Best protest songs of the 21st century! add if you have any ideas!

[rch35]

"Let's Impeach the President" - Neil Young
"Final Straw" - R.E.M.
"The Day After Tomorrow" - Tom Waits
"When the President Talks to God" - Bright Eyes
"Heard Somebody Say" - Devendra Banhart
"16 Military Wives" - The Decemberists
"From Her Lips to Gods Ears (The Energizer)" - Against Me
"World Wide Suicide" - Pearl Jam
"Loose Lips" - Kimya Dawson
"Intervention" - The Arcade Fire
"2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm)" - Radiohead
"Capital G" - Nine Inch Nails
"Leaders of the Free World" - Elbow
"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" - Bruce Springsteen
"Cunts Are Still Running the World" - Jarvis Cocker
"Bushnomics" - Talib Kweli And Cornel West
"What if We All Stopped Paying Taxes?" - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

[Kahuna]

1. R&B's contributions..

War - Edwin Starr
What's going on? - Marvin Gaye
Harvest for the World - Isley Bros.

[rucky]

2. "Stand Up" - Flobots

Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Stand up We shall not be moved
Except by a woman dying from a loss of food
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you

We still don't understand thunder and lightning
Flash back to when we didn't fund the dam
Didn't fund the dam levee? No wonder man
Now our whole damn city's torn asunder man
Under water but we still don't understand
We see hurricane spills overrun the land
Through gaps you couldn't fill with a 100 tons of sand
No we still don't understand
We've seen planes in the windows of buildings crumbled in
We've seen flames send the chills through London
And we've sent planes to kill them and some of them were children
But still we crumbling the building
Underfunded but we still don't understand
Under God but we kill like the son of Sam
But if you feel like I feel like about the son of man
We will overcome

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Stand up We shall not be moved
Except by a woman dying from a loss of food
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you

We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
Except by a woman dying from a loss of food
Except by a freedom fighter bleeding on a cross for you
We shall not be moved
Except by a system thats rotten through
Neglecting the victims and ordering the cops to shoot
High treason now we need to prosecute

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
And we won't fight a war for fossil fuel
Its times like this that you want to plot a coup
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Unless were taking a route we have not pursued
So if you've got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up and I'll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
if you've got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up

Now shake, shake
A Polaroid dream
nightmare negatives develop on the screen
We sit back and wait for the government team
Criticize they but who the fuck are we
The people want peace but the leaders want war
Our neighbors don't speak, peek through the front door
House representatives preach "stay the course"
Time for a leap of faith
Once More

Put your hands up high if you haven't abandoned
Hope that the pen strokes stronger than the cannon
Balls to the wall, Nose to the grindstone
My interrogation techniques leave your mind blown
So Place your bets lets speak to the enemy
Don't let em pretend that we seek blood
And who's we anyways Kemo Sabe?
Mighty warlord wanna-be street thug
a threat for a threat leaves the whole world terrified
blow for blow never settles the score
word for word is time need clarify
We the people did not want war

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Unless were taking a route we have not pursued
So if you've got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up and I'll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
if you've got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up
< Stand Up Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ >

[greenbird]

3. Bruce Cockburn's

"Tell the Universe"

[Reader Rabbit]

4. Pretty much anything by Michael Franti

But as it's the butt-crack of dawn here, my mind cannot retrieve any of the necessary information yet. After I've had some coffee, I'll fumble through my tunes for ideas.

[JTFrog]

5. I sorta became fond of Handlebars by Flobots.

Handlebars By Flobots

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all healed of their lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

[archiemo]

6. "Dear Mr. President" - Pink

[DevonRex]

11. Dammit all to hell. I was gonna say that one. GRRRRRR!!!!!!

:mad:

:hi:

[Doctor_Horrible]

25. one of my faves!

[RandomKoolzip]

7. "Tell the Police the Truth" - Mahjongg

"Lazy Muthafucka" - The Coup

[TBF]

8. My favorites -

John Lennon's Imagine & War is Over (if you want it)- 20th century to be precise

This century:
"American Blood" Bo Bice (you can find it on you tube)very touching anti-war song

"Holiday" by Green Day -

"Holiday"

Say, hey!

Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name

Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war today

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side

Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

(Hey!)
(Say, hey!)

