There's a fire just waiting for fuel. There's a fire just waiting for fuel.

[Atman]

We haven't done a protest song thread in a while...but they don't get much more spot-on than this one by Ani Difranco...

----

They were digging a new foundation in Manhattan
And they discovered a slave cemetery there
May their souls rest easy
Now that lynching is frowned upon
And we've moved on to the electric chair

And I wonder who's gonna be president, Tweedle Dum or Tweedle Dummer?
And who's gonna have the big blockbuster box office this summer?
How about we put up a wall between the houses and the highway
And you can go your way, and I can go my may

Except all the radios agree with all the tvs
And all the magazines agree with all the radios
And I keep hearing that same damn song everywhere I go.
Maybe I should put a bucket over my head
And a marshmallow in each ear
And stumble around for
Another dumb-numb week waiting for another hit song to appear

People used to make records
As in a record of an event
The event of people playing music in a room
Now everything is cross-marketing
Its about sunglasses and shoes
Or guns
and drugs
You choose

We got it rehashed
We got it half-assed
We're digging up all the graves
And we're spitting on the past
And you can choose between the colors
Of the lipstick on the whores
'Cuz we know the difference between
The font of 20% More
And the font of teriyaki
You tell me...
How does it make you feel?

You tell me...
What's real?

And they say that alcoholics are always alcoholics
Even when they're as dry as my lips for years
Even when they're stranded on a small desert island
With no place within 2,000 miles to buy beer
And I wonder
Is he different?
Is he different?
Has he changed what's he about?
Or is he just a liar...with nothing to lie about?

Am I headed for the same brick wall?
Is there anything I can do about
Anything at all?
Except go back to that corner in Manhattan
And dig deeper, dig deeper this time.

Down beneath the impossible pain of our history
Beneath unknown bones
Beneath the bedrock of the mystery
Beneath the sewage systems and the PATH trains
Beneath the cobblestones and the water mains
Beneath the traffic of friendships and street deals
Beneath the screeching of kamikaze cab wheels
Beneath everything I can think of to think about
Beneath it all, beneath all get out
Beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruel
There's a fire just waiting for fuel

There's a fire just waiting for fuel
There's a fire just waiting for fuel
There's a fire just waiting for fuel...


----


If you know of a more relevant protest song, please post it.

[hippiechick]

1. Ray LaMontagne: How Come?

"People on the street now
Faces long and grim
Souls are feeling heavy
And faith is growing thin

Fears are getting stronger
You can Feel them on the rise
Hopelessness got some by the throat
You can see it in their eyes

I said how come
How come?

Everybody on a shoestring
Everybody in a hole
Everybody on this ole' jet plane
Crossing their fingers and toes

Government man spin his politics
Til he got you pinned
Everybody trying to reach out to each other
But they don't know where to begin

I said how come?

How come
I can't tell
the free world
from living hell?
I said how come?

How come
all I see
is a child of god
in misery?
I said how come?

The pistol now as profit
The bullet some kind of lord and king
But pain is the only promise that
This so called savior gonna bring

Love can be a liar
And justice can be a thief
And freedom can be an empty cup
From which everybody want to drink

I said how come ?

How come
I can't tell
the free world
from living hell?

I said how come?
How come
all i see
is a child of god
in misery?

I said how come?

Its just man killing man
Killing man
Killing man
Killing man
Killing man
I don't understand it ..."

[panader0]

2. "Blowin in the Wind"

Always a classic.

[crikkett]

3. John Prine: Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore

hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qE2vJdDw4

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
© John Prine

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

[Atman]

4. Awesome lyrics!

I've actually never heard the song, though I've read the lyrics a few times...and it's musical even without the music. Thanks for the post.

.

[crikkett]

7. Atman I edited my post to include a youtube clip of a live performance!

for your listening pleasure!

:toast:
cheers and thanks for the Friday lift (While we all wait for the DCMadam's phone book to be released!)

[lonestarnot]

10. This one needs music!

[crikkett]

11. there is music! I put a YouTube link at the top of my post.

