150 Years of Protest Music

So, when I taught 10th grade English last year, I gave my students an assignment: To find a protest song. It couldn't be the same as anyone else's song (in that hour at least), it had to protest SOMETHING (their choice of topic), and it couldn't have profanity. If a student REALLY wanted to present a song that had profanity, they could present it to just me, before or after school. They also had to be able to explain WHAT was being protested.

I had been collecting protest songs on my own for awhile, but the kids found me LOTS of worthy songs I didn't know about, both from modern times, and from the 1960s. It was gratifying when my husband heard me listening to 99 Red Balloons (which was from when WE were in HS) and said "That's a protest song?" Yup, it is.

Inspired by the Disney Animated Robin Hood, where everyone sings "The Phony King of England" (Too late to be known as John the First / He's sure to be known as John the worst / A pox on that phony king of England!), I went looking for historical protest songs, and turned up a Negro spiritual called "No More Auction Block For Me" that dates from the 1800s, but was recorded by a modern a cappella group called Sweet Honey on the Rocks. It's an unbelievably beautiful song.

In answer to the question "did your students like the assignment, I have to say, no, not really. Some did, of course, but many others just found it a hassle. I'll probably do the assignment again, but I have to re-think how to approach it. Early on, all of the students actually followed along with the lyrics up on the overhead, but later , as the end of the school year loomed, they tended to pay less and less attention. But I also caught glimpses of students who cared - they watched me intently, as I listened to the lyrics. I only bought the songs that I liked, and I could see that a few of them were quite gratified when they saw me buying their song. One kid even offered to burn me CD of similar songs from the band he presented (Coldplay).

Anyway, for some reason, not all of my songs made it into the iMix. One of them has never been available in iTunes, so it's no surprise that that song isn't available. But all of the others should be - I mostly got them from iTunes. The missing songs are:

1. Bomb The World (Armageddon Version) by Michael Franti (the regular version made it - both are from the same album, and both were purchased from iTunes. It's a shame though - the Armageddon version is edgier and better)
   
2. Handlebars by the Flobots (another Flobots song made it)
3. I Ain't Marching Anymore (LP Version) by Phil Ochs
4. Imagine by John Lennon (probably due to the new Beatles releases)
5. Jacob's Ladder by Chumbawamba (not available on iTunes)
6. Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream by Simon and Garfunkel
7. Lyndon Johnson told the nation (LP Version) by Tom Paxton (an awesome song that even my 15-year-old likes, and bought for himself from iTunes after I played it for him)
8. Peace Train by Cat Stevens
9. Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
10. Travelin' Soldier by the Dixie Chicks (a great song with a controversy attached to it - it was the song they were promoting in Europe, when they made a rather rude statement about the president, and lots of fans boycotted them afterwards - you know - the "shut up, and sing" story.)

Anyway, hope you enjoy the music.

Discs looking for a home

Hi all, we're getting rid of a bunch of old CDs that we don't care about. We'll donate them to the library or school district and write them off for a bit over $2 each. I figured I should offer them to people I know who might want them. So, if anyone wants any of the following CDs for say US$2.50 plus shipping, they're yours (assuming they're not already claimed).

