American Protest Songs in the 20th Century

Alex KrenzWillie GotmerTom BuckleyShoe AnVictoria Neil

Goals:• 1.     Protest songs have been present in

American Culture throughout the entirety of the 20th Century affecting the American psyche by challenging pre-established views.

• 2.     Protest songs provide a space for social movements, political expression, and a way of joining people together for a common cause.

• 3.     Protest songs are instruments of progressive form that throughout the century have built on one another to implement social change.

What is a Protest Song?

•A song to protest current economic, political, or social problems. A protest song highlights popular struggles against an idea, group, or individual figurehead. These songs are associated with all styles and genres of music, though they have historically been found in folk music.

Important Events – 1900-1950s:

•Labor Movements•World War I•Great Depression•Dust Bowl•Labor Movements•World War II•Anti-nuclear weapons

Protest songs of the first half of the 20th century

•About…

• Social/Economic Justice

• Anti-war sentiments

"I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier"

• American anti-war: associated with pacifist movement of pre-WWI

• Reflects the ideas that America should stay out of European affairs

• Witten in 1915 by Lyricist: Alfred Bryan and Composer: Al Piantadosi

• Teddy Roosevelt’s Response: ”foolish people who applaud a song entitled 'I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier' are just the people who would also in their hearts applaud a song entitled 'I Didn't Raise my Girl To Be A Mother'"

Lyrics:Ten million soldiers to the war have gonewho may never return again.Ten million mother's heartsmust break for the ones who died in vainHead bowed down in sorrow in her lonely years,I heard a mother murmer through her tears:

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,I brought him up to be my pride and joy.Who dares to place a musket on his shoulderto shoot some other mother's darling boy?“

Let nations arbitrate their future troubles.It's time to lay the sword and gun away.There'd be no war today if mothers all would say,"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier"

What victory can cheer a mother's heartwhen she looks at her blighted home?What victory can bring her backall she cared to call her own?

Let each mother answer in the year to be,"Remember that my boy belongs to me!“

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,I brought him up to be my pride and joy.Who dares to place a musket on his shoulderto shoot some other mother's darling boy?“

Let nations arbitrate their future troubles.It's time to lay the sword and gun away.There'd be no war today if mothers all would say,"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier"

Woody Guthrie: “Dust Bowl Troubadour”

• Born: July, 14 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma

• Died: October 3, 1967 (Age 55) in New York City

• Known for his realism: His music is considered as being “snapshots” of America social and economical life during the 1930’s and 1940s

• His knowledge of the “hard life” was because he had to look for work as a struggling musician

• Although there are a wide majority of his songs that deal with social injustice most speak about economic inequality and the disparagement with capitalism

• Most Famous for writing “This Land is Your Land”

• Mentored: Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan

“This Land is your Land” – An American Protest Song?

• Written in 1940; melody based on gospel songs “Oh my Loving Brother”

• Original title: “God Bless America for Me”• Originally written as a protest against Irving Berlin’s “God

Bless America”• The song draws upon all of his experiences traveling

around the country as a struggling artist and as a solider • Main idea of the song: wealth should be made available to

everyone (communist ideals).• When the song was written in 1944; published in 1951

(Guthrie left out many of the original stanzas controversial stanzas)

• Later it would be purposed that this become our national anthem

Original Lyrics: 1944 Song:

This land is your land This land is my landFrom California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me.

 As I was walking that ribbon of highway, 

I saw above me that endless skyway: I saw below me that golden valley: This land was made for you and me.

 I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps 

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.

 When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, 

And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: This land was made for you and me.

 As I went walking I saw a sign there 

And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” But on the other side it didn’t say nothing, That side was made for you and me.

 In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, 

By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me?

 Nobody living can ever stop me, 

As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land This land is my landFrom California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me.

 As I was walking that ribbon of highway, 

I saw above me that endless skyway: I saw below me that golden valley: This land was made for you and me.

 I've roamed and rambled and I followed my

footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.

 When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, 

And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: This land was made for you and me.

 This land is your land This land is my land

From California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me.

Protest Songs: 1960’s•Major anthem of the

60’s Civil Rights movement

•Lyrics-1901 gospel song

•Published in 1947•Associated with Civil

Rights in 1959 and gained popularity through the 60’s

•Referenced throughout the 60’s

We'll walk hand in hand, we'll walk hand in hand,We'll walk hand in hand someday;Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,We'll walk hand in hand someday. We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace,We shall live in peace someday;Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,We shall live in peace someday.

Bob Dylan-Blowin’ in the Wind• 1962• Anthem of 60’s Civil

Rights Movement• Marks a change to a

more contemporary era of protest songs

• Biblical Reference: "The word of the Lord came to me: 'Oh mortal, you dwell among the rebellious breed. They have eyes to see but see not; ears to hear, but hear not."

Yes, how many years can a mountain existBefore it's washed to the sea ?Yes, how many years can some people existBefore they're allowed to be free ?Yes, how many times can a man turn his headPretending he just doesn't see ?The answer my friend is blowin' in the windThe answer is blowin' in the wind.

Protest Songs: 1970’s • Beginnings:

Kent State Shootings (May 4, 1970):

• Kent State University in Kent, Ohio- students protesting the invasion of Cambodia (start of the Vietnam war)

• 67 Ohio National Guard members fired 67 rounds over 13 seconds wounding nine and killing four unarmed students.