[lonestarnot]

13. krickey thanks crikkey

[lonestarnot]

14. I just gave it a listen.

:applause: Thanks!

[Wiley50]

15. Somebody Bless John Prine (I'm an atheist)

He's been doing so much for so long
with too many great songs and too few hit paydays

[acmavm]

5. Broken English - Marianne Faithful, Bring the Boys Home - Freda Payne

Could have come through anytime,
Cold lonely, puritan
What are you fighting for ?
Its not my security.

Its just an old war,
Not even a cold war,
Dont say it in russian,
Dont say it in german.
Say it in broken english,
Say it in broken english.

Lose your father, your husband,
Your mother, your children.
What are you dying for ?
Its not my reality.

Its just an old war,
Not even a cold war,
Dont say it in russian,
Dont say it in german.
Say it in broken english,
Say it in broken english.

What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?

What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?

Could have come through anytime,
Cold lonely, puritan.
What are you fighting for ?
Its not my security.

Its just an old war,
Not even a cold war,
Dont say it in russian,
Dont say it in german.
Say it in broken english,
Say it in broken english.

Say it in broken english,
Say it in broken english.

What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting for ?
What are you fighting ...

_______________________________________________________________
Bring the Boys Home - Freda Payne

Fathers are pleading, lovers are all alone
Mothers are praying-send our sons back home
You marched them away-yes, you did-on ships and planes
To the senseless war, facing death in vain

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down

Can't you see 'em march across the sky, all the soldiers that have died
Tryin' to get home-can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Tryin' to get home-they're tryin' to get home
Cease all fire on the battlefield
Enough men have already been wounded or killed

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down
(Mothers, fathers and lovers, can't you see them)

Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home-can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home-they're tryin' to get home

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)

[crikkett]

6. Kurt Weil - The Cannon's Thunder

Also known as "The Army Song". Couldn't find a sound file online, sorry.

Found on Songs That Made This Country Great, Lost In The Stars: The Music Of Kurt Weill

From The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill. Also known as Army Song. Commisioned for Lost In The Stars.

John was all present and Jim was all there
And Georgie was up for promotion
Not that the Army gave a bugger who they were
When confronting some heathen commotion

Chorus:
The troops live under
The cannon's thunder
From Sind to Cooch Behar
Moving from place to place
When they come face to face
With a different breed of fellow
Whose skins are black or yellow
They quick as winking chop him into
Beefsteak tartar

Johnny found his whiskey too warm
And Jimmy found the weather too balmy
But Georgie took them both by the arm
And said "Don't ever disappoint the army!"

Chorus repeat

John is a write-off and Jimmy is dead
And Georgie was shot for looting
And young men's blood goes on being red
And the army still goes on ahead recruiting

Chorus repeat

[crikkett]

8. Paul Brady - Arthur McBride

This is a traditional Irish tune.
I've heard the Chieftans, Bob Dylan and my husband perform this. Lyrics vary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBGkhPx529g
Is YouTube the greatest thing since google or what? Wait, it is google.

Arthur McBride and the Sergeant (Trad arranged and adapted Paul Brady)

Oh, me and my cousin, one Arthur McBride
As we went a-walking down by the seaside
Now, mark what followed and what did betide
For it being on Christmas morning...
Out for recreation, we went on a tramp
And we met Sergeant Napper and Corporal Vamp
And a little wee drummer, intending to camp
For the day being pleasant and charming.

"Good morning ! Good morning!" the sergeant did cry
"And the same to you gentlemen! " we did reply ,
Intending no harm but meant to pass by
For it being on Christmas morning.
But says he, "My fine fellows if you will enlist,
It's ten guineas in gold I will slip in your fist
And a crown in the bargain for to kick up the dust
And drink the King's health in the morning.

