Greatest Liberal and Leftist Songs[edit]

	Time to put on some; Music
	Soundtrack
	Punk; Paul is dead; Parents Music Resource Center; Rock: It's Your Decision; Jerry Springer: The Opera; Goth;
	Musicians
	Anita Bryant; Louis Farrakhan; Pat Boone; 27 Club; Gavin McInnes; Peter J. Peters; v - t - e

Anti-racism[edit]

also see wp:Category:Songs against racism and xenophobia

Alabama John Coltrane. About the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
And Sadness Will Sear Trivium. About the killing of Matthew Shepard (Specifically this is about homophobia, but it fits this category well)
Biko Peter Gabriel. A protest song about the death of anti-apartheid protester Steve Biko while in police custody.
Black or White Michael Jackson. "It don't matter if you're black or white."
Bruises Skindred. About fighting drunken racists: "I never trusted you lot, and why don't you go back to Africa".
Born in East L.A. Cheech & Chong.
Chocolate Rain Tay Zonday. Some stay dry while others feel the pain.
Colorado Kool-Aid Johnny Paycheck (also recorded by Red Sovine). Don't pick racist bar fights.
Damn Right I Am Somebody Fred Wesley & the JB's (1974)
Don't Call me Nigger, Whitey Sly and the Family Stone.
Embarrassment Madness. The song itself is a bit oblique unless you know the story behind it: Lee Thompson wrote it about his parents' response to his sister (white) becoming pregnant by her boyfriend (black). Hence "seems they don't want to know you no more... you're an embarrassment".
I'm a Man Bo Diddley. Recorded in 1955, at a time when adult black men were routinely called "boy" in the South. (The beat of the song is more reminiscent of Aboriginal beats.)
Keep It In The Family Anthrax. A furious attack towards racism that is inherited from family ("Cause daddy hated this, and mommy hated that/your own ability to reason's like a tire gone flat"), as well as neo-Confederates ("You separatists say that you want your own state/ I'm gonna give 'em a state, a state of unconsciousness").
Melting Pot By Blue Mink - although the idea that we all ought to end up the same colour is a bit weird.
Proud To Be Black Run-DMC.
Racist Friend The Special AKA. If you have a racist friend, now is the time for that friendship to end.
Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud (Parts 1 & 2) James Brown (1969)
Society's Child Janis Ian
Strange Fruit Billie Holiday (1939)
Sun City Artists United Against Apartheid. Title track from a 1985 benefit album featuring several popular acts of that time.^[1]
The Way It Is Bruce Hornsby. "Because the law don't change another's mind/When all it sees at the hiring time/Is the line on the color bar."
We Don't Need No Colour Code Steve Taylor. A Christian musician no less, smacking Bob Jones University upside the head for their no-interracial-dating policy.
Young, gifted, and black Nina Simone
Your Racist Friend They Might Be Giants. "Can't shake the devil's hand and say you were only kidding" indeed.

Aboriginal and Somewhat Aboriginal[edit]

Cortez the Killer Neil Young
Dead Hearts Midnight Oil's (Alexisonfire cover)
Don't Drink the Water Dave Matthews Band
Ghost Dance Robbie Robertson asks you to look at the Indian Holocaust from a different direction.
Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee Redbone
Electric Pow Wow A Tribe Call Red
Indians Anthrax. Song about the mistreatment of Native Americans under Colonial America.
MAHK JCHI Music for Native Americans Robbie Robertson
Miles From Our Home Cowboy Junkies
People of the South Wind Kansas
Pocahontas Neil Young cover by Crash Vegas. "They killed us in our teepees, and they cut our women down. They might have left some babies, lying on the ground...,Marlon Brando, Pocahontas, and me."
Run to the Hills Iron Maiden
Tshinanu by Kashtin (sung in wp:Innu-aimun)
Sleep Now in the Fire Rage Against the Machine. "The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria/The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer/The agents of orange/The priests of Hiroshima."
That "What's the time Mr. Wolf" song (Maori)
Noble Indian Chief Handful Of Peter From Family Guy.

Anti-war[edit]

2 + 2 The Bob Seger System. Tells of how obvious the Vietnam War was a disaster to everyone except the politicians.
2 Minutes to Midnight Iron Maiden. "As the mad men play on words/ And make us all dance to their song / To the tune of starving millions / To make a better kind of gun"
21st Century Schizoid Man King Crimson. Anti-Vietnam War.
16 Military Wives The Decemberists. Takes shots at both conservative war hawks and ineffectual, liberal Hollywood celebrities, but mainly focuses on the human cost of war.
99 Luftballons Nena. Cautionary tale about the end of the world being caused by a simple misunderstanding.
1916 Motorhead. Anti-WWI song.
A Lifetime of War Sabaton. Points out the insanity of the Thirty Years' War, and war in general. "When they face death they're all alike / No right or wrong, rich or poor / No matter who they served before / Good or bad, they're all the same / Rest side-by-side, now / Has man gone insane?"
American Woman The Guess Who. Another Canadian band. Also covered by Lenny Kravitz (not a Canadian). Anti-Vietnam War song.
Atomic Garden Bad Religion. Anti-nuclear war.
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos Public Enemy. Sung from the point of view of a black man drafted by the government during the Vietnam War and refusing to serve. "They wanted me for their army or whatever/Picture me givin' a damn - I said never... They could not understand that I’m a black man/And I could never be a veteran." (Tricky does a good cover of this song.)
Bombs Not Food The US Bom'bs. Discusses how the United States would rather spend money on "national security" than food for the poor.
Border Lord Kris Kristofferson. "Darkness had us covered as we split from Minnesota in the morning, in the rain...when you're headed for the border, Lord, you're bound to cross the line." Unpatriotic draft dodgers!
Born in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen. A song with a patriotic chorus that Ronald Reagan called a "message of hope" until someone on his staff actually listened to the verses and realized it was an anti-war song.[1] "Down in the shadow of penitentiary/Out by the gas fires of the refinery/I'm ten years burning down the road/Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go/Born in the U.S.A."
Bring Em Home Pete Seeger. A call to get American troops the hell out of Vietnam.
Brothers Brand New.
Brothers in Arms Dire Straits. "We're fools to make war on our brothers in arms..."
Bulls on Parade Rage Against the Machine. "Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes/Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal."
Children of the Grave Black Sabbath. "Must the world live in the shadow of atomic fear? / Can they win the fight for peace or will they disappear, yeah"
Como Estais Amigos Iron Maiden.
Crazy Train Ozzy Osbourne.
Dance Myrath. About Ahmad Joudeh, a Palestinian/Syrian dancer who continued dancing despite receiving death threats from DAESH. Condemns war and hatred.
Disposable Heroes Metallica. "Back to the front/You will die when I say/You must die/Back to the front/You coward/You servant/You blind man."
Dirty Harry Gorillaz. About the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from the perspective of a US soldier. Specifically references the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. "The war is over/So said the speaker with the flight suit on/Maybe to him I'm just a pawn/So he can advance."
Dust Mr. Mister. Everybody was doing songs about Vietnam in the 80s.
Enola Gay Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD). About the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World Tears for Fears. Decries the dangers of warfare by the power hungry.
Fanfare for the Common Man Aaron Copland. Commissioned to honor the soldiers fighting in WWII, but titled to allude to Henry A. Wallace's "century of the common man" speech, which was anti-colonial, pro-labor, and pro-New Deal.
Flesh Storm Slayer. Criticises media manipulation by the government, and the media's portrayal of conflicts: "The cameras are whores for the daily bloodshed."
For Those About To Rot Soulfly. About soldiers being sent to die, and takes shots at the Bush Administration ("Why don't presidents die in wars"). (Note: doesn't sound like the AC/DC song For Those About to Rock.)
For Whom The Bell Tolls Metallica. Based of Ernest Hemingway's book, and featuring lines like "For a hill, men would kill. Why? They do not know".
Fortunate Son Creedence Clearwater Revival. Anti-war, anti-draft. Was used in a blue jeans commercial. John Fogerty (who actually was drafted) lost the rights to this and many other songs of his. According to snopes.com, though the song contains the lyric "I ain't no Senator's son" it's actually about David Eisenhower, the only grandson of Dwight Eisenhower, who married Richard Nixon's daughter, Julie, in 1968. David Eisenhower did serve in Vietnam, in the Navy Reserves.
Generals and Majors XTC "...are never happy unless they've got a war"
Goodbye Blue Sky Pink Floyd. Anti-war song about life in the post-WWII world.
Goodnight Saigon Billy Joel. "We came in spastic/Like tame-less horses/We left in plastic/As numbered corpses."
Hello in There John Prine. "We lost Davy in the Korean War/And I still don't know what for/Doesn't matter anymore."
Heresy Rush. Song about the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. "Do we have to be forgiving at last? What else can we do? Do we have to say goodbye to the past? Yes, I guess we do."
Hero of War Rise Against. A song about a soldier who witnesses Abu Ghraib and the killing of civilians.
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due Megadeth. "Killing for religion / something I don't understand."
I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier Morton Harvey. Recorded in 1915. Great song for the centennial commemorations
I Don't Wanna Get Drafted Frank Zappa. Cynically protests the return of registration for the Selective Service in the United States in the 1980s. "Wars are really ugly, they're dirty and they're cold. I don't want nobody to shoot me in the foxhole."
If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next The Manic Street Preachers. About the Spanish Civil War. Title is from a poster of the time that shows a dead child.
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag Country Joe and the Fish. Anti-Vietnam War song. Sing along to "Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box."
In the Army Now. Bolland & Bolland, most famously covered by Status Quo. "You will be the hero of the neighborhood/Nobody knows that you left for good".
Jarhead Fertilizer. Dystopia. a truly vicious Anti-War song. "Waste your life While taking others lives away from them."
Let Them Eat War Bad Religion. "From the force to the union shops,/the war economy is making new jobs,/but the people who benefit most,/are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts."
Let's Have a War FEAR. Pro-war parody. "There's so many of us there's so many of us there's so many LET'S HAVE A WAARRR! So you can go die! LET'S HAVE A WAR! We could all use the money!"
Lucky Man Emerson, Lake & Palmer. "A bullet had found him/His blood ran as he cried/No money could save him/So he laid down and he died/Ooooh, what a lucky man he was."
Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation Paxton, Tom. "Lyndon Johnson told the nation, 'Have no fear of escalation; I am trying everyone to please! Though it isn't really war we're sending fifty thousand more to help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese..'"
Machine Gun Jimi Hendrix. "Evil man make me kill you/Evil man make you kill me/Even though we're only families apart."
Manhattan Project Rush. About the atomic bomb droppings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. Hints at an anti-war stance.
More Than A Name On A Wall The Statler Brothers. Tells of a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C..
Oliver's Army Elvis Costello. More about Cromwell's New Model Army, and how it led to colonialism supported by shipping ouy the poor because they have limited options. But that is anti war.
One Metallica. Inspired by a movie/book about a veteran who gets badly wounded fighting in WWI. "Landmine/Has taken my sight/Taken my speech/Taken my hearing/Taken my arms/Taken my legs/Taken my soul/Left me with life in hell."
One More Parade Phil Ochs. Upbeat tempo contrasting the glory of military parades with the reality of war.
One Tin Soldier The Original Caste
Orange Crush R.E.M. About 'Nam, even has helicopters chuttering in the middle of it.^[2]
Punky's Dilemma Simon and Garfunkel. More draft dodging hippie peacenick traitors.
Prophets Of War Dream Theater. Suggests ulterior motives for the Iraq War. "Can we help them break away? Are we profiting from war?"
Rooster Alice in Chains. Written by Jerry Cantrell for his father who served during the Vietnam War.
Run Through the Jungle Creedence Clearwater Revival. "Two hundred million guns are loaded/Satan cries, 'Take aim!'"
Sam Stone John Prine, lyrics by Al Kooper. "Sam Stone came home/To his wife and family/After serving in the conflict overseas./And in the time that he had served/It had shattered all his nerves/And it left a little shrapnel in his knee./Oh, but the morphine eased the pain/And the grass grew round his brain/And it gave him all the confidence he lacked/With a purple heart and a monkey on his back.
Sky Pilot Eric Burdon and the Animals. "In the morning they return/With tears in their eyes/The stench of death drifts up to the skies/A soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot/Remembers the words/'Thou shalt not kill.'"
Soldier's Poem Muse
Stone In My Hand Everlast. War, corruption, and oppression in general.
Stoned in Saigon Fresh. Appeared in 1970 as anti-VietNam War sentiment was at its peak. Cut a little too close for many listeners from that era.
Territories Rush. Also against nationalism and colonialism.
The Butcher's Tale The Zombies. Trench warfare in WWI. Enough said.
The General Dispatch.
The Grave Don McLean. The fear and hell that is war. "They can't let me die, they can't let me die here..."
The Pilgrim's Address Fish, AKA Derek Van Dick. From the viewpoint of an ex-soldier who rhetorically asks the President who was on the moral side after all.
The Price of a Mile Sabaton. About the senseless slaughter and misery of trench warfare in WWI, especially the Battle of Passchendaele. "Six miles of ground has been won / Half a million men are gone"
The Rich Man RoadRunner United. A burning indictment of all the parties involved in the Iraq War. A disillusioned soldier suffers a mental breakdown upon realizing his place is in the war machine. "I know the truth is all a lie, my skin is cracking on my lips, I don’t pretend that I can understand why we are doing this, My heart has bled a thousand times, how will I live with what we’ve done? The only comfort is the knowledge that I’m not the only one."
The Unknown Soldier The Doors. Underrated, semi-obscure anti-war song about Vietnam.^[3]
The Words That Maketh Murder PJ Harvey. About soldiers in Afghanistan.
There Were Roses Tommy Sands.
Two Little Hitlers Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
Universal Soldier Buffy St. Marie and many others. "He's a catholic, a hindu, an atheist, a jain,/A buddhist and baptist, and a jew./And he knows he shouldn't kill,/And he knows he always will,/Kill you for me my friend and me for you."
Unknown Soldier The Casualties. "Joey is off to die, for another senseless war/No arms, no legs - his mother cries at home/Joey wears the flag, so proud to fight for us/And for a government that doesn't give a fuck."
Us and Them Pink Floyd. Stellar anti-war and anti-poverty song from Dark Side of The Moon.
Wake Up! Rage Against the Machine. "You know they went after King/When he spoke out on Vietnam/He turned the power to the have-nots/And then came the shot."
War Edwin Starr. Sums up the pacifist view pretty damn well.
War Pigs Black Sabbath. Ozzy harangues the "generals gathered in their masses/Just like witches at black masses" in an eight-minute, anti-Vietnam sludge-metal epic.
(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding? Nick Lowe/Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
When the Tigers Broke Free Pink Floyd. Roger Waters relating the story of how his father died in WWII.
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Pete Seeger, Kingston Trio, PP&Mary, the Searchers, even Marlene Dietrich, even Ma and others. "Where have all the soldiers gone?/Gone to graveyards every one/When will they ever learn?"
Wooden Ships Crosby Stills and Nash/Jefferson Airplane. Presumably the aftermath of a devastating war. Who won?
Your Possible Pasts Pink Floyd.

