Political Music: a sampler supplement
2 min readOct 3, 2020
a selection of readings to accompany our “Political Music” YouTube playlist
Supplemental readings surrounding the music on our YouTube playlist.
(Know of a political tune or particularly relevant article we might’ve missed? Please let us know and we will add it to the list!)
Jazz & Blues
- Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement
- A brief passage on Duke Ellington’s “Wall Street Wail”
- Tracing the Evolution of Mingus’ “Haitian Fight Song”
- The story behind Ashton Crawley & Charles Mingus’ “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”
- Ten of the best & most revolutionary Fela Kuti songs
Classic Rock & Flower Era
- 50 of the greatest songs about protest, debate & struggle
- When punk music’s stars banded against racism
- Don McLean on American Pie: how politics & music flow parallel
Rap & R&B
- 10 Rap Protest Songs that Fight the Power
- Prince’s politically motivated songs
New-Age & Popular
- Songs of Black Lives Matter, 22 New Protest Anthems
- Tom Waits & Marc Ribot collaborate on a new anti-fascist song, by Jazziz Magazine’s Matt Micucci
- Musicians VS Presidents: 16 Songs that Take On Trump, Bush, and More
Folk & Country
- A readers’ poll of the 10 best protest songs of all time
- Influential Political & Protest Folk Music Artists
- AntiWarSongs.org database of protesting war with song
- Concerning the comparison of Anaïs Mitchell’s song about Greek Mythology “Why We Build the Wall” and Donald Trump
Symphonic & Classical
- The Role of Protest in Classical Music
- Kent State University’s wind ensemble concert: “The Music of Protest”
In Solidarity.
