Protest songs have a long and diverse history in our country. Going back to the time of the Revolutionary War, there were songs such as “Yankee Doodle,” which was written to mock the uncouth colonists but later adapted by the colonists to lampoon the British tyrants. While war is an ongoing theme for protest songs, there have been many other protest songs that decry racism, the lack of women’s rights and human rights, environmental indifference, and the list goes on. Beautiful melodies as in “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday can contrast with a song’s horrific message while other titles such as “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie and “Imagine” by John Lennon often get misinterpreted and used as sound bites for promotion of one product or another.
A Longstanding Tradition
During times of slavery spirituals, the like of “Go Down Moses” became popular, and one of the first singing groups to become popular with abolitionists was the Hutchinson Family Singers who sang about politics, suffrage and equal rights. In the early 1900s, Joe Hill — an activist and pro-union protest singer — sang songs for the working man, the most popular one being “The Preacher and the Slave.” During World War I, “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier” was sung in protest of the war, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that protest songs and protest became a movement. Songs like “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” to “We Shall Overcome” became anthems of the protest movement. Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez led the charge for the Civil Rights movement and against the war in Vietnam, spawning a whole new genre of music while doing so.
From Buffalo Springfield to Peter Gabriel, from U2 to Green Day and from Bob Marley to Matisyahu, protest songs are a way for artists to communicate and raise awareness about racial inequality, worker equality or bellicose nations. There are hundreds of protest songs that span the life of our nation, with many of them being attributed to the solidarity of unions and the ushering in of civil rights as well as helping bring an end to wars. Protest songs and singers bring attention to government injustices and the perceived unfair treatment of individuals and they can speak to power in this way because of the Constitution’s first amendment, which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The Other Side…
On the other side of the coin, while not necessarily considered protest singers, are artists such as Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few, who have a decidedly more conservative viewpoint. I bring this up because of the recent anti-administration comments that were made by Bruce Springsteen eliciting a response from the leader of the free world from “He’s a jerk” to “He ought to keep his mouth shut.” In all fairness, the response wasn’t to a song, but rather to a speech Springsteen gave to his followers in Manchester, England. The question that has been brought up is whether this was the correct place and time for him to relay his thoughts to the crowd and the world? Maybe the speech was given to launch his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour with an explanation, although anyone who has followed “The Boss” would not need a speech to know of his political leanings, which have been consistent since “Lost in the Flood,” a song from his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park.
Ironically, one of Springsteen’s biggest hits, “Born in the USA,” has often been misconstrued as a patriotic anthem with certain presidential candidates even wanting to use it as walk-on music. This indicates that Springsteen might have a more politically diverse fan base than just the ones catering to his opinion. Many performers do not broadcast their political views for fear of backlash that could harm their career; case in point Natalie Maines from The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks). As an aside, there are many performers who consider themselves conservative and have been critical of opposing administrations. From John Lydon to Alice Cooper and from Prince to James Brown, there’s a long list of conservative performers who might not agree with Springsteen’s political ruminations.
Moral Decisions
Regardless of how one feels about Bruce’s message, he has the constitutional right to voice his opinion, and due to his stature in the business, that gives cause for some people to worry; similar to the way John Lennon’s politics made him a person of interest to those in the halls of power. Out of curiosity I wonder how we, in the field of audio, might express our views. For example, let’s say that as an audio provider, business has been slow. Bills are due and payroll needs to be met. A call comes in from a political candidate whom you do not support, and it’s for a substantial bit of work; do you turn it down on principle or do you take the gig and sabotage the system just before the candidate speaks, ensuring that his message does not get conveyed to the audience?
What if you, as an engineer, get a call from a particular artist to do a world tour that pays well and would be great for your career, but the artist’s views do not align with yours? Do you refuse on moral grounds? Do you take the gig and make the mix sound only mediocre, or do you take the gig and during the tour tell him how you really feel? I assume that the position one takes depends on how confident one is that they will get more work even when speaking freely. There’s a certain bravado to speaking one’s opinion that goes against the conventional, and while not everyone is an activist devoting their life speaking truth to power, everyone has an opinion and is free to voice it.
Contact Baker Lee at [email protected].