Capital Punishment[edit]

Bullshit Politicians Propaghandi. It's about freeing Mumia Abu Jamal and other death row prisoners.
Crime for Crime Ani DiFranco. "everyone needs to see the prisoner/they need to make it even easier/they see me as a symbol, and not a human being.../say it's not murder, it's a metaphor
Let Him Dangle by Elvis Costello. The wrongful hanging of Derek Bentley.
No rope as long as time Latin Quarter. It's about hanging, 'nuff said.
Ride The Lightning Metallica. Who made you god to say / "I'll take your life from you!"
Good Kill Too Much Joy.

Censorship and Free Speech[edit]

Banned in the USA 2 Live Crew. Licensed parody of the Springsteen song. Wrote to protest the censorship or their records and the arrest of the group in Florida.
The Freakin' FCC Family Guy. Lampoons the freakin' FCC for being the "stuffiest of special interest groups".

Christmas and Other Holiday Songs[edit]

Funny[edit]

Christmas Wrapping (I think) by the Waitresses
12 Days of Christmas The Yobs. "Five fucking whores!!" ("One, Two, Three, Four!!")
Hanukkah Song Adam Sandler
The Toby Keith song Parody. Why do the terrorists hate Christmas?
Akim & Teddy Vann - Santa Claus Is A Black ManRight on!
Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto - James Brown
Christmas in Heaven - Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
David Letterman and Ted Nugent - Christmas Show. Parody of Bing and Bowie.
'Fuck Christmas' Fear

Actually Nice[edit]

Christmas in Prison John Prine
December will be Magic Again Kate Bush
Run with the Fox Chris Squire and Alan White.
Siberian Khatru by Yes and this Japanese version

Economics[edit]

Mama Economy Tay Zonday. The only song I know that makes reference to Ayn Rand.
No banker left behind Ry Cooder.
Fortune 500 Everything Everything.
Give A Damn Hank Williams Jr.
Pink Houses John Mellancamp. Anti-Reaganomics.

Advertising and Consumerism[edit]

Party Down Reel Big Fish. Anti-corporation and pro-party. What more could you ask for in a liberal?
Freedom of Choice Devo. Deeply anti-consumerism. "I'll say it again in the land of the free, use your freedom of choice." is scathing satire, and not meant to be taken at face value. The song posits that Freedom of Choice is an illusion created by companies where your choices do not matter, and are a distraction from what is important. Per Jerry Casale "It was about how people were throwing away their freedom of choice into meaningless choices like between Pepsi and Coke, or pink fur shoes or blue suede shoes. Just mindless consumerism, they'd rather not be free, they'd rather be told what to do, because that's what appeared to us was the case, especially in the Reagan years."
No Shelter Rage Against the Machine. Takes aim at cinematic advertising and all the dirty business that goes on behind it. Ironically, the song appeared on the soundtrack for 1997's Godzilla.
Quit Hollerin' at Me John Prine. Goddam commercials! "I don't want your big French fry/I don't want your car/I don't want to buy no soap/From no washed-up movie star."
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones. Anti-consumerist. "When I'm watchin' my TV/and a man comes on and tell me/how white my shirt can be/but he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke/the same cigarettes as me". Mick Jagger: rock'n'roll star or Adbusters contributor?

Capitalism[edit]

Animals Muse
Capital (It Fails Us Now) Gang of Four. "Let's get drunk on cheap wine!"
Eat The Rich Not the Aerosmith song, the Motorhead one, from the movie of the same name.
In Comes The Flood Machine Head. "I wanna burn down Wall Street, baby!"
Kill The Rich Anti-Flag. "Abillionaire chatting with his friends, they've got to stop to laugh".

Drug Trade (mostly illegal)[edit]

Smugglers Blues Glen Frey
The Old Dope Peddler Tom Lehrer
Copperhead Road Steve Earle It's about a marijuana grower.

Sex Trade[edit]

Love for Sale Elizabeth Sheppard. She intended her version to be less sad/victimcentric than those previous (cool jazzy version).
Sex Trade Worker Mourning/Morning Sickness.
Happy Ending Hospin.
Cabana Boy Sara Evans. "How about a double margarita for your sweet seiorita?/On a silver tray/You're a snap away/So, baby you just stay right there until the sun goes down/Then we'll move it inside for the rest of the night/And fool around"

Environment[edit]

also see wp:List of songs about the environment and wp:Category:Environmental songs

After the Gold Rush Neil Young. "Look at mother nature on the run"
Another Way to Die Disturbed. The ravages of climate change are given the apocalyptic heavy metal treatment usually reserved for songs about Ragnarok.
Bent Cold Sidewalk Tangerine Dream. "When I talk to the trees; Oh great trees who have learned to speak slowly; I know that they believe that they have an answer; Then I walk in the city where I cannot hear it..." etc
Big Yellow Taxi Joni Mitchell, originally. "They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum and charged all the people a dollar and a half to see 'em." Maybe this is a conservative song after all. (This song is heavily sampled by Janet Jackson and a nice country-jazzy version done by the late B.B.Gabor.)
Bound by the Beauty Jane Siberry. (I think the lyrics are, or are something like) "And first I'm going to find a forest, and stand out in the trees, and kiss the fragrant forest floor, and lie down in the leaves, and listen to the birds sing, the sweetest song you'll hear."
Collapse (Post-Amerika) Rise Against. "when our rivers run dry and our crops cease to grow/when our summers grow longer and winters won't snow...when our home on the range has been torn down and paved...what more will it take?"
Death of Mother Nature Suite Kansas.
Don't Go Near the Water The Beach Boys.
Down by the River Albert Hammond.
Escarpment Blues Sarah Harmer. "If they blow a hole in my backyard, everyone is gonna run away. And the creeks won't flow to the Great Lake below. Will the water in the wells still be ok?"
Fallen Eagle Steven Stills, which is also an anti-war song, using the plight of endangered species as a metaphor for the Vietnam War
Glenwood Canyon C.W. McCall. The river ran wild but it was only a matter of time before the developers came.
Global Warming Gojira.
Guns Guns Guns The Guess Who. Hunting eagle and caribou is bad m'kay?
Hands All Over Soundgarden
Isle of Man Ministry. Al Jorgensen sings about the greedy use of natural resources as a warning to future generations. "I'm writing/this letter/so no one will forget/some future/cave dweller/will find these notes an Isle of Man."
Kyoto Now Bad Religion. Kyoto Protocol=environmental, so self-explanatory.
Little Fighter White Lion. Tribute to the Greenpeace "Rainbow Warrior" after it was sunk by the French government.
Look Out Any Window Bruce Hornsby. It's about fishermen and farmers unable to make a living because of pollution. Oddly enough released before the Exxon Valdez oil spill and hit the charts right as it hit the news.
Mercy Mercy (The Ecology) Marvin Gaye. Oldie but goodie from around the first Earth Day, 1970.
Monkey Gone To Heaven Pixies. A song about an "underwater guy" "killed by ten million pounds of toxic sludge from New York to New Jersey". Talks about global warming and the hole in the ozone layer as well. (Now there's a hole in the sky/And the ground's not cold/And if the ground's not cold/Everything is gonna burn/We'll all take turns/I'll get mine too...")
My City Was Gone The Pretenders. Anti-development. Rush Limburger has been sekritly programming his listeners with radical liberal enviro-whacko propaganda all this time.
New World Man Rush. "He's got a problem with his poisons/But you know he'll find a cure/He's cleaning up his systems/To keep his nature pure/Learning to match the beat of the Old World Man/Learning to catch the heat of the Third World Man."
No Cars Go Arcade Fire.
Oh, Susquehanna! Defiance, Ohio. "I miss that place behind my house/Where I hiked and climbed and played/Where I ditched this noisy century/Or just hid out from the decade."
Paradise John Prine. There's no such thing as "clean coal."
Radioactivity Kraftwerk. "Stop radioactivity/It's in the air for you and me/Chain reaction and mutation/Contaminated population"
Rainbow Stew Merle Haggard. Kinda silly but has an ecology theme.
Rocky Mountain High John Denver. "They try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more. More people, more scars upon the land." One of two state songs of Colorado.
Song for America Kansas. "Ravage, plunder, see no wonder / Rape and kill and tear asunder / Chop the forest, plow it under"
Spadina Bus Shuffle Demons. A bunch of guys playing very jazzed-up saxes, dressed in African clothes, the leader with a long "soul patch," in the early 80's, singing about taking public transit. There's lots of songs about cars, many of them good. This is a cool song about a route in public transit. "I want confirmation on my information on my transportation to Spadina station."
[2] The Beloved.
The Devil's Been Busy Traveling Wilburys
"The Earth Dies Screaming" - AUK. Pretty self-explanatory.
The Landscape is Changing Depeche Mode - "I don't care/If you're going nowhere/Just take good care/Of the world".
The Last Resort Eagles. "Call someplace Paradise, kiss it good bye".
There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock & Roll) C.W. McCall. Really.
Toxic Garbage Island Gojira. "PLASTIC BLACKENS THE SEA!"
Wasteland Atargatis "Dryness fell over the land of Man/For they have turned the landscape by their wasting hand/Dried up earth and only fruitless soil/Every look you take shows that they have lost control."
We Can Run Grateful Dead, possibly inspired by the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
What a Wonderful World Louis Armstrong.
When the Levee Breaks Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie recorded this song in 1929 and of course Led Zeppelin reworked it in 1971. A Perfect Circle covered it in 2004 shortly before Hurricane Katrina. See When the Levee Breaks.
When the Music's Over The Doors. "What have they done to the Earth?"
Where do the Children Play Cat Stevens.
World on Fire Sarah McLachlan "I watch the heavens but I find no calling/Something I can do to change what's coming."
The entire Sunfighter album. Paul Kantner and Grace Slick. Okay, more of a burned out, druggy, and openly neopagan vision of environmentalism, but worth hearing to get an idea what the post-hippie scene was into circa 1971. Bonus points for songs about cannibalism and werewolves and for trying to link them to radical environmentalism (see, the future world is going to be "really" overpopulated, and...)
Before the Water Gets Too High Parquet Courts.

