Political media has been something citizens across the world have experienced since the creation and advancements of different technical outlets in the 1900s. Radio broadcasts started in 1910 and quickly gained popularity in the following four decades. Music and politics have been intertwined continuously and the relationship between the two exists at an all-time high in the age of technology.
Across every genre and “generation” of music, there’s bound to be a song that wears the face of being a “political song” or “protest song.” These songs hold many faces, not only on the surface of political call to action, but they also speak and serve for underrepresented groups.
Widely known as one of the most impactful political songs, is Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” Recorded on Jan. 30, 1964 and released Dec. 22 of that same year, two weeks after his murder on Dec. 11.
Cooke’s inspiration for his single follows his arrest in Shreveport, Louisiana on Oct. 8, 1963. His arrest was due to disturbing the peace in a Holiday Inn that would not offer him a vacancy. Cooke also took inspiration from Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind,” making claims that it “almost made him ashamed that a white boy should have written a song like this.” Following this, he recorded his own version as well as “A Change is Gonna Come.”
Cooke’s lyrics dive into the tumultuous period of the Civil Rights Movement. The song as whole is used as a call to action for equality for non-white citizens to their White “superiors” across America. The lyrics are symbolic of the experience of being Black in America, not only at this time, but times before as well. Throughout the song, I’ve noticed that it is a subtle call to action for those listening.
Most notably, in verse four, Cooke sings: “Then I go to my brother and I say, ‘Brother help me please’ but he winds up knockin’ me back down on my knees…I thought I couldn’t last for long but now I think I’m able to carry on.”
This verse speaks to the idea of White people “beating down” Black people during this movement. Using the phrasing of “brother” shows that Cooke sees himself as an equal to his White counterpart and it seems as though he was looking to pull listeners into this thinking as well.
To me, the verse obviously rounded the song out but I believe that it accomplished Cooke’s goal of wanting to record and release a song that fostered a round-about way to speak out on the Black struggle while also giving the message of racial equality ambiguity and room to grow.
Obviously, the chorus speaks to the nature of this message and is incredibly notable for the work as a whole, however the final verse, in my eyes, speaks more to the Black experience. Cooke’s song is short, compared to those on this list, lasting only 3:12. The point he wanted to get across was thoroughly explored and was crafted for the period he was in and the audience he wanted to reach.
Similarly, Tyler Childers’ song “Long Violent History,” written in June 2020 acts as the title track for an album of the same name. Released on September 18, 2020, “Long Violent History,” captures the intense and vying issues found in our country, from the perspective of a white southern person.
On the day of release, Childers released a six minute YouTube video, in which he challenges “white rural listeners,” to empathize with “another individual or group’s plight.”
“…[H]owever the album could run the risk of being misinterpreted if not given some sort of accompanying explanation to set it in context. A writer can write an essay but the writer can never predict or control how that essay is interpreted by the reader,” Childers said.
“Long Violent History,” is the only song with lyrics and Childers uses this video as an explanation claiming he wanted to “let the peace make a statement on its own, taking the listener by surprise at the end.” Childers claimed that he didn’t want the song to sound “preachy” or to even “talk preachy” because he had “no soapbox to stand on” because of his previous alcoholism.
Childers brought inspiration not only from the Black Lives Matter movement but also from the Battle of Blair Mountain. This battle lasted from late Aug. 1921 to early Sept. of that same year, in which 10,000 coal miners confronted 3,000 law men on the basis of better conditions for mine workers.
Childers’ song poses a traditional “protest” ballad for the listener. With six short verses “Long Violent History,” dives into things he’s seen over the course of the summer of 2020, most notably on verse four and the final refrain.
In verse four, Childers sings: “It’s called me belligerent, it’s took me for ignorant but it ain’t never once made me scared just to be, could you just imagine just constantly worryin’, kickin’, and fightin’, beggin’ to breathe?”
“It’s called me belligerent, it’s took me for ignorant,” speaks to Black Lives Matter being in the spotlight and being offset by phrases such as “All Lives Matter.” Responses like these are pushing back on something bigger than “all lives.” Obviously every life matters, however overshadowing innocent non-white people being wrongly jailed or murdered isn’t a steppingstone for anyone.
