A Countdown of the Top 100 political songs, to help provide a soundtrack to the 2011 Canadian Election. Researched and written by a proud New Democrat.
A beautiful anthem for political change, Sam Cooke's knows A Change Is Gonna Come. The song, both hopeful and filled with sorrow, doesn't hit you between the eyes with what's been done wrong - Cooke knows you know things need changing.
Otis Redding wrote this song to get a little lovin' and respect. Aretha Franklin turned the table, and turned Respect into a feminist anthem.
Respect was recorded on Valentine's Day in 1967. Producer Jerry Wexler said this about the recording:
Aretha added another dimension to the song. This was almost a feminist clarion. Whenever women heard the record, it was like a tidal wave of soronal unity. 'A little respect when you come home' doesn't only connote respect in the sense of having concern for another's position; there's also a little lubricity in there - respect aquires the notion of having to perform conjugally in optimum fashion. It was just a very interesting mix: an intuitive feminist outcry, a sexual statement, and an announcement of dignity.
Billie Holiday would close her shows in 1939 and '40 with Strange Fruit. Waiters would stop serving. The bars would shut off the lights. A single light would shine on Holliday. The audience, and Holliday, would often weep after the performance.
Critics were concerned Spike Lee's movie Do The Right Thing would provoke riots. David Denby said Lee was "playing with dynamite in an urban playground" and Newsweek worried the movie would put "dynamite under every seat." Lee pointed out the critics were implying that black audiences were incapable of understanding they were watching a fictional motion picture.
Public Enemy's song Fight The Power played a critical role in the film. The character Radio Raheem walked around the neighbourhood playing nothing but this tune on his ghettoblaster. At the movie's climax, the local pizza shop owner demands Radio Raheem turn the music down and ends of smashing the ghettoblaster. A fight breaks out and Radio Raheem dies after police put him in a chokehold.
Public Enemy's Brian Hargrove explained:
Law enforcement is necessary. As a species we haven’t evolved past needing that. Fight the Power is not about fighting authority — it’s not that at all. It’s about fighting abuse of power.