• All was in response to President Nixon’s televised announcement on April 30

Artists of the 1970’s

•Chicago- “It Better End Soon”

•Crosby, Stills and Nash- “Ohio”

•Soul music taking over folk music▫Marvin Gaye- “What’s Going On?”

Gil Scott-Heron- “The Revolution will not be Televised”

Late 1970’s

•Women’s rights/protest song make an appearance▫Helen Reddy- “I am Woman” (1972)- anthem

for the women’s liberation movement

•Rock turns over into punk rock.

•Came from Britain- bands such as Sex Pistols and The Clash influenced American punk bands like The Ramones.

Protest Songs: 1980’s

•CD players•MTV and start of Music Video

▫Michael Jackson, Prince and Queen•Protest Songs focus on:

▫ Anti-Racism▫Anti-Regan

Billy Joel- AllentwonWell we are living here in AllentownAnd they’re closing all the factories down.Out in Bethlehem they’re killing timeFilling out forms, standing in line.Well our fathers fought the Second World War.  Well we’re waiting here in Allentown for the Pennsylvania we

never foundFor the promises our teachers gave if we worked hard, if we

behavedSo the graduations hang on the wall but they never really

helped us at allNo, they never taught us what was real 

Bruce Springsteen- Nebraska

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month

Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none

He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine

He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99

•Ford Motor plant in New Jersey

Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988The dopers sent a message to the cops last weekendthey shot him in the car where he satAnd Eleanor Bumpers and Michael Stewartmust have appreciated thatThere's a rampaging rage rising up like a plagueof bloody vials washing up on the beachIt'll take more than the Angels or Iron Mike Tysonto heal this bloody breach, hey, heyYou better hold onsomething's happening hereYou better hold onI'm gonna meet you in Tompkins Square

Protest Songs: 90’s-Present Day•Anti-Bush:

▫"Bushnomics" Talib Kweli And Cornel West▫Sharon Jones and Dap Kings "What if We

All Stopped Paying Taxes?"▫Pink “Dear Mr. President”▫Decembrists “16 Military Wives”▫Pearl Jam “World Wide Suicide” “Marker in

the Sand”▫Eminem “Mosh” “White America” “We as

Americans”

Present Day• American avant-garde singer Bobby Conn wrote an

album of anti-Bush songs with his 2004 collection The Homeland. Conn has stated that "[a]ll the records that I've done are a critique of what's going on in contemporary America”

• Bobby Conn on being a “Protest Singer”▫ I’m more of a vaudevillian than I am a political

commentator. I don’t think people should turn to music for their serious information. People should read the newspaper.[51]

• John Mayer “Waiting on the World to Change”

Bright Eyes: Landlocked Blues• And there’s kids playing guns in the street

And ones pointing his tree branch at meSo I put my hands up I say “enough is enough,

If you walk away, I’ll walk away”And he shot me dead

We made love on the living room floorWith the noise in the background of a televised war

And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say“If we walk away, they’ll walk away”

But greed is a bottomless pitAnd our freedom’s a joke We’re just taking a piss

And the whole world must watch the sad comic displayIf you’re still free start running away

Cause we’re coming for you!

When the President Talks to God•http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFot6SE0MCI&feature=related

Obama praises Protest Songs• “The civil rights movement was a movement

sustained by music, lifted by Spirituals and was sharpened by protest songs that sang of wrongs" Obama said as he welcomed his audience. Performers: Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Seal, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Morgan Freeman read.

Newser http://www.newser.com/story/80549/obama-salutes-protest-songs-with-concert.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/obama-sings-at-civil-rights-concert-9793969

President Obama speaks at a Black History Month event celebrating the music of the Civil Rights Movement in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Discussion

•Do you think that music is the proper place for politics including use by political leaders?

•How do you feel about songs that are catchy and popular when you do not necessarily agree with the message?

•How do you feel protest songs change people’s views of our country and the Government?

BibliographyAssociated press. (2010, February 10). Obama salutes protest songs with concert. Newser, article.

Retrieved from http://newser.me/ aQYBbi

Center for History and New Media. (2005). “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier”: Singing against the war. In History matters. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from George Mason University website: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/ d/ 4942/

Denisoff, R. S. (1970, Winter). Protest songs: Those on the top forty and those of the streets. American Quarterly, 22, 807-823. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/ 2711871

Dunaway, D. K. (1992, Summer). Review: Folk protest and political music in the United States [Review of the book My song is my weapon]. The Journal of American Folklore, 105, 374-379. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/ 541769?seq=1

Jackson, M. A. (202, Fall). Is this song your song anymore?: Revisioning Woody Guthrie’s “this land is your land”. American Music, 20, 249-276. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/ 1350126

Phillips, E. (n.d.). Anatomy need not be destiny. In The women’s liberation movement [Descriptive article]. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from University of Maryland website: http://otal.umd.edu/ ~vg/ jpf96/ jp08/ womenlib.html

Phull, H. (2008). Story behind the protest song: A reference guide to the 50 songs that changed the 20th century. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. (2007). The late 1970s to the present—Punk rock, the music video, and middle-aged rockers. In Rock music [Article]. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from Columbia University Press website: http://www.infoplease.com/ ce6/ ent/ A0860767.html