What are/were the most memorable Protest Songs?

The Who for the win

This one still makes me want to break something. Lyrics are sadly still very relevant.

I can't wait for that new movie to come out on Netflix

My buddy suggested I do a mash-up of these two, but I have no idea how to do that. Maybe Delta Dawn?

Love me some RAGE. I think Testify is another relevant protest song. And, I like that Zack quotes George Orwell from 1984 in the lyric.

Almost anything by the original master, Woody Guthrie.

Especially the 1913 massacre.



Don't forget that his most famous song, This Land is Your Land was actually a protest song. There were other verses, often left off, that flipped this from a homage to the US to a protest song. In the classic folk song tradition, one or more of these verses appeared in different versions. I don't believe he ever sang all 4 at once however.



There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
This land was made for you and me.[7]

Woodyguthrie.org has a variant:[8]

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

It also has a verse:[8]

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?