Sunday, Sep 7, 2008
Latter-day Bobs
One thing I discovered this week is that, as a form, the protest song is stuck in the '60s. It's astonishing how many songs that I listened to were written in a faux '60s folk-revival sound, and as someone who thinks the folk revival was bad enough the first time around, it wasn't a pleasant listening experience. There are more second-rate early Bob Dylan wannabes in the world than anyone should have to know about (mercifully, Joan Baez clones are rare). I have little interest in these folk-revival revivalists, but for educational purposes, I'll include two of them: Dan Bern ("Bush Must Be Defeated," free download) and Stephan Smith ("The Bell," with Pete Seeger, Mary Harris and Dean Ween, free download) are the two best-known of the current protest-oriented folk singers, and while I'm not fond of their music, I admire both their politics and their passion.
It's nice that John Mellencamp came out with a protest song -- few would dare to impugn the patriotism of an all-American heartland rocker -- but unfortunately he got bit by the folkie bug too: The clumsy, dippy "To Washington" (free download) has to be one of his worst songs.
Folk music still has some good protest-song writers, though, perhaps chief among them Billy Bragg. "The Price of Oil" (free download) is simple, direct and packed with information, with no pretense of being poetic or lyrical, but somehow it doesn't come across as clumsy or preachy, or even overly dry -- how he does it I don't know, but I wish there were more like him.
Loudon Wainwright III relies on his customary good-humored, wry wit to attack the president on "Presidents Day" (free download): "George was the first one, Abe was the best/ Libraries and airports named after the rest/ But this year I'm queasy about President's Day/ Cause there's been more than one George, I'm sorry to say."
"Revenge" (free download), the title song from the new record by Brian McTear's Bitter, Bitter Weeks, is neither humorous nor informative, but it is very powerful, a dark and chilling song that speaks of "a country once callous in victory, now ferocious in defeat."
Some artists who don't want to write a protest song themselves, but still wish to express their defiance musically, chose to cover older protest songs that are still relevant. Three covers that I found this week stood out: Jim O'Rourke and Glenn Kotche's cover of Bill Fay's "Pictures of Adolf" (free download), Thurston Moore and Mike Watt's cover of Tom Rapp's "Fourth Day of July" (free download), and Scott Amendola and Carla Bozulich's ferocious version of Dylan's "Masters of War" (free download).
Jazz, hip-hop and lots of rock
Thankfully, not everyone writing protest songs is a folk musician, and not all modern protest songs exist so completely under the shadows of their '60s counterparts.
Rickie Lee Jones was kind enough to offer Salon an exclusive download of "Ugly Man" (Salon exclusive free download), a smooth pop-jazz waltz with sweet harmonies that belies the ferocity of its attack on President Bush.
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