"The representative from California has the floor"

Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

This is our lives on holiday

[Bennyboy]

9. SPEARHEAD! (so many)

Bomb the World, Hole In the Bucket, Time To Go Home, yell Fire and this one (Hey World Don't Give Up) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01FE9cPXE3M

really most of their stuff is protest music.

[Bad Thoughts]

10. "Dry Drunk Emperor" by TV on the Radio

Amazingly, the band made it a free download at the time of Katrina.

baby boy
dieing under hot desert sun,
watch your colors run.

did you believe the lie they told you,
that christ would lead the way
and in a matter of days
hand us victory?

did you buy the bull they sold you,
that the bullets and the bombs
and all the strong arms
would bring home security?

all eyes upon
dry drunk emperor
gold cross cross jock skull and bones
mocking smile,
he's been
standing naked for a while!
get him gone, get him gone, get him gone!!
and bring all the thieves to trial.

[DevonRex]

12. Ohio - Neil Young. Chicago - CSNY I still play them so they're 21st to me.

[jules1962]

13. American Idiot-Green Day

The Logical Song-SuperTramp

[DevonRex]

14. I love that whole CD. Great, great choice.

[Milo_Bloom]

15. I liked "Mosh" - Eminem

[Occam Bandage]

16. 16 Military Wives. The rest are mostly terrible to mediocre.

Edit: I see someone mentioned American Idiot, which I think is very good.

[Bunkie0913]

17. Probably my favorite is...

"Worst President Ever" - Funk Vigilante
I even have the tshirt bought from BartCop that shows the Chimpster face.

[mwb970]

18. "Monster" by Steppenwolf.

http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/mnnster.html

[Uncle Joe]

19. If I had a puter, I'd pute in the morning

I'd pute in the evening all over this land
I'd pute out danger, I'd pute out warning
I'd pute out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a mouse I'd blog it in the morning
I'd blog it in the evening all over this land
I'd blog out danger, I'd blog out warning
I'd blog out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a journal I'd publish it in the morning
I'd publish it in the evening all over this land
I'd publish out danger, I'd pulish out warning
I'd publish out love between my sisters and my brothers
All over this land

When I've got a puter, and I've got a mouse
And I've got a journal to publish all over this land
It's a puter of justice, it's a mouse of freedom
It's a journal about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

With apologies to (Pete Seeger / Lee Hays)

[handmade34]

20. Steve Earle is still writing some...

[11 Bravo]

21. I'm partial to "Ohio" by CSN&Y (but I'm an old fart).

[MadBadger]

22. Last to Die - Bruce Springsteen, Bring em Home - Bruce Springsteen

[infidel dog]

23. I'd like to toss in Lou Reed's "Strawman" and "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion. By the way,

when are the valentine's hearts coming down? This unemployed dog, being unable to send any, received none, which in our capitalist society is only Right and Fitting, I suppose, but I still feel like Yank from "The Hairy Ape" wandering into the Newport Yacht Club at times, my (presumed) brothers and sisters on the left. Oh well.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

24. Sam Stone

Sam Stone

©John Prine

Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

Chorus:

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Repeat Chorus:

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

Repeat Chorus

[TayTay]

26. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, by Eric Bogle

Eric Bogle
AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA lyrics
- Eric Bogle
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/e/eric_bogle/and_the_band_played_waltzing_matilda.html

Now when I was a young man, I carried me pack, and I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done.
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli
And how well I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well. He shower'd us with bullets,
And he rained us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda, when we stopped to bury our slain.
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs, then we started all over again.
And those that were left, well we tried to survive, in that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, though around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, and when I woke up in my hospital bed,
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never knew there was worse things than dyin'.

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs-no more waltzing Matilda for me.
So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back home to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be.
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

But the band played Waltzing Matilda, as they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, then they turned all their faces away
And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the parades pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of past glories
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear. Someday no one will march there at all.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swviwHDJQoM

[Uzybone]

27. California Uber Allies - Dead Kennedys

Bush Killa - Paris
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Megalomaniac - Incubus
everything by Paris, everything by The Goats, everything by the Public Enemy.

[Phx_Dem]

28. American Idiot by Green Day, and

"Long Road out of Eden" by the Eagles
"Deja Vu" by John Fogarty
"Last to Die" by Bruce Springsteen (taken from John Kerry's 70's Congressional testimony remark about being the "last to die for a mistake."