For a soldier he leads a very fine life
And he always is blessed with a charming young wife
And he pays all his debts without sorrow or strife
And always lives pleasant and charming...
And a soldier he always is decent and clean
In the finest of clothing he's constantly seen
While other poor fellows go dirty and mean
And sup on thin gruel in the morning. "

"But ", says Arthur, "I wouldn't be proud of your clothes
For you've only the lend of them as I suppose
And you dare not change them one night, for you know
If you do you'll be flogged in the morning.
And although that we are single and free
we take great delight in our own company
And we have no desire strange faces to see
Although that your offers are charming
And we have no desire to take your advance
All hazards and dangers we barter on chance
For you would have no scruples for to send us to France
Where we would get shot without warning "

"Oh now! ", says the sergeant "I'll have no such chat
And I neither will take it from spalpeen or brat
For if you insult me with one other word
I'll cut off your heads in the morning "
And then Arthur and I we soon drew our hods
And we scarce gave them time for to draw their own blades
When a trusty shillelagh came over their heads
And bade them take that as fair warning

And their old rusty rapiers that hung by their side
We flung them as far as we could in the tide
"Now take them out, Divils! ", cried Arthur McBride
"And temper their edge in the morning ".
And the little wee drummer we flattened his pow
And we made a football of his rowdeydowdow
Threw it in the tide for to rock and to row
And bade it a tedious returning

And we having no money, paid them off in cracks
And we paid no respect to their two bloody backs
For we lathered them there like a pair of wet sacks
And left them for dead in the morning.
And so to conclude and to finish disputes
We obligingly asked if they wanted recruits
For we were the lads who would give them hard clouts
And bid them look sharp in the morning.

Oh me and my cousin, one Arthur McBride
As we went a walkin' down by the seaside,
Now mark what followed and what did betide
For it being on Christmas morning.

( From the traditional, adapted by Paul Brady/ Copyright control)

[Edweird]

9. Dead Kennedys-Where do you draw the line?

More relevant? Probably not. But I like it.

Seems like the more I think I know the more I find I don't
Every answer opens up so many questions
Anarchy sounds good to me then someone asks, "Who'd fix the sewers?"
"Would the rednecks just play king of the neighborhood?"
How many liberators really want to be dictators?
Every theory has its holes when real life steps in
So how do we feed and make room for all the people crowded on our earth?
And transfer all that wealth from the rich to those who need it?
Where do ya draw the line?
Where do ya draw the line?
I'm not telling you I'm asking you
Ever notice hard line radicals can go on start trips too?
Where no one's pure and right except themselves
"I'm cleansed of the system." ('Cept when my amp needs electric power)
Or-"The Party Line says no. Feminists can't wear fishnets."
You wanna help stop war? Well, we reject your application
You crack too many jokes And you eat meat
What better way to turn people off than to twist ideas for change
into one more church that forgets we're all human beings
Where do ya draw the line?
I'm not telling you I'm asking you
In Toronto someone blew up a cruise missile warhead plant
10 slightly hurt, 4 million dollars damage
Why not destroy private property when it's used against you and me
Is that violence? Or self-defense? You tell me.
Where do ya draw the line
I'm not telling you I'm asking you


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_Five
for song reference

[crikkett]

12. Not the same band but this song can be heard free on Rhapsody

http://play.rhapsody.com/fromautumntoashes/abandonyourfriends/wheredoyoudrawtheline

only sound file I could find. Rhapsody is free but requires you to download their jukebox. no registration required....

(i didn't do it yet and can't say how well it works... hope this helps... )

[otherlander]

16. The Clash - The Call Up

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FfGXUpEN1Zo

It's up to you not to heed the call-up,
n' you must not act the way you were brought up.
Who knows the reasons why you have grown up?
Who knows the plans or why they were drawn up?

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna die
It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna kill

For he who will die
Is he who will kill

Maybe I wanna see the wheatfields
Over Kiev and down to the sea...

It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna die
It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna kill

All the young people down the ages,
They gladly marched off to die.
Proud city fathers used to watch them,
Tears in their eyes...

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna die!
It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna kill!
For he who will die
Is he who will kill

There is a rose that I want to live for,
Although, God knows, I may not have met her.
There is a dance and I should be with her.
There is a town, unlike any other...

It's up to you not to hear the call-up
'Nnnn' you must not act the way you were brought up
Who gives you work an' why should you do it?

At fifty five minutes past eleven
There is a rose.

Yeah...