(January 2020)

(2019)

“Looking for America” is a song Lana wrote on August 5th, 2019 regarding the mass shootings throughout the US, once she got back to L.A. The message of the song relies upon Lana dreaming of a better situation for American people, a topic she has sung before in tracks like “Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind” and “When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing.” Del Rey released the song via streaming platforms on August 9th, 2019 as a single.
Genius

(2017)
Album: Lust for Life

Una canzone che si domanda quale sarà il destino degli Stati Uniti dopo la vittoria di Trump, e ricorda che anche nei periodi più bui della storia recente, durante la Guerra del Vietnam e la Guerra Fredda, ci fosse un'importante controcultura protagonista dei movimenti pacifisti e hippie e del movimento per i diritti civili. E anche oggi non bisogna farsi da parte, ma continuare a ballare e a lottare.

1969

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Milete wrote many songs for famous performers, including Elvis Presley. He avoided the draft during the Korean War, and did a stint in jail as a result.

The song "I Wonder If Canada's Cold" (Poppy # 69-0101) took a peace / anti-war perspective. The first person narrator set out for Canada in order to avoid the draft because of his moral opposition to war. Later released in 1970 on RCA Victor # 1909. Featured on the 1969 album Shirl Milete.

Vietnam War Song Project

[2008]
Music by Michael Saxell
Lyrics by Keith Reid, outside Procol Harum
Album: The Common Thread (The Keith Reid Project)

As lyricist for Procol Harum, Keith Reid wrote the words to their hit "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" and many other nice songs. He moved to America in 1986, and in the mid-'00s started writing songs for what would become The Common Thread, the new multi-artist album which was issued in August 2008 under The Keith Reid Project banner.
He wrote this song with the Swedish songwriter Michael Saxell, who handles the vocals.
The song is about a woman whose husband is killed when he is sent overseas to fight a war.
Says Keith: “That song I wrote in Sweden. But it felt American to me. The military guy, to me it was an American. I think the characters, although I actually wrote it somewhere else, it felt like an American situation. The idea for that was, 'even the floorboards... (continua)

5 Prayers of Afghan Women
[ 2006 ]

Lyrics and music / Testo e musica / Paroles et musique / Sanat ja sävel :
Fun-Da-Mental

Album: All is war

Sulla band Fun-Da-Mental

L’intenzione di proporre canzoni contrarie alla guerra ci fa vincere le perplessità che ruotano inevitabilmente attorno alla band inglese Fun-Da-Mental e al suo leader Aki Nawaz , aka Propa-Gandhi. La band non ha mai nascosto la sua militanza, la sua prossimità all’Islam politico, ossia al fondamentalismo islamico, a partire dal nome.
La band ne ha fatto un motivo di orgoglio. Si è ritenuta legittimata al percorso intrapreso a causa degli elementi costitutivi della civiltà occidentale percepiti come antislamici e razzisti. Nello stesso tempo ha affermato di dissentire da chi fa uso delle bombe.
Che una serie di critiche siano fondate non sfugge a chicchessia animato da una qualsivoglia onestà intellettuale. Quando... (continua)

[2003]
Lyrics by Keith Reid
Music by Gary Brooker

Lorriane Schneider (1925-1972), a doctor’s wife, mother of four and printmaker, created one of the most emotionally charged posters of the Vietnam War era out of concern that her eldest son would be drafted into the army. At the time, given Lyndon Johnson and General William Westmoreland’s increased troop build-up, one need not be a fortune-teller to predict the inevitable consequence. But when the poster was issued in 1967, few could foresee that Schneider’s petition for peace would become the ubiquitous anti-war icon it was then or is today, almost 40 years later.

In 1967, Schneider entered a small print titled “Primer” to a miniature print show at Pratt Institute in New York. The only entry criterion was each submitted work could not exceed four square inches. With the war uppermost on her mind, Schneider made what she called her own... (continua)

1969

Reco and Laurel Aitken

dall'album Scandal In A Brixton Market - Girlie And Laurel Aitken

(1969)
Testo incompleto
dall'album Thinking Of What They Did To Me

[2015]
Lyrics & music by Lee Shapiro
Album:

A plea to stop the gun violence, bombings and wars around the world. Hatred, religious and cultural bigotry, power and money drive the violence and divide us all. And divided we shall fall...

