Music As an Agent of Social Change

1. ----Music----
Opening The Window To Social Change

2. Music & Social Change

3. Civil Rights
In harmony with the First Amendment's
guarantee of freedom of speech,
music has long been an expression of
faith, freedom, peace and justice.
Throughout American history, songs
have cried out against inequality,
poverty and war, and in support of
workers, civil and human rights.
Independent Television Service
© 2008

4. Strange Fruit
• One of the MOST famous songs of protest …
Strange Fruit
• The song was so controversial that Billie's
record company wouldn't release it. Luckily, it
was picked up by a smaller label and preserved
to this day.
• When Billie Holiday premiered this song in a
New York club in 1938, the civil rights movement
hadn't approached its ultimate velocity.
• Its brutally frank lyrics tell the story of lynching

5. Strange Fruit
YouTube - Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday

6. The 60’s Peace Movement
Songs Of Protest
Tie Dyed Generation

7. Power Of Peace
Music & Social Change
• YouTube - Social Change Through The Pow

8. What Songs Tells Us.....
• What Can Songs Tell Us About People and So

9. War…Music…Social Change
• War- topic and object of protest songs
• Every war has had songs pro & protesting
• Vietnam War- was particular was featured
in protest songs,,,, partly because of the
nature of the war, the draft, and also due
to the general “zeitgiest” in America
• Civil War had many “fighting” songs
written from both Yank & Reb
perspectives

10. Blowin’ In The Wind (Verse 1)
― Bob Dylan
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man
How many seas must the white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they are forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

11. Blowin’ In The Wind (Verse 2)
― Bob Dylan
Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it washed to the sea
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

12. Bruce Springsteen

13. Born In The USA
― Bruce Springsteen
• Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
YouTube - Springsteen - Born in the USA [Acoustic]

14. Music & War
Honor – Valor – Casualties

15. Vietnam

16. Korean War

17. WW II

18. WW I

19. American Civil War

20. Barry McGuire

21. Eve Of Destruction
―Barry McGuire
• YouTube - Where Have all the Flowers Gone: Eve of Destruction
• The eastern world, it is exploding
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’
But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction.

22. WAR…
Music Reflects National Mood
• War… Edwin Starr
– YouTube - Edwin Starr - War (What Is It Good For?)

23. War
―Edwin Starr
• War, huh, yeah.. what is it good for -- Absolutely nothing Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah…What is it good for--Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing..listen to me
Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears to thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight and lose their lives
I

24. War
―Edwin Starr
• War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertake oooh, war
It's an enemy to all mankind The point of war blows my
mind
War has caused unrest Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction who wants to die
• Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y'all what is it good for
Absolutely nothing Say it, say it, say it
War, huh.. What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me

25. Ballad of the Green Beret
by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler and Robin Moore, copyright 1966
• Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret

26. Ballad of the Green Beret
• Trained to live off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand-to-hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage peak from the Green Berets
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret

27. Ballad of the Green Beret
• Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her his last request
Put silver wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret.

28. Civil War Songs
• Civil War Killing Floor
• YouTube - US Civil War Music Video
• Just Before The Battle
• YouTube - civil war songs

29. We Didn’t Start The Fire
YouTube - We Didn't Start The Fire

30. Vietnam Protest Songs
Fortunate Son
YouTube - Vietnam video montage
Goodnight Saigon
YouTube - Vietnam, Billy Joel’s War

31. Goodnight Saigon
―Billy Joel
• We met as soul mates- On Parris Island
We left as inmates- From an asylum
And we were sharp- As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho- To lay down our lives
We came in spastic- Like tameless horses
We left in plastic- As numbered corpses
And we learned fast- To travel light
Our arms were heavy- But our bellies were tight
We had no home front- We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy- They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep- And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ- With all of our might

32. Goodnight Saigon
―Billy Joel
• We had no cameras-
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe-
• And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark- So dark at night
And we held on to each other-
Like brother to brother
• We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together-
Yes we would all go down together

33. Fortunate Son
• Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, whit and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
they point the cannon right at you.
• It ain't me,It ain't me. I ain't no senator's son.
It ain't me, It ain't me. I ain't no fortunate one.
• Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord don't they help themselves.
But when the tax man comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale.
• It ain't me, It ain't me. I ain't no millionaire's son.
It ain't me, It ain't me.

