[2020]
Parole e musica di Bill Fay
Nell'album "Countless Branches"

[2018]
Lyrics & music by Doris Folkens

“My mother was a young child living in Hamburg during WW2. The city of Hamburg was virtually destroyed during three consecutive nights of air raids in July 1943.

My mom has a vivid memory ingrained in her mind - the roses in her yard were blooming red when her family entered their basement bunker. When they exited after the raids, the roses were literally black from ash.

This song was written to remind us of the devastating and widespread consequences of war, even for generations down the line. In the end, everyone suffers loss. Nobody wins a war”.

• Vocals and guitar: Doris Folkens
• Mandolin and Mandocello: Andrew Collins
• Engineered, Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Andrew Collins, Sytesounds, Toronto.

(2005)
Album: Mighty ReArranger

Il titolo si riferisce al nuovo nome dato alle French Fries negli Stati Uniti quando la Francia ebbe l'idea di opporsi formalmente all'invasione dell'Iraq.

(2005)
Mighty ReArranger

(2020)

Pur non condividendo particolarmente l'"appello al voto utile" contenuto in questa canzone, ne apprezziamo il messaggio contro il criminale mitomane di nome Donald Trump e contro le violenze poliziesche nei confronti della comunità nera e non solo.

Un bentornato alla bravissima Ani DiFranco che a 50 anni appena compiuti (come passa il tempo!) ha il coraggio di rasarsi i capelli a zero e continuare a lottare !!

unprecedented numbers of americans have poured into the streets for months now, in the midst of a pandemic, to demand a reckoning with white supremacy once and for all. Black Lives Matter and it is time for americans to stand up now. heed the lesson of the 2016 election: this is not a shoe-in. in november, we will need to vote in such massive numbers as to overwhelm massive corruption. not only must we vote out [#votethemout], we must vote in enough people to pass the breathe... (continua)

(2020)
con il marito Jason Isbell

Una toccante canzone sul dialogo di una coppia sulla decisione di abortire. I proventi della canzone saranno devoluti all'associazione Yellowhammer Fund che sostiene il diritto alla scelta delle donne.



Abbiamo indicato in corsivo le parti cantate da Amanda, in grassetto quelle cantate insieme

(2020)
Album: Unfollow the Rules

Una canzone secondo me bellissima sull'odio che può portare alle conseguenze più nefaste ma anche essere motore di rivolta e cambiamento.


I read you said that the lyrics on this album are your favorite lyrics you've written, which is pretty impressive after writing all of these albums and two operas. The next song that we're going to hear you perform is "Devils & Angels (Hatred)" — pretty provocative title. Is there anything lyrically you would like people to listen for in this song?

It's a song that I wrote years ago when I was faced with a very difficult human situation, something that we all go through. Whether it's going to court, whether it's being sick, whether it's dealing with death of a parent, as people we're faced with these fundamental moments where we have to really suit up for battle and win the fight. I wrote that song at that time,... (continua)

(1971)

Recentemente ripresa in una bellissima versione da Karl Blau in Introducing Karl Blau del 2015

[2010]
Lyrics & music by C. Michael Stout
Album: Americana Dreams

Noted activist, Noam Chomsky, calls the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) the world's most important social movement. Southern Brazil's rural workers are striving to improve the economic plight of the dispossessed and poor..

[1992]
Nell'album "Dirty"

Nel 1981 a Chapel Hill, nei paraggi dell'Università del Michigan, venne fondata la libreria "Internationalist Books". Il progetto intendeva fornire un luogo d'incontro, di confronto e di controinformazione per tutti coloro che credevano "that we have no country: we do not support mindless patriotic pleas for 'national unity,' nor are we interested in keeping America number one. We support the unity and liberation of oppressed people worldwide and are working toward the day when all oppression and inequality will be removed from the earth." (it.wikipedia). Questo era, nelle sue parole, il pensiero del fondatore dell'"Internationalist Books", Bob Sheldon.

