{"id":621,"date":"2025-06-20T00:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T04:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/?p=621"},"modified":"2025-06-20T00:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T04:38:24","slug":"and-now-with-that-in-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/thoughts\/and-now-with-that-in-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2026and now with that in mind\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Protest songs are the greatest songs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The songs I grew up on were often &#8220;political.&#8221; Well, maybe not <em>Chewy Chewy<\/em> (but I think you might make a case for <em>Another Pleasant Valley Sunday).<\/em> I grew up on the east coast of the U.S.A. in the 60s, and they were political times. Before I heard either of those I&#8217;d heard Pete Seeger, Woody and Arlo Guthrie \u2014 <em>Blowin&#8217; in the Wind<\/em> is one of the first songs I learned on guitar, age 9. Like all my friends, I knew every word of <em>Drug Store Truck Drivin&#8217; Man<\/em> once the Woodstock album came out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Volunteers (Live at The Woodstock Music &amp; Art Fair, August 17, 1969)\" width=\"629\" height=\"472\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W_08i7pdr9s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was rock songs like <em>Volunteers of America<\/em>, <em>Won&#8217;t Get Fooled Again<\/em>, <em>Fortunate Son<\/em>, <em>I Don&#8217;t Wanna Be a Soldier, Mama<\/em> (<em>Imagine<\/em>, <em>Working Class Hero<\/em>, <em>Give Peace a Chance<\/em>)\u2026 that made me want to be a songwriter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Don&#039;t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama (Remastered 2010)\" width=\"629\" height=\"472\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jMk673yHrJE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Writers penned songs calling for radical change, resistance to the establishment, and active participation in a counter-cultural movement. Titles like these were rallying cries for young people to rise up against societal injustices, particularly in the context of the Vietnam War, civil rights struggles, and broader dissatisfaction with the political and social order of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Volunteers<\/em>&#8216;s tone is defiant, urgent, and idealistic, urging listeners to take action rather than passively accept the status quo. The aggressive electric guitar, pounding drums, and impassioned vocals amplify the sense of rebellion, making it one of the Airplane\u2019s most politically charged songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-large-font-size\">you\u2019re still fucking peasants as far as I can see<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\">\u2014John Lennon, Working Class Hero<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Working Class Hero<\/em> is a more stripped-down, cynical, and biting tone, and well, the F word was still a big deal \u2014 a dare perhaps? No energetic call to action, Lennon\u2019s song is a bleak, acoustic folk ballad that lays bare the psychological oppression of the working class. His lyrics describe a society that systematically crushes individuality and keeps people in line with false promises of success. It&#8217;s among the most brutally honest and confrontational protest songs of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Relevance? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>No single factor guarantees that a song will endure; rather, it\u2019s the synergy among emotional depth, cultural moment, artistic innovation, and personal connection that elevates certain songs above the rest. A song\u2019s significance often resides in its depth of meaning and craftsmanship, while its relevance is tied to how it speaks to current experiences and continues to find new life through reinterpretation and rediscovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bj\u00f6rk - Declare Independence\" width=\"629\" height=\"472\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ewLnV3NeWMw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally dedicated to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Bj\u00f6rk&#8217;s <em>Declare Independence<\/em> (from Volta, 2007) became a fierce anthem encouraging oppressed peoples to break free from controlling powers in Kosovo, Tibet and everywhere people found its  message relevant: \u201cDeclare independence \u2014 Don\u2019t let them do that to you !\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\">I never thought of myself as a singer or a musician. I just had something to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\">\u2014 Leonard Cohen<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Trying overtly to be profound will almost always make a song stiff \u2026pretentious or didactic. \u201cThe better songs are often ones where the meaning is ambiguous. That allows people to find their own resonance,\u201d says David Byrne. \u201cThe music has to feel right, and then meaning finds its way in.\u201d Or Joni Mitchell: \u201cI don\u2019t set out to be deep. I set out to be truthful.\u201d When you have something to say and you say it well, people listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Raising my flag<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At this point in life I don&#8217;t imagine myself writing songs with the impact of the artists I&#8217;ve named here. I just love to play my guitar. Sometimes I have things I&#8217;d like to say, and sometimes I try to say them well in a song. It seems like it may be time once again to overcome, and we shall. I shall overcome the things holding me back up until now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protest songs are the greatest songs The songs I grew up on were often &#8220;political.&#8221; Well, maybe not Chewy Chewy (but I think you might make a case for Another Pleasant Valley Sunday). I grew up on the east coast of the U.S.A. in the 60s, and they were political times. Before I heard either [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitar-faces.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}