# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/61 "2008-10-18T03:11:03Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > “Chicago” (Stephen Stills) I’m betting you mean “Chicago (We Can Change The World)”, by Graham Nash. And the whole Jefferson Airplane \*Volunteers \*album is full of fine political songs. “We Can Be Together” has lines as self-aware as “For What it’s Worth”, although you have to listen to Grace Slick’s tone of voice when she sings “proud of ourselves”: > [@](#): > > We are forces of chaos and anarchy > Everything they say we are, we are > And we are very > Proud of ourselves And soundcheck her voice even more when she turns “up against the wall motherfucker” into a wistful lament of impossibility rather than a war cry. (Little known fact: The lyrics sheet for that line read “up against the wall, Fred.”) “Eskimo Blue Day” is an early environmentalist lament. “Wooden Ships” may be their signature song, even more so than, say, “White Rabbit.” It beats the CSN version for musicality, with insanely fine lyrical guitar work by Jorma. And the theme of the young being the last survivors of a nuclear war started by the powers for no known reason still resonates down through Iraq. One of my favorite nitpicks is that there’s no song called Volunteers of America. It’s just “Volunteers”. Apparently the real group Volunteers of America made RCA back off on all the titles, although the phrase is still in the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Klutz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captain_klutz/32/4993_2.png) [@Captain\_Klutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Klutz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/62 "2008-10-18T05:48:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Tom Paxton has a slew of very good ones, including Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues, Talking Watergate Blues and my all time favorite Born on the Fourth of July. And also “We All Sound the Same” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/63 "2008-10-28T02:42:45Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > 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. Do you mean\* The Town I loved So Well \*by Phil Coulter? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/64 "2008-10-28T02:58:03Z")
Best: Revolution by the Beatles Worst: The Russians by Sting. ``` Land of Confusion by Genesis. ``` Bad but I like it anyway: If I Had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/65 "2008-10-28T13:01:05Z")
I’m amazed that it took someone 2 pages to bring up “Fortunate Son.” Anytime anyone brings up political songs, that’s the first one that pops into my head. Neil Young is getting some mention in here, but I haven’t seen anyone bring up “Rockin’ in the Free World” yet. I swear someone used that as a campaign song without realizing just how scathing the lyrics actually are, but I can’t remember who it was. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/66 "2008-10-28T15:00:07Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Bad but I like it anyway: If I Had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn. Bad? That’s one of my all-time favorites. And the killer guitar solo is by Cockburn himself. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/67 "2008-10-28T15:02:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Bad? That’s one of my all-time favorites. And the killer guitar solo is by Cockburn himself. Well, I didn’t say he couldn’t sing or play, but the song’s lyrics are a bit on the college-student-who’s-just-discovered-the-world side. I still like it though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/68 "2008-10-28T19:06:02Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I’m amazed that it took someone 2 pages to bring up “Fortunate Son.” Anytime anyone brings up political songs, that’s the first one that pops into my head. I think it was more true of the prominent politicians of the era, though, than now. How many politicians under 50 can you think of who are “senator’s sons”? (Of course, His Excellency GWB himself fits the bill…) > [@](#): > > Neil Young is getting some mention in here, but I haven’t seen anyone bring up “Rockin’ in the Free World” yet. I did – post #20. “We’ve got a thousand points of light for the homeless man; we’ve got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.” To me though, the political song that hits me the hardest is CSNY’s _Ohio_. It’s one thing to get angry about what our government is doing abroad, or not doing at home. You can certainly argue whether or not it should be the government’s role to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, educate the destitute, or save Joe Average from drinking, smoking, eating or crashing himself to death. But the US National Guard shooting live ammunition at unarmed students at a university campus on American soil? Killing four people, aged 19 and 20 years old? _Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, we’re finally on our own This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago What if you knew her and – found her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know?_ ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/69 "2008-10-28T19:18:33Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > 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 Wow, nice list. Well I have two songs I feel are worth adding. Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin is kinda sorta political. Okie From Muskogee by Merle Haggard is a good one too. Not something everyone can relate too though (but I guess anything political is like that). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/70 "2008-10-28T19:45:37Z")
> [@straight\_man](#): > > It’s okay – basically any religious person, or really anybody with any real beliefs about anything, _ought_ to hate that song. I know I do. One lyrical mis-step makes the whole song clang off my eardrums. Verse 1: religion as a source of conflict. I don’t necessarily agree, but ok, we’ll go with that. Verse 3: materialism, ditto. Verse 2: national boundaries, ditto…but let’s throw in another shot at religion (“and no religion, too”). What the heck, why not…it just ruins the whole structure of the lyric, that’s all. My vote: Long Time Gone, CSN&Y. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/71 "2008-10-28T20:56:19Z")
