Song 8: Born In The U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen is another of a small handful of artists to have two songs in the Top 100. The two songs, My Hometown and Born In The U.S.A., are both perfect examples of where the political and the personal come together to wreck lives. My Hometown is about discarded workers, dying towns, and wanting to plant your feet but being pushed to the ground. Born In The U.S.A. is about discarded veterans, a brutal war, and being kicked after you've already been pushed to the ground.

Halifax freelance music writer Ryan McNutt:

Ronald Reagan thought it was a patriotic anthem. Countless writers have considered it a protest song. And somehow, they're both right. "Born in the USA" is an statement of nuanced, complicated nationalism written against the background of the ultimate 'stars and stripes' decade. The song's title and refrain are ironic when paired up against the verses, but not insincere: this is an anthem about what happens when one's love of country runs headfirst into the harsh reality of the times. Springsteen is bemoaning the phrase "Born in the USA"; he's howling for it to mean something profound again.

For more info on how people can learn more about music by actually, you know, listening to music, check out this 2009 article on the 25th Anniversary of this tune.

Song 9: Day After Tomorrow, Tom Waits

Death - the fear of it, the fight against it, creates some beautiful songs.  I do wish more political songs would celebrate life, but the spectre of death and the rich seam of material to mine it creates for artists like Tom Waits will also help your heart grow.

Here's Day After Tomorrow:

Song 11: The Partisan, Leonard Cohen

In Ira Nadel's Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen, he writes about a 16 year old Cohen's work as a camp counsellor at Camp Sunshine, where he was introduced to The People's Songbook - they sang from the book every morning: union songs and protest songs - songs of freedom. Parents! Send your kids to soccer camp!

Leonard Cohen's version of The Partisan is haunting. The first time I heard it, I was terrified for the narrator and desperate to figure out the French translation to see what happened next. There are a lot of songs about the futility of war on this Top 100. This one's different:

Song 12: What's Going On?, Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On is told from the point of view of an American soldier returning from the Vietnam war wondering when the fighting would end. Here's the title track:

Mother, mother

There's too many of you crying

Brother, brother, brother

There's far too many of you dying

You know we've got to find a way

To bring some lovin' here today

Father, father

We don't need to escalate

You see, war is not the answer

For only love can conquer hate

You know we've got to find a way

To bring some lovin' here today

Song 14: War, Edwin Starr

Young men are often sent to fight old men's wars. Edwin Starr served 3 years in the military, and asked America what War was good for. The politicians of the day didn't answer.

Here's Starr from '69.

And from the Soul Circuit in England.

Song 22: Spanish Bombs, The Clash

I couldn't have 3 punk bands in a row, so after Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys, I'm putting The Clash, a very nice rock band. 

The voice of the vanquished, Federico García Lorca, makes an appearance in Spanish Bombs. Lorca was poet and one of thousands the right-wing killed during the Spanish Civil War.

Song 23: Holiday In Cambodia, Dead Kennedys

Yuppie-baiters Dead Kennedys brought British punk to sunny California and attacked Western complacency to world events in Holiday in Cambodia.

Song 27: Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival's song Fortunate Son was inspired by the marriage of David Eisenhower, the grandson of President D.D. Eisenhower who married Julie Nixon, the daughter of President Nixon.

Guitarist and lead singer John Fogerty told Rolling Stone:

Julie Nixon was hanging around with David Eisenhower, and you just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be involved with the war. In 1969, the majority of the country thought morale was great among the troops, and like eighty percent of them were in favor of the war. But to some of us who were watching closely, we just knew we were headed for trouble.

Song 37: Somalia, K'naan

Somali-born Canadian rapper K'naan's albums The Dusty Foot Philosopher and Troubador are equally fantastic. It was a very difficult task to decide which one song to include on this Top 100 Political Music Countdown.

I love the brave and fierce Smile:

(Smile) When you're strugglin'

(Smile) When you're in jail

(Smile) When you're dead broke

(Smile) And the rent's due

(Smile) You ain't got friends now

(Smile) And no one knows you

NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU DOWN SMILE WHILE YOU'RE BLEEDING

From his challenge to the warlords of Africa in Soobax to his heart-breaking Fatima, K'Naan is the best political artist to come out so far this century. He's not the next Bob Dylan, he's the first K'naan.

From Somalia:

We used to take barb wire

Mold them around discarded bike tires.

