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Political Songs

FinnMacCool

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I've been thinking a lot about what influenced me in terms of my political beliefs today. Here is one song that I remember having an impact on me:

Harry Bridges by Rancid

Bloody Thursday was July 6th
The pigs killed three workers
Harry Bridges grabbed the mic
The city shut down on July 6th
The workers were outraged
It was a general strike
The media claimed that the commies
Were taking over and some believed it was true
Three uncompromising strikes paved the way
Minnesota, San Francisco, Toledo


Over and over again
The doors are locked and the windows are broken


Eddie worked for General Motors
He swore he'd never lose his job again
A union man who owned his own home
In beautiful Flint, Michigan
Eddie lost his job and Eddie lost his home
So Eddie lost his self esteem
Last time I saw Eddie
He was living in a trailor park again


Over and over again
The doors are locked and the windows are broken


I believe that Eddie forgave too much too soon
I got a letter about Eddie
It was bad news


Over and over again
The doors are locked and the windows are broken

That was actually a really good song. I wished I still had my disk but I can't remember where I left it. Ah well. If you have itunes, download it. Pretty nice stuff.
 
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Intresting song. I do hope you know what union is referred in the strikes they mentioned. Also Bridges was part of the IWW, which was mostly a syndicalist union with only a few commies.

My favorite political song is The Internationale, not just because of my political views, but also the lyrics and music is excellent. Also quite famous.
It goes something like this:

Literal English translation
First stanza

Arise, the damned of the earth,
Arise, prisoners of hunger,
For reason thunders in its crater,
It is the last eruption!
Let us discard the past,
Army of slaves, arise, arise!
The world is changing at the base,
We who have been nothing, let's be everything!
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

Second stanza

There are no supreme saviours,
Neither God, nor Caesar, nor tribune.
Producers, let's save ourselves!
Together let's enact a common decree
To force the thief to return his loot,
So that the mind is set free from the prison cell!
Let us blow upon our furnace ourselves,
Strike the iron while it is hot!
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

Third stanza

The state strangles and the law cheats,
The taxes bleed the disadvantaged in society.
The rich do not shoulder any responsibility;
The rights of the poor is an empty word.
It is enough to decay in servitude,
Equality needs other laws!
No rights without duty, she says,
Conversely, no duty without rights.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

Fourth stanza

Hideous, in their glory,
The kings of the mines and rail.
They have done nothing else,
But to steal others' work.
In the strongboxes of this band,
What we created are all in there!
In working for their restitution,
They only want their rightful due.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

Fifth stanza

The kings deceive us with their fumes,
Peace among ourselves, war to the tyrants!
Let us encourage strikes in the armies,
To wave their guns and disband their ranks!
If they insist, those cannibals,
To make heroes of us,
They will soon know our bullets,
Are for our own generals.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

Sixth stanza

Labourers, peasants, we are
The big party of workers
The earth belongs only to humans
The idle are going to live elsewhere
How much they feast on our flesh
But if the ravens and vultures
Would one morning all disappear
The sun would shine forever
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|

More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationale
 
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FinnMacCool said:
That seems more like a poem then a song. Look at how it's arranged in stanzas.

That is because it was originally a poem, but is more recognised as a song.

The Internationale (L'Internationale in French) is the most famous socialist (and anarchist) song and one of the most widely recognized songs in the world. The original (French) words were written in 1870 by Eugène Pottier (1816–1887, later a member of the Paris Commune). Pierre Degeyter (1848–1932) set the poem to music in 1888. (It was originally intended to be sung to the tune of La Marseillaise.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationale
 
I guess "Imagine" is always a good song. More recently, "Mosh" is good.
 
I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
My name is Tim I'm a lesser- known character
I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
Fighting crime in the streets together

Down in Oakland
Off of West Grant
St. Joseph relief poor program
A good place where good people get food
Help your fellow man a good thing to do
Government agency said be afraid of me
I'll shut your doors down and it won't phase me
Wolverine came through left the agent for dead
Put the doors back up, everyone was fed

I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
My name is Tim I'm a lesser- known character
I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
Fighting crime in the streets together

Do not build them abandoned buildings
It's nice to sleep when you got a ceiling
Neighborhood watch said we gotta put a stop
Can't have people living for free call the cops
Here come the swat team and the M-16
Shoot the walls in and destroy the building
Wolverine was sad and it made him mad
Every single cop got a bullet in the head

I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
My name is Tim I'm a lesser- known character
I had a dream I was a vigilante's side kick
Fighting crime in the streets together
 
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