GEOG 433: Day22

1. GEOG 433: Day22 Music and Social Change

2. Will show part of a film and go through some key North American artists. I can’t cover the richness of what is discussed in the chapters in 33 Revolutions Per Minute and She Bop. She Bop talks about a whole host of female protest singers from those associated with the miners’ movement – Florence Rees, author of “Which Side Are You On?” and Sarah Ogan Gunning, author of “I Hate the Capitalist System.” • Then, of course, there’s Peggy Seeger, Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone (“Mississippi Goddamn”), Joan Baez, Buffy Ste. Marie, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Tracy Chapman, Sinead O’Connor, AniDeFranco, and various female punk and other all-woman bands. Jen will talk about ‘riot grrrl’ music next week. Music and Social Change

3. The Euro-North American protest tradition goes back to “The Digger’s Song” from the English Revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA4FTIz2Zrw. • This group also inspired Billy Bragg’s song, “The World Turned Upside Down”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwQwA_kFxoE. • We’ve already covered Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, etc. who were often affiliated with anarcho-syndicalist organizations or the Communist Party. Music and Social Change

4. Then there was a second wave of protest singers – Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Barry Maguire. • There was also a protest strain in jazz and R & B – John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, “Keep on Pushing” and “People Get Ready”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yYOWQj2Wdo. • These songs had an impact on reggae artists who, in turn, produced their own protest songs like “Get Up, Stand Up”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg97JiBn1kE. Music and Social Change

5. Also: the war in Vietnam spawned a lot of protest music, such as “Fortunate Son” by Credence Clearwater Revival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ScisGFllPY. • Another example is “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSDYUkZemBk. • Clashes in the streets yielded other songs like “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoKr9VDg3A&list=RDDIoKr9VDg3A#t=0) and “Ohio” by CSNY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68g76j9VBvM). • Most rock music in the ‘60s was not particularly political, but some seemed to espouse revolution, such as Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SboRijhWFDU. Music and Social Change

6. Other artists, like John Lennon, contributed important songs like “Revolution,” “Give Peace a Chance,” “Power to the People,” and “Imagine.” “Working-Class Hero,” in particular, has some powerful lyrics: • “…Keep you doped with religion, and sex and T.V.and you think you're so clever and classless and freebut you're still fucking peasants as far as I can seeWorking Class Hero is something to beWorking Class Hero is something to beThere's room at the top I'm telling you stillbut first you must learn how to smile as you killif you want to be like the folks on the hillWorking Class Hero is something to be…” Music and Social Change

7. The early ‘70s was a period of relative quiescence, except for powerful songs by Stevie Wonder and the O’Jays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXFijzJGt-0. • This period also saw the emergence of glam rock which fostered acceptance of androgyny, and created space for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered. • Canada has also had its share of protest music, such as work by the incomparable Bruce Cockburn, and including First Nations artists: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpye1sa2y-I&list=PLE7884DF30409D648&index=31. • Here’s a Tribe Called Red: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHiE8Zc7er8. Music and Social Change

8. Others include Buffy St.-Marie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvplgoh6nRU. • An American Indian Movement (AIM) activist, John Trudell, also brings a First Nations edge to the protest genre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLpi5Mgtii0. • Then, on a lighter note, there’s the following artist: “The Harper Song” by John Roby doing his best Tom Waits impression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLfbp-HEylU&list=PLE7884DF30409D648&index=11. See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXAad2ptYFs&list=PLE7884DF30409D648. Music and Social Change

9. Then, of course, there came the punk movement of the late ‘70s, with bands like The Clash – authors of “The Clampdown” and many others – Tom Robinson Band (“Power in the Darkness”), and DOA in Canada. • Rock bands also played a very important role in the movements to free Nelson Mandela, to end apartheid, fight nuclear power, and to support farmers, and to oppose the twin invasions of Iraq. More recently, there has been the role of Neil Young in speaking out against the oil sands and in defense of First Nations. • One artist whose lyrics capture the incredible desperation lurking at the heart of America is Bruce Springsteen, as in the lyric for “Badlands.” Music and Social Change

10. …Workin' in the fields till you get your back burned, Workin' 'neath the wheel till you get your facts learned, Baby, I got my facts learned real good right now, Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, And a king ain'tsatisfied, till he rules everything, I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got I believe in the love that you gave me, I believe in the hope that can save me, I believe in the faith and I pray, that someday it may raise me, Above these badlands Badlands, you gotta live it everyday, Let the broken hearts stand As the price you've gotta pay, We'll keep pushin' till it's understood, and these badlands start treating us good. For the ones who had a notion, A notion deep inside, That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these badlands Badlands, you gotta live it everyday, Let the broken hearts stand As the price you've gotta pay, We'll keep pushin' till it's understood, and these badlands start treating us good...