Chord Req: Anti protest songs

Subject: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST,John
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:04 PM

I am tired of all these protest songs and protesters who get absolutely nowhere. Burning things does not solve problems. Can someone send me a song that i can play on guitar and sing about this.

An anti-protest song.

There has got to be one somewhere!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Peace
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:07 PM

Likely is. Good luck finding it.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:12 PM

Try the "Up With People" LP. That's what you're looking for.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Barry Finn
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:15 PM

protesting protest songs, eh? Why not take up a worthy stand for something then?

Barry

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Goose Gander
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:15 PM

Well, there's Fighting Side of Me by Merle Haggard - but then Merle is anti-war these days . . . just like most of the country.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 04:48 PM

I once wrote a chorus, but never did get around to verses. All additions welcome:

We are clashing by night, in dubious battle
An ignorant army are we;
We will solve the world's problems with infantile prattle
Amd slogans will set us all free!

The only other anti-protest songs I can recall are Lehrer's "Folk Song Army" and something by the Chad Mitchell Trio called "The Bird of Freedom has a Golden Wing"

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Marion
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:14 PM

There's also "The One on the Left Was on the Right", a country song mocking a folkie activist band. Words and chords are in this thread:

The One on the Left

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 08:50 PM

We are the folksong army.
Every one of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares. -- Tom Lehrer

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 07 Feb 07 - 08:54 PM

The last song Dick Greenhaus refers to, above, was written by Fred Hellerman and S. Carter and recorded by The Mitchell Trio as The Sound Of Protest (Has Begun To Pay). There was a little thread about it in January '05 under the heading, Lee Hellerman's 'The Sound Of Protest'. I typed in the lyrics (as best I could remember them).

A very bad anti-protest song was Dawn Of Correction, a reply to Eve Of Destruction.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Feb 07 - 09:05 PM

I once wrote a song, back in the Aldermaston Days, about how I wasn't going to march anymore. (I didn't mean it!) All can recall of it now is:

With all of these marches
I've got fallen arches
And I'm getting a cold in the head
But for all the effect that I can detect
I might just as well stayed in bed

Oh there was young Anna
Who carried the banner
And Cedric who played the guitar...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Peace
Date: 07 Feb 07 - 09:11 PM

"The bird of freedom has a golden wing
And brotherhood is a commercial thing
All you really need is a guitar
That's all you really need to be a star
The wind of change is on the way
The sound of protest
Has begun to pay"

I can't recall the author, but I do remember learning that song from Joe Frazier of the Mitchell Trio.

---

The Sound of Protest (click)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 03:28 AM

MacColl's 1960s 'Flower People' song is just the one for you:

Chorus;
Go man, go, shake your bells and count your beads,
It's what you feel, not what ou do, quiescence is the creed,
The problems of the universe can drive you round the bend,
So contemplate your navel and you'll find peace in the end.

I used to be committed man, switched on as I could be,
And every Easter I'd go maching with the CND,
But now I wear a fleur de Lis a-painted on my snout;
I'm one of the flower people, for I have opted out.

I used to be ever so active, always rushing to and fro,
I'd boy/girlfirneds by the dozen and I kept them on the go,
I could never make my mind up who the chosen one could be,
But a spot of meditation showed the chosen one was me.

The world is full of boring cats who talk about the freeze,
Complaining that the Government has brought them to their knees,
So they strike and demonstrate and argue all their working hours
When all they've got to do is hand the boss a bunch of flowers.

Not long ago I met a feller who was very fond of me,
Three cops were belting him outside the US Embassy,
The odds were all against him but he like a tiger fought,
I gave him a rose and told him to keep on thinking loving thoughts.

They talk about evictions and folks thrown out on the street,
If they'd only stop their worrying they'd have their problems beat,
When the bailiff comes to sling you out, a little love extend-
Present him with carnations and you'll find you've made a friend.

I know a feller from Walthamstow, he's ever such a dear,
He used to run a beat group, now he trains as a fakir,
He wears a yellow sari and some old Tibetan shawls,
And from his waist there's dangling two little yellow balls.

Everywhere you turn there's only politics and strife,
Why don't you get some hippie gear and lead a peaceful life,
Some little bells, some Dexedrine, a rose, a stick of tea-
You can bypass all your troubles on a trip with LSD.

Alternatively, of course, you can always buy a bucket of sand and bury your head in it!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 04:27 PM

Not one of his best...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 04:50 PM

How 'bout Revolution, by the four mop-tops?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: moongoddess
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 05:25 PM

The song by Phil Ochs "I Ain't Marching Anymore" is a song to protest marching - whether in the Army or in a rally for peace. It is here on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 06:11 PM

Peace - you might be able to recall the author if you look at the message two above yours.

moongoddess - I first heard the Ochs song over 40 years ago, and this is the first time I've known anyone to suggest it's a song against marching in peace rallies. Please tell me I've misunderstood your intent.

Does "dear" really rhyme with "fakir"? Learn something new everyday....

