Political Music - The Criteria, Part II

My Acadian friends have asked about French songs. Simply put, while I love Acadian and Quebec politics, I am no judge of French music.

The Top 100 Political Songs Countdown is limited to English songs (any country). Because we're in a Canadian election as I write, I will highlight songs from French Canada as I blog, but they won't be in any particular order. You'll love them. And one English translation of a French song did make the list. A prize to the first person to guess which one. A special thanks goes out to Stephan, Sylvie and Kevin for their help in suggesting great music from the Acadian and Quebec nations, and starting to fill this knowledge gap.

Many people suggested national anthems. No. Not on this list. Not even for Jimi Hendrix.

Political Music - The Criteria, Part I

I've listened to over 650 songs while researching, curating and writing this political music countdown. The list went through 4 drafts, and plenty of great, important and powerful songs were dropped from the original draft.

When I started, I thought I should limit artists to one song on the list. But I haven't been able to do that. How do you do that when Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone have such depth and heart in their catalogue of songs? I've allowed my list to include one and a half songs or two songs by a handful of artists.

Of course, that meant some highly recommended pics from people aren't on the list at all. There's nothing from Liz Phair or Hüsker Dü. Much to my great surprise, as people reminded me of more songs, I dropped some personal favourites that I'd carefully placed in the early part of the countdown, including The Decemberists and The Weakerthans.

"Political Songs" might be protest songs, they might be songs of peace, they might be social commentary on anything and everything. There are songs about prejudice, poverty and power on the list, and songs about capitalism, Jesus and other gods.

No songs for vegans made the Top 100. I apologize, and offer you this gift: The Smiths' Meat Is Murder.

Political Music Prologue

Growing up in the country, outside a small town in Nova Scotia, I spent a lot of time listening to songs on the radio. A lot of pretty pop tunes in the 80's. And I had the sense that music, great music, important music, was something that happened in the 60's and 70's. The music of my father and mother.

And then, a revelation... Public Enemy. I was 14 when I first heard Fear of a Black Planet. I was blown away. There was music still out there, with heat and light. Music that would worry my parents. Well, not my hippie parents, but at least other people's parents.

This blog is meant to celebrate those moments when music created sparks in people's lives. It's election time in Canada, and I'll be counting down what are, in my opinion, the Top 100 political songs of all time. I'll be posting 3 songs a day.

I'd like to hear from you. Tell me about why a song is important to you, or belongs on this list, or doesn't. I'll be posting the most moving comments and the brightest critiques. Please include your full name and city or town in your note.

Here's a pretty pop song that didn't make the list. Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, from 1989's Storm Front.