# Best and Worst Political Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097 "2008-10-15T21:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/41 "2008-10-16T12:49:15Z")
Thought of this one last night, and assumed someone would have already nominated it for one of the best political songs: **The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”** > [@](#): > > Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth” is one of the top songs of the 60s. Great call, **Exapno**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/42 "2008-10-16T12:58:31Z")
Country Joe and the Fish [I’m-A-Fixin-To-Die-Rag](http://www.ocap.ca/songs/vietnam.html) is definitely in the top ten. And it’s one, two, three what are we fight for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam. And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates. There ain’t no time to wonder why? Whippee! We’re all gonna die. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/43 "2008-10-16T13:09:39Z")
A favorite: Iris Dement’s [Wasteland of the Free](http://wastelandofthefree.com/)–a song with its very own website. Another: Steve Earle’s [Christmas in Washington](http://www.steveearle.net/lyrics/ly-elcor.php). (Can’t come up with the “worst” right now.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/44 "2008-10-16T13:19:39Z")
> [@H3Knuckles](#): > > Hmm, best would be hard, but here’s a candidate for worst: > > **Cool, Cool, Considerate Men** from 1776. I own two copies of that movie. One of them, on DVD, has that song, and several other scenes missing from the VHS. Some of those scenes set up running jokes that were just totally spoiled in the VHS, too; for example, near the end of the movie, Adams is despairing about getting the Declaration passed, since the South is refusing to endorse anything condemning slavery, and he goes up to the bell tower and talks to his wife (who is not actually there, it’s a metaphorical representation of a letter, I think). She had previously written a letter to him naming a bunch of his bad qualities, and he lists them in turn, while she protests that she didn’t mean them; finally, he comes to ‘pig-headed’, and she says “You’ve got me there, John; I must admit you are pig-headed.” Which is amusing, but much more enjoyable if you’ve seen the scene in the beginning which has the same thing but with his disparagements of her. Apparently Nixon made them remove Cool, Cool, Considerate Men because it was too insulting to the Republican Party, and having seen it, I agree that it’s quite subtly done. Looking at the lyrics, you would suspect that maybe it’s making fun of them, but there’s nothing explicit; watching it in the context of the rest of the movie makes it quite clear. Also, why the hell does Firefox think movie, favor, labor, and other such words…aren’t? I’ve checked my dictionary, and it is American English. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/45 "2008-10-16T13:45:24Z")
Another one in the “best” category: Nena’s “99 Luftballons”. ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/46 "2008-10-16T13:48:21Z")
I’ve got both the extended DVD release and the old VHS version as well, **Captain Carrot** , though I confess I only learned about all that stuff this year when… was it A&E or Bravo?.. ran the extended version and gave commentary explaining the differences for July 4th. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/47 "2008-10-16T14:05:33Z")
[one of the] best: “Back in the USSR” – The Beatles. Musically, of course, it totally rocks (and that’s Macca on drums!), but thematically it’s that rare bird… a (diffusely political, and implicitly right-wing) number that uses wit and irreverence rather than haranging or didacticism to mock the Soviet Union and remind us, including lefty critics of the Establishment, that things could be a lot worse… worst: “Here Comes President Kill Again” – XTC. This clunker simply fails on every level. Even most die-hard XTC fans hate it. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/48 "2008-10-16T15:01:01Z")
Two great political/war songs that come to mind: [Masters of War](http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/masters-war) - Bob Dylan > [@](#): > > Let me ask you one question:Is your money that good > Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could > I think you will find, when your death takes its toll > All the money you made will never buy back your soul > > And I hope that you die, And your death’ll come soon > I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon > And I’ll watch while you’re lowered Down to your deathbed > And I’ll stand o’er your grave Til I’m sure that you’re dead [Marker in the Sand](http://www.lyricstime.com/pearl-jam-marker-in-the-sand-lyrics.html) - Pearl Jam > [@](#): > > What went wrong? > > Walking tightrope high, over moral ground > Seeing visions of, falling up somehow > Do come down > > With the living, let, what is loving love > So unforgiving, yet, needing forgiveness first ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/49 "2008-10-16T18:31:38Z")
I’ve always been a fan of Primus’s Too many puppies. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/50 "2008-10-16T18:38:03Z")
Best: Revolution by the Beatles Mississippi G\*damn by Nina Simone Worst Imagine by John Lennon ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/51 "2008-10-16T18:41:45Z")
For good political songs, I’m surprised that this far into the thread no one’s brought up [Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7iXcKKpdx0&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/52 "2008-10-16T19:53:55Z")