On a more socio-political note, there’s John “Cougar” Mellencamp’s songs _Rain On The Scarecrow_ and less well known songs, _Hot Dogs and Hamburgers_ and _Empty Hands_. U2’s song _Peace On Earth_ should qualify also. _Jesus, sing a song you wrote The words are sticking in my throat “Peace on Earth” You hear it every Christmastime But hope and history won’t rhyme So what’s it worth This Peace on Earth_ ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/72 "2008-10-28T21:20:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > seconded > > Also: > The Christians: Hooverville & Forgotten Town > Billy Bragg: There is Power In a Union, Price of Oil, Help Save The Youth of America > Madness: Ghost Train I came in here with the express purpose of mentioning Help Save the Youth of America and posting a few choice lyrics. \*They’re already shipping the body bags Down below the Rio Grande But you can fight for democracy at home And not in some foreign land And the cities of Europe have burned before And they may yet burn again And if they do I hope you understand That Washington will burn with them Omaha will burn with them Los Alamos will burn with them\* ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/73 "2008-10-28T21:54:35Z")
First off, all of Phil Ochs’ catalog. Amazing stuff. That said I’ll have a side of Cheryl Wheeler and the following songs by her: [Makes Good Sense to Me](http://www.cherylwheeler.com/songs/mgstm.html) > [@](#): > > Now if some pretty little lady gets herself knocked up good > She’ll have to have that baby just because we think she should > In whose sick mind did it ever occur > That a choice like that should be up to her > They’re a godless bunch, a cross we bear > But as soon as that little tike draws air > We can wash our hands of the whole affair > Makes good sense to me [Overflowing Cups](http://www.cherylwheeler.com/songs/rr.html) > [@](#): > > Some Catholics and Protestants are going to get together > To make sure all the rest of us just can’t have no fun never > They’re tired of our depravity, our outright hanky-panky > We laugh and dance and carry on and we know it makes 'em cranky > > Apparently they’ve seen the light, seen how god would like it > If they see somethin’ don’t seem right, they’ll wield their faith and smite it > They’ll bring their overflowing cups and spill them in your town > To keep the population up and the homosekshules down Video Links: [Amy Ray-Let It Ring](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHRTrHbZYRk) [Ani DiFranco-Your Next Bold Move](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsNbl8iB30M) [David Baerwald-Stranger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYPOkXpal8w) [David Wilcox-Three Brothers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-GnGh9MuE0) (about the Holy Land) [Five For Fighting-Last Great American](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urrb5xQa6TI) [Greg Brown-'Cept You And Me Babe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJFqzWfGWEg) [Sage Francis-Makeshift Patriot](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdzFhBtxW0A) [Lloyd Cole- The Young Idealists.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpCEPkBWkI) ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/74 "2008-10-28T21:55:55Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Worst: The Russians by Sting. Holy shit, did you get that right. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/75 "2008-10-28T21:57:11Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I did – post #20. > > “We’ve got a thousand points of light for the homeless man; we’ve got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.” I always found this a bit ironic coming from a guy who supported Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/76 "2008-10-28T21:59:59Z")
Best? The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Worst, anything by that wretchedly screeching billy goat Neil Young, but particularly, “Old Man” and “Ohio”. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/77 "2008-10-29T04:58:47Z")
“Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band is a great one. Worst…uh…“If Everyone Cared” by Nickelback. That was the beginning of the end of my love affair with the band. (It was a 2 song fling) ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/78 "2008-10-29T06:54:47Z")
It’s pretty much dated now, but “back in the day” Neil Young’s “Ohio” (about the shooting of anti-Viet-Nam-war student protesters by National Guardsmen on the Ohio State campus) was inflamatory. This is a video of Neil Young’s performance: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv6kwG4BhC8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv6kwG4BhC8) (just a quick aside) Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills, & Nash for the legendary “Deja Vu” album. Has Neil Young done anything noteworthy since? Love, Phil ---
**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 29, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/79 "2008-10-29T13:38:18Z")
> [@phil417](#): > > It’s pretty much dated now, but “back in the day” Neil Young’s “Ohio” (about the shooting of anti-Viet-Nam-war student protesters by National Guardsmen on the Ohio State campus) was inflamatory. This is a video of Neil Young’s performance: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv6kwG4BhC8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv6kwG4BhC8) > > (just a quick aside) Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills, & Nash for the legendary “Deja Vu” album. Has Neil Young done anything noteworthy since? > > Love, Phil Just a quick answer: [Yes.](http://www.neilyoung.com/) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097/80 "2008-10-29T15:25:56Z")
> [@phil417](#): > > It’s pretty much dated now, but “back in the day” Neil Young’s “Ohio” (about the shooting of anti-Viet-Nam-war student protesters by National Guardsmen on the Ohio State campus) was inflamatory. > > Love, Phil Nitpick: it was Kent State University, not Ohio State. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-political-songs/468097.md?page=3)