Social Justice Songs
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Someone just asked me if I knew of any songs about social justice and of course I thought about Pearl Jam. But it made me wonder: Which of Pearl Jam's songs do you think are about social justice? Are there any other social justice songs you like?
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take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Rage Against The Machine - Voice Of The Voiceless
The Nightwatchman - Union Song
Thanks. I haven't heard Union Song. I did think of Alone Without You though.
'Cause I'll stop trying to make a difference
I'm not trying to make a difference
I'll stop trying to make a difference
No way
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
Corrosion of Conformity – Long Whip / Big America
Radiohead - 2+2 = 5
salt of the earth - Rolling Stones
Pearl Jam - World Wide Suicide
I felt the earth on Monday. It moved beneath my feet.
In the form of a morning paper. Laid out for me to see.
Saw his face in a corner picture. I recognized the name.
Could not stop staring at the. Face I'd never see again.
It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over
It's the same everyday in a hell manmade
What can be saved, and who will be left to hold her?
The whole world...World over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.
And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say.
It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder
Laying claim to the take that our soldiers save
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there
The whole world,... World over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
The whole world,... World over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
Looking in the eyes of the fallen
You got to know there's another, another, another, another
Another way
It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over
It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder
The whole world,... World over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
The whole world,... World over.
It's a worldwide suicide.
Billy Bragg - O Freedom
The policemen broke my door down
Dragged me from my bed
I asked them what was happening
They just ignored the words I said
They waved their guns in my face
Kept screaming out my name
Something terrible had happened
And somehow I was to blame
O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name
In thy name
O freedom, what liberties are taken
What liberties are taken
What liberties are taken in thy name
My accusers formed a jury
The judge and the defense
The charges were made known to me
But not the evidence
There was no guilty verdict
Yet, still I was detained
Flown to another country where
Their methods are less constrained
O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name
In thy name
O freedom, what liberties are taken
What liberties are taken
What liberties are taken in thy name
In our determination
To defend democracy
We must not destroy the safeguards
That underpin our liberty
For who will pay the price if
Injustice such as this
Turns our protectors to oppressors
And angry men to terrorists?
O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name
In thy name
O freedom, what liberties are taken
What liberties are taken
What liberties are taken in thy name
Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
So you been to school for a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car thinkin' you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl
Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin that you know how the niggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul
It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife
Your a star-belly sneech you suck like a leech
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich
But your boss gets richer on you
Well you'll work harder with a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers til you starve
Then your head skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need my son:
Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll kiss ass or crack
Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot [etc.]
And it's a holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what you're told
A holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul
I Fought the Law (and I Won)
Drinkin' beer in the hot sun
I fought the law and I won
I needed sex and I got mine
I fought the law and I won
The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends
That's how the country's run
Twinkies are the best friend I've ever had
I fought the law
And I won
I blew George & Harvey's brains out with my six-gun
I fought the law and I won
Gonna write my book and make a million
I fought the law and I won
I'm the new folk hero of the Ku Klux Klan
My cop friends think that's fine
You can get away with murder if you've got a badge
I fought the law
And I won
I am the law
So I won
We Shall Overcome
Lyrics derived from Charles Tindley's gospel song "I'll Overcome Some Day" (1900), and opening and closing melody from the 19th-century spiritual "No More Auction Block for Me" (a song that dates to before the Civil War).
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
CHORUS:
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand some day
CHORUS
We shall all be free
We shall all be free
We shall all be free some day
CHORUS
We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid some day
CHORUS
We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone some day
CHORUS
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around some day
CHORUS
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
CHORUS
Patti Smith - People Have The Power
I was dreaming in my dreaming
of an aspect bright and fair
and my sleeping it was broken
but my dream it lingered near
in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognized
and my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry
that the people / have the power
to redeem / the work of fools
upon the meek / the graces shower
it's decreed / the people rule
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
Vengeful aspects became suspect
and bending low as if to hear
and the armies ceased advancing
because the people had their ear
and the shepherds and the soldiers
lay beneath the stars
exchanging visions
and laying arms
to waste / in the dust
in the form of / shining valleys
where the pure air / recognized
and my senses / newly opened
I awakened / to the cry
Refrain
Where there were deserts
I saw fountains
like cream the waters rise
and we strolled there together
with none to laugh or criticize
and the leopard
and the lamb
lay together truly bound
I was hoping in my hoping
to recall what I had found
I was dreaming in my dreaming
god knows / a purer view
as I surrender to my sleeping
I commit my dream to you
Refrain
The power to dream / to rule
to wrestle the world from fools
it's decreed the people rule
it's decreed the people rule
I believe everything we dream
can come to pass through our union
we can turn the world around
we can turn the earth's revolution
we have the power
People have the power ...
