Help! Need a "social" song for school

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Hey all Our teacher gave us this homework: to find a song that has social significance.

The example he gave us was "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and The Range. lines in the song make allussions to certain historical events, like:

They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules

refers to the court case which enabled black and white kids to attend school together. and:

Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar

refers to the anti-discrimination law they passed making racism illegal iirc.

anyways, i need a song that makes references like this. it can be from any genre from classical to death metal the only criteria are that:

a) it's not a remake
b) it was written after 1999

I've been trying to look for one myselfbut most of the stuff i listen to have weird lyrics

 

After 1999? Why so recent? I would have chosen Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" or that often remade song about cutting down the trees and putting up a parking lot.

There will be other people around here more qualified to talk to you about post 1999 music.... it's mostly teeny bop acid rap drum n bass jungle hop rubbish to me. The Crazy Frog does not have much social significance. How about something by Coldplay?

 

Actually HB, those 2 songs you mentioned were also on the list of examples. The reason my teacher is looking for one written after 1999 is that he wants a song from this decade.. and you're right, it's kind of hard to find a song written after 1999 fitting this criteria.

 

I'd look in U2's recent albums then if I were you. Bono is always bleating on about some social issue for another so he there is bound to be something there.

Some modern rappers may be 'down' with the latest social issues as well, although the issues may be restricted to those that can be found on 'the street'.

 

Bulls on Parade-Rage Against the Machine

Any Rage Against the Machine song.

Any punk band pretty much. Adams Song by Blink is about suicide, Violent Pornography by System of a Down is about the dehumanization of women, B.Y.O.B is about the war, BOOM is about the war.

It should be easy to find a song about social issues.

 

I'll give it a shot. Maybe these songs are more "political" than "social", but I don't know how clear the distinction has to be.

R.E.M.: "Final Straw" (Around the Sun):

As I raise my head to broadcast my objection
As your latest triumph draws the final straw
Who died and lifted you up to perfection?
And what silenced me is written into law.

I can't believe where circumstance has thrown me
And I turn my head away
If I look I'm not sure that I could face you.
Not again. not today. not today.

If hatred makes a play on me tomorrow
And forgiveness takes a back seat to revenge
There's a hurt down deep that has not been corrected.
There's a voice in me that says you will not win.

And if I ignore the voice inside,
Raise a half glass to my home.
But it's there that I am most afraid,
And forgetting doesn't hold. it doesn't hold.

Now I don't believe and I never did
That two wrongs make a right.
If the world were filled with the likes of you
Then I'm putting up a fight. I'm putting up a fight.
Putting up a fight. make it right. make it right.

Now love cannot be called into question.
Forgiveness is the only hope I hold.
And love- love will be my strongest weapon.
I do believe that I am not alone.

For this fear will not destroy me.
And the tears that have been shed
It's knowing now where I am weakest
And the voice in my head. in my head.

Then I raise my voice up higher
And I look you in the eye
And I offer love with one condition.
With conviction, tell me why.
Tell me why.
Tell me why.
Look me in the eye.
Tell me why.

Rammstein: "Amerika" (Reise, Reise):

We're all living in Amerika
Amerika ist wunderbar
We're all living in Amerika
Amerika, Amerika.

Wenn getanzt wird will ich führen
Auch wenn ihr euch alleine dreht
Lasst euch ein wenig kontrollieren
Ich zeige euch wie es richtig geht
Wir bilden einen lieben Reigen
Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
Musik kommt aus dem Weißen Haus
Und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus

We're all living in Amerika...

Ich kenne Schritte die sehr nützen
Und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen
Und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss
Weiß noch nicht dass er tanzen muss
Wir bilden einen lieben Reigen
Ich werde Euch die Richtung zeigen
Nach Afrika kommt Santa Claus,
Und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus.

We're all living in Amerika
Amerika ist wunderbar
We're all living in Amerika
Amerika, Amerika

We're all living in Amerika
Coca-Cola, Wonderbra
We're all living in Amerika
Amerika, Amerika

This is not a love song
this is not a love song
I don't sing my mother tongue
No, this is not a love song.

We're all living in Amerika
Amerika ist wunderbar
We're all living in Amerika
Amerika, Amerika

We're all living in Amerika
Coca-Cola, sometimes WAR
We're all living in Amerika
Amerika, Amerika

 

thanks guys, but i think what my teacher is after is a song that makes allussions to actual historical events, like in the example i gave. i'll try going through U2 though..

