3. "Imagine" by John Lennon. It's been played to death, and I'm not even sure if it's a protest song per se, it's just something to dream wistfully along to.
4. "Have you ever seen the rain?" by CCR. Great little song against the napalm bombing in Vietnam. J:C: Fogerty had some other great ones too, but I'll have to choose this one.
5. "Get up, stand up!" by Bob Marley. Nuff said.
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deknow
Joined: Sep 15, 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:33 am Post subject:
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...i'm not a big u2 fan (not since the first 2 records, anyways), but i've always loved "in the name of love", which i think is at least a social issue song, if not a protest song.
"strange fruit" certainly is in the top 5 (billie holliday)
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glaive
Joined: Sep 14, 2003
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Location: Bloomington, IN
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| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:05 am Post subject:
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| Just about any Dead Kennedys song. "Government Flu" springs to mind. |
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dmosc
Joined: Jun 23, 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:35 am Post subject:
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| whell it's 1, 2, 3 what are we fightin for? |
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glaive
Joined: Sep 14, 2003
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Location: Bloomington, IN
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| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:52 am Post subject:
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| Yeah, that takes the cake. |
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Mohoyoho
Joined: Dec 03, 2003
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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:08 pm Post subject:
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My alter ego, who for obvious reasons must remain anonymous would like to include "Love Stinks" by The J Geils Band.
personally I think there's been lots of good songs mentioned, but I forgot "Calice" by Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque. Problem is, I don't know which songs on my list to leave out - I suppose Nick Hornby will write a book about me now. 
Or was it Bruce Hornsby?
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mosc
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Mohoyoho
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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:19 am Post subject:
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| dmosc wrote: | | whell it's 1, 2, 3 what are we fightin for? |
Right: A challenge to all you creative folks out there (I'm not really there at this moment in time, but with help from my therapist I hope to unlock that writer's block eventually  ):
Make an Electro-Music version of Country Joe And The Fish's "Fixin' To Die Rag" Go for it!
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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:21 am Post subject:
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Or any protest song, come to that. 
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deknow
Joined: Sep 15, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:12 am Post subject:
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..how about "billy, don't be a hero" or "you've got to fight for your right to paaaaaaaarty"
ok, i'll shut up now 
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Kassen
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:24 am Post subject:
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Bomb20-Field manual (whole album).
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DrJustice
Joined: Sep 13, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:05 am Post subject:
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The impossible "top 5" again... 
Some of the ones already mentioned, and:
"Høvlerivisa", Vømmøl Spellmannslag.
Could almost be any song from Vømmøl'n.
I was a real Vømmøl fan when I was a kid. That album probably shaped me a bit .
Since Vømmøl Spellmannslag is probably little known:
Vømmøl Spellmanslag
DJ
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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:32 am Post subject:
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| DrJustice wrote: | The impossible "top 5" again...
Some of the ones already mentioned, and:
"Høvlerivisa", Vømmøl Spellmannslag.
Could almost be any song from Vømmøl'n.
I was a real Vømmøl fan when I was a kid. That album probably shaped me a bit .
Since Vømmøl Spellmannslag is probably little known:
Vømmøl Spellmanslag
DJ
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Being EXTREMELY ethnic, I'd have to agree, but maybe we should keep to English songs, as that's the Lingua Franca on this forum; Then again, I already broke that rule by coming up with a Portuguese language, Brazilian song, so who am I to say what goes?
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Ponk
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:32 am Post subject:
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| Oskar wrote: | | dmosc wrote: | | whell it's 1, 2, 3 what are we fightin for? |
Right: A challenge to all you creative folks out there (I'm not really there at this moment in time, but with help from my therapist I hope to unlock that writer's block eventually ):
Make an Electro-Music version of Country Joe And The Fish's "Fixin' To Die Rag" Go for it! |
Ok. I'm working on it. Kinda weird stuff so far. And there's almost nothing left from the original version. |
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paul e.
Joined: Sep 22, 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:34 am Post subject:
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i love that song...and donovan's version is great too..i have a recording of donovan playing that live....very powerful
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DrJustice
Joined: Sep 13, 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:46 am Post subject:
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| Oskar wrote: | | ... Being EXTREMELY ethnic, I'd have to agree, but maybe we should keep to English songs, as that's the Lingua Franca on this forum; Then again, I already broke that rule by coming up with a Portuguese language, Brazilian song, so who am I to say what goes? |
Although I see your point, why not let through some of the more non-obvious stuff. Besides I have to be true to myself, and in my mind "Vømmøl'n" is the best protest album regardless of ethnicity. I'll happily translate their lyrics for interested parties 
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Kassen
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:48 am Post subject:
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| Oskar wrote: | | Being EXTREMELY ethnic, I'd have to agree, but maybe we should keep to English songs, as that's the Lingua Franca on this forum; Then again, I already broke that rule by coming up with a Portuguese language, Brazilian song, so who am I to say what goes? |
I think that considdering the situation in the world the choice of language might well be a part of the expression on this topic. I see no reason for that limitation at all but if it´s found important to be understood then translations would probably be quite usefull.