[2003]
Songwriters: Ebben/Birchmeier/Linsmeier
Album: Kill The White Man Dead

The War in Afghanistan followed the United States invasion of Afghanistan of 7 October 2001, when the United States of America and its allies successfully drove the Taliban from power in order to deny al-Qaeda a safe base of operations in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan continues destroying lives, due to the direct consequences of violence and the war-induced breakdown of public health, security, and infrastructure. Civilians have been killed by crossfire, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), assassinations, bombings, and night raids into houses of suspected insurgents. Even in the absence of fighting, unexploded ordinance from previous wars and United States cluster bombs continue to kill.

Hospitals in Afghanistan are treating large numbers of war wounded, including amputees and burn victims. The war... (continua)

Srebrenica (Never Again)
[ 2008 ]

Testo e musica / Tekst i muzika / Lyrics and music / Paroles et musique / Sanat ja sävel
Genocide

Album:The Psy-op Mixtape track #10

2012
Ночной Пилот

1986

Written By Patrick Leonard & Madonna
Album: True Blue

2016
feat. Anders Sunna
Album: Orda - This Is My Land

WE ARE STILL HERE! Collab with singer Sofia Jannok and artist Anders Sunna, both residing in Sápmi, resisting the ongoing colonization, persisting to remain.
"Swedish State calls us "Lapps", questions us as a people, claiming: You have not been here historically, you have no rights.
We say: We are still here. We have every right to be. We ARE Sápmi!"


Intro (Excerpts from the State Attorney’s intervention during the hearing in the court case between the Sámi reindeer herding community Girjas - from whence Sofia Jannok’s grandmother came - and the Swedish State. Gällivare Lapland District Court, June, 2015.):

“From the onset on, it is of importance to state that:
The Sámi have not been subjected to discrimination by the State.”
”The question then is what is meant by the concept of ethnicity, if it is to be claimed that the... (continua)

[2020]
Lyrics & music by Lee Shapiro

In 2020 (Part 2) is about the year of a CoronaVirus pandemic, systemic police racism, the BLM movement, riots, face masks, politics, and, of course, Trump making everything worse..

“When I wrote "In 2020 (Part 1)", back in February, it was basically a personal story about my medical issues and my continued anger and frustration of Trump. When it was written and posted online, none of the major issues that were facing this year had even begun. No pandemic, no riots, no protesting, no confederate flag protests, no Wall Street crashes, no face masks, no self-quarantining and no Trump making all of this much worse. So I had to write a second part of this song, to include everything that happened since I wrote the first part. The music is similar (with a faster tempo and some changes), but different enough to make it an entirely new song”.

2017
Album: Kingdom Coming

1992
Album: Who Are We

[1944]
Lyrics by Woody Guthrie
Music by Jay Farrar
Album: New Multitudes [2012]


“Don’t let any earthy calamity knock your dreamer and your hoping machine …”

New Multitudes is a Woody Guthrie tribute album performed by Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, and Jim James to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Guthrie's birth, released through Rounder Records on February 28, 2012. The project was initiated by Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie to have Farrar add music to her father's lyrics – specifically, his earliest songwriting years in Los Angeles. Over the course of several years, he invited the others to collaborate and recorded at a variety of locations across the United States. Each artist wrote music to lyrics that inspired him and presented it to the collaborators for recording. The result is an album with diverse musical genres that has garnered positive reviews from critics... (continua)

Abadabukileyo, worldmusic-choir of the Saint-Gertrude College Wetteren, Flanders, Belgium.

Abadabukileyo was founded on the 13th of November 1997 by conductor Reinout Bracke. Twice a week he guides a group of young people through a musical journey all around the world.Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons, from 12.40h till 13.20h these pupils sing out their belief in a better world, a world where solidarity and respect still have meaning. These young people dare to dream that we can do better, through their journey they also learn to enjoy the beautiful things our world has to offer today. Dazzeling rhythms and a rainbow of sounds, without discriminating anyone.