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: pdq
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 06:44 PM

Odd to think a song by The Limeliters could be obscure, but "My Love Doth Walk the Picket Line" is obscure, maybe 'for cause'. Think it was written by Ernie Sheldon, not sure.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 08:34 PM

In Keith Marsden's song "Idlers and Skivers" (Knocking at the Door), found at this location in the Digital Tradition , the following lines form the first half of the last verse:

But you haven't done your duty when you've sung about the poor
If you never raise a hand to ease their plight
If you sing the chorus louder, it might ease your conscience more
But pious thoughts do not excuse you from the fight

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: moongoddess
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 10:39 PM

I think that Phil Ochs meant that marching to war in any era was wrong, and I agree with him. I see this as an "anti-protest" song because it is so direct. No matter how much you protest war, it comes down to the soldiers. If they don't "march" we don't have war. But God Bless those men and women who do march off to war - I have lost too many of my former students to think that war will solve what is ailing our world.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST,Tinker in Chicago
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 12:25 AM

The rest of that Mitchell Trio song (The Sound of Protest) is:
Tell them about that dream you had last night,
How ev'ry politician saw the light.
Just keep those dollar bills way out of sight,
because a well-fed rebel don't look right.

Some rebels are commercial, some are not.
Some rebels make a million, some get shot.
If a halo isn't worth the risk,
why not settle for a golden disc?
The wind of change is on the way.
The sound of protest has begun to pay.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 10:13 PM

I completely forgot about this one:

Union Maid (Never Get Me in a Union)
Dick Greenhaus, ca 1950

There once was a union maid, who never was afraid
To join in song with a noisy throng
Who'd pick their banjos all night long
They'd try with all their might to steer the workers right
They'd organize, ad nauseum, whoever came in sight.
    They'd sing...

cho: You'll never get me in a union. We just love unions,
    There's nothin' like a union.
    But you will never get me in a union, 'cause
    To join a union, you have to work.

This dedicated gang could always get a bang
From following the Party line
And calling bosses, "Fascist swine!"
They'll holler all night long,
"Let's keep the union strong!"
As long as Daddy's dough holds out, you'll always hear them shout:

Now, gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me
Get you a banjo, learn two chords
Then go insult the bourgeoisie
Praise unions to the skies
Sneer at all bosses' lies
And then at parties, dances too, you scab on 802*

note: Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, was the union that once picketed the New York May Day parade for using non-union musicians. RG

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Peace
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 10:22 PM

Gee, Gerry. I'm an old man. I can think, read, breathe or write. Take your pick! -;)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Songster Bob
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 11:02 PM

Oh, they gave him his orders at Party Headquarters,
Saying, "Pete, you're way behind the times.
This is not '38, it's ninteen-forty-seven,
And there's been a change in the party line.

And will they ever learn? No, they never will learn,
But their spirit will never be broke.
As they go right along with their great, noble crusade
Of teaching folks songs to the folk.

... Not that this is really an anti-protest song, really.

Re-reading the original message, "I am tired of all these protest songs and protesters who get absolutely nowhere. Burning things does not solve problems. Can someone send me a song that i can play on guitar and sing about this?"

I wonder why "all these protest songs" are a problem. To start with, THERE ARE DAMNED FEW PROTEST SONGS "OUT THERE" THESE DAYS. There should be thousands of 'em, given the situation we find ourselves in, so where are "all these protest songs?" I think someone's too sensitive and thin-skinned, or lives in the only place where protest songs are the majority of what he hears.

I don't know what it's like in Great Britain, but here in the States, the mainstream media and the power structure keeps those songs off the air, out of clubs, out of films, out of our ears. So where does this "John" live that HAS SO MANY PROTEST SONGS?

I think that either "John" is trolling us (he opened the thread, but hasn't been back in four days), is overly sensitive, or lives in a place where sensible people are complaining to those in power, AND NO ONE IS LISTENING.

That's my take on it. If I'm wrong, I apologize; if I'm right, I recommend John learn a really good protest song, about me.


Songbob

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Peace
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 11:05 PM

Say what you REALLY mean, Bob.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Greg F.
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 05:50 PM

a song to protest marching -[snip] or in a rally for peace.

Not. Phil did a good deal of the latter type of marching himself. Thjis is a pretty perverse interpretation.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 Feb 07 - 06:59 AM

though in the wrong language.

one line will let you understand the idea to this song:
"call 25 00 30 and Fred Kasulzke will protest for you". Someone fed up with protest marches has written a song about "rent your protesters".

Reality can be just as weird as the song. Doctors at the end of last year have protested against some reforms and it was later found out that not too few of the protesters were paid students donning a white doctor's uniform.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: Alec
Date: 13 Feb 07 - 07:24 AM

"As soon as this Pub closes" might be construed as a protest against protest against protest.
Anybody got the words?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 11:37 AM

try tom leher's "folk song army." very clever lyrics.

try also reading some historical accounts of the changes created by the social movements (though not the singers directly) before you make false conclusions. For better and worse the movements which used these songs made substantial changes in US Society. Start with Douglas McAdams Freedom Summer.

peace

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 12:03 PM

Only slightly tangential: Nancy White's:

"Oh lord it's a benefit, not another benefit
When are they gonna benefit me?"

Well, "lady, we don't sing for bad causes..."

We can't get inside Phil Ochs' head, but "I ain't Marching..." was released in 1965--which by any measure is before the mass anti-war demonstrations, so it's reasonable to think that the irony or possible double-entendre we see in the title wasn't in the writer's intentions.

W-O

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Anti protest songs
From: john f weldon
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 12:11 PM

Hugh Laurie, well-known as Bertie Wooster & Dr House sang an excellent protest parody on Saturday Night Live, once again demonstrating that he is one of the most versatile humans on the planet. (his novel "The Gun Seller" is an excellent read as well.) It was just what you were looking for, John, I believe.

Can't seem to find it on youTube, sorry.