Quotes / Protest Song

"In this song there was nothing from the old, slavish world. It floated along directly, evenly; it proclaimed an iron virility, a calm threat. Simple, clear, it swept the people after it along an endless path leading to the far distant future; and it spoke frankly about the hardships of the way. In its steady fire a heavy clod seemed to burn and melt - the sufferings they had endured, the dark load of their habitual feelings, their cursed dread of what was coming."

— Maxim Gorky, from his novel Mother, on the "Worker's Marseillaise"

"We got to fight the Powers That Be!"

— Public Enemy, "Fight The Power"

Satan: Beyond these doors is an agony worse than all others... you will remain in here for eternity listening to... [opens door] WHINY PROTEST SONGS FROM THE SIXTIES!
Singer: Oh, I hate the government
More than you hate me
The government took my goldfish
And unplugged my TV
Warners [Scream]

— Animaniacs, "Hot, Bothered and Bedeviled"

Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
Yes, everything's gone wrong since Canada came along!
Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
They're not even a real country anyway!

— "Blame Canada", South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

We are protesting by bobbing our heads up and down, by being angry and not voting. We're really going to make a difference.

— Sage, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

"You have to admire people who sing these songs. It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on..."

— Tom Lehrer, That Was the Year That Was

Fuck the police coming straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority

Fuck that shit, cause I ain't the one
For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun
To be beating on, and thrown in jail
We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

— N.W.A, "Fuck tha Police"

What you see is what you get
You made your bed you better lie in it
You choose your leaders and place your trust
As their lies force you down and their promises rust
You'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns
And the public wants what the public gets
But I don't get what this society wants

— The Jam, "Going Underground"

Shout! Shout! Let it all out!
These are the things I can do without, come on.
I'm talking to you, come on.
Shout! Shout! Let it all out!
These are the things I can do without, come on.
I'm talking to you, so come on!

— Tears for Fears, "Shout"

My youngest son came home today
His friends marched with him on the way
The flutes and drums beat out the time
As in his box of polished pine
Like dead meat on a butcher's tray
My youngest son came home today

— Eric Bogle, "My Youngest Son Came Home Today"

Don't want to be an American Idiot
Don't want a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind-fuck America

— Green Day, "American Idiot"

You worked six days and rested on Sunday.
We can tear the whole mess down in one day.
Give us peace now and we don't mean later.
Don't forget you were once our creator!

We're fed up with your heavenly silence,
And we only get action with violence,
So if we can't have the world we desire,
Lord, we'll have to set this one on fire!

— Mass, "Dona Nobis Pacem"

Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR?!!?!??!?

— System of a Down, "B.Y.O.B."

Come gather 'round, children
It's high time ye learns
'Bout a hero named Homer
And a devil named Burns
We'll march 'til we draw up
The girls and the fellas
We'll fight to the death
Or else fold like umbrellas

So we'll march day and night
By the big cooling tower
They have the plant
But we have the power

— Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons, "Last Exit to Springfield"

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