Tuesday 13 May 2008

Music with Messages


Shown on television tonight was a list of the top 20 most powerful songs with messages. Music is a must in my house, an easy medium to get lost in my own thoughts and to relax with, the silence is deafening if there is no music being played. I missed the first few but managed to write down the ones from #11 down. The list comprises of songs that the older generation most likely would of heard, although I had never heard the songs, War by Edwin Starr or Redemption Song by Bob Marley. Do any readers remember these songs, and do you have any favourites of your own to add?

11....War....1969/1970....Edwin Starr....depicts the general anger and distastes towards the war in Vietnam.

10....Papa don't Preach....1986....Madonna.....generally about a teenage girl making up her own mind when she became pregnant.

09....Zombie....1994....The Cranberries...written about the mindless conflicts in Northern Ireland known as"The Troubles", with references to the Easter Rising of 1916.

08....Treaty....Yothu Yindi....1991.... relating to This song was written after Bob Hawke promised there would be a Treaty between Indigenous Australians and the Australian Government by 1990.

07....Another brick in the wall....1979....Pink Floyd...written about the inadequacies perceived in education in Britain, a protest song against rigid schooling in general and in particular, boarding schools. Questioning authority. Was banned in several countries.

06....Redemption Song....1979....Bob Marley....expression of his life and values, last song recorded before he died of cancer.

05....Do they know it's Christmas time?...1984.... Band Aid....To raise money for awareness of starvation and poverty in Africa, masterminded by Bob Geldof.

04....Cats in the cradle...1974....Harry Chapin....would be dads, spending quality time with your kids, the most important relationship a father/son can ever have....Harry wrote it after reading a poem his wife composed then Ugly kid Joe recorded it 20 years later.
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03....Dear Mr President....2006....Pink...gay rights, poverty , Iraq war, originally written as a letter to the president.

02....My Generation....The Who....1965...youth culture and the problems that afflict the young generation, Pete Townsend, after a run in with royal family and the notion the older generation do not listen to youth.

01....Imagine....John Lennon...1971...John Lennon's vision of a peaceful world, his most recognised song.

These next three songs were mentioned but I cannot recall the numbers at which they was listed though they were above #11.

I am Woman....1972....Helen Reddy....became the anthem for feminists wold wide.

I was only 19....1983....Redgum....another protest song and a soldiers account of the Vietnam War.

Hurricane....Bob Dylan....In 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was working towards a middleweight boxing title when he was arrested for three murders and sentenced to three life sentences. Twenty years later, Carter was released from prison after a Brooklyn teenager and three Canadian activists proved his innocence. Carter's story initially inspired Bob Dylan to pen "Hurricane" back in 1975

9 comments:

UBERMOUTH said...

Excellent songs. I particularly love 'Cat's In The Cradle'.

Music, literature, film- the colour in our world.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Well, I remember the Bandaid one, "Imagine", of course and "I am Woman". one of my favorites is Bobby Darin's"Simple Song of Freedom".

Crushed said...

Zombie is a clasic, I always find it very stirring.
Imagine of course, is another classic- but then so much od what Lennon wrote was.

jams o donnell said...

SOme great songs there.. As for songs with messages add a whole load of Midnight Oils songs.. and absolutely no Hoohoo Gurus songs (except the concept album about interplanetary music aid: Mars Needs Guitars!!!)

Nunyaa said...

Jams, you know Peter Garrett the lead singer of the Oils is now our Federal Enviroment Minister....
Crushed, I agree with you on John Lennon but have to say, I never liked the Beatles...Was more into the 70s and 80s music.

Crushed said...

The Beatles, interesting.
I used to feel like that- thought the was over-rated. Partly because my Mum raved on about them, mainly because of the DISservice Oasis did by 'emulating' them.

But every one of their post 66 albums is quality.
McCartney, hanger on of Lennon's coat tails, but Lennon, like Morrison, is a Blake or a Keats of our time.

jmb said...

Interesting lot of songs there. Interesting to see the Yothu Yindi one there. Obviously a local program.

James Higham said...

Zombie and My Genearation are great here.

CherryPie said...

An interesting selection :-)