34. Fortunate Son
• I ain't no fortunate one.
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war.
And when you ask them,
"How much should we give?"
They only answer "More! More! More!"
• It ain't me, It ain't me.
I ain't no military son.
It ain't me, It ain't me.
I ain't no fortunate one.
It ain't me, It ain't me.
I ain't no Fortunate Son.

35. Phil Ochs
I

36. Draft Dodger Rag
― Phil Ochs
• I'm just a typical American boy from a
typical American town
• I believe in God and Senator Dodd and
keeping old Castro down
• And when it came my time to serve I knew
better dead than red
• But when I got to my old draft board,
buddy, this is what I said:

37. Draft Dodger Rag- Chorus
• Sarge, I'm only eighteen,
I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, my feet are flat,
And my asthma's getting worse
O think of my career, my sweetheart dear,
And my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a goin' to school,
And I'm working in a defense plant

38. Draft Dodger Rag
― Phil Ochs
• I've got a dislocated disc, And a racked up
back I'm allergic to flowers and bugs,
• And when the bombshell hits, I get
epileptic fits. And I'm addicted to a
thousand drugs I got the weakness woes,
• And I can't touch my toes I can hardly
reach my knees And if the enemy came
close to me I'd probably start to sneeze

39. Labor Movements
• Caesar Chavez
Grape Boycott
• Mother Jones
Coal Miner’s Union

40. Sixteen Tons
—Tennessee Ernie Ford
• Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

41. Deportee
― Joan Baez
• The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again
• My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.
• Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

42. Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

43. Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
• Old man Sargent sitting at the desk,
The damned old fool won't give us no rest.
He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes,
To buy a Coca-cola and a Eskimo Pie.
• I've got the blues, I've got the blues,
I've got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues,
Lordy, lordy, spoolin's hard,
You know and I know, I don't have to tell:
Work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I've got the blues, I've got the blues,
I've got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues

44. Pullman Porters Union
• Hold the Fort for we are coming,
Union men be strong,
Side-by-side we’re marching on,
‘ Til victory is won.”

45. Joe Hill
Troubadour of Discontent
• Workers of the world, awaken!
Break your chains, demand your rights.
All the wealth you make is taken
B y exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission
F rom your cradles to your graves?
Is the height of your ambition
To be good and willing slaves?
Arise, ye prisoners of starvation!
Fight for your own emancipation;
Arise, ye slaves of ev'ry nation, in One Union Grand.
Our little ones for bread are crying;
And millions are from hunger dying;
The end the means is justifying,
'Tis the final stand.

46. Social Class- Victories & Defeats
Abraham, Martin, John, and Bobby

47. Abraham
• Has anybody here seen my old friend
Abraham? Can you tell me where he's
gone? He freed a lot of people, But it
seems the good they die young.
• You know,
I just looked around and he's gone.

48. Martin
• Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone? He
freed a lot of people, But it seems the
good they die young.
• I just looked 'round and he's gone.
• Didn't you love the things that they stood
for? Didn't they try to find some good for
you and me? And we'll be free Some day
soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

49. John
• Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone? He
freed a lot of people, But it seems the
good they die young.
• I just looked around and he's gone.

50. Bobby
• Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
• I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

51. Huddie Ledbetter
AKA …”Leadbelly”

52. Discrimination
―BOURGEOIS BLUES (Leadbelly)
Me and my wife went all over town
And everywhere we went people turned us down
Lord, in a bourgeois town –
It's a bourgeois town I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around
Home of the brave, land of the free
I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town -
Uhm, the bourgeois town I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

53. Sam Cooke
A Change Is Gonna Come

54. Change Is Gonna Come
―Sam Cooke
• I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

55. Change Is Gonna Come
―Sam Cooke
• I go to the movie and I go downtown
somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