Feminism[edit]

also see wp:Category:Songs with feminist themes

I Am Woman (Hear me Roar)" Helen Reddy (She can't travel in the Bible Belt without armed guards now.)
Birmingham Amanda Marshall.
Human Nature Madonna. "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me. Would it be easier if I was a man? You're the one with the problem. Why don't you just deal with it?"
Odessa Caribou. Seems to be about a woman leaving an abusive relationship.
Pretty Girl Ani DiFranco. "I'm not a pretty girl. That's not what I do." (said the attractive woman)
Rise Up Parachute Club. (Somewhat feminist and pro-LGBT)
Women round the world at work Martha and the Muffins. Very early 80's in a nice way.
Run the World (Girls) Beyoncé. "Who run the world? Girls!"
80's Ladies K.T. Oslin.
Playgirl Central. Tia Tequila. "We girls have a right to get nasty too."
Sex Type Thing Stone Temple Pilots. Calls out rape culture.
Eventually Shades. Promotes women's equality.

Guns[edit]

Glorified G Pearl Jam. A three-and-a-half-minute piss take mocking the machismo of gun owners, all set to a country-sounding tune. Written when Eddie Vedder found out that drummer Dave Abbruzzese had purchased two guns; he was not amused in the slightest.
Gun Control Dirty Rotten Imbeciles.
Gun Control Ian Hunter.
Mr. Saturday Night Special Lynyrd Skynyrd. Funny how CP left this one out.
Put Out the Fire Brian May/Queen. "People kill people - people with guns!"
Root Radical Rocks Reggae Stiff Little Fingers. "Throw away the guns and the war's all gone."
Seconds Human League. Most likely about the shooting of Lennon.
Shot 18 New Model Army. Anti gun violence song from Bradford's finest.
To The Teeth Ani DiFranco. "we are armed to the teeth/we're all working together now/to make our lives mercifully brief..../and if I hear one more time/about a fool's right to his tools of rage/I'm gonna take all my friends/and I'm going to move to Canada."
God is a Bullet Concrete Blonde.

Kinda Pro-gun Lefties[edit]

Cop Killer Body Count (Ice T). "Cop killer. Better you than me. Cop killer. Fuck police brutality! Cop killer. I know your family's grieving—fuck 'em! Cop killer, but tonight we get even!" (With drum beats replaced with gun shot samples.)
If I had a rocket launcher Bruce Cockburn. "Some son of a bitch would die!"
The Guns of Brixton The Clash. Oops, this one's not anti-gun... Well, it might be. Kinda hard to tell, but Strummer was a die-hard socialist, so we'll leave this up. (already mentioned twice elsewhere)

Labour Rights[edit]

also see wp:Category:Trade union songs

Crushed by the Wheels of Industry Heaven 17. Rather poppy for a labour song.
Dark and Bloody Ground Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers. The coal company against the miners. Co-written by Bruce Springsteen.
Joe Hill Joan Baez (written by Alfred Hayes), performed at Woodstock. Also done by Paul Robeson.
Marshall Riley's Army Lindisfarne. About the Jarrow Crusade.
The Molly Maguires The Dubliners.
My Music At Work The Tragically Hip
Part Of The Union The Strawbs. While apparently written to attack the unions, it was adopted by union members and is now probably better known as a protest song than being anti-union.^[4]
Penthouse and Pavement Heaven 17. Danceable, though.
Piss Factory Patti Smith. An angry post-folk, pre-punk anomaly. Denouncing the monotony of factory piece-work. The missing link between Carole King and The Clash.
Rich Men Earning North of a Million Billy Bragg. Pro-union response to Oliver Anthony's controversial song "Rich Men North of Richmond".
Roll On The Living End. Cuz who doesn't love a good dock worker strike?
The Red Flag traditional. #The people's flag is deepest red/It shrouded oft our martyr'd dead/And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,/Their hearts' blood dyed its ev'ry fold.#
There Is Power in a Union traditional, performed by Billy Bragg. 'Nuff said.
The entire albums Coal (Kathy Mattea), and The Unbroken Circle (Tom Breiding). Labor songs about coal mining and miners. Both musicians are from well, where did you expect?
The works of Joe Hill, such as "Preacher and the Slave" and "The Girl Question"
James Connolly Dropkick Murphys.

Philosophical[edit]

All or nothing Au Revoir Simone. "Everywhere is somewhere baby So can't you see we're in the middle of somewhere. 'Nowhere' just means knowing nothing of where you been or where you're going."
Blackout Muse. "This life could be the last, and we're too young to see."
Castles Made of Sand Jimi Hendrix. It's just... philosophical. And it's Jimi.
Eternal Fatalist Lowest of the Low "You say your moon's in the seventh house. But your butt's been three days on my couch"^[5]
Freewill Rush.
From Both Sides Joni Mitchell
Help I'm Alive Metric
Language Is A Virus Laurie Anderson
Lucklucky Veda Hille.
One Life Raggeadeth featuring Michee Mee. [In a Jamaican accent] "Love the life of live, and live da life of love. Cause after life there death......Raggadeth!"
The Cause Broken Social Scene. I'm pretty sure he sings, "We all want to fuck the cause." Video features lead wearing a gas mask and waving a sword, while others play with paper bags over their heads. Leslie Feist (Mac's "I, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more..,") was a member of this "musical collective" as well as Metric's Emily Haines.
When something stands for nothing The Headstones. "This one's for nuthin', and this one's for fun, and this one's about rock 'n' roll, and comic books, and bubblegum."

Political[edit]

