what old songs are still socialy/politicaly relevent even to this day?

[blackdragon6]

whats your list?

[clayholio]

Well, I was just listening to Tower of Power's "Only So Much Oil in the Ground," and it struck me as pretty timely. Also, I'd like to vote for Bad Religion's "American Jesus" as still being relevant.

[blackdragon6]

my list

the furious five-the message

2pac-brendas got a baby,i don't give a fuck,letterz to my unborn

marvin gay-innercity blues,whats going on

public enemy-burn hollywood burn among other songs they made

theres more but i'm drawing a blank

[The Mirrorball Man]

Beastie Boys - "Fight for your right to party"

[Hiromi]

Mostly ones that don't single out a politician but focus on an ideal, for example one world by Anthrax still does well for the most part, but the one line addressing Regan by name doesn't do well nearly 15 years later.

[Daniel Hopkins]

Changes - 2pac

[Hombre]

Now Raphael Rodriguez was just seven years old
Shot down in a schoolyard by some East Compton Cholos
His mamma cried "My beautiful boy is dead"
In the hills the self-made men just sighed and shook their heads

This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
Young lives over before they got started
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

Tonight as I tuck my own son in bed
All I can think of is what if it would've been him instead
I want to build me a wall so high nothing can burn it down
Right here on my own piece of dirty ground

Now I ply my trade in the land of king dollar
Where you get paid and your silence passes as honor
And all the hatred and dirty little lies
Been written off the books and into decent men's eyes

from Bruce Springsteen's Souls of the Departed, 1992.

[ZombieHavoc]

suicidal tendencies- i shot the devil...although now reagan and the pope are both dead.

also two-sided politics. doesnt matter that he names reagan. in the later version for "still cyco" he changed it to bush (which is still quite applicable, obviously), but really you could replace it with the name of anyone who is president at whatever time.

[ZombieHavoc]

everytime i post a new message my post count keeps going down. what the "dilly" yo?

[Josh S]

Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

[Ilash]

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
Masters of War - Bob Dylan
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who

There are many more besides but the less specific songs are always the more timeless.

[blackdragon6]

da art of story telling both versions by outkast.though i really like the one that talks about how people are destroying the planet.

[Wreck On The Highway]

An old classic:

"Compared To What" by Eddie Harris and Les McCann. Except for the line about abortion, ain't a damn thing changed in the 35 years since that song emerged.

[Sanagi]

Strange Fruit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit)

[JeffreyWKramer]

I find myself quoting "Once In a Lifetime" by Talking Heads in regard to matters political about once a week on average.

[Pinball]

Every time a entertainment or sports figure gets away with murder, i think of Nuclear Assault's "Buttf**k"

[howyadoin]

Pretty much anything Woodie Guthrie wrote.

[estee]

"WAR! What is it good for?" Sung by Edwin Starr, words by Barrett Strong & Norman Whitfield

Still works...

[Valmore]

I can't believe it took this long for anyone to mention CCR's "Fortunate Son."

[TomGun13]

Someone already said it but I'm going with Masters of War by Dylan and possibly John Brown by Dylan as well.

[Volk1]

Depeche Mode

Enjoy The Silence

[Ayo]

"Dopeman" - NWA (ie, Ice Cube)

"When Ya Get Drafted" - Dead Kennedys
"Moral Majority" - Dead Kennedys
"I Am the Owl" - Dead Kennedys
"Kill the Poor" - Dead Kennedys
"Holiday in Cambodia" - Dead Kennedys
"California Uber Alles" - Dead Kennedys
"This could be Everywhere" - Dead Kennedys
"Stars and Stripes of Corruption" - Dead Kennedys
Fuck it--the entire Dead Kennedys catelogue is sociopolitical commentary which remains relevant twenty plus years since its creation.

"Illegal Business" - Boogie Down Productions
"Amerikkka's Most Wanted" - Ice Cube
"Subliminal" - Suicidal Tendencies
"The Amerikan in Me" - Avengers
"Human Error" - Subhumans
"Reason For Existence" - Subhumans
"Paid Vacation" - Circle Jerks
not very old, but "Trickle Down" - Ani DiFranco


Personally--I don't know of any political songs that don't continue to remain relevant for all times. A political song (or painting, or book, or film) may reference a particular situation, but they all speak toward the human condition.

Nevermind if specific references are to figures of a time (Pol Pot, Reagan, Russians, neutron bomb), the spirit of these songs will forever be relevant, so long as American society progresses along the same lines.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

mo murda on the goverment-Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, it was cut from the thug world order album after 9/11.

[chicainery]

I quite enjoy Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle and the Drum.

[howyadoin]

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

[Rachel Grey]

War Pigs by Black Sabbath.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

true to the game-Ice Cube

[Jonathan Bogart]

You will not be able to stay home, brother....
Ooh, good one.

I listen to the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" about once a week. Seeing the Neville Brothers play it on Leno last year reminded me what a great, and perpetually relevant, song it is.

Has no one else mentioned Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side"?

Also, Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves," Curtis Mayfield's "If There's a Hell Down Below (We're All Gonna Go)," Randy Newman's "Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)," David Ackles' "Ballad of the Ship of State," and Neil Young's "Ohio" were all written to a specific time and place, but they remain true and relevant.

[meethraa]

Radiohead's "How Do You?"

[scratchie]

While digesting Reader’s Digest
In the back of a dirty book store
A plastic flag with gum on the back
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and ran outside
And slapped it on my windowshield.
And If I could see ol’ Betsy Ross
I’d tell her how good I feel.

CHORUS: But, your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven anymore.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reasons for.
And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.

Well, I went to the Bank this morning
And the cashier said to me
If you join the Christmas Club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free.
I didn’t mess a round a bit
I took him up on what he said
And stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife’s forehead.

CHORUS: But, your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven anymore.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reasons for.
And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.

Well, I got my windshield so filled with flags I couldn’t see
So I ran my car upside a curb and right into a tree
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead,
And I’ll never understand
Why the man,
Standing in the Pearly Gates said

CHORUS: But, your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven anymore.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reasons for.
And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.

-- John Prine

[Phrozen]

"The Trees", "Red Barchetta","The Big Money" & "Subdivisons" by Rush

[xakko]

Scarily, "Send the Marines", Tom Lehrer- "for might makes right, until they've seen the light, they've got the be protected, all their rights respected- til somebody we like can be elected..."

I think "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield still carries weight

"What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding?", Elvis Costello

"One Tin Soldier"- originally by Coven, but the one on my mix CD is "Me First & the Gimme Gimmes"

"Fragile" Sting, but I used the Jesse Cook/Holly Cole version

"The Knife", Genesis

Some of the lyrics are clumsy, but "Territories" by Rush works for me.

"Gulf War Song" by Moxy Fruvous

[Indigo Al]

"Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson. A politically charged call to arms for the youth of America to rebel against all our corrupt institutions.

[stealthwise]

I love how so many people have embraced Springsteen's "Born in the USA" as a Pro-America song. :)