Genre	Artist/Group	Album title	Notes	Composer	Performing group	Conductor
Alternative	Suicidal Tendencies	Suicidal Tendencies
Alternative	Suicidal Tendencies	How Will I Laugh Tomorrow...When I Can't Even Smile Today
Alternative	Sex Pistols	Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols
Alternative	Skinny Puppy	Too Dark Park
Alternative	Pailhead	Trait
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Forbidden Places
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Monsters
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Too High to Die
Alternative	Ween	Chocolate and Cheese
Alternative	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Mother's Milk
Alternative	The Clash	The Clash
Alternative & Punk	Jesus Jones	Liquidizer [Bonus Tracks]
Alternative & Punk	Screeching Weasel	Anthem For A New Tomorrow
Classical	Tokyo String Quartet	String Quartets Complete		Bartok / Janacek	Tokyo String Quartet
Classical		Bernstein Favorites: Overtures		Various	New York Philharmonic	Leonard Bernstein
Classical		Varèse: Arcana; Holst: The Planets		Host/Varese	Philharmonia Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin
Classical		"Grieg: Symphonic Dances, Norwegian Dances, Lyric Pieces"		Grieg	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	Neeme Järvi
Classical		Johann David Heinichen: Lamentationes Passionsmusik		Johann David Heinichen	Musica Antiqua Koln	Reinhard Goebel
Classical		"Dvo?ák; Symphony #9, Slavonic Dances"		Dvorak	New York Philharmonic Orchestra	Kurt Masur
Classical	Heinz Holliger	"Handel: Oboe Concertos, Concerto Grosso"			English Chamber Orchestra
Classical		Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles			London Symphony Orchestra	Leonard Bernstein
Classical	Andre Rieu	The Vienna I Love: Waltzes From My Heart			Johann Strauss Orchestra
Classical	Modl & Windgassen	Wagner Tristan und Isolde Highlights
Classical		Romantic Overtures: Wagner and Mendelssohn			Philharmonia Hungarica	"Arthur Gruber, Alois Springer"
Classical		Mozart Orchestral Legends
Classical	Pablo Casals	Casals Early Recordings 1925-1928
Classical	Steven Isserlis	Boccherini: Concertos and Sonatas for Cello		Boccherini	Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Classical		Cantus Arcticus		Einojuhani Rautavaara
Classical	Bryn Terfel	Opera Arias			Metropolitan Opera Orchestra	James Levine
Classical		"Copland: El Salón México, Music For The Theatre"		Aaron Copland	New York Philharmonic Orchestra	Leonard Bernstein
Classical		Haydn: London Symphonies			Philharmonia Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin
Classical		Dvo?ák's New World Symphony & Other Orchestral Masterworks		Dvo?ák	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	Fritz Reiner
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Music of the Passion			Glinka Choir Of Leningrad
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Russian Easter			Choir of the Trinity - St. Sergius Laura and the Moscow Theological Academy
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom - Tchaikovsky		Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky	USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir	Valery Polyansky
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom - Rachmaninov		Rachmaninov	Moscow Chamber Choir
Classical	Russel Brazzel	Twentieth Century Cuban Music
Classical		"Mozart Concerti K242, K365, K466"		Mozart	English Chamer Orchestra	Sir Georg Solti
Classical		Gorecki: Symphony No. 3		Henryk Gorecki	London Sinfonietta	David Zinman
Classical	Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim	Mozart: Die Sonaten Fur Klavier Und Violine	4 discs	Mozart
Classical	John Williams and Arthur Fiedler	America The Beautiful			Boston Pops Orchestra
Classical		The Wedding Album	Compilation of music played at weddings.
Classical	Carreras Domingo Pavarotti	The Three Tenors in Concert				Mehta
Classical	Koechlin and Zinman	The Jungle Book			Berlin Symphony Orchestra
Classical	Various	Maxiplay: Go For the Gold	"""Greatest Hits"" of classical music. It's a good disc, though many music snobs would dislike it."
Classical	"Cecilia Bartoli, Myung-Whun Chung"	Chant D'Amour - Mélodies Françaises
Classical		"Ravel: Boléro, Rapsodie Espagnole, Pavane, Alborada Del Gracioso, Daphnis Et Chloe"		Ravel	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	Daniel Barenboim
Classical		Sibelius: Syphonies Nos. 2&6			London Symphony Orchestra	Sir. Colin Davis
Classical	The Met Orchestra	Don Quixote and Tod und Verklarung		Strauss	The Met Orchestra	James Levine
Classical		Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder; Tod und Verklärung; Metamorphosen		Strauss	Berlin Philharmonic	Von Karajan
Classical		"Strauss (R): Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan"		Strauss	Berlin Philharmonic	Von Karajan
Classical		Tchaikovsky Symphony #5		Tchaikovsky	Radio Symphony Orchestra	Anton Nanut
Classical	The Soloists From Zagreb	The Best of Vivaldi: 7 All Time Faborite Concertos		Vivaldi
Classical	Nigel Kennedy	Vivaldi: The Four Seasons			English Chamber Orchestra	Nigel Kennedy
Classical	Itzhak Perlman and Israel Zohar	Tradition: Itzhak Perlman Plays Poplular Jewish Melodies			Israel Philarhmonic Orchestra	Dov Seltzer