Pete Seeger - If I Had A Hammer
If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening all over this land
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a bell I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening all over this land
I'd ring our danger, I'd ring out warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a song I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening all over this land
I'd sing out danger, I'd sing out warning
I'd sing out love between my sisters and my brothers
All over this land
When I've got a hammer, and I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing all over this land
It's a hammer of justice, it's a bell of freedom
It's a song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
(as sung by Peter Paul & Mary)
Pete Seeger - Solidarity Forever
When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.
Chorus
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
Chorus
All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.
Chorus
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
Chorus
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind
How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Godfather.
Artist : Bob Dylan
Song : Hurricane
Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a
been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around
mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says and he throws up his
hands
"I was only robbing the register I hope you
understand
I saw them leaving" he says and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red
lights flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving
around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda sh*t was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the
road
Just like the time before and the time before
that
In Patterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not shown up on
the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for
the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out
prowling around
He said "I saw two men running out they looked
like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state
plates"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said "Wait a minute boys this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty
men.
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him
upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying
eye
Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't
the guy !"
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the
robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to him
looking for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law
?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter you saw
running that night ?"
"Don't forget that you are white".
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Cops said "A boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talking to
your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a
nice fellow
You'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabit*h is brave and getting braver
We want to put his as* in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim".
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that
much
It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from
the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a
revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers they all went along for the
ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand ?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in
a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their
ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a
been
The champion of the world.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
Fight the power, 911 is a joke, brothers gonna work it out. basically anything from public enemy are great social justice songs.
Body Count - Cop Killer
The Roots - False Media
Eve of Destruction from Bob Dylan. Covered by The Screaming Jets
The eastern world it is explodin',
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.
Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
Nn, Can't you feel the fears that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
Handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
And marches alone can't bring integration,
When human respect is disintegratin',
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when your return, it's the same old place,
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
Hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction. mmm, no, no.
you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Working Class Hero is one thing we can agree on Godfather!!
W.M.A.
Grievance
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleager
World Wide Suicide
Whale Song
Do the Evolution
Even Flow
Saying No
Also,
Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
Millworker - James Taylor
Alone Without You - The Nightwatchman
For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
I Am a Patriot - Jackson Browne?
Fuel - Ani Difranco
If I Had a Hammer - Peter, Paul, & Mary
The Last Resort - The Eagles
Masters of War - Bob Dylan
Times They Are a Changin' - Bob Dylan
We Shall Overcome
Here's to the State of Mississippi - Phil Ochs
What It's Like - Everlast
911 is a Joke - Public Enemy
Body Count - Ice-T
Someone Drew a Line - Vincent Craig?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvVO6Y-3CM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsgbb23z27w
They have a bunch more, check out their album Fight with Tools. They have a new one, but I haven't listened to all of it.
Also here's a few "rhymes of the day" from their lead singer
Jonny 5's Rhyme of the Day 4-27-10 "By the time I get to Arizona (2010)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hPgSTN2Vyc (with a fan made slide show)
Jonny 5's Rhyme of the Day 2-11-10 "Howard Zinn Tribute Rap"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBT_xGph5s
Have you guys seen/heard this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVH3VKKKjvg it's Outernational w/ Tom Morello & Cuentame 'DEPORTEE'
Prison song
Boom!
A.D.D (American Dream Denial)
B.Y.O.B
Hypnotize
Deer Dance
Attack
Chic 'N' Stu
Mr Jack
War?
Suggestions
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'