also see wp:List of political punk songs and wp:Category:Political songs

1812 Overture Tchaikovsky. Celebrates the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in Russia by digital cannon and fake carillon - say no more.
21st Century Schizoid Man King Crimson. Mentions the Vietnam War, consumerism, and more. Very surreal and disturbing lyrics.
A Child Is Coming Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. Anti-draft. "What are we gonna do when Uncle Samuel comes around, asking for the young one's name? Lookin' for the print of his hand for their files and their numbers game? I don't want his chances for freedom to ever be that slim. Let's not tell 'em about him."
Alice's Restaurant Arlo Guthrie. Classic anti-draft, anti-littering Thanksgiving song. "You want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug?"
All You Fascists Woody Guthrie. Woody literally had the words "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his guitar.
America for Beginners Latin Quarter. Given the current feeling amongst the Rabid Right, the opening lines are a treat: "What's keeping the White House white? It is chalk, is it fog, is it fear?"
America Kim Mitchell. Biting cynicism and criticism of U.S.-centeredness by Canadian guitarist who was not otherwise known for any cynicism nor political commentary.
American Idiot Green Day. Criticizes post-9/11 America's obsession with the media and criticizes George Bush and the "redneck agenda."
April 29, 1992 (Miami) Sublime. Great song about the Rodney King riots.
Battle Hymn of the Republic Julia Ward Howe. Shivers... "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free"
Best of All Possible Worlds Kris Kristofferson. Anti-police brutality.
Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys The Equals
Bourgeoisie Blues Alabama 3. Socialist anthem: "You're so hungry for that smell of money, you've been wasting away for years."
Born in East L.A. Cheech & Chong. (To the tune of "Born in the USA.")
Bulletproof Machine Head. Speaks out in support of the nationwide 2020 BLM protests while also taking aim at "the hypocrite Christians proclaiming pro-life."
Chocolate City Parliament-Funkadelic. "Who needs the bullet when you've got the ballot?"
Cinderella Man. Rush. "In the betrayal of his love he awakened/To face a world of cold reality/And a look in the eyes of the hungry/Awakened him to what he could do."
Closer to the Heart Rush. "And the men who hold high places/Must be the ones to start/To mold a new reality/Closer to the heart."
Cocaine Socialism Pulp. Questioning New Labour's political honesty.
Dance After Curfew Nash the Slash. Mostly instrumental, electric violin by a guy who looks a bit like the Invisible man.
Dead Cowboy Lightning Bolt. "Take George Bush to Afghanistan/He's gonna bathe in blood tonight."
Deportee (sung by various country artists, best version probably by Highwaymen w/ Julio Iglesias), decries draconian anti-immigration measures and celebrates the humanity of Mexican immigrants.
Dogs Pink Floyd. About the middle-class. Slightly more socialist than it is liberal.
Eve of Destruction Barry McGuire. 60s anti-nuclear.
Everybody Knows Leonard Cohen. (Another Canadian.) "Everybody knows that the war is over/Everybody knows the good guys lost/Everybody knows the fight was fixed/The poor stay poor, the rich get rich...Everybody knows the deal is rotten/Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton/For your ribbons and bows."
For What It's Worth Stephen Stills/Buffalo Springfield. Tales of block parties and police crackdowns in LA.
Free Nelson Mandela Special AKA. Must be liberal, considering how Reagan, Bush Sr. and Maggie Thatcher's vetoing of sanctions against the apartheid regime kept him behind bars until the early 90s.
Freedom Jimi Hendrix
From The Air Laurie Anderson
Get Up, Stand Up Bob Marley & The Wailers. "Get up, stand up! Stand up for your rights! Get up, stand up! Don't give up the fight!"
Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones. Mick regrets letting the Hell's Angels work security at one of the band's shows (where they murdered a black guy for no reason), tries to make up for it.
God Save the Queen The Sex Pistols. "The fascist regime, it made you a moron."
Hamburger Lady Throbbing Gristle. Questions the morality of keeping a severely burned woman alive. (See euthanasia.)
Handlebars Flobots. The video is about two friends, one of whom leads a rebellion against the other. The song is about pride overtaking a person until they feel they are gods, and above normal morals/laws.
Idiot Son of an Asshole NOFX. Dedicated to President George W. Bush.
John Lee Hooker for President Ry Cooder
L.A.P.D. The Offspring. L.A. riots of 1992, anti-police. "Because justice in L.A. comes in a can of mace."
Land of Confusion Genesis. (Despite what Conservapedia says) anti-militarist, anti-Reagan. (If you've never seen the video, do so immediately.)
Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew Hugh Blumenfeld. "So let's all sing out praises to that long-haired radical socialist Jew."
Kings and Queens Aerosmith. "Kings and queens and guillotines/Taking lives denied/Starch and parchments laid the laws/When bishops took the ride/Only to deceive."
Long Road Out of Eden Eagles. Protests the Bush administration's imperialism, cronyism, and indifference towards the environment.
My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) The Ramones. Dares to attack Saint Reagan for visiting a cemetery where a few members of the Waffen-SS were buried. Blasphemy!
New World Order Defiance, Ohio. From the album The Great Depression. [Downloadable for free on the band's website.] "The plan is written in God’s hand so only Bush can read it, and it calls for battle in God’s name and it calls for Bush to lead it, and the blueprint calls to drill for oil, and exterminate the land, and if you can’t hear God’s calling, then you’re probably from France! 'Cause the USA is holy, and the USA is pious, and hallelujah! God is on our side! Hosannah in the highest!"
Ohio Neil Young/CSNY. Decrying the murder of unarmed students by the National Guard.
People see through you Bruce Cockburn. Bruce Cockburn addresses the rich and powerful. "You hold the tickets to the cemetery. You're big and bad and scary, but people see through you."
Pigs (Three Different Ones) Pink Floyd. "Hey you, Whitehouse, ha ha charade you are./You house proud town mouse, ha ha charade you are./You're trying to keep our feelings off the street,/you're nearly a real treat, all tight lips and cold feet,/and do you feel abused?" Also calls Margaret Thatcher a "fucked-up old hag".
Police and Thieves Murvin/Perry. "From Genesis, to Revelation... Bustin' up the nation..."
Prologue/Someday/Liberation Chicago. The "real" Chicago back when they were known as Chicago Transit Authority and hadn't yet turned into mushy pop crooners. About the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Revolution Calling and the rest of Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche. "I'm tired of all this bullshit/They keep selling me on TV/About the communist plan/And all the shady preachers/Begging for my cash."
Rockin' in the Free World Neil Young. "We got a thousand points of light/For the homeless man/We got a kinder, gentler,/Machine gun hand/We got department stores and toilet paper/Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer/Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive/Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive."
Sheep Pink Floyd. About the lower-class. Slightly more socialist than it is liberal.
Signs Five Man Electrical Band. Decries bias based on appearance. (Covered by Tesla, "the sign said long-hair freaky people need not apply.")
Six-Fingered Man Elvis Costello/Alan Toussaint. A thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration and its response to Hurricane Katrina "His achievements multiply/Pity half of them seem to be lies/Always helps to advertise/Oh, it's never enough..."
Suicide Machine Death. A song about how people should be allowed to choose when and how they want to die. (See euthanasia)
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major Eroica Ludwig van Beethoven. Was originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, but renamed after the liberal Beethoven heard of the former's autocoronation as Emperor.
Thatcher Fucked the Kids Frank Turner. Need you say more?
that Pussy Riot song that got them into trouble
The American Ruse MC5. Title says it all.
The Decline NOFX. 18 minutes long. "Place a wager on your greed/A wager on your pride/Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?"
The Ghost of Tom Joad. Bruce Springsteen, but the Rage Against the Machine cover is better. Inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
The Hand That Feeds Nine Inch Nails. An attack on the Bush Administration, urging people to make a stand for their beliefs: "Will you bite the hand that feeds you? Will you stay down on your knees?"
The Internationale (Billy Bragg's version) "Freedom is merely privilege extended, unless enjoyed by one and all."
The Law Is For Protection of the People Kris Kristofferson. Anti-police brutality.
The Logical Song Supertramp. "Watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical: a liberal: oh fanatical, criminal"
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Gil Scott-Heron. "Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant and women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow because black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day."
The Star-Spangled Banner Jimi Hendrix. Because America belongs to everyone, including Black hippies. To say nothing of the fact that his version actually has bombs bursting in air in it.
This Land Is Your Land Woody Guthrie. (Liberal populist verses no one knows.)
Violet Hill Coldplay. "When the banks became cathedrals and a fox became God" resulted in Chris Martin getting the Papa Bear "pinhead" bump.
Up Against the Wall Tom Robinson Band. Angry and very 1978 UK.
Waiting on the World to Change John Mayer
War Bob Marley and the Wailers. Based on a speech by Haile Selassie: "Until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, then I say 'war'."
We Can Be Together Jefferson Airplane. A rousing tribute to the late 60s protest movements. Deserves listing here because of the line "up against the wall, motherfuckers!" alone.
We Can't Make it Here James McMurty (Powerful critique of the state of conservative policies)
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing Heaven 17. Exactly what the title says. Was censored by the BBC for potential libel in these lines: "Democrats are out of power/'Cross the big wide ocean/Reagan's president-elect/Fascist gun in motion."
Weeping Bright Blue. Yes, whitey South Africans sang protest songs too.
What's Going On? Marvin Gaye. A cry out of the ghetto for justice.
What It's Like Everlast. "She heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the door./They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore./God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes..."
Won't Get Fooled Again The Who. "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss." Nuff said.
Woody Guthrie Alabama 3. Anti-nationalist, anti-corporate, anti-military, and anti-NRA. "I don't need no country. I don't fly no flag".
World In Motion Jackson Browne. "Sun goin' down on the USA...we're all gonna be eradicated." I dunno, this one could just as easily be about the New World Order or survivalism. Probably not though.

More Libertarian than Leftist[edit]

Consevapedians take note: these are generally classically liberal songs, not leftist, and not conservative songs; but feel free to put them in your list. We'll happily take credit for coming up with them first.

Anthem and many other Rush songs^[6]. Likely inspired by the Ayn Rand book by the same name. "Live for yourself, there’s no one else/More worth living for/Begging hands and bleeding hearts/Will only cry for more."
Bastille Day Rush. "Free the dungeons of the innocent/The king will kneel and let his kingdom rise."
Common Sense John Prine. "One of these days/One of these nights/You'll take off your hat/And they'll read you/Your rights."
Cult of Personality Living Colour. "I oppress you and you still love me..."
Farewell to Kings Rush. "Cities full of hatred, fear and lies/Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes/Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise/Beating down the multitude and scoffing at the wise."
Forget about forgetting Goddo. "Forget about forgetting! Start remembering again!!"
Hard Line Jill Barber. "It's a hard line, for you to take. Takes a whole lifetime to make it. Don't do it for mine, but your own sake: if you chose to take it."
Hunter Bjork. "I thought I could organize freedom, how Scandinavian of me..." Also mentions going hunting, which libertarians presumably love because it involves guns.
I used to stand for something" Nine Inch Nails
If I had a rocket launcher by pro-gun leftist Bruce Cockburn. (mentioned elsewhere here)
Living in China Men Without Hats/Les Hommes san Chapeau. Came out a year or so before Safety Dance. A tip of the hat, if you will, to (relatively recent) post-Mao China. "What, did Chairman Mao say? What if he knew [I think those are the lyrics] What they're doing to his wife today."
Looking out for number one BTO. Nice jazzy tune.
Moscow Drug Club (the unfortunately late) B.B.Gabor. The 45 came out around 1980. "Moscow Drug Club. Secret Rendezvous. Moscow Drug Club. Where the Reds play the blues...,Moscow drug club. The Five Year Plan is just a joke. Moscow drug club. Come in comrade...,come in and have a toke."
My Life Billy Joel. "Sooner or later you sleep in your own space. Either way, it's okay, you wake up with yourself.........,I don't care what you say anymore: this is my life. Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone."
Nyet Nyet Soviet (the unfortunately late) B.B.Gabor. A side. Moscow Drug Club on B.
The Guns of Brixton The Clash (already mentioned before on this list). Bassist Paul Simonon poses the question "When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come? With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun?" (Yes indeed, those jack-booted thugs will have to answer to the Guns of Brixton!)
Red Barchetta Rush. "My uncle has a country place/That no one knows about/He says it used to be a farm/Before the Motor Law..."
Red Sector A Rush. "I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate./Are the liberators here?/Do I hope or do I fear?"
Tom Sawyer Rush. "No, his mind is not for rent, to any God or government."
The Trees Rush. "So the maples formed a union/And demanded equal rights:/'The oaks are just too greedy/We will make them give us light!'/Now there's no more oak oppression/For they passed a noble law/And the trees are all kept equal/By hatchet, axe and saw."
Zooropa Somewhat pro-progress. "Don't worry, baby. It's going to be alright. Uncertainty can be the guiding light...She's going to dream of the world she wants to live in. She's going to dream out loud."
Why we build the wall Anaïs Mitchell. Antifascist song from the musical "Hadestown". Note: In the musical, the villain of the story forces their workers to build the wall and manipulates them into believing the wall will "keep them safe". Many trumpies of course didn't get the ironic message of the song and thought it represents their views.

Privacy and Attacks on It[edit]

Electric Eye Judas Priest
Somebody's Watching Me Rockwell
What You Don't Know (Won't Hurt You) Hank Williams Jr.

Notable Artists/Groups[edit]

Anti-flag[edit]

Die For Your Government "You give 'em your life, they give you a stab in the back."
Mumia's Song "Free Mumia Abu Jamal...Free all political prisoners!"
The W.T.O. Kills Farmers" Pretty self-explanatory.
Right to Choose A glorious song against homophobia and hatred. "You wave your flag, tell me I'm free, then use the word "fag", to fuck with me..."
911 for Peace A song against the post-9/11 obsession with revenge.
Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.) A song about the negative effects of the Iraq War, and the profiteering during it. "To save you we may have to KILL YOU, For freedom you may have to DIE!"

The Beatles[edit]

All You Need Is Love Humorous ideas of saving the world through love.
Blackbird "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take those broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive."
Girl Ahh, girl.... obvious sound of inhalation of herbal jazz cigarette.
Revolution Anti-war and anti-discrimination.
She's Leaving Home The young must leave the nest, even if parents don't understand.
The End "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love... you make."
Within You, Without You Mystical ideas of saving the world through love.

John Lennon[edit]

Give Peace a Chance Anti-Vietnam War anthem.
Happy Xmas (War is Over) See above.
Imagine John fucking Lennon. "Living life in peace"? Oh yeah, liberal. And that "imagine no religion" part, ooh, a thumper!^[7] Tons of covers including Neil Young and A Perfect Circle.
Power to the People Ditto, self explanatory.
Just Give Me Some Truth

Johnny Cash[edit]

All of God's Children Ain't Free
Anything on Bitter Tears
The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Don't Go Near The Water
Don't Take Your Guns to Town
Folsom Prison Blues
Jacob Green
Man in Black
No Earthly Good
Old Apache Squaw
San Quentin Tough on crime, huh? Mr. Congressman, you'll never understand.
Singing In Vietnam Talkin' Blues
The Mercy Seat
What Is Truth
What On Earth

Johnny Cash and U2[edit]

'The Wanderer'

The Clash![edit]

I Fought the Law (Cover of The Crickets.) (Dead Kennedys also do a good cover.)
Career Opportunities
Charlie Don't Surf inspired by a line from Apocalypse Now and speaking out against enforcing the American way of life on the world (Vietnam in this particular case) "Reign of the super powers must be over/So many armies can't free the earth/Soon the rock will roll over/Africa is choking on their Coca Cola"
Clampdown About not working for oppressive forces, whether it's the government (Nazi references) or capitalist forces.
Death or Glory "I believe in this, and it's been tested by research, that he who fucks nuns, will later join the church."
English Civil War
Hate and War "Hate and war, the only thing we've got today."
I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.
Ivan Meets G.I. Joe About the Cold War and the Soviet Union and the US meeting on a metaphorical dance floor to battle it out.
Know Your Rights "All three of them!"
Koka Kola
London's Burning About the futility and boredom of inner-city life.
Lost in the Supermarket Decrying consumerism.
Rudie Can't Fail About Rude Boys and not fitting in with society's expectations. "We hear them saying/How you get so rude and a reckless? Don't you be so crude and a feckless/You been drinking brew for breakfast."
Somebody Got Murdered
Something About England A biting retrospective on how even the shared horrors of two world wars couldn't heal the class divisions confronting Britain.
Spanish Bombs About the Spanish Civil War
Stay Free
Stop the World
Straight to Hell About the alienation and discrimination suffered by immigrants in Thatcher's England, Vietnamese children fathered and abandoned by American soldiers during the war, and the plight of immigrants in general.
The Call Up Urging men to resist the draft. "It's up to you not to heed the call up/I don't wanna die/It's up to you not to heed the call up/I don't wanna kill."
The Equaliser Raw socialism.
The Guns of Brixton About the tensions between the police and Brixton's minority population, with bassist Paul Simonon asking "When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come? With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun?"
The Sound of Sinners A lively spoof of holy roller gospel music and end times paranoia.
Tommy Gun
Washington Bullets
White Man in Hammersmith Palais Joe Strummer's disappointment with what he expected to be a roots rock rebellion show, but turned out to be "Four Tops all night" and a lightweight show with no meaning. Also decries violence, the state of punk music, new groups only being interested in money ("They got Burton suits, ha, you think it's funny/Turning rebellion into money") and the fickleness of British politics ("If Adolf Hitler flew in today, they'd send a limousine anyway.")
White Riot
The Leader About corruption in politics.