Album: Look For The Good (2020)

[2020]

I'm watching a country built on the foundations of slavery, genocide, real estate speculation and fantasy crumble before my eyes. May it crumble faster, and may I live to see the dust settle.

[2005]
Lyrics by Tom Frampton
Music: sung to the tune of "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night"
Album: The Revolution Will Not Be Amplified

As one may well know, not all dreams are beautiful or pleasant experiences because some are real nightmares…

1986

Singolo animalista poi incluso nella compilation Animal Liberation del 1987

(2020)
Nina Hagen & Warner Poland

Written and produced by Warner Poland/Nina Hagen
Featuring: Tequila Mockingbird, tequilatatoo@yahoo.com
Also featuring: George Clinton on Nina’s Telephone-Answering-Machine
Featuring: a sample of Kid Cudi
Featuring a quote from the gospel song ‘Wade in the Water’
Recorded by: Paul Roessler @ Kitten Robot Studio in Los Angeles, with kind permission of Groenland Records

(2010)
The ArchAndroid

La guerra che deriva da essere una donna nera nella società occidentale. Una bellissima canzone supportata da un video emozionante.

Da leggere: Embracing Gender Narratives, A Textual Analysis of Cold War by Janelle Monae

2016
To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere

Song from the perspective of a drone pilot losing faith

[2014]
Lyrics & music by Billy Liar (except the chorus, which owes more than a little to the dehumanising process of late twentieth century US Army training and a certain film by Stanley Kubrick).
Album: Made To Break / Four Hours

« But.. these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir! » The last famous words before the massacre.

Hugh Thompson shortly before the My Lai Massacre. He had turned to sergeant David Mitchell, who replied that the only way to help them was to put them out of their misery…then to second lieutenant William Calley, 1st Platoon Company C commander ..

Thompson: What's going on here, lieutenant?

Calley: This is my business.

Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?

Calley: Just following orders.

Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?

Calley: Just following...

Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.

Calley: Look Thompson, this... (continua)

(2016)
dall'album °Joanne°
Scritta da Father John Misty (ex batterista dei Fleet Floxes), Emile Haynie & Lady Gaga

Un vero e proprio inno soul-rock alla pace e all'amore universale (ma come c'era sfuggita??) dalla bravissima Lady Gaga. Sono solo io a trovare questa canzone vagamente springsteeniana? D'altra parte Stefani Germanotta, come Bruce, ha le radici nel New Jersey da una famiglia di immigrati italiani...

Da ascoltare la versione cantata dal vivo durante il Dive Bar Tour, una serie di concerti che Lady Gaga ha tenuto in piccoli locali e pub per promuovere l'album Joanne.

Perché dobbiamo dire agli altri come vivere? Le sole prigioni che esistono sono quelle in cui ci chiudiamo l'un l'altro.

1976
Testo da Mudcat

Dalla compilation What Now, People? Vol. 1

[2017]
Lyrics by Tapani Siirtola
Music by Robert Gunnarsson

“War is such a vaste of human lifes and resources. How many WW will there be? 49? Right now we feel a threat from many parts of the World. In fact, more people are dying today than during WW2. How crazy can it be?”

Prisoner
[1989]

Lyrics and music / Testo e musica / Paroles et musique / Sanat ja sävel :
Lucky Dube
Album : Prisoner



[Riccardo Gullotta]

(1972)

Daniel Ellsberg era uno dei "geniacci del Pentagono" (i brillanti giovani reclutati da Robert McNamara, segretario della difesa dal 1961 al 1968). Divenuto oppositore della guerra del Vietnam, cominciò a fotocopiare un dossier di 7000 pagine coperto da segreto di Stato, che rivelava le strategie del governo americano in merito alla guerra in Vietnam.

Nel 1971 consegnò questo materiale al The New York Times sotto il nome di Pentagon Papers, dando vita a una controversia politica nazionale.

