Songs available and taken for VIVA the Freedom Songs
The connection between music and politics, particularly political expression in song, has been seen in many cultures. Protest writing predates both the recording and music industries. Oral tradition, or oral lore, is knowledge passed on through, art, ideas and cultural material preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.
The counterculture of the 1960s as an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon developed throughout much of the Western world between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s bringing with it a generation of political and social comment in commercial music.
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social movements that have an associated body of songs are the abolition movement, women’s suffrage, the labour movement, the human rights movement, civil rights, the anti-war movement and 1960s counterculture, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, the gay rights movement, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, gun control, and environmentalism.
As with every year we find that particular songs are requested by multiple bands The Beatles Revolution and Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name of have been requested over ten times. Below is the list has songs that have so far been allocated and will appear on VIVA The freedom Songs
SONGS THAT HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED TO APPEAR ON VIVA
Florence Reece Which Side are you on
TRAD Bella Ciao
UB40 Present Arms
Marvin Gaye Whats Going On
Ed McCurdy Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream
Gil Scott-Heron The Revolution will not be televised
Ewan MacColl Dirty Old Town
The Beatles Revolution
Bob Dylan A Hard Rains Gonna Fall
Marvin Gaye Mercy Mercy Me
Neil Young Keep on Rocking in the Free World
Yellowman Free Mary J
Peter Gabriel Biko
Yves Montand le Chant des Partisans
Boris Vian le Déserteur
Bob Dylan Hurricane
Phil Ochs I Ain’t Marching Anymore
Lesley Gore You Don’t Own Me
Neil Young Southern Man
Helen Reddy I Am Woman
UB40 Food for Thought
Tracey Chapman Mountains O’ Things
José Martí Guantanamera
Staple Singers I’ll Take You There
CCR Fortunate Son
The Jam In the City
Men at Work It’s a Mistake
OMD Enola Gay
Prince 1999
Midnight Oil Beds are Burning
Aretha Franklin Respect
The Isley Brothers Caravan Of Love
Paul Robeson – The Ballad of Joe Hill
Paul Robeson – Old Man River
Pete Seger – We Shall Overcome
John Lennon Imagine
Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi
Joe Hill There is Power in A Union
MC5 Gotta Keep Moving
Black Sabbath War Pigs
Labi Siffre (Something Inside) So Strong
Trad My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
Peter Tosh Equal Rights
Bob Dylan Masters of War
X Ray Spex Oh Bondage Up Yours
Bikini Kill Rebel Girl
Isley Brothers Harvest for the World
Ian Campbell The Sun Is Burning
Billie Holiday Strange Fruit
Tears for Fears Mad World
Queen I Want to Break Free
Temptations Ball of Confusion
Phil Ochs. One More Parade
Nick Lowe Whats so Funny about Peace Love and Understanding
Frankie Two Tribes
RATM Killing in the Name of
Bob Marley War
Scroobius Pip letter From God to Man
Bill Withers Can’t Write Left Handed
The Men They Couldn’t Hang The Ghosts Of Cable Street
The Ruts Babylons Burning
Buffalo Springfield Whats that Sound
Kesha Woman
Bruce Springsteen The Ghost of Tom Joad
Gilberto Gil Aquele Abraço
Ralph McTell Streets of London
George Michael – Freedom 90
Woody Guthrie – You fascists bound to lose
The Pixies – Monkey Gone to Heaven
Nena – 99 Luftballons
So whats left to pick? … well, thousands. Below are some suggestions of songs that haven’t already been taken
Female Empowerment
Ethel Mary Smyth The March of the Women
Aretha Franklin RESPECT – Think
No Doubt Just a Girl
Loretta Lynn The Pill
Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves
Beyoncé Run the World (Girls)
The Runaways Cherry Bomb
M.I.A Bad Girls
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Bad Reputation
Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive
Lady Gaga Born this Way
King Princess Pussy Is God
Courtney Barnett Nameless, Faceless
Soccer Mommy Your Dog
Armed Conflict
The Pogues A Pair Of Brown Eyes – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
R.E.M. Orange Crush
Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter
Plastic Ono Band Give Peace A Chance
Elvis Costello And The Attractions Oliver’s Army
The Cranberries Zombie
The Doors The Unknown Soldier
David Bowie How Does The Grass Grow?
Barry McGuire Eve of Destruction
Eva Cassidy Danny Boy
Nena 99 Luftballons
Civil Rights (Traditional)
Old Man River
Oh Freedom
I Love Everybody
This Little Light of Mine
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Shall Not Be Moved
This Little Light of Mine
Hymn to Freedom
How I Got Over
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round
Lift Every Voice and Sing
If I Had a Hammer
The Welcome Table (also known as the I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table, or River of Jordan, or I’m A-Gonna Climb Up Jacob’s Ladder or God’s Going to Set This World on Fire)
Civil Rights
The Impressions People Get Ready
Sam Cooke A Change is Gonna Come
Nina Simone Mississippi Goddam
Common ft. John Legend Glory
Alicia Keys We Gotta Pray
James Brown Say it Loud, I’m Black and Proud
The Last Poets When the Revolution Comes
2Pac I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto
J.B. Lenoir Alabama Blues
The Staple Singers Freedom Highway
John Lee Hooker The Motor City Is Burning
Stevie Wonder Living for the City
Grant Green Selma March
Counterculture
Trad Cutty Wren
Kay Sutcliffe Coal Not Dole
Trad Poverty Knock
Ewan MacColl Dirty Old Town
Cui Jian Nothing To My Name
Manic Street Preachers If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Billy Bragg Between The Wars
Bruce Springsteen Born In The USA
Public Enemy Fight The Power
Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five The Message
Yothu Yindi Treaty
2Pac Keep Ya Head Up
Woody Guthrie This Land Is Your Land
Pete Seeger We Shall Overcome
Charles Mingus Haitian Fight Song
Gilberto Gil Aquele Abraço
Malvina Reynolds It Isn’t Nice
The Beatles All You Need is Love
Black Eyed Peas Where is the Love
Childish Gambino This is America
Kendrick Lamar Alright
Environmentalism
Black Sabbath Iron Man
The Pixies Monkey Gone to Heaven
Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Neil Young After the Gold Rush
Depeche Mode The Landscape Is Changing
Three Dog Night Out in the Country
Madonna Four Minutes
Imagine Dragons Radioactive
The Cranberries Time Is Ticking Out
Midnight Oil Beds are Burning
Will.i.am S.O.S. (Mother Nature)
Arrested Development Children Play With Earth
The Beach Boys Don’t Go Near the Water
Bruce Cockburn The Trouble with Normal
Creedence Clearwater Revival Bad Moon Rising
LGBTQ Pride
Erasure A Little Respect
Tom Robinson Glad to be Gay
George Michael Freedom 90
Pansy Divison Anthem
Mary Lambert She Keeps me Warm
Ani DiFranco On Every Corner
Kacey Musgraves Follow Your Arrow
It would be impossible to let all the potential songs that could be used. The protest genre is as vast as it is old and International. We encourage musicians to do research themselves so that they can identify material thats appropriate to themselves.
You could start your research here
Keep in mind that we. never look for facsimile and we always encourage creative and new interpretation. Perhaps consider how this song may have sounded if your band had written it. Good luck