Daniel Johnston[edit]

Burn Baby Burn Not the disco inferno track, or something or other, this song is about the rich abusing the poor, and of course, it features Johnston's excellent lyricism.
Story of an Artist Denounces materialism and commemorates the struggling artists in this world. "The best things in life are truly free/Singing birds and laughing bees/You've got me wrong says he/The sun don't shine in your TV."
No More Pushing Joe Around Again speaks of the poor treatment of the disadvantaged

Dead Kennedys[edit]

Bleed For Me Anti-torture, anti-corporations, anti-Reagan, anti-Cold War era foreign policy. But mostly anti-torture. What more do you want? Creepiest line: "Any time..anywhere...maybe you'll...just disappear..."
Let's Lynch the Landlord Take one guess what the song is about.
Moon Over Marin Depicts a future ruined by environmental damage. "Another tanker's hit the rocks/Abandoned to spill out its guts/The sand is laced with sticky glops..."
Moral Majority "Blow it out your ass Phyllis Schlafly"
Nazi Punks Fuck Off Anti-Nazi skinheads, anti-conformism. "You'll be the first to go...you'll be the first to go...you'll be the first to go..."unless you think"!"
Riot Condemns rioting as inherently counterproductive. "Riot! Playing right into their hands...Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast!"
We've Got A Bigger Problem Now A rewrite of the band's first single, "California Über Alles", with new lyrics attacking Ronald Reagan.
Police Truck An attack on police brutality against sex workers.
I Fought the Law Their cover of this song (originally by the Crickets) changes the perspective and shows how rich white men are able to get away with things they wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Marilyn Manson[edit]

Cake and Sodomy "Cash in hand and dick on screen, who said God was ever clean?"
Fight Song
Irresponsible Hate Anthem Critique of American conservative values "I am so all-American, I'd sell you suicide." Also, "I am the '-ism', my hate's a prism. Let's just kill everyone and let your god sort them out." Did he just predict Ann Coulter's little rant years in advance? And, clearly, "I am the idiot who will not be himself" is George W. Bush.
Lamb of God Criticism of media martyrdom, whether it's Columbine, the Crucifixion of Christ or the JFK Assassination, "If you die when there's no one watching, then your ratings drop and you're forgotten. But if they kill you on their TV, you're a martyr and a Lamb of God."
The Beautiful People "The Beautiful People, The Beautiful People. It's all relative to the size of your steeple."
The Love Song Satire of far-right ideas on family values drawn against parallels of their love affair with guns and violence, "I've got a crush on a pretty pistol, should I tell her that I feel this way? Father told us to be faithful...Do you love your Guns? God? The Government?"

Midnight Oil[edit]

Antarctica "There must be one place left in this world..."
Beds Are Burning Environmental catastrophe denial is a conservative value, although this song is actually about Aboriginal land rights ("It belongs to them, now let's give it back").
Blue Sky Mine Suffering asbestos miners get their victory in court.
Dreamworld Anti-development.
Earth and Sun and Moon A bunch of environmental issues in one song.
Progress Takes on a whole bunch of environmental issues in one song - including Australia becoming overpopulated. "Some say that's progress, I say that's cruel".
River Runs Red "So you cut all the palm trees down, poisoned the sky and the sea...the river runs red, black rain falls on my bleeding land."

Radiohead[edit]

Creep Their claim to fame, hated by the band so much that Thom Yorke called a fan "anally retarded" for requesting it in concert.
My Iron Lung A song about how they felt about 'Creep'.
Paranoid Android "If only, if only, god loves his children, god loves his children yeah!".
Fitter Happier A sound collage using MacinTalk's very emotional and lifelike voice: "A Pig, In a cage, on anti-biotics".
Lucky A song about a commercial airline crash, originally in War Child's 'Help' album.
The National Anthem 5 minutes of orchestrated chaos, live concert versions have Johnny Greenwood sample a radio station.
How to Dissapear Completely For when you just need to cry.
Idioteque A prophetic track about disastrous effects caused by climate change.
Pyramid Song "There was nothing to fear, nothing to doubt".
Knives Out The song that inspired the movie of the same name.
We Suck Young Blood.
There, there. Caused Thom to cry after hearing the final mix.
Weird Fishes/Apreggi: A fan favorite, "I hit the bottom and escape, escape".
Reckoner: A demonstration of Thom's legendary falsetto.
Burn The Witch A song about societies pointing fingers to Muslims in the post-9/11 world. Teased for over 10 years.
True Love Waits Their scientifically-prooven saddest song^[8] that took over 21 years to make. "I'm not living, I'm just killing time".

System of a Down[edit]

Boom! Anti-war, anti-media hysteria "Four-thousand hungry children leave us per hour from starvation while billions are spent on bombs creating death showers!"
BYOB "Why don't presidents fight in wars, why do they always send the poor?"
Chic 'N' Stu A song that parodies blatant advertising. "Every minute, every second, buy-buy-buy-buy-buy!"
Chop Suey! Pro-suicide...sorta. It's an anthem against the stigma of how someone dies.
Deer Dance Song about violent police response to peaceful protests.
Hypnotize Anti-propaganda.
Mind A song about the CIA's MKULTRA program.
P.L.U.C.K. Anthem about the Armenian Genocide, and demands for Turkey to recognize it as a genocide.
Prison Song Song about prison overpopulation and the War on Drugs.
War? Anti-war, talking about how we always are looking for an excuse for one.

Tea Party[edit]

The Tea Party started around in the very early 1990's in Windsor, Ontario. They are pretty Mid-East sounding. They sound a bit like Led Zeppelin, and member Jeff Martin looks and sings a bit like Jim Morrison; but this is forgivable given that unlike the latter two, they actually had some good songs in the past 30 years. Jeff Martin still lives (unlike the Lizard King), and perhaps none of their songs can be (easily) traced to Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, et al. Last I heard, they were thinking of selling their internet domain name to that other Tea Party.

Grand Bazaar
Heaven Coming Down
The River Mid-Eastern-sounding music that refers to "Styx."
Sister Awake This one sounds the most Mid-Eastern like, though he arguably sounds like Jim Morrison/Bono near the end.
Temptation The video includes scene where Jeff Martin eats what looks like a hunk of raw meat from a little girl's hand after she walks on the water to him in some dark chamber. (Yunno, something that Sarah Palin might do). A few agnostic/atheist lines.

U2[edit]

Bullet the Blue Sky Mocking US involvement in El Salvador during the 80s.
MLK
Mothers of the Disappeared More anti-Reagan
Native Son About aboriginal issues (I think Lenard Peltier). (It was later turned into Veritigo.)
New Year's Day
Seconds Anti-Reagan
Silver and Gold As explained by Bono in concert in the "Rattle & Hum" film, an anti-apartheid song. (Now if only he sang about the conflict minerals, such as the rare earths used in the Blackberrys and iPhones U2 pushed.)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Seriously, they really love Saint Ronnie.

Xiu Xiu[edit]

Fabulous Muscles
Factory Girls
I Luv Abortion
I Luv the Valley (Oh!)
Sad Pony Guerilla Girl
Suha
Support Our Troops (Black Angels Death OH!) not a pro war song, decries the brutality of war.

Frank Zappa[edit]

Cosmik Debris A groovy screed against New Age woo.
Concentration Moon More state brutality, and warnings about possible concentration camps for "creeps" and hippies ("Concentration Moon/Over the camp in the valley/Concentration Moon/Wish I was back in the alley"; "Thousands of creeps/Killed in the park").
Dumb All Over An angry assault on dominionism and Christofacism ("You can't run a country/By a book of religion/Not by a heap/Or a lump or a smidgeon/Of foolish rules/Of ancient date /Designed to make/You all feel great/While you fold, spindle/And mutilate/Those unbelievers /From a neighboring state").
Heavenly Bank Account tears into televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and their followers. "He's got twenty million dollars/In his Heavenly Bank Account/All from those chumps who was Born again." And their political influence in the Reagan Era. "And the Governors agree to say/"He's a lovely man!"/He makes it easier for them to screw/All of you".
Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk same message as "Heavenly Bank Account", specifically Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, but also lampoons the politicians being influenced.
Mom & Dad A girl's parents don't speak out about violence directed towards "creeps" by the police, and their daughter is killed in the park "by the side of the creeps she knew."
Porn Wars Lampoons the PMRC and Congressional hearings about objectionable content in music that helped lead to RIAA explicit content labels ("What is the reason for these hearings...Sex!")
The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing Christianity narrows your viewpoint of the world ("Those Jesus Freaks, well, they're friendly but/The shit they believe has got their minds all shut") and sees biblical figures as pointless ("Moses, Aaron 'n Abraham:They're all a waste of time")
Trouble Every Day Written in response to the Watts Riots, this track attacks Great Society-era racism (“I'm not black/But there's a whole lots a times/I wish I could say I'm not white), racial violence (“He wants to go and do you in/Because the color of your skin/Just don't appeal to him/No matter if it's black or white/Because he's out for blood tonight”), media sensationalization (“And if another woman driver/Gets machine-gunned from her seat/They'll send some joker with a brownie/And you'll see it all complete”), and economic inequality (“If all that you can ever be/Is just a lousy janitor/Unless your uncle owns a store").
Watermelon in Easter Hay Mostly insturmental. Depicts a broken man imagining his last guitar solo after music has been outlawed.
Who Needs The Peace Corps? Depicts police brutality towards hippies ("I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street.") Then again, it also makes fun of those hippies a lot.

Bob "Zimmerman" Dylan (cp:Bob Dylan)[edit]

The Times They Are A-Changin Bob Dylan written in the 1960s. "Come mothers and fathers, throughout the land, and don't criticize, what you can't understand. Your sons and daughters are beyond your command."
Anything on Highway 61 Revisited
Anything on The Times They Are A Changing
Blowin' In the Wind "How many roads must a man walk down, before you can call him a man?"
Hurricane Concerns a racist "justice" system.
Masters of War (Anti-War Message)
In fact anything from the 60's

R.E.M.[edit]

“”I raised the wall, and I'm the only one... I will be the one to knock it down.

—Michael Stipe, World Leader Pretend, Green

Begin the Begin - Political corruption and revolution.
Cuyahoga - Removal of indigenous peoples and pollution so bad that a river (Cuyahoga) caught fire.
Daysleeper - Unhealthy work culture.
Everybody Hurts - Never giving up, because everybody hurts sometimes.
Fall On Me - Environmentalist song about the pollution of the Earth, and its consequences.
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - Song about the apocalypse and the current events of the mid-80s (also played as a part of the 1,000 Days, 1,000 Songs campaign.)
Losing My Religion - a love song, also details losing faith.
Radio Free Europe - About the radio program of the same name that broadcasted free information via radio to Soviet states.
Swan Swan H - Slavery and the American Civil War.
Toys in the Attic - Growing up and leaving your childhood behind.
Try Not To Breathe - The willing end of one's life.
World Leader Pretend - The struggle of confronting oneself (also performed live as part of 30 Days, 30 Songs, a musical campaign against Donald Trump before his presidency.)