The Prisoner's Song
[ 1925 ]

Lyrics and music / Testo e musica / Paroles et musique / Sanat ja sävel :
Guy Massey (copyrighted by)

Performed by / Interpreti / Interprétée par / Laulavat:
1. Vernon Dalhart [ 1925 ]
2. Jimmie Davis [ 1925 ]
3. Louis Armstrong [ 1957 ]
4. Slim Whitman [ 1958 ]
5. Hank Snow [ 1964 ]

Solidarity Keeps us Alive

June 27, 2020: Action Day for Political Prisoners Worldwide

La lista che segue è parziale, riguarda una minima parte dei detenuti per motivi politici nelle prigioni turche, circa 8.000 in aumento. Ci dispiace di non disporre di altri nomi.

A tutti/e la nostra più profonda solidarietà ed i nostri auguri che le loro sofferenze cessino presto.




La canzone The Prisoner's Song

Molto probabilmente fu composta da un detenuto in un carcere del Sud negli Stati Uniti negli anni ’20 del secolo scorso. Lì l’avrebbe ascoltata Robert... (continua)

[2020]

Actor Jenifer Lewis writes an amazing spoken word in the name of justice for George Floyd who was killed by Minneapolis police.

(2018)
Testo da Genius
Album: I Used To Know Her

The idea of ‘Lord Is Coming,’ you hear people say, like, it’s Armageddon, it’s the end of the world. I really felt like there’s so much happening in the world right now that needed to be said, that’s not acknowledged. I wrote the spoken word as an introduction to what the song is about.

I’m really happy I wrote ‘Lord Is Coming,’ because of everything that’s going on in the world right now. It needed to be said, for me. It came from a very passionate place and music is a language everybody speaks. It brings everybody together, and that’s one of those songs I think could do it.
An Interview With H.E.R., Who's Getting Back to Her Younger Self

Written By
H.E.R., D’Mile & Tiara Thomas

Release Date
June 19, 2020

[2010]
Lyrics & music by Barbara Lee George ©

“A tribute to our brothers and sisters lost to war..”

Line up:
Barbara Lee George (vocals & guitar),
Even Steven Levee (bass),
Al Orlo (guitar),
Additional musicians include:
Cecil Hooker (violin), Yoshi Kikkawa (cello), Roderick Kohn (sitar/guitar synth, hammond organ), Andy Bigan (drums), Steve Wolf (drums), Phoenix Rivera (drums), Gerardo Velez (percussion), Miguel Valez (percussion), Steve Nichol (piano), Chris Famah Fletcher (Piano), Eric Johnson (piano), David Snider (keys, guitar), Scott Kreitzer (flute), Christian Ravaglioli (oboe, duduk, english horn) and rapper TRP (Gun Hill)

[1968]
Lyrics & music by Jan Howard
Album: Jan Howard [1969]

"My Son" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Jan Howard. It is among several songs recorded by country artists during this period that related to the Vietnam War. The song is based on a letter Howard wrote to her son, Jimmy, who was drafted into the war. After writing the letter, she was inspired by family and friends to put it to music. Recording the song in a single take, it was released as a single in 1968.
Jan sent the song to her son in 1968 after its release. Before he could write back, he was killed in battle. At the same time, "My Son" became a major hit on the country charts in the United States. The recording later appeared on Howard's 1969 self-titled studio album. Since its release, "My Son" has been considered among Howard's signature songs. In later years, the song also has also... (continua)

[ 2020 ]

A Poem by / Poesia / Poème / Elokuva:
Charles Bukowski

Music background / Sottofondo musicale / Musique de fond / Musiikin tausta:
A sad state of freedom by Savfk

Bukowski, un essere umano

Inclinazione sfrenata per il sesso e l’alcool; fobico, cinico, insofferente al punto da cadere nella misantropia, nichilista, un bastardo, e chi più ne ha, più ne metta. Bukowski però è un caso paradigmatico di come le etichette si frappongono alla comprensione di una realtà complessa. Paradossalmente più se ne appongono meno fermo risulta il quadro.
Si rimane perplessi dato che Bukowski, al netto di atteggiamenti epidermici, è un punto di accumulo delle contraddizioni dell’essere umano. Forse è per questo che rimane indigesto , soprattutto ingombrante, non solo per il mondo di sopra ma anche per chi, irriducibile alla” modernità liquida”, non può rinunciare a qualche astro di secondo... (continua)

(1973)
Single: Wake Up America! / How Do You Tell A Small Boy

The second song "How Do You Tell a Small Boy", narrated from the perspective of a P.O.W. (Prisoner of War), looked at the impact of a missing father on a child.

