[quote="bobster"]Don't why I appear to be obsessed with finding you rightwing songs, but there you go. (BTW: Can't forget Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side of Me", which I think comes from the late eighties and I actually kinda like Charlie Daniels' "In America") quote]
Actually, that was a song rushed out shortly after Okie as part of the aforementioned pressure that Merle Haggard's record company put on him to capitalize on that single's success. The flip side of the coin is that Merle also had the clout after Okie from Muskogee to release two of his very best albums (or anyone's very best, really) in his Same Train, A Different Time: A Tribute To Jimmie Rodgers and A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World: Or, My Salute To Bob Wills that did a lot to introduce Wills and Rodgers to a new generation of music lovers.
There's also a very interesting interview with Neil Young in this month's Q where he discusses his comments about Ronald Reagan in the 1980's. Well worth reading.
Music and Politics
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girl out of time
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music and politics
nina simone´s suite to martin luther king (sunday in savannah, why (the king of love is death & mississippi goddam) is a perfect example on how politic events can affect music and how music can be a great form of expression.....
sam cooke´s a change is gonna come was a sort of emblematic hym to the civil rights movement in the u.s. (on a more personal level, there´s not a single time in which i´m not moved to tears whenever i play this song....is such an inspiring performance)......
springsteen is another example of music & politics.....but i guess that he has always managed to address political issues without being extemely combative ().......songs like the promised land, darkness on the edge of town, the river, nebraska, atlantic city, my hometown, the ghost of tom joad and so many more range from subjects like lost hopes and unemployment to death penalty, illegal immigration and humiliating living conditions.....politicians like Reagan in the 80s have tried to use his image and his songs as election campaign mottos but springsteen has wisely detached himself from any sort of political association staying true to his own belief....
.....then you have many other musicians who have addressed political issues in different ways......billy bragg, u2 (sunday bloody sunday, mothers of the dissapeared), lennon, dylan of course, garland jeffreys, little steven, peter gabriel, victor jara, leon gieco, serrat........and the list goes on.........
sam cooke´s a change is gonna come was a sort of emblematic hym to the civil rights movement in the u.s. (on a more personal level, there´s not a single time in which i´m not moved to tears whenever i play this song....is such an inspiring performance)......
springsteen is another example of music & politics.....but i guess that he has always managed to address political issues without being extemely combative ().......songs like the promised land, darkness on the edge of town, the river, nebraska, atlantic city, my hometown, the ghost of tom joad and so many more range from subjects like lost hopes and unemployment to death penalty, illegal immigration and humiliating living conditions.....politicians like Reagan in the 80s have tried to use his image and his songs as election campaign mottos but springsteen has wisely detached himself from any sort of political association staying true to his own belief....
.....then you have many other musicians who have addressed political issues in different ways......billy bragg, u2 (sunday bloody sunday, mothers of the dissapeared), lennon, dylan of course, garland jeffreys, little steven, peter gabriel, victor jara, leon gieco, serrat........and the list goes on.........
...the promise of indulgence in my confidential voice approached inmortal danger but you´ll never know how close....
El Vez --
Interesting about the date of "Fightin" -- with its obsession with flag burning, I just figured it came from the time of the first discussions of a "flag burning amendment." Glad to hear that, at least, it came from a time when some people in the U.S. actually were burning flags.
I'll try to remember to look for that Neil Young interview. Always been curious about that. On the 9/11 broadcast, I practically broke into tears at his song choice of "Imagine".
And one more thing -- Laughing Crow brought up "hate music" -- well, live it to this far right-wing fascinated center-lefty to have actually discovered some sort of fascinating quasi-fascist/possibly neo-Nazi music. While I can't reccomend it, exactly there's some pretty interesting about listening to extremist folk-rock troubadour Carl Klang.
A friend burnt me a CD (wouldn't pay for it, that's for sure!). It's interesting because it's a mixture of "black helicopters" anti-government/anti-mass media paranoia which can almost sound far-left wing at times (When I first listened to a cut, the CD player was set on random and, from the song I heard, I wasn't sure whether my friend had, for some reason, sent me a lame folk rock equivalent of "Rage Against the Machine" or something.)
Still, it's pretty clear where the guy's coming from. The title cut is "The News Behind the News," it's basically a pepply little recap of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" -- though he does admit that he's not 100% sure it's real. Of course, if he feels that way, why write the song and make it your title cut? Well, at least he left out the "blood libel", which is just gross.
Interesting about the date of "Fightin" -- with its obsession with flag burning, I just figured it came from the time of the first discussions of a "flag burning amendment." Glad to hear that, at least, it came from a time when some people in the U.S. actually were burning flags.
I'll try to remember to look for that Neil Young interview. Always been curious about that. On the 9/11 broadcast, I practically broke into tears at his song choice of "Imagine".
And one more thing -- Laughing Crow brought up "hate music" -- well, live it to this far right-wing fascinated center-lefty to have actually discovered some sort of fascinating quasi-fascist/possibly neo-Nazi music. While I can't reccomend it, exactly there's some pretty interesting about listening to extremist folk-rock troubadour Carl Klang.
A friend burnt me a CD (wouldn't pay for it, that's for sure!). It's interesting because it's a mixture of "black helicopters" anti-government/anti-mass media paranoia which can almost sound far-left wing at times (When I first listened to a cut, the CD player was set on random and, from the song I heard, I wasn't sure whether my friend had, for some reason, sent me a lame folk rock equivalent of "Rage Against the Machine" or something.)
Still, it's pretty clear where the guy's coming from. The title cut is "The News Behind the News," it's basically a pepply little recap of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" -- though he does admit that he's not 100% sure it's real. Of course, if he feels that way, why write the song and make it your title cut? Well, at least he left out the "blood libel", which is just gross.
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
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A rope leash
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- Location: southern misery, USA
Old Mother Reagan
Old Mother Reagan
And her crew
Took away
From me and you
I hope she goes far away
She better go far away
Y'know it ain't right
When it's all wrong
This is the old Mother Reagan
Protest song
Old Mother Reagan
She's so dumb
She's so dangerous
How come...
Old Mother Reagan went to heaven
But at the pearly gates
She was stopped!
- Violent Femmes
And her crew
Took away
From me and you
I hope she goes far away
She better go far away
Y'know it ain't right
When it's all wrong
This is the old Mother Reagan
Protest song
Old Mother Reagan
She's so dumb
She's so dangerous
How come...
Old Mother Reagan went to heaven
But at the pearly gates
She was stopped!
- Violent Femmes
I am surprised that no-one has mentioned Midnight Oil.
They have dealt with issues including Australian aboriginal land rights, the environment (they did a rather famous impromptu performance on the back of a truck outside Exon's New York office building following the Exon Valdes disaster), the US's role as world policeman etc etc.
Also, vocalist Peter Garret had strong connections with the NDP (Nuclear Disarmanent Party) running unsuccessfully on a senate ticket if I recall correctly, and has also more recently been closely connected to the Greens (a fairly major environmental party in Australia).
They have dealt with issues including Australian aboriginal land rights, the environment (they did a rather famous impromptu performance on the back of a truck outside Exon's New York office building following the Exon Valdes disaster), the US's role as world policeman etc etc.
Also, vocalist Peter Garret had strong connections with the NDP (Nuclear Disarmanent Party) running unsuccessfully on a senate ticket if I recall correctly, and has also more recently been closely connected to the Greens (a fairly major environmental party in Australia).