Classical	"Eveline Schuler, Folk Harp"	Sound of Austria: A Treasury of Alpine Folk Music			Schuler Folk Ensemble
Classical		Music Of Bulgaria			Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic	Philip Koutev
Classical		The Best of the German Marches II			The Maritime Self Defence Force Band of Tokyo
Classical		Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries	"""Great Orchestral Music From ""The Ring"""""	Wagner	Cleveland Orchestra	George Szell
Classical	Simon Dent	Greatest Oboe Concertos (Die Schonsten Oboenkonzerte)				Vladislav Czarnecki
Classical	Gil Shaham	Violin Romances: Romances for Violin an Orchestra			Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Classical	Various	The Magic of the Cello		Various	Various	Various
Classical	Charles Gerhardt	Classic Film Scores For Errol Flynn			National Philharmonic Orchestra
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	Geography
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	Tyranny (for you)
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off
Electronica/Dance	Nitzer Ebb	As Is [EP]	stained case in poor shape. CD fine.
Electronica/Dance	Nitzer Ebb	ebbhead
Hip Hop/Rap	Beastie Boys	Licensed to Ill
Hip Hop/Rap	Beastie Boys	Check Your Head
Hip Hop/Rap	Digital Underground	Sex Packets
Hip Hop/Rap	DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince	"He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper"
Hip Hop/Rap	Digital Underground	This is an E.P. Release
Jazz	"Harry Connick, Jr."	When Harry Met Sally Soundtrack
Jazz	Louis Armstrong	Laughin' Louie
Jazz	Kenny G	Duotones
Jazz	Charlie Parker	Bird: The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker
Jazz	Natalie Cole	Unforgettable With Love
Metal	Twisted Sister	Big Hits & Nasty Cuts
Pop	Neil Diamond	Heartlight
Pop	Elton John	The One
Pop	Phil Collins	Serious Hits… Live
Pop	The New Christy Minstrels	Greatest Hits
Pop	The Mamas and the Papas	16 of their Greatest Hits
Pop	Carole King	Tapestry
Pop	Jefferson Airplane	Jefferson Airplane
Pop	Carly Simon	My Romance
Pop	Generation X	Perfect Hits 1975-1981
Pop	Aretha Franklin	What You See is What You Get
Punk	Danzig III	How the Gods Kill
R&B	Aretha Franklin	The Best of Aretha Franklin	Still in shrink
R&B	Sly & the Family Stone	Greatest Hits
R&B	Ray Charles	My World
R&B	The Drifters	Golden Hits
R&B	Righteous Brothers	Anthology 1962-1974 Disc 1
R&B	Righteous Brothers	Anthology 1962-1974 Disc 2
R&B	Ray Charles	The Best of Ray Charles
Rock	The Association	Greatest Hits!
Rock	B-52s	Cosmic Thing
Rock	Bow Wow Wow	I Want Candy
Rock	Oingo Boingo	Best O' Boingo
Rock	Blondie	The Best of Blondie
Rock	T-Rex	The Very Best of T-Rex
Rock	Styx	Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology
Rock	Mekons	The Mekons Rock N'Roll
Rock	U2	Rattle And Hum
Rock	The Tubes	The Best of the Tubes 1981-1987
Rock	Steve Winwood	Roll With It
Rock	The Rembrandts	LP
Rock	Men at Work	Business as Usual
Rock	Elvis Costello & The Attractions	Armed Forces [Bonus Tracks]
Rock	Eric Clapton	The Cream of Clapton
Rock	George Thorogood & The Destroyers	The Baddest Of George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Rock	Rush	Moving Pictures
Rock	Rush	2112
Rock	Sammy Hagar	Unboxed
Rock	Don Henley	I Can't Stand Still
Rock	Jerry Lee Lewis	18 Original Greatest Hits
Rock	Jethro Tull	Thick as a Brick
Rock	Jethro Tull	Aqualung
Rock	Jethro Tull	Original Masters
Rock	Various	Punky But Chic: The American New Wave Scene
Rock	Soundgarden	Badmotorfinger
Rock	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Chronicle
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Top 10 Hits disc 2		Rachmaninov	USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Top 10 Hits disc 1
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Number 1 Hits
Rock	Golden Earring	The Continuing Story Of Radar Love
Rock	The Guess Who	Tack Record: The Guess Who Collection	2 CD set
Rock	Bob Dylan	Under the Red Sky
Rock	Aerosmith	Big Ones
Soundtrack	Various	Pump Up The Volume Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack	John Williams	Star Wars Original Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra	John Williams
Soundtrack	John Williams	Star Wars A New Hope Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra	John Williams
Soundtrack	John Williams	THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score		John Williams	National Philharmonic	Charles Gerhardt
Soundtrack		Braveheart Original Motional Picture Soundtrack		James Horner	London Symphony Orchestra	James Horner
Soundtrack		Independence Day Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		David Arnold
Soundtrack		Jurassic Park Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Williams
Soundtrack		Mission: Impossible - Music from and Inspired by the motion picture
Soundtrack		Hamlet Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		Ennio Morricone
Soundtrack		Dances With Wolves Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Barry
Soundtrack		Wyatt Earp: Music from the Motion Picture		James Newton Howard
Soundtrack		Wolf Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		Ennio Morricone
Soundtrack		Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra
Soundtrack	Various	Music from the Films of Clint Eastwood		Various
World	Buckwheat Zydeco	Taking It Home
World	Hebrew National	Kosher Classics