 

Don McLean's American Pie would have been a good candidate if only it was written after 1999.

So I suggest a Jack Johnson song from his "On and On" album.

Cookie Jar

I would turn on the TV but it's so embarrasing
To see all the other people I don't know that they mean
It was magic at first when they spoke without sound
And now this world is gonna hurt you better turn that thing down
Turn it around

"It wasn't me", says the boy with the gun
"Sure I pulled the trigger but it needed to be done
Cause life's been killing me ever since it begun
You cant blame me cause I'm too young"

"You can't blame me sure the killer was my son
But I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun
It's the killer on this TV screen
You cant blame me its those images he seen"

Well "You can't blame me", says the media man
Well "I wasn't the one who came up with the plan
I just point my camera at what the people want to see
Man it's a two way mirror and you cant blame me"

"You can't blame me", says the singer of the song
Or the maker of the movie which he based his life on
"It's only entertainment and as anyone can see
The smoke machines and makeup
Hey you cant fool me"

It was you it was me it was every man
We've all got the blood on our hands
We only receive what we demand
And if we want hell then hells what well have

And I would turn on the TV
But its so embarrasing
To see all the other people
I don't even know that they mean
And it was magic at first
But it let everyone down
And now this world is gonna hurt
You better turn it around
Turn it around


It's about a series of the student shooting incidents that happened in US a couple (or so) years ago... and about what TV is doing to us.

Btw, does Elton John's revised "Candle In the Wind" counts? If it does, it was for Lady Di.

[ September 26, 2005, 12:44: Message edited by: nior ]

 

I don't think it mentions actual histtorical events, but Chemekia Copeland's "Who Stole My Radio" is an sharp criticism of the music industry.

 

hey, thanks a lot nior, that one i may be able to use. i also found a song called the panama deception by a punk band called anti-flag. i really wanted to use voice of the voiceless by Rage against the machine but it was written in 1999

 

Turn to Country Music:

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning
by Alan Jackson

Here's the first verse,

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?
Out in the yard with your wife and children;
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

or Tim Rushlow's 'She Misses Him' about Alzheimer's disease,

And yes they're still together
After all these years
But sometimes you can almost feel
The sadness in her tears

She misses his gentle touch
And the way he used to make her laugh
She misses the man he was
In all of those old photographs
So strong, so kind, so sweet, so smart
The man who stole her very heart
She misses him

 

Bad Religion mostly does political commentary, so with that in mind, here's a couple verses from a few of their songs. I'm sure you can find the rest of each song if they're workable for you.

The Empire Strikes First
We strike first
And we're unrehearsed
Here we go again
To stage the greatest show on heaven and earth
Come on, get your moneys worth

We're coming on fast
And we're built to last
We stumbled once in 'Nam
Now we're glad to finally say
Those days have passed
Tell me how long can it last?

Let Them Eat War

There's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner
With long division and a riding crop
Anybody can feel like a winner
When it's served up piping hot

But the people aren't looking for a handout
They're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?

Let them eat war [x2]
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war [x2]
There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride

Sinister Rouge
Child molesters and Jesuits
Holding secret conference
Underneath the Pontiff's nose
And only God will ever know

Okay, so that last one might just piss someone off, but... *shrug*

 

Don McLean's "American Pie"

About as "social" as they come

 

How about "The Day after tomorrow" on Tom Waits most recent album?

I got your letter
Today
An' I miss you oh so much here

I can't wait
To see you all
And I'm counting the days dear

I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the World

An' I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders

And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border

What I miss you won't believe
Shovellin' snow,and rakin' leaves

And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream
That I can hold you

They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
'Bout what it means
To be a soldier

I still don't know how I'm s'posed to feel
'Bout all the blood that's been spilled

Will God on his throne
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow?

You can't deny
The other side
Don't wanna die
Any more than we do

What I'm tryin' to say
Is, don't they pray
To the same God
That we do?

Tell me
How does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?

Who turns the wheel
Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

I am not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom

I am fighting
For my life
And another day in the World here

I just do what I've been told
We're just the gravel on the road

And only the lucky
Ones come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it brings
The winter's frost dear

And I know
We too are made
Of all the things
That we have lost here

I'll be twenty - one today
I been savin' all my pay

And my plane
Will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

And my plane
It will touch down
On the day after tomorrow