Religious Hypocrisy, Televangelism and Related Hysteria[edit]

East Jesus Nowhere Green Day "Put your faith in a miracle and it’s non-denominational, join the choir, we'll be singing, in the church of wishful thinking"
A View From The End Of The World Machinae Supremacy. Taking the concept of the above and applying it to a larger scale, telling of the apocalypse that religious war could bring if fundamentalists gained sufficient power to start global war and were fed up with the heathens of their world.
Billy the Bum John Prine. "Now some folks they wait/And some folks they pray/For Jesus to rise up again/But none of these folks/In their holy cloaks/Ever took Billy on as a friend."
Blasphemous Rumours Depeche Mode. A girl's god fails to save her life after an accident.
Counterfeit God Black Label Society. Zakk Wylde's condemnation of televangelists.
Cry for the Moon Epica. Calls out religious hypocrisy.
Faith Healer Recoil. Bit of an easy target, those faith healers.
From Here To There Eventually Steppenwolf. Hypocritical preachers should use their influence to end poverty and hunger, instead they campaign against premarital sex.
God Tori Amos. Parodies the Appalachian snake cult, has rats crawl over her in a Hindu rat temple, and sings to a candle (one that's cylindrical).
Goldmine in the Sky The Pukka Orchestra. "I found that the New Testament, was a damn good invest-a-ment...,and Mary Magdalen-i 's got a brand new Lamborghini."
Good Christian Soldier Kris Kristofferson. Good Baptist kid gets sent to Vietnam War and finds out the God-and-Flag he was fed doesn't quite cut it.
Greater Good of God Iron Maiden. Suggests that organized religion is evil, and Jesus would be ashamed of the killing done in his name.
Happiness Is Just A Chant Away Chumbawamba. Mocks the Hare Krishna movement and pop stars who align themselves with it (they were probably thinking of Boy George in particular).
Harper Valley PTA Jeannie C. Riley. Wherein a liberated woman exposes the uppity church ladies for their hypocrisy. (Note: Riley has since converted to evangelical Christianity. She now performs a sequel of sorts where she is happily one of the town busybodies.)
Heavy Metal Poisoning Styx. Spoof of anti-rock evangelists.
Heresy Nine Inch Nails. Aggressive attack on Christianity, condemning the "atrocities done in His name". See also "Terrible Lie".
Hypocrites KoRn. While there's speculation that the song is a diss towards former band member Brian "Head" Welch, the song pretty much slams televangelists.
I Will Follow You Into The Dark Death Cab For Cutie
I'm Going to Hell for This One NOFX. A song written from Jesus's point of view: "He thinks Christians are insane...'If you're gonna look to me better get rose colored shades, Cause what you see is what you get!'"
Irish Son Brian McFadden. The last thing anyone expected when McFadden, one of five pretty-boy teen idols in ultra-safe boyband Westlife, went solo, was for the title track of his debut album to be an attack on Catholic schools.
Jacob's Ladder Huey Lewis and the News; Bruce Hornsby and the Range (both recorded versions of this song)
Jesus He Knows Me Genesis. Phil Collins and bandmates spoof televangelism and rein in the big bucks. ~~Too bad this was from the height of Genesis' crappy pop period.~~ ~~You shut your whore mouth!~~ ~~People like Genesis?~~ You shut your whore mouth!
Judith, A Perfect Circle. A woman is terribly crippled and this song rips on how her insistence on prayer is just a waste of time.
Long Haired Country Boy and Uneasy Rider Charlie Daniels Band. Both songs anti-religious hypocrisy from back before Charlie Daniels turned into one himself.
Miracle Man Ozzy Osbourne. That liberal Prince Of Darkness attacks G-dfearing televangelists!
Pretend We're Dead L7 "Turn the tables with our unity. They're neither moral nor majority. Wake up and smell the coffee; or just say no to individuality, when we pretend that we're dead."
Orgasmatron Motorhead (and cover by Mourning Sickness). 2000 years of misery and torture in my name and Your bones will build my palaces. Your eyes will stud my crown. For I am Mars, the God of War, and I will cut you down. Part anti-religion, part political.
Personal Jesus Depeche Mode. "Reach out and touch 'faith'!"
Propane Nightmares, Pendulum. Mentions and vaguely criticises Heaven's Gate, can be interpreted as an anti religious cult song.
Religion I and Religion II. PIL. The greatest living Englishman (or not) at his snarling best.
Send Me Your Money Suicidal Tendencies. Send it all!
She's the Devil TPOH (The Pursuit of Happiness). The video mixes those 1990's phone sex ads with TV evangelism. Cute lyrics: "She's so wild. And you're so normal. She's Sean Young. And you're a Deborah Norville."
Startin' Up A Posse Anthrax. Slams Tipper Gore and the PMRC something fierce.
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here Alice in Chains. Mocks creationists as the title suggests, although some other negative parts of religion are also mentioned ("Jesus don't like a queer").
The God That Failed Metallica. James Hetfield's mother was an ardent believer in Christian Science and refused medical treatment for her cancer because of this.
The Heretic Anthem Slipknot. A song about how evangelists constantly describe bands as "evil" or "satanic".
The Last Stop Dave Matthews Band. An atheists call to stop violence in religions name.
The Morality Squad GWAR song about religious busybodies. Lyrics include "Freedom for all the people, brave, true, and strong. Freedom for all the people, unless I think you're wrong."
Ticket to Heaven Dire Straits. A sarcastic mocking of televangelism (with lyrics like "Now there's nothing left for luxuries/Nothing left to pay my heating bill"), which many Christians interpreted as a pro-televangelist song.
Violator Machinae Supremacy. An attack on the society that fundamentalism creates.
Would Jesus Wear a Rolex? Recorded by Ray Stevens. Christian comedian mocking TV evangelists.
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore John Prine. The Baptists 'n' Birchers are in for a big surprise at the pearly gates.
Terminal Illusions Meshuggah. Obviously antitheism, although their hilarious music video has nothing to do with the lyrics.
Moral Majority The Dead Kennedys. It mentions Andy's mom, though I doubt that he appreciates the nod.
Leper Messiah Metallica. Criticism of TV evangelists: "Send me money, send me green/Heaven you will meet"
Fools of Damnation Epica. About religious terrorists, especially suicide bombers and the like. Most of the songs of The Divine Conspiracy, the album where this song is featured, have lyrics related to religion.
Hoo Ba Ba Kanda POGO. Mocks Robert Tilton.
Praise The Lord And Send Me The Money Bobby Bare.

Atheism (and Agnosticism)[edit]

Dear God XTC. "If you really exist, you should take some responsibility for what you did here. And read the Bible while you're at it, it's gonna freak you out. Nah, who am I kidding?"
Knights of Cydonia Muse.
Losing My Religion R.E.M. (technically a love song, but it fits too well)
Mother Earth And Father Time from the movie Charlotte's Web. Evolution, and no afterlife, in a kids movie? Yup. But this is much more tender than the original novel, which outright mocked, and somewhat vilified, religion.
No Matter How Hard You Try Young Galaxy.
Opiate Tool.
St. Peter's Cathedral Death Cab For Cutie.
Praise The Lord (Opium Of The Masses) Dying Fetus. This one is downright anti religious, vilifying all religions under one single umbrella, and it's a great song too.

Sex and Love[edit]

Almost any blues song singing about cars, trains, ham-bones and a bunch of other things.
nbsp;You got a nice pair of headlights, etc
Anything by Pansy Division.
A Question of Time Depeche Mode, supporting teen sex.
A Really Good Time Roxy Music. About a women who always has "a really good, really good, really good... time"
All Grown Up Johnny Horton. Songs about incest, however, could easily hit #26 without raising an eyebrow. In 1963. On the U.S. country music charts. Go figure.
Bodies Sex Pistols. According to the band, it's pro-choice.
Closer Nine Inch Nails. "I wanna f*ck you like an animal." Bonus: "You bring me closer to God."
Cotton Wool Lamb. Trip-hop love song.
Darling Nikki Prince. It offended Tipper Gore so much that she decided to found the PMRC in the 1980's.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E Tammy Wynette. A minor scandal when released because the subject matter just wasn't something discussed in polite company.
Diddle My Skittle Peaches. "Cause there's only one peach with the hole in the middle." And pretty much anything by Peaches ever.
Dis Moi Mitsou. Was too much for Much (MuchMusic being Canada's version of MTV). Came around the same time as Madonna's Justify My Love and is better.
Feel It Jackalope. It's the way she sings it.
From This Moment On Shania Twain. She seem to have kept her end of the bargain with Mutt.
Guacamole The Texas Tornadoes
I grabbed her tomatoes, she grabbed my chili pepper and we were making guacamole all night long. (also done by the Pathetics)
Hot Rod Peaches. "You're my hot rod. Give me your wad."
Hot for Teacher Van Halen. A cute song about a minor wanting to have sex with an adult.
How Many Licks Lil Kim ft. Sisqo (does this even need an explanation?)
If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free Sting. Regrets writing "Every Breath You Take", tries to make up for it.
Let's Get It On Marvin Gaye - Obvious.
Sexual Healing Marvin Gaye - Ditto
My Love performed by Petula Clark. OK, it rocks me, maybe that's not enough.
Mystery Achievement The Pretenders. It's all about the "O", boys.
Paradise by the Dashboard Light Meatloaf (a Republican). Showing how abstinence fails and leads to unhappy marriages.
Pour ton sourire Jorane (with Daniel Lanois). I don't know what they're singing to each other, but it sure sounds hot. He with blues guitar, she with cello. (Might also give a few francophobes a change of heart.)
Rattlesnake Shake Fleetwood Mac. Guess which snake this shake is about?
Set It Off Peaches
Sexual Neiked. Super catchy and super sexual.
Steam Peter Gabriel. I think to PG steam = sex. Video starts with a parody of pimps. (If the link is dead try this one)
Tattooed Love Boys The Pretenders. "I shot my mouth off and you showed me what that hole was... for"
This Must Be The Place Talking Heads
We Are Family Babes In Toyland cover of Sister Sledge.
Wouldn't it be Nice Beach Boys (Young People.... having sex? For SHAME!!!!)
Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too Say Anything. Atheism, stoned, and having phone sex. Obviously pushing somebody's agenda...

