Most Influential Protest Song?

What protest and of-the-moment commentary songs have been most influential and successful at getting their point across?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EJWEXrykdQ"]YouTube - Band aid - Do they know it's christmas

shame it was such a shit song really :mickey:

 

This land is your land-woodie Guthrie
blowin in the wind-bob Dylan
fight the power-public enemy
whats going on-marvin Gaye
Anarchy in the u.k.-sex pistols

 

great choices I forgot about band aid and This land is your land.

 

I think Masters of War, while not as popular as Dylan's other protest songs, is definitely the most powerful protest song ever written.

 

Country Joe & The Fish- Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die Rag​

Cynicism and humour sometimes beats outrage... just try substituting Vietnam with Afghanistan and ponder on how much has really changed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBdeCxJmcAo"]YouTube - Country Joe McDonald - "Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die"

Come on all of you big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
he's got himself in a terrible jam
way down yonder in Viet Nam so
put down your books and pick up a gun we're
gonna have a whole lotta fun


And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for
don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam
And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates
ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die

Come on wall street don't be slow
why man this war is a go-go
there's plenty good money to be made by
supplying the army with the tools of its trade
let's hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
they drop it on the Viet Cong

Come on generals, let's move fast
your big chance has come at last
now you can go out and get those reds
cos the only good commie is the one that's dead and
you know that peace can only be won when we've
blown 'em all to kingdom come

Come on mothers throughout the land
pack your boys off to Viet Nam
come on fathers don't hesitate
send your sons off before it's too late
and you can be the first ones on your block
to have your boy come home in a box​

 

Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkWZjTPlQhc&feature=fvsr"]YouTube - A CHANGE IS GONNA COME

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo&feature=related"]YouTube - Pete Seeger - We shall overcome


PAX

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-w2FYIJbw&feature=related"]YouTube - Pete Seeger - Bring 'em Home

PAX

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dr05tXktSo&feature=related"]YouTube - which side are YOU on? by REBEL DIAZ

PAX

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5nVk5MU70"]YouTube - Neil Young - The Restless Consumer (Video)

The people have heard the news
The people have spoken
You may not like what they said
But they weren't jokin'

Way out on the desert sands
Lies a desperate lover
They call her the "Queen of Oil"
So much to discover

Don't need no ad machine
Telling me what I need
Don't need no Madison Avenue War
Don't need no more boxes I can see

Covered in flags but I can't see them on TV

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless consumer flies
Around the world each day
With such an appetite for taste and grace

People from around the world
Need someone to listen
We're starving and dying from our disease
We need your medicine
How do you pay for war
And leave us dyin' ?
When you could do so much more
You're not even tryin'

Don't need no TV ad
Tellin' me how sick I am
Don't want to know how many people are like me
Don't need no dizziness
Don't need no nausea
Don't need no side effects like diarrhea or sexual death

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless consumer lies
Asleep in her hotel
With such an appetite
For anything that sells

A hundred voices from a hundred lands
Need someone to listen
People are dying here and there
They don't see the world the way you do
There's no mission accomplished here
Just death to thousands

A hundred voices from a hundred lands
Cry out in unison

Don't need no terror squad
Don't want no damned Jihad
Blowin' themselves away in my hood
But we don't talk to them
So we don't learn from them
Hate don't negotiate with Good

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless comsumer flies
Around the world each day
With such an appetite for efficiency
And pace...

Don't need no more lies.

 

why has nobody mentioned joan baez? amazing woman.

 

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn91L9goKfQ

 

Just for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=favgoOn-U1I&feature=related"]YouTube - Joan Baez - Forever Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKvdPsnkPC0&NR=1&feature=fvwp"]YouTube - Joan Baez - Where have All The Flowers Gone


PAx

 

Ohio- Neil Young is a good one

 

appreciate that pax, thank you.
although forever young is not a protest song, i shan't protest your choice, you seem to always have the right one for the occasion, and i needed something kind tonight, so again, thank you.
trust you're well and happy.

 

This one has always influenced ME.
Up against the wall, mutherfuker. Tear down the wall.
http://www.mojvideo.com/video-jefferson-airplane-we-can-be-together-1969/d3cd8b2d404ccdf341c8

 

since most of the ones posted so far are from the vietnam era, I thought i would post a current protest song:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn7UQRE7cF4

Hey there, son of Adam
Hey there, daughter of Eve
Help me sing this tear gas riot song
For some fresh-faced police

They won't even know what hit 'em
When they lift their Roman shades
And the people's sun comes pouring in
On a brand new day

You who dammed the river
You changed our mountain's name
First we want Denali back
Then we're taking over Washington state

You get death as a consolation
You know only hate and rage
You paid a dowry for your child bride
And now she's living like a slave

A prayer came down the wire
It was all in the enemy's code
You couldn't figure out what mercy meant
So you did like you were told

When they finally sent the doctors
Once the fireball went out
There was nothing left but the cockroaches
And a movie with no sound

What good, what good are you
With your Cherokee trail and your Roosevelt Room?
What good, what good are you
With your Seneca plague and your Arlington tomb?

Go ask Hunter Thompson
Go ask Hemingway's ghost
It all catches up with you
Once you get just a little too old

Take a hard look in the mirror
It's a thing that you cannot see
Your shadow's long but the day is young
It just wasn't meant to be

There's no blankets for the winter
There's no oil in the lamp
And I'd like to write my congressman
But I can't afford the stamp

You want me to pay my taxes
So you can propagate your lie
While there's barefoot dudes down in New Orleans
Looking like they're gonna die

You who quote the legends
You who poisoned all of my dreams
You who pinned all of the medals on
All those boys from Omaha Beach

Hope you haven't got too lazy
I know you like your apple pie
'Cause the working poor you've been pissing on
Are doing double shifts tonight

What good, what good are you
With your Seneca plague and your Arlington tomb?
What good, what good are you
With your Cherokee trail and your Roosevelt Room?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_t13-0Joyc"]YouTube - PUBLIC ENEMY FIGHT THE POWER

 

The day Pete Seeger dies, it'll be a very sad day.