If we’re going to consider “Imagine” a political song, then we have to include Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, which is better musically (even if the lyrics are just as mimsyish as Lennon’s): \*Look over yonder, what do you see The sun is a-rising yeah most definitely A new day is coming, people are changing Ain’t it beautiful, crystal blue persuasion Crystal blue persuasion oh yeah, it’s a new vibration Crystal blue persuasion, crystal blue persuasion\* This song appears on the same album as arguably the worst psychedelic pop song ever written - “I Am A Tangerine”: _Hello banana I am a tangerine_ The singer pauses here to wonder if he is having a dream, but on further reflection doesn’t think so, although his head is spinning. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/53 "2008-10-16T21:01:19Z")
Best not yet named (or at least I haven’t seen them): “Holiday in Cambodia,” The Dead Kennedys “Pineapple Face,” Lard “No Man’s Land (Green Fields of France),” Eric Bogle “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” U2 “Fortunate Son,” CCR “The White Man’s Got a God Complex,” The Last Poets “Hurricane,” Bob Dylan “War Pigs,” Black Sabbath ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/54 "2008-10-17T15:27:02Z")
Heh, just thought of one I love that isn’t up here: “Like a Song…” by U2, from the War album. It’s probably my favorite song of theirs anymore. My sister and I had a bunch of their albums but I never really sat down and listened through their earlier stuff until about a year or two ago, and that whole album really blew me away. As much as I love “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” I can’t believe “Like a Song…” never got onto the radio. In my humble opinion, it’s harder and more rocking than Sunday, and the lyrics are more powerful than New Year’s. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/55 "2008-10-17T16:22:18Z")
I’m gonna give some love to The Black Eyed Peas, Where’s The Love. You Haven’t Done Nothing has already been mentioned but I’ll mention it again. If the personal really is political, then RATM’s version of I Could Just Kill A Man would cover my political feelings ever since Bush Two Take Two: Electric Boogaloo.\* Simplistic but you can dance to it-- Edwin Starr’s War And Big Yellow Taxi is a nice song. \*To clarify before the SS comes knocking at my door-- I don’t want to literally kill anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/56 "2008-10-17T17:10:02Z")
Some overloooked gems: Best - “We’ll Get Over” (the Staple Singers), “Volunteers of America” (Jefferson Airplane), “My Mother, the War” (10,000 Maniacs), “What’s So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?” (Elvis Costello), “Chicago” (Stephen Stills), “Handsome Johnny” (traditional I think, but Richie Havens does a great version) and “Born In the USA” (which most people think is a chest-thumping "America right-or-wrong anthem, but if you actually listen to the words…) Worst - “One Tin Soldier” (I can’t believe I’m the first person to mention it.) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/57 "2008-10-17T17:38:17Z")
“You Will be Waiting” by **Barenaked Ladies** is basically a love song from Canada to Quebec. > [@](#): > > You say you cannot live with me, you need your own identity > And now we air our laundry on national TV > And so you hate my arrogance, my smothering and sitting on the fence, > But I’m afraid of the hard permanence of letting you go free ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/58 "2008-10-17T18:58:41Z")
Politically anachronistic as it is, [“The Internationale”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationale) remains a song to stir the blood in any language. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/59 "2008-10-17T21:51:01Z")
> [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](#): > > For the best: > > [Born in the USA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRfEqqsk_To) I love that song as well though many people seem to think that its a celebration of being American rather then what it actually is. The WW2 Nazi song We are marching against England always went down a storm when ever we sang it in a Bavarian pub,not a dry eye in the house and we’d get bought drinks all night. (on)Ascension Day(When we rise) by Third World War,an anarchist rock song about revolution in Britain. You wont get me I’m part of the Union by the Strawbs,which came out at the time when politically motivated strikes came close to bringing the U.K. to its knees.(Early seventies as I recall) And we’re all off to Dublin(Later versions Belfast)in the Green, traditional,Irish Republican song borrowed from the Protestants in the early 20th C. My Town by some bloke that I’m ashamed to say that I cant remember his name,about the troubles in (London)Derry(take your pick)at the time considered to be an indicment of British soldiers being in Northern Ireland by the Republican community but the artist has since said that it was a lament about ALL of the violence,by all parties. Personally I consider the original explanation to be the true one. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/60 "2008-10-18T01:32:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Three currently residing on my Ipod: > > Phil Ochs’ “Love Me, I’m A Liberal” > > Bill Horwitz - “If I Had A Friend Like Miss Rosemary Woods” (the best Watergate-themed song) > > The Fugs - "C.I.A Man"I suppose it was inevitable that someday I would agree with **Friar Ted** on something. “Embarassingly pretentious trash” would be overgenerous praise for “Imagine”. Even the music sounds like something a precocious third-grader might write. I prefer Ochs " I Aint a marching any more" “Its always the old who lead us to the war Its always the young to fall Look at all we’ve done with a saber and a gun Tell me is it worth it all” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097.md?page=4)