The P.O.W. wondered how to explain to his son that he "had to go to war", and that he spent most of his "time on a prison floor". The P.O.W. missed many of his son's life events: receiving his first bike, going to school, meeting his friend, playing in the snow. The father concluded that while he could not make up the time, and that his son paid the cost, he intended to stay home.

Vietnam War Songs Project

(1973)
Single: Wake Up America! / How Do You Tell A Small Boy

A double-sided Vietnam single, written and sung by Lance Lindsay. Bruce Miller arranged both sides. Released by Voices in Vital America (VIVA) - a not-for-profit student organisation formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by Carol Oates, under the name Victory in Vietnam Association, this group sought to counter campus radicalism while promoting concern for US soldiers missing in action and prisoners of war.

They famously distributed metal bracelets, with details of those M.I.A. or P.O.W., selling over 5 million. The group disbanded in 1976. Many of its records are held at the Vietnam Center and Archive, at Texas Tech.

The back of the picture sleeve said that

"over 1800 men are prisoners of war or missing in action. A picture of Lt. Ron Dodge (front cover) being escorted by North Vietnamese soldiers appeared in 'Paris March' magazine... (continua)

[2011]
All your problems are solved with a war. Dance music for the new escalation.
Single out on Efforts in Futility.

[2017]
Album: Need to Feel Your Love

Twelfth and final track of the album "Need to Feel Your Love" (2017): A ballad dedicated to Sophie Scholl and ‎‎Weiße Rose..

[2018]
Lyrics & music by Bill MacKechnie
Album: Doorways

An album of music inspired by, featuring, and in tribute to, the late Anubis Spire multi-instrumentalist / vocalist / songwriter, Marlon Kempmann.
A mix of songs and performances from the band and a host of special guests including Mary Everhart, Mel Clemans, Marc McKechnie, Jerry Willard, Dace Yates, and Kathy Stewart. Songs that journey from the joy of love and friendship to sadness and pain for the loss of a great friend and fellow musician. But we must remember that when one door closes another opens, always. There is no end to the doorways…

Its track 7, Burning Alexandria Down, is a song about media manipulation and the raising tide of hate groups.

Written, Composed & Produced by TAX.THE MAN

THE FIGHT (Of Our Lives)

(1991)
Album: Exploration - A New Phase

[2019]
Parole e musica di Brittany Howard, musicista e cantautrice, front woman degli Alabama Shakes
Nel suo primo disco solista, intitolato "Jaime"
Testo da Genius

Un disco autobiografico, non a caso intitolato alla sorella maggiore, morta di retinoblastoma nel 1998. Brittany stessa fu vittima della malattia, riportando una parziale cecità da un occhio.

Nella famiglia di Brittany la mamma era bianca e il babbo era nero. Ad Athens, Alabama, la cosa non passava inosservata. "Goat Head" racconta di quando qualcuno vandalizzò l'auto della famiglia, lasciando sul sedile posteriore la testa mozzata di una capra...

Verso la fine della canzone, il verso "I'm one drop of three-fifths" si riferisce a due dei fondamenti razziali degli USA. Il primo è addirittura costituzionale: i Padri Fondatori, per stabilire il numero di seggi di ciascun Stato al Congresso, decisero che gli schiavi contavano... (continua)

[2020]
Nell'album “Ghosts of West Virginia", con la band The Dukes
Testo da Genius

Tutte le canzoni dell'album furono originariamente composte per uno spettacolo teatrale intitolato "Coal Country" ed incentrato sulla vita dei minatori del carbone in West Virginia ed, in particolare, sulla tragedia dell'Upper Big Branch Mine di Raleigh dove, il 5 aprile 2010, una trentina di minatori rimase intrappolata da un'esplosione a 300 metri di profondità. Morirono quasi tutti, 29 su 31. L'inchiesta successiva appurò che la compagnia proprietaria, la Massey Energy, aveva eluso le più elementari regole di sicurezza. L'ammontare dei risarcimenti per il disastro superò i 200 milioni di dollari.

