A supplementary point.
Probably one of the greatest political events in US history was the Civil Rights Movement of the mid 20th century, a time for America to be proud (and ashamed).
The songs that were made and sung to inspire and to record the events are, to those of us who were around at the time and who supported the aims of the movement, inseparable from the struggle: We Shall Overcome, Oh Freedom, Back of The Bus, Birmingham Sunday......... If it can ever be claimed that songs had an influence in political events, surely it was then.
I wonder how many of you can say (with a straight face) that these songs didn't give offense to millions of Americans who opposed the movement? We saw the films of the black children running the gauntlet in order to end the segregation in your schools, the result of the church bombings, the baying mobs of segregationists opposing the black vote - of course the songs gave offence, and almost certainly still do in some quarters.
But that's ok - you've just confined them to the dustbin of history with one stroke of your censors blue pencil - well done folks!
Jim Carroll