56. Change Is Gonna Come
Cover Artists
• Sam Cooke
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUT1WgHat6I
• SamCooke ...Video History on A change is gonna come
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNeL-hpL_4&feature=related
• Seal
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUrsMGf2Cqk
• Solo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6uzbkBgxTo
• Patty LaBelle
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bCVDXTIynY&feature=related
• Terence Trent Darby
• History and song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwSBbfECfFk&feature=related
• Lyrics and song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn0OFhDAE18&feature=related
• Syesha Mercado
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T16qQwXqB7Y

57. Malvina Reynolds

58. Boxes…All The Same?

59. Little Boxes
― Malvina Reynolds
• Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
Ad they all look just the same.
YouTube - Little Boxes Claymation

60. Little Boxes
― Malvina Reynolds
• And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and there's lawyers,
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

61. Little Boxes
― Malvina Reynolds
• And they all play on the golf course a
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp a
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

62. 100 Monkey.....
th
• The 100th monkey - initiating social
change through positive thought - -
YouTube

63. We Shall Overcome

64. Power Of Music
We Shall Overcome
• Pete Seeger
YouTube - Pete Seeger - We shall overcome
• Peter Paul and Mary
YouTube - We Shall Overcome - Peter Paul And Mary
• Joan Baez
YouTube - Joan Baez - We shall overcome
• Mahalia Jackson
YouTube - We Shall Overcome - Mahalia Jackson - Faces of Black History
• Bruce Springsteen
YouTube - We Shall Overcome -- Bruce Springsteen

65. Joan Baez & Bob Dylan
We Shall Overcome

66. Mahalia Jackson & Pete Seeger
We Shall Overcome
Mahalia Jackson

67. We Shall Over Come
Bruce- The Boss Peter, Paul, & Mary

68. Power Of Peace
Music & Social Change
• Women’s Voting RightsYouTube - Sister
Suffragette - Mary Poppins
• DogfightingYouTube - Dogfighting Men In
America Must Be Knocked Out!
• OutsourcingYouTube - The Simpsons -
India Outsourcing - Modified

69. Music Can Change The World

70. What New Songs
Bring Awareness of Need For Change?
 Who?
What Song
 Who?
What Song
 Who?
What Song

71. Day Of Outrage… March For Decency
National Action Network (NAN)
Founded by Rev. Al Sharpton
NAN Decency Initiative Mission Statement (Brief Condensation)
• ….Established in order to address standards in the
media and entertainment industries.
• …..Goal is to eliminate the use of three words in music
and media; the “N” word, the “B” word and the “H” word,
disrespecting women & African American community.
• …..Establish a single standard that will be adopted by
media and entertainment entities that will respect all
people regardless of race, gender & sexual orientation.
• ….Target record labels, major corporations and media
conglomerates that continue to profit from racism and
sexism.

72. Reactive Social Movement
• The Reverend Al Sharpton doesn't think Russell
Simmons' recent demand for hip-hop's self-censorship is
effective enough. The reverend and his National Action
Network will protest offensive language in hip-hop with a
March For Decency on May 3rd in New York walking
from major label office to major label office.
"We aren't marching against artists—we are marching
against record companies to ban these words
completely," says Tamika Mallory, leader of the NAN's
decency initiative. The ARTISTdirect Staff 05.01.07

73. Social Issues
Facing The Music
• Economic • Social
I can’t afford my gasoline
• Global

74. I Can’t Afford My Gasoline
• I got out of bed this morning,
Got in my car and turned the key,
Then I called outta work
And I went back to bed,
Because the needle was on "E".
• Your Website presents I Can't Afford
My Gasoline - powered by Kizash

75. I Can’t Afford My Gasoline
• I can't afford my gasoline.
The prices have become obscene.
They're up 5 cents a day.
Who has that kind of green?
I can't afford my gasoline.

76. I Can’t Afford My Gasoline
I've got a friend who bought a hummer,
(hum V yeah what a bummer)
One of those gigantic trucks,
(he’s givin’ away a’lotta bucks)
He can't drive because he maxed out his credit cards
(send him a sympathy card!)
Because his mileage really sucks.
(six whole miles– tough luck!)

77. Time For Change Is....
Slip Slidin’ Away!

78. Class Is Over…