[Phx_Dem]

29. How could we have forgotten "Dear Mr. President" by Pink!

[archiemo]

33. We didn't!!! See #6...I was so thankful my high-school daughter introduced me to that song!!

[asteroid2003QQ47]

30. "House Un-American Blues Activity Dream"

"House Un-American Blues Activity Dream"

Mimi & Richard Fariña

I was standing on the sidewalk, had a noise in my head.
There were loudspeakers babbling, but nothing was said.
There were twenty-seven companies of female Marines.
There were presidential candidates in new Levis jeans.
It was the red, white and blue planning how to endure.
The fife, drum and bugle marching down on the poor.
God bless America, without any doubt.
And I figured it was time to get out.

Well I have to b'lieve that in between scenes, good people.
Went and got em done in the sun, good people.
Tourist information said to get on the stick.
You ain't moving 'til you're grooving with a Cubana chick.
So I hopped on a plane, I took a pill for my brain,
and I discovered I was feeling all right.
When I strolled down the Prado, people looked at me weird.
Who's that hippy, hoppy character without any beard?
Drinking juice from papayas, singing songs to the trees.
Dancing mambo on the beaches, spreading social disease.

Now the Castro convertible was changing the style,
a whole lot of action on a blockaded isle.
When along come a summons in the middle of night,
saying, "Buddy, we're about to indict."
When I went up on the stand with my hand, good people.
You've got to tell the truth in the booth, good people.
I started out with information kind of remote.
When a patriotic mother dragged me down by the throat.
"If they ask you a question, they expect a reply!"
Doesn't matter if you're fixin' to die.

Well I was lying there unconscious feeling kind of exempt.
When the judge said that silence was a sign of contempt.
He took out his gavel, banged me hard on the head.
He fined me ten years in prison, and a whole lot of bread.
It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor.
Blind mother justice, on a pile of manure.
Say your prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance every night.
And tomorrow, you'll be feeling all right.

[JeffR]

31. We Can't Make It Here by James McMurtry

"There’s a Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing and both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s just stretched so thin
And now there’s more coming back from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore

That big ol’ building was the textile mill that fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can’t make it here anymore

See those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They’re just gonna sit there ‘til they rot
‘Cause there’s nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There’s a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don’t come down here unless you’re looking to score
We can’t make it here anymore

The bar’s still open but man it’s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far $5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one your stores
Bet you can’t make it here anymore

There’s a high school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromatA woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what’ll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? Live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it’s way too late to just say no
You can’t make it here anymore

Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘ Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate ‘em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
Their shit don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
Their kids won’t bleed in their damn little war
And we can’t make it here anymore

Will work for food will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
So let ‘em eat jellybeans let ‘em eat cake
Let ‘em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore

So that’s how it is, that’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind if you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone tell us all why

In Dayton Ohio or Portland Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That’s done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There’s rats in the alley and trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can’t make it here anymore"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug

[Baikonour]

32. My list..

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Dead Flag Blues
Immortal Technique - The 4th Branch
Sam Cooke - A Change Gonna Come
Pearl Jam - Do The Evolution
The Clash - Guns of Brixton
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name

But honestly, "When The President Talks To God" by Conor Oberst is probably the most direct and powerful protest song I've heard in a very long time.

[ChiciB1]

34. This Question Is So Very Hard To Answer... To Many Boomers There Are

probably songs my grandson would never recognize. Not complaining about the post, it's very interesting, but the list could go on and on!

As a HUGH Jackson Browne fan (probably top of my list) he wrote some VERY FANTASTIC songs not directly related to any WAR in general. I think I have every CD of his, except for perhaps his latest. Several of his songs could be applied to the Iraq War, but were actually written around 1983. Many songs come to mind for me, and one of the very EARLIEST was Blowin In The Wind, written by one of the greatest Bob Dylan, sung by Peter, Paul & Mary.

I think I first heard it when I was in the 8th or 9th grade and didn't really "get it" back then. Dylan himself was no real War Protester, something Joan Baez spoke about after Viet Nam, and perhaps even today.

There is a VERY LONG LIST though!

[slampoet]

35. "Living in the Wasteleand of the Free" Iris DeMent .."Girl in the War" Josh Ritter

I can't believe that It have taken this far down on the list to list these two.

[fortyfeetunder]

36. "Mosh" -- Eminem

you knew who his target was....