Don Blankenship, amministratore delegato della compagnia al momento del disastro, venne condannato per gravi omissioni nella sicurezza dell'impianto. Si fece un solo anno di galera. Oggi Blankenship è in politica... (continua)

[2020]
Nell'album “Ghosts of West Virginia", con la band The Dukes
Testo da Genius

Tutte le canzoni dell'album furono originariamente composte per uno spettacolo teatrale intitolato "Coal Country" ed incentrato sulla vita dei minatori del carbone in West Virginia ed, in particolare, sulla tragedia dell'Upper Big Branch Mine di Raleigh dove, il 5 aprile 2010, una trentina di minatori rimase intrappolata da un'esplosione a 300 metri di profondità. Morirono quasi tutti, 29 su 31. L'inchiesta successiva appurò che la compagnia proprietaria, la Massey Energy, aveva eluso le più elementari regole di sicurezza. L'ammontare dei risarcimenti per il disastro superò i 200 milioni di dollari.

[2020]
Nell'album “Ghosts of West Virginia", con la band The Dukes
Testo da Genius

Tutte le canzoni dell'album furono originariamente composte per uno spettacolo teatrale intitolato "Coal Country" ed incentrato sulla vita dei minatori del carbone in West Virginia ed, in particolare, sulla tragedia dell'Upper Big Branch Mine di Raleigh dove, il 5 aprile 2010, una trentina di minatori rimase intrappolata da un'esplosione a 300 metri di profondità. Morirono quasi tutti, 29 su 31. L'inchiesta successiva appurò che la compagnia proprietaria, la Massey Energy, aveva eluso le più elementari regole di sicurezza. L'ammontare dei risarcimenti per il disastro superò i 200 milioni di dollari.

[2007]
Lyrics & music by David Russell Moss
Album: David Russell Moss, vol. 4

[1971]
Una canzone scritta da Curtis Mayfield, mèntore di questa straordinaria band di Gary, Indiana, morta ancor prima di nascere per via della scomparsa prematura del suo front man James Thomas Ramey, Baby Huey, "180 kg di puro soul", morto per sovrappeso e per droga nel 1970, alla vigilia dell'uscita del loro primo ed unico LP, "The Baby Huey Story - The Living Legend" (1971)

Curtis Mayfield la incise solo nel 1975, nel suo bellissimo "(There's No Place Like) America Today"




La canzone parla di un tema ancora attuale, la condizione della popolazione nera americana, di come già allora fosse diffusa la disillusione rispetto alle presunte conquiste del movimento per i diritti civili, mentre i leader afroamericani cadevano uno dopo l'altro ammazzati e le condizioni delle comunità in tutti gli USA non miglioravano affatto, anzi... Oggi non pare che la situazione sia cambiata in meglio di molto...

The country song "The Blind Soldier From Vietnam" (Arzee # RZ-106-X) took an anti-war and plight of the soldier interpretation.

Curly Herman (1918-1968), from West Virginia, a fiddler in the 1960s, sometimes headed a group called the West Virginia Boys. He died shortly after the recording and release of this single, in 1968.

Narrated from the perspective of a soldier, who had returned home "from Vietnam", blinded by the war. His brother had also died in a war, possibly Vietnam or Korea. Likewise his father, presumably a reference to the Second World War. It thus sought to show a family continuity in fighting wars for the US. The narrator then explained that the young boy helped him cross the street. The boy told him that his friend's father had died in the Vietnam War. The soldier then declared: "dear god...stop the fighting in Vietnam and send the boys home safely". Released in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Rex Zario's record label Arzee (he produced the single). Composed by Curly Herdman.

Vietnam War Song Project

(1968)
Title track dell'album del 1968, la canzone è una rivendicazione dei diritti e del giusto ruolo degli afroamericani nella società americana. Purtroppo ancora attuale più di cinquanta anni dopo.