Roll em down the hill in foot blazin’.

Now that was our version of mountain bike racing

Here's a good article from The Coast after The Dusty Foot Philosopher was released.

And an article on K'naan's work to try to get the Canadian government to pass an NDP bill that would make it easier for Canada to export life-saving drugs to developing countries.

Song 45: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, The Pogues

Scotsman Eric Bogle wrote And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, after watching a parade in remembrance of a battle, and he incorporated the melody of the Australian song Waltzing Matilda, which some consider to be that country's unofficial national anthem. Irish rock band The Pogues recorded the definitive version.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

As we stopped to bury our slain

And we buried ours 

And the Turks buried theirs

And it started all over again

Song 48: Testify, Rage Against The Machine

When a democracy only has two parties, democracy often loses. And then the people stand up and demand change.

Rage Against The Machine's song Testify uses clips showing the two presidential candidates stating the same policies and views on important issues, from war to (in)action on climate change.

Song 63: Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, Warren Zevon

If this isn't true, it should be. Warren Zevon met a guy in a bar in Spain who previously worked as a mercenary in Africa and the two of them wrote Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner together.

Song 66: War Pigs, Black Sabbath

British rock band Black Sabbath's War Pigs is a startling composition that should make you need to pick up a guitar.

And of course, for those who prefer some trumpet with your guitar, here's some Cake:

Song 67: I Ain't Marchin' Anymore, Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs described himself as a "singing journalist". In 1968 Ochs performed I Ain't Marching Anymore at the protests outside the Democratic National Convention, inspiring teenagers to burn their draft cards. Ochs was called as a witness during the subsequent trail of the Chicago Seven, who were charged with crimes around the organization of the protest. The judge wouldn't let Ochs sing the song, so Ochs recited the lyrics instead.

It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

Song 68: Sam Stone, Laura Cantrell

Written by John Prine, and performed by many, it's this Laura Cantrell version of Sam Stone that I love best. There are a lot of songs about war on this Top 100 Political Music Countdown. Some are angry, some are anti-establishment, some are are mournful songs for soldiers.

Listen here.

Song 73: Mosh, Eminem

Seething.

Song 74: Combat Rock, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney's album One Beat is an anthem against apathy, and Combat Rock is a rebuke of the one beat war drum of America in the Bush years.

Show you love your country go out and spend some cash
Red white blue hot pants doing it for Uncle Sam

Song 80: Bu$hleaguer, Pearl Jam

Yes.

Halifax reader and beer/freedom expert Bobby O'Keefe writes:

First time I heard Bu$hleaguer was at Pearl Jam's Halifax concert back in '05. I was immediately struck by the lines "He's not a leader, he's a Texas leaguer", "Born on third, thinks he hit a triple", and "The haves - have not - a clue". While the whole song is intended to tear a strip off of Bush himself, I like it as a rebuke of the whole system. Those in the highest offices are so protected and fed the information their "handlers" want them to see that everyone is out of touch with the general population - and Bush personified that fact.

Let's listen twice:

Song 86: I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-To-Die Rag, Country Joe MacDonald

The Woodstock performance, when Country Joe played the I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-To-Die Rag to fill the gap in between the sets of two other performers, is my preferred version. In Pete Fornatale's book Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock and How It Changed a Generation, he tells the story through a pieced-together recollection of the conversation around the gap in performances:

Bill Belmont - I went up to Joe and said, "Listen, we're kind of in a bind. There's nobody to go on, we can't find anybody, a couple people are showing up, but they're not going to be here for an hour and a half. We don't want the crowd to get restless."


John Morris - He and I had done a tour together in Europe a couple years before and we had had a conversation about a solo act. He's wearing an army field coat, and I walked over to him and said, "You're about to start your solo career." I believe his words were "Are you out of your fuckin' mind? I don't even have a guitar." So we found him a guitar.

Song 92: Zombie, The Cranberries

The IRA staged two bombing attacks in Warrington, England in 1993. The Cranberries wrote Zombie about the second attack which injured 54 and killed two children.

The song suggests that the fighting had been going on for so long that the response (more fighting) was automatic - the instincts of a zombie. It's the Cranberries' one political statement, and I'm grateful they made it.

On July 28th, 2005, the IRA announced an end to its armed campaign, promising to work to achieve its aims using "purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means". And I'm grateful for that too.