Fetish[edit]

see also wp:Category:Songs about BDSM

Fetish Joan Jett. "Restrained... while I fuck your head"
Fat bottom girls Queen. (For some reason the drum beat sounds like some sort of paddle or cane striking something; and Freddie Mercury telling some cowboy to ride them.)
I Wanna Be Your Dog The Stooges. About as kinky as it gets.
Sex Dwarf Soft Cell. Kinky spanking and such. "I would like you on a long black leash..." The video was so raunchy it got banned and is difficult to find even now.
Tie Your Mother Down Queen. Yeah, save all your "love" for me...
Venus in Furs The Velvet Underground. S@M sex! "kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather" (sounds like a frickin' Doors song) (Note: there's a RW article on Mo Tucker)

LGBTQI2S[edit]

also see wp:Category:LGBT-related songs

A Thrills a Thrill" (late) Long John Baldry. "The gays are straight, and the straights are queer, and the bi's call everybody dear. Leather whips, and nitrate sniffs...,I know a boy who is growing tits...,a thrills a thrill, even in paradise. Live in your head, or live in your heart, but if you don't live at all [I think the last to are the lyrics], then why the hell did you start!" (lyrics of +30 years ago)
All the Young Dudes Mott the Hoople, written by David Bowie. Explicitly gay, yet a big hit, in 1972 no less.
And Sadness Will Sear Trivium. About the killing of Matthew Shepard
Beautiful Christina Aguilera
Cherry Bomb The Runaways. (Possible les'ban overtones.)
Colors Wean. "Many colors in the homo rainbow." Chef (Isaac Hayes) chimes in.
Cruisin' the Streets Boys Town Gang. It doesn't get much more homosexual than this.
Glad to be Gay Tom Robinson Band. Snarky, biting and very relevant. It was 1978.
Heroes David Bowie. It's either been interpreted as a homage to his producer Tony Visconi for having an secret tryst in Berlin, or a gay couple trying to spend a night together in hiding from the Stasi.^[9] Take your pick, because neither negates the irony of it being labeled by National Review as one of their "greatest conservative rock songs."
High School Confidential Rough Trade. Took a little longer (1980) for explicitly lesbian songs to hit the charts. Huge hit in Canada even though or perhaps because a lot of stations either refused to play it or bleeped some of the lyrics.^[10]
Homosapien Pete Shelley. "Homo superior in my interior." HOMO sapien too.HOMO sapien like you. And we're HOMO sapien too! This one was actually too gay for the BBC, and was banned from the airwaves on release.
'Is This My Fate?' He Asked Them Story of the Year. Completely rips on homophobia: "Do you really fucking think/that it's a choice, a way of life/played by discrimination?/you're narrow-minded, quick to judge/with bible belt tunnel vision" and "a bigot's eyes judging lives/based on the sex of who you fuck"
Lola The Kinks. A positive portrayal of transsexual love, even if a bit confused. It doesn't get much more liberal than that.
Lose It Austra (lesbian electropop)
Lucky ("We are the lucky ones") by Bifnaked. Video implies sapphic love, but like most old stories about lesbian romances, it ends in her heterosexuality, or something equally candy-assed or stupid, but only in the last few seconds. (Check out the albino chick with black scleras and an unnatural glow in what looks like a cemetery.)
Mann Gegen Mann Rammstein. From the point of view of a man who sees himself as a freak for loving other men. Video contains your daily dose of oiled muscular dudes.
Queen Bitch David Bowie. So Lou Reed it could have been Lou Reed. "She's so swishy in her satin and tat."
This Charming Man The Smiths.
Viðrar vel til loftárása Sigur Rós. The lyrics don't say much on their own, but the music video makes clear the song's pro-gay message.
Walk on the Wild Side Lou Reed/Velvet Underground. - Transvestite, homosexual, drug use? Only libruls "give (or take?) head" (One of few songs that uses both bass guitar and string bass. Notable sax playing.)
Rebel Girl Bikini Kill. Some lyrics very suggestive of being a lesbian gang member.
If I Went The Gay Way Howard Stern. A parody of I Want It That Way by The Backstreet Boys.
Fuck Anita Bryant David Allan Coe.
You Cant Pray The Gay Away Laura Bell Bundy.
Everyone's Just A Little Gay Taryn Southern & Ross Everett.

Masturbation[edit]

All By Myself Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers. A messy little tune.
I Touch Myself The Divinyls
Orgasm Addict The Buzzcocks. Your mother wants to know what all those stains on your jeans.
Pictures of Lily The Who
She Bop Cyndi Lauper _ the Rattlesnake Shake for girls (women too)
Hey I've been thinking of a new sensation-I'm picking up - good vibration -Oop - she bop
They say I better stop - or I'll go blind-Oop - she bop - she bop
a certain Chuck Berry song—Audience replies/Chorus: "I want to play with my...,"
many Jimmy Page and Ted Nugent guitar solos
the piano thing in the last few minics in Eric Clapton's ~~The Neverending Song~~ Layla.
Magazines Brand New'

Open marriage[edit]

Affirmation Savage Garden.
You, Me & He Mtume.
Stereotypes Blur. About swinging.
Younger Men K.T. Oslin. The cougar/hotwife's national anthem.

Group Sex[edit]

Group Sex The Circle Jerks.
3-Way (The Golden Rule) The Lonely Island.
Simultaneous Chef. "You, me and her,simultaneous/You, and me and you and you/Simultaneous lovin' baby, two or three"
3 Britney Spears.
Teamwork Ludacris. "6 hands gripping the sheets, 30 toes are curled"
Surf City Jan & Dean. "Two girls for every boy". The Go-Gos cover of the song: "Two boys for every girl".
Triad Jefferson Airplane.

Social Issues[edit]

...And Justice for All Metallica. "Halls of Justice painted green/Money talking"
American Life Primus. About the plight of immigrants and veterans in the USA.
Battle of the Beanfield The Levellers. Police brutality. Was written about the 1985 Stonehenge clashes but also made a good anthem for those opposed to the 1994 Criminal Justice Bill.
Dedicated Follower of Fashion Ray Davies/The Kinks. Mocking crass consumerism.
Don't Drink the Water Dave Matthews Band
Downtown performed by Petula Clark. Celebrates the city, diversity, the pleasures of "other people's company".
Electric Avenue Eddy Grant. About the 1981 Brixton riots, which were caused by police brutality, unemployment, and racism that was levied against the British Caribbean community, this song was meant to counter the media's demonization of the rioters. Ironically, Trump himself used the song to promote his 2020 reelection campaign, resulting in a cease and desist.
Father and son Cat Stevens. The conflict between generations
Fight the Power Public Enemy. The classic.
Hooked on Junk k.d.lang. Song about hoarders. What stands out is when she parodies an operatic voice. Also makes extensive use of shaking ice-cubes in a glass.
Ich Bin Ein Auslander Pop Will Eat Itself. An attack on the far right and the associated violence.
If 6 Was 9 Jimi Hendrix, Mocking conformism.
In the Ghetto Elvis Presley. "People, don't you understand, the child needs a helping hand, or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day".
Industrial Disease Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits. Rips the human degradation of capitalism.
Jerusalem Blake/Parry "A call to arms against dark satanic mills, interestingly also appears in the greatest conservative songs list."
Kerosene Big Black. Also about living in a small town with nothing to do.
Mary and Child Born Against. Best pro-choice song (at least best one written by a man).
Not One Of Us Peter Gabriel. "It's only water/in a stranger's tear… but you know how it is/You're not one of us."
Pleasant Valley Sunday Monkees (written by Gerry Goffin and Carol King). Bustin' on the lame-o 'burbs.
Shout Tears For Fears. Encouraging political protest.
Smalltown England New Model Army. True of Britain in the 1980s, still holds true today.
Something To Do Depeche Mode. About living in a small town...where there's nothing to do.
Southern Man Neil Young. Pissed Lynyrd Skynyrd off good, that Canadian boy did when he whined about lynching without his conscience being bothered by Watergate.
The Suburbs Arcade Fire
This is Your Life The Dust Brothers. Anti-consumerism; "You are not your fucking khakis."
Two Hangmen Mason Proffit. Anti-death penalty and pro-civil disobedience.
Under Pressure Queen and David Bowie. The pressure of everyday life is what tears apart families and society, and only by loving each other and caring for "people on streets" can we "give ourselves one more chance."
Well Respected Man Ray Davies/The Kinks. Mocking conformism.
Who's Gonna Build Your Wall? Tom Russell. "Now the government wants to build/A barrier like old Berlin 8 feet tall/But if Uncle Sam sends the illegals home/Who's gonna build the wall?"

Psychological[edit]

Crazy Gnarls Barkley
Crazy Seal
Bedtime Story Madonna. About lucid dreaming. I think it was written by Bjork.
Manic Depression Jimi Hendrix
The Final Cut Pink Floyd. Depression and possibly PTSD. The short film shows the lyrics from the viewpoint of a WW2 veteran, but if you think about it, they could also apply to Pink from The Wall album as well.
To Sir With Love Lulu (London, Black), Perfect illustration of the "Stockholm Syndrome" (at that time it was a psychological manifestation yet to be named).
Where is my Mind? Pixies. "Your head will collapse, and there's nothing in it and you'll ask yourself..." According to this prat, mental illness is a disgusting thing common only in disgusting liberals.
Flowers On The Wall The Statler Brothers
They're Coming To Take Me Away Napoleon XIV
Who Can It Be Now Men At Work

Addiction, Intoxication, and Better Living Through Chemistry[edit]

Alcohol[edit]

Blackberry Wine Gordon Lightfoot
Bourbon, Scotch, and Beer
Deacon Blues Steely Dan
Double Vision Foreigner
Six Pack Black Flag
Home for a rest the most noted song by Spirit of the West
I Drink Alone George Thorogood
I rather have a bottle in front of me (then have to get a frontal lobotomy)
Let's get the party started Pink
Philosopher Song Monty Python
Pure Morning Pulp
Red Red Wine Neil Diamond (Later covered by UB40)
Sober Tool
She Talks To Angels Black Crowes
Suicide Solution Ozzy Osborne
Teenage Beer Drinking Party Teenage Head
Tequila The Champs
Too Drunk to Fuck The Dead Kennedys (also includes *oral sex*! good god! and destruction of police property)
The Power of Positive Drinking The Trews
When You're Drinking Dean Martin's parody of When You're Smiling
White Lightning both George Jones (R.I.P.) and The Fall
that Doors song about making it to the next whisky bottle (R.I.P. Jim and now Ray)

Other Drugs[edit]

Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd. Though ultimately a song about the death of innocence, Comfortably Numb has been embraced as a pro drug anthem, despite casting the one administering the drug as a negative figure. Those dirty hippies just don't know what they want. (R.I.P. Syd Barrett)
Dopesmoker Sleep. "Follow the smoke to the riff-filled land."
Drugs Talking Heads
Heroin Velvet Underground (R.I.P. Jim Carroll) (Note: there's a RW article on Mo Tucker)
High High High Paul McCartney
God only knows where I'd be without you The Beach Boys. Hollie Cole did a cover and speculated that he could have even been singing the song to a bottle of pills.
I'm not an addict K's Choice. She sounds a bit like the singer in Leslie Spit Tree-o.
Mother's Little Helper The Rolling Stones, about methamphetamine.
Nicotina Big Sugar
One toke over the line
Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix (Because ALL liberals are drug using hippies) (R.I.P.)
Rehab Amy Winehouse (R.I.P.)
Saigon Martha and the Muffins. One of the few songs about Saigon that doesn’t mention the war. "drinking, absinthe 'til dawn."
Smoking in the Boys Room Brownsville Station and Motley Crew
Sweet Leaf Black Sabbath
The Needle and the Damage Done Neil Young
The Needle and the Spoon Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Needle Lies Queensryche
The Perfect Drug Nine Inch Nails
The Pusher Steppenwolf
Smoke Two Joints Sublime. For all you hippies who want the herb legalized.
What if God smoked cannabis
When Uncle Bill Quit Dope Johnny Cash. A nasty song about cocaine addiction and cold turkey.