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DrJustice
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:55 am Post subject:
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While searching for translations, I bumped into this page:
Music for revolutionary edification
Kassen, if you really want translation(s), check out the review on the page above and pick some candidate lyrics, and I'll do my best.
A bit of info: Vømmøldalen (Vømmøl Valley) is an imaginary construct depicting a small societey in which life unravels as described by Vømmøl Spellmanslag. There's books about it and several papers has been written on the subject.
Naming protest song names is cool, but perhaps sombedy else has anecdotes about how certain songs or bands have moved them?
DJ
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Kassen
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 11:09 am Post subject:
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Perhaps I´ll look up those lyrics later, I was mainly reacting to Oskar. Limiting ourselves to only English songs will potentially exclude many favourite songs of our members. For example; I think it´d be quite unlikely that Palestinian or Vietnamese protest songs (those must exist, right?) would be in English while those may well be very moving to some people.
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Kassen |
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Oskar
Joined: Jul 29, 2004
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Location: Norway
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject:
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| Kassen wrote: | | Perhaps I´ll look up those lyrics later, I was mainly reacting to Oskar. Limiting ourselves to only English songs will potentially exclude many favourite songs of our members. For example; I think it´d be quite unlikely that Palestinian or Vietnamese protest songs (those must exist, right?) would be in English while those may well be very moving to some people. |
Of course you're right, we shouldn't limit our mode(s) of expression, like i said in my previous post, I already named a Brazilian song, so I've already gone past that barrier. I would think that there would be interesting songs in Basque, Kurdish, Arabic, Xhosa and so on, but you'd have to tell me what they mean. Anyway, regarding the songs by Vømmøl Spelemannslag that m'learned friend, DrJustice refers to, they come from right up the fjord from me, and they wrote entertaining protest songs (best there is, as you can include more "mainstream people that wouldn't normally listen to what protesters say) about the goings-on in the imaginary valley Vømmøldalen. Funny thing is, DrJustice's choice, "Høvlerivise" - loosely translated "Sawmill Ditty," is usually one of the best received songs in my repertoire. It's a song about the travails of the sawmill workers who are downtrodden by the local capitalist Gyldentand (Gold Tooth, and the spelling is in Imperial Danish - not Norwegian) who lives in neighbouring community Porselensstrand - Porcelain Beach ( they have porcelain lavatories instead of wooden outhouses, like good ascetic Norwegians ought to). The song's protagonist says that if Gyldentand tries one more trick, he'll bloody well have a STRIKE on his hand. Over the last 11 years I've added an extra verse myself, speculating on what will be these workers' fate if Norway should join the EU. I fear they will be out of work, which lends itself to a quaint little pun in Norwegian.
The conclusion of the refrain celebrates the sawmill, saying "Hurra for Høvleriet nedpå strainda som har 14 arbeidsdøkti mainna - 14 mainn med ataindpunkt te si staind" That translates as "Hooray for the sawmill on the seafront, that's got 14 able-bodied (arbeidsdøkti) men. I changed the word "arbeidsdøkti" (able-bodied, lit. "able-to-work") to "arbeidsledi (out of work, or as deknow would say, someoene with a nice opportunity to find other work).
Not the strongest lyrical addition I know, but in this very EU-sceptic area (we fear that, instead of being slightly marginalized citizens of a small country, we'll be TOTALLY invisible and IRRELEVANT citizens of a HUGE multi-state union), the punters agree with my sentiments. [/i]
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DrJustice
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:55 pm Post subject:
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So you perform Vømmøl songs, Oskar! Yay!
They're absolutely non agressive and at times humorous, but quite sharp all the same. That's a good modus operandi for protest IMO.
If I were to chain myself to some toxic waste pipes or something, in order to lend my support to the environment, I'd be blasting out Skinny Puppy songs; "Natures Revenge" and "Shore Lined Poison" comes to mind, but I'd be inclined to just let the whole of "Too Dark Park" run it's course.
DJ
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Kassen
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:13 pm Post subject:
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"Making time in a low-rent high-rise; no place to go; down town (ha ha ha)"
Skinny Puppy did some great ones but of cource in their case it´s highly debatable wether they realy are English too... For one thing grammar is out of the window.
I suppose that my point was that demanding songs here to be in English would be a political act in and off itself, or at least could be seen as such and I think that at the moment quite a few people feel the need to protest against various sides of the more prominent English speaking countries. I wouldn´t want to stand for that.
That "Field manual" album I mentioned is a interesting case; it´s done by a German guy and all texts are sampled and re-aranged from U.S. movies (mainly techo-thrillers and the like) and it´s clearly protesting against some of the less pleasant sides of modern western culture. I think that use of language (even if the legality is dubious) is very interesting; he´s feeding cluture back to itself and to some degree the fact that he didin´t use the far more easily available German dubbed versions (like Eitherherd did later in a similar way in his theme album based on 1984) is a statement already.
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DrJustice
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:22 pm Post subject:
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| Kassen wrote: | | Skinny Puppy did some great ones but of cource in their case it´s highly debatable wether they realy are English too... For one thing grammar is out of the window. |
It's not about grammar. I think Ogre's stream of conciousness lyrics are quite something!
If nothing else, you gotta admit that it would go well with the toxic waste pipes!
DJ
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