In the case that this movement is brought up non-supporters will follow with negative rhetoric about the movement; Using harmful allegations, calling supporters and victims “thugs.” Childers’ use of “kickin’, and fightin’, beggin’ to breathe,” acts as reference to George Floyd, who’s murder kicked off a chain reaction of protests across the country.
In the refrain, Childers sings: “Or would that be the start of a long, violent history of tucking our tails as we try to abide?”
“Long violent history” refers to the experience of Black people throughout history. Of course, this history was made “long” and “violent,” due to White Americans standing in the way of the rights that Black people deserved. “[T]ucking our tails as we try to abide,” holds out to Black people abiding by the cards that White people have dealt them, especially in this age that is full of violence. The idea of “tucking tails” also refers to the idea of sitting back and letting this injustice happen with no pushback.
This song is one of empathy and Childers’ message was crafted beautifully. In no way is it “preachy,” in fact, I see it as one of empathy, just as he wanted. He draws on Southern culture and roots in a critical way. Of course Childers himself is from the South, born in Lawrence County KY, he manages to use his roots to point out that “Southern culture,” is harmful to those that have faced a “long violent history.”
Finally, the rap genre has also spoken to the Black struggle in America. In the 21st century, notable rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Lil Baby, Vince Staples, J. Cole and many other have their own artistic approach on this struggle. However without 1970s and 80s rap group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, releasing their 1982 single "The Message,” politics and hip-hop might be different today.
Frankly, without Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five member Keith Wiggins, or “Keef Cowboy,” the term “hip-hop” wouldn’t be as we know it today. Wiggins coined the term by imitating the way soldiers march. It became further popularized in “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill gang.
In a 2022 interview with Todd Wharton, Flash claimed “you think that people weren’t paying attention [to hip-hop] but people really were, all the time.”
The Message is a single that preluded Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s debut album of the same name. The group established themselves early on in the industry as a “party rap” group, making this single something out of their comfort zone. The single is one of the first of the rap genre that offers socio-political commentary, becoming the 7th single on the Billboard Top 100, boosting the group to be the first rap group induced into the Rock and Roll hall of fame.
The single tells the tale of living in poverty in the city, even ending with a skit of a wrongful arrest. Written in 1980 by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel as a response to the 1980 New York City transit strike, where 33,000 members of the Transport workers union walked out of their jobs on April 1 of that year. The strike went on for 10 days, with an ending goal of increase for transit workers.
Melle Mel laying down most of the verses and choruses on the track, even penning the fifth verse to the already written single. Mel’s final verse is among many that tells the story of the story of “living fast and dying young” in this environment.
“A child is born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind … You say, ‘I’m cool, I’m no fool,” then you wind up droppin’ out of high school … Now your eyes sing the sad, sad song of how you lived so fast then died so young.”
This verse alone tells the story of one life. In this sense, “living fast and dying young,” does not speak to the “celebrity lifestyle” of sex, drugs and alcohol, but instead speaks to societal racism. “Blind to the ways of mankind,” also upholds this. The verse itself is metaphoric to the assumption that poor young black people will not amount to anything.
This verse and others mesh wonderfully with the chorus that Mel and Bootee both lay down after their respective verses: “Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge, I’m trying not to lose my head…It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.”
The image that the chorus creates is carefully crafted, just as the other verses are. With the heavy message that the song holds, its only right that the chorus does too. After rapping about these poor conditions that people are facing in the “concrete jungle,” it only makes sense that the group is struggling to stay afloat and not “go under,” or play into stereotypes and assumptions.
Both the chorus and Mel’s final verse speak to what the black experience is like in this time and this environment. “The Message,” is a wonderful name for this single and album, as it fulfills its purpose: giving a message to those who don’t understand “the jungle” and keeping from “going under.”
Politics has an influence on every genre of music, whether it speaks to an equal “brother” or acts as a call to action to understand “another individual or group’s plight.” Each song will tell the tale of how it's a “jungle sometimes,” and those oppressed “keep from going under.”
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Brychelle Brooks, junior majoring in public and professional writing with a minor in information systems, has been with The Auburn Plainsman since August 2023. She previously served as the Campus Reporter and Opinion Editor. She is currently serving as the Newsletter Editor.