Decriminalization/Legalization[edit]

Don't Step on the Grass, Sam Steppenwolf. Marijuana is bad, m'kay?
Illegal Smile John Prine
Legalize it Peter Tosh
Remedy Black Crowes

Unclassified[edit]

Almost Cut My Hair Crosby, Still, Nash & Young - Crosby's paranoids' anthem.
Aria Delirium featuring the Mediæval Babes.^[11]
Bill O'Reilly Dead Birds and Blind Kids. "Bill O'Reilly is... a fucking twit" and so on and so forth.
Breakin' the Law Judas Priest. Only Liberals break laws. If Conservatives break laws, it's only because they're Liberals practicing deceit. Plus we all "know" what leather-daddy Rob Halford is "really" talking about here wink wink nudge nudge...
Also see under "Sex", Pansy Division's version is, er, a little "different".
C30 C60 C90 Go! Bow Wow Wow. Celebrates home-taping. Record company didn't like this song. There's a satire of Video Killed the Radio Star called "Internet killed the recording industry.
Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job George Thorogood. Anti-conformist hippie anthem.
Goat Girl Tanya Donnelly. "I wanted a lion/But ended up with a man/Who wanted a gazelle/But I'm a goat girl."
It Never Rains in Southern California Albert Hammond. "That talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies/Rang true, sure rang true..."
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off George & Ira Gershwin. Compromise.... a Liberal tactic to subvert our bad ideas
Louie Louie The Kingsmen. Can anyone out there understand the lyrics? Neither can I. Must be a liberal plot to indoctrinate our kids with premarital sex and communism! Why else would they conceal the lyrics like that?
Mr. Roboto Styx. Rebellion? Fighting the established order? Disobeying the Law? LIBERAL!!
New Orleans is Sinking Tragically Hip. "New Orleans is sinking, man, and I don’t want to swim." (Made 24 years ago.)
Seven Bucks Elizabeth Shepherd Trio. What a homeless person needs to get a bed for the night. (Jazzy. She looks a bit like the young Joni Mitchel. Music is also similar. Sings a bit like Rickie Lee Jones.)
Sitting in the Back of a Police Car Massena. Counter to Big Circle's "Bad Boys" (theme to COPS).
Take the 'A' Train Billy Strayhorn, encouraging publicly owned mass transit to places no decent American wants to go.
The Juggernauts, Anthem, and Rescue Me by Zebrahead. The first two are fitting anthems to those who are repressed.
Land of Rape and Honey Ministry
The Liberty Bell (March) John Philip Sousa. If the Monty Python's Flying Circus theme isn't a liberal favorite, what is? Phblllt!!!
Theme From An Imaginary Western Mountain. Speaking of unintelligible lyrics...the lyrics "do not" match what is on the official lyric sheet, that's for sure. It's hard to tell exactly what they are singing but they sound suspiciously druggy and probably part of the Communist plot against America.
Written by Jack Bruce, a Britisher (Scot??) of Cream (sometimes) so it's really Britain's problem
We Didn't Start the Fire Billy Joel
You can't go back home Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir
Melissa Etheridge (with shaved head) & Joss Stone Janis Joplin Tribute
Musician-cum-comedian Tim Minchin.

Video Greatly Adds to Them[edit]

Born free MIA. Parody-of-sorts of Iraq War II, War on Terrorism, and Patriot Act. Warning: this video contains scenes as violent as a slap in the face with a brick. A SWAT team enters an apartment building, they bludgeon a woman, they break into a room where two naked hippies are lying and beat them, they round up the redheads, save a few in Arab-like headdress who throw bottles at the passing security vehicles. Teen redhead gets his brains blown out. If you are a redhead, you might want to follow it with these videos:
Dave Mustaine's Megadeth's Sweating Bullets and Peace Sells (but who’s buying) as a counter (as he is red). "Whaddayamean I'm don't support the system, I go to court when I have to...,Whaddayamean I'm not kind. I'm just not your kind.")
Come And See Young Galaxy. Though the lyrics might be New Age ish. Hard to tell with them.
Kathy Lee Jessy Lanza. Not really about Kathy Lee, but features Dancing Guy, who doesn't walk the streets of Hamilton, but dances through them.
Sour Girl Stone Temple Pilots. Makes fun of Tele-tubby scandal.
Surfin' USSR Ray Stevens. About the Cold War.
This Note's For You Neil Young. Social commioentary about the corporate sponsorship of concert tours.

Greatest "Conservative" Songs, So-called[edit]

Against the Modern World Sol Invictus. Enough with the effete modern west, bring back the Dark Ages.
America is Sexy Paul Hyde
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 Pink Floyd. "We don't need no education."
Bomb Iran Vince Vance & the Valiants. Parody of The Beach Boys song Barbara Ann.
Capitalism Oingo Boingo. "You're just a middle-class socialist brat/From a suburban family/And you never really had to work."
Cool to Hate Offspring
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums A Perfect Circle
Dog Eat Dog AC/DC
Disarm Smashing Pumpkins. "Cut that little child/Inside of me and such a part of you/And what I choose is my choice/The killer in me is the killer in you"
Empire Queensryche
Fortunate Son CCR
Glory of the 80s Tori Amos
He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss) The Crystals. Good girls stay by their man, no matter what.
Hells Bells AC/DC. "If good's on the Left then I'm sticking to the Right."
Heterosexuals Have the Right to Rock The Mentors. Yeah baby!
I Wanna Go Back Eddie Money
I'm in Love with Margaret Thatcher Notsensibles. "Oh Margaret Thatcher is so sexy, she's the girl for you and me. I go red when she's on the telly, Cos' I think she fancies me"
Impostor Oingo Boingo. Journalists are the lowest scum on this earth.
Intolerance Tool
Killing An Arab The Cure. This here is that song about killing Ay-Rabs.
Kill the Poor Dead Kennedys. Most succinct summary of the Republican platform ever put to music.
Lawyers, Guns and Money Warren Zevon.
Los Angeles X. She had to leave Los Angeles because the Mexicans and the homosexuals and the idle rich gave her a lot of shit.
Macho Man Village People. God bless these fine upstanding men for providing masculine role models who look like REAL men instead of like a bunch of metrosexual girly-men.
My Beach Surf Punks. This is my beach, my chicks, and my waves so you outsiders keep the hell out.
New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones Fear. New York's alright if you're a homosexual.
One Holy Bible Reagan Youth. Heaven shall be your reward.
Papa Don't Preach Madonna. Anti-abortion and pro-shotgun marriage. 'Nuff said.
Rockin' in the Free World Neil Young
Powerslave Iron Maiden
S.F.C.C. The Mentors. Tells women where their place is.
Slaughterama GWAR. What to do with the smelly hippie Dead Heads and the art fags.
Speak English Or Die S.O.D. Speak English or die (It should be noted that S.O.D. were a deeply sarcastic side project by Scott Ian from Anthrax, who is Jewish. They're not pro-racism whatsoever.)
Sweatshops Are Cool Anal Cunt.
Take the Money and Run Steve Miller Band. "Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas... He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes."
The End The Doors. A bunch of Freudian bullshit if you ask me, but it's about killing commies in the 'Nam since it was in that movie, right? So it has to be good.
The Hand of The Almighty John R. Butler. "Yes God will f*ck you up, if you dare to disobey his stern command. He'll f*ck you up, yes you know he'll f*ck you up, so you better do some prayin' while you can."
The White Man Marches On Johnny Rebel. If Pat Buchanan ever runs for office again, this should be his campaign song.
Tomorrow Belongs to Me Kander and Ebb. Reassures us that morality and family values will eventually triumph over decadence and Liberal deceit.
Total War Boyd Rice. "Do you want total war? Yes, you want total war."
Unmarked Helicopters Soul Coughing
Wake of the Christian Knights Inkubus Sukkubus. A stirring endorsement of the Crusades!
We're a Happy Family The Ramones. An endorsement of the traditional nuclear family.
We're Not Gonna Take It Twisted Sister. "You're all worthless and weak, and we're right, we're free, we'll fight, you'll see."
Where is My Mind The Pixies. The question that every conservative should ask themselves.
White Minority Black Flag. White pride, you're an American.

Snarky Interpretation by RW'ian[edit]

I Wanna Rock Twisted Sister. Pro-crack song.
(K)nights in White Satin The Moody Blues. Obviously pro-KKK.

Real Deal (if at times extremist)[edit]

Anything by Skrewdriver, a Nazi skinhead band
Don't Tread on Me Metallica
Fight To Live Blitz. Pro-war without just cause (think Iraq): "We fight to live, we live to fight. We don't give a sh*t what's wrong or what's right."
I am the Law Human League. "You know I am no stranger. You know rules are a bore. But just to keep you from danger, I am the law." Hard to tell if he's joking.
I've been to Paradise Message. Woman regrets her life as a libertine/liberal? She found real joy when she assumed a traditional role. The presumed stuck-up bitchy feminist whore she's singing too should do the same. Seems to regret getting an abortion.
Kiss My Ass Ted Nugent. Tells Hillary, Jesse Jackson, Sarah Brady, and all those liberals to kiss his ass.
Let's Roll Neil Young. Neil and Toby Keith endorse Bush's "War on Terror"

A Few Songs on the Conservapedia list[edit]

Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow) Fleetwood Mac
Let It Be The Beatles
I've Seen Footage Death Grips (Widely taken out of context as the "footage" in the song was internet uploads of police violence)
Stayin' Alive The Bee Gees
Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sympathy for the Devil The Rolling Stones
The Big Money Rush
Tired of Sex Weezer (Widely taken out of context as the song was about Rivers Cuomo's relationships with groupies at the time)

A Few Songs on Both CP and RW[edit]

Bodies The Sex Pistols
D-I-V-O-R-C-E Tammy Wynette
God Save the Queen (though not the good version)
I Fought the Law (and the Law Won) The Crickets. "The version by The Clash has a particularly good tempo."
Paradise by the Dashboard Light Meatloaf

Songs for Conservapedian Sysops[edit]

Put Up or Shut Up The Nudge

New Agey Songs[edit]

Indigo Children Puscifer
Mystic Rhythms Rush
Amber 311. "Woah, amber is the color of your energy/Woah, shades of gold displayed naturally."
Pyramania The Alan Parsons Project.

Songs that actually Celebrate Rationality^[12][edit]

Science Is Real They Might Be Giants
Freewill Rush
Superstition Stevie Wonder

External Links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

↑ Miami Steve Van Zandt of Bruce Springstein's East Side Band got this going. He criticized Paul Simmon for going to South Africa. Noted trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who described Juluka as "poppycock," laughed at the idea of cultural boycotts, saying they weren't necessary. While "Sun City" sounds like typical American pop music, Simon's music definitely has African influences.
↑ ~~Might also be~~ confirmed to be a reference to Agent Orange.
↑ Possibly the only Doors song worth listening to, if you can barely stand the band.
↑ http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/you_can't_get_me.html
↑ lyrics
↑ http://www.rush.com/2112-spotlight-on-ayn-rand/
↑ Amanda Palmer sings that if John Lennon played the song on the ukelele, more people would get it.
↑ https://www.thompsonanalytics.com/blog/fitter-happier/
↑ http://www.dw.de/a-trip-through-bowies-berlin/a-16606407
↑ In Toronto at least there was little to no pausing 30 years ago. Canadian radio has gotten more candy-assed in that department. Even "Edge 102.1" censors the F-word. Sometimes CBC doesn't. I hear Carole Pope has spent over 20 years in LA. I hear no of her recent stuff.
↑ Woman dressed a bit like Morticia, in a bathtub with granny smith apples, singing in Middle English.
↑ Essay:I thought this was supposed to be RATIONALWiki

[1] Miami Steve Van Zandt of Bruce Springstein's East Side Band got this going. He criticized Paul Simmon for going to South Africa. Noted trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who described Juluka as "poppycock," laughed at the idea of cultural boycotts, saying they weren't necessary. While "Sun City" sounds like typical American pop music, Simon's music definitely has African influences.

[2] ~~Might also be~~ confirmed to be a reference to Agent Orange.

[3] Possibly the only Doors song worth listening to, if you can barely stand the band.

[4] ttp://www.dkrenton.co.uk/you_can't_get_me.html

[5] yrics

[6] ttp://www.rush.com/2112-spotlight-on-ayn-rand/

[7] Amanda Palmer sings that if John Lennon played the song on the ukelele, more people would get it.

[8] ttps://www.thompsonanalytics.com/blog/fitter-happier/

[9] ttp://www.dw.de/a-trip-through-bowies-berlin/a-16606407

[10] In Toronto at least there was little to no pausing 30 years ago. Canadian radio has gotten more candy-assed in that department. Even "Edge 102.1" censors the F-word. Sometimes CBC doesn't. I hear Carole Pope has spent over 20 years in LA. I hear no of her recent stuff.

[11] Woman dressed a bit like Morticia, in a bathtub with granny smith apples, singing in Middle English.

[12] Essay:I thought this was supposed to be RATIONALWiki

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Fun:Greatest songs, liberal, leftist, and conservative