Per tenere in piedi il suo progetto, Bob Sheldon fece per anni i lavori più disparati, poi riuscì a dedicarvisi per intero. A metà degli anni 80 l'"Internationalist Books" fu il motore della campagna contro il... (continua)

[2019]
Lyrics by Mike Stout
Music: sung in part to the tune of "Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte-Marie

Mike Stout

Mike Stout performed his song "Immigration Song - Tear Down the Walls" on May 4, 2019 at the Pumphouse, Munhall, PA. Mike wrote the lyrics and text for this immigration song and performed it as part of the Battle of Homestead 2019 event series. The event titled: Family Separation at the Border: Its Impact on Pittsburgh, a 'Welcoming City' included Monica Ruiz and Guillermo Perez, Pittsburgh activists supporting immigrants in Pittsburg. They spoke about the programs available for immigrants in Pittsburgh.

[2016]
Lyrics & music by Lee Shapiro

“A Country-Rock tune about the 2016 presidential race, and general racism in America.
This song isn't based on any single individual, but rather a combination of news articles and various postings I've read on Facebook, from both friends and strangers”.

(2020)
Scritta da George Peters II, Nate “Rocket” Wonder & Janelle Monáe
dalla colonna sonora di All In: The Fight for Democracy, il nuovo documentario di Liz Garbus e Lisa Cortés che racconta la storia della soppressione dei diritti degli elettori delle comunità di colore negli Stati Uniti.

“Turn the tables” è un'espressione inglese che significa prendersi la rivincita, ribaltare la situazione, cominciare una rivoluzione. Come cantava Tracy Chapman, "finally the tables are starting to turn". Ma turntable è anche il piatto del giradischi, su cui suona una base vintage che riporta all'epoca d'oro della musica nera negli anni '70.

«Che rivoluzione sarebbe senza una canzone? Ho iniziato a pensare a chi era in prima linea. Che regalo potrei fare loro? Eccolo il regalo, una canzone che ricordi che i tempi stanno cambiando. Che stiamo facendo progressi, anche mentre affrontiamo eventi... (continua)

[2005]
Songwriters: Maria Daines & Paul Killington
Album: Come On Over [2018]

“This song was inspired by the Greg Allen Interview discussing the Earth’s need for renewable energy.
I guess when you really start thinking about the world it’s like ripples on a pond and war and destruction of any kind goes hand in hand with ripping up rainforests to make more junk mail.

Pro peace, pro planet, pro humanity song, or wishful thinking...”

2019



Dear Mr. President,

I am having a hard time.
Have I misunderstood something?
I thought it was your job to care for all of the people that call this country their home.
This is our home.
This is serious.
I take this seriously.

This is my home.
This is his home.
This is her home.
This is their home.
This is our home.
No matter where we were born.
No matter how long we’ve been here.
No matter what language we speak.
No matter what body we were born into.
No matter how we live or who we love.
No matter what it says at the bottom of the bank statement.
No matter what political party we affiliate with.
This is our home.

And I thought it was your job to take care of ALL of us.

I thought it was your job to continue to repair the hate and violence of our history and lift us up into a better future, a stronger country, an intelligent country.

You are not leading. I was... (continua)

[2003]
Lyrics by Cynthia Cockburn
Music by Ros Brown

Cynthia Kay Cockburn, sociologist and peace activist, born 24 July 1934; died last year, 12 September 2019.
In 1993, she was key to establishing WiB in London and was instrumental in sustaining it over decades as an organiser and participant in weekly vigils at the statue of Edith Cavell in Trafalgar Square. Cynthia joined the street choir Raised Voices in 1994. The political choir Raised Voices was another important part of Cynthia’s local political engagement. As well as singing in the choir, she wrote the lyrics to several of the songs that have made up its repertoire.


Remembering Cynthia Cockburn (24th July 1934 – 12th September 2019) by Ann Oakley.

Academic, feminist, peace activist and Pluto author Cynthia Cockburn died on 12th September 2019, Ann Oakley remembers this ‘extraordinary person’.

Cynthia Cockburn, who died a... (continua)

(2020)

Molti riferimenti, a partire dal video ma anche nella struttura del testo a Subterranean Homesick Blues, in questa canzone che parla di tutto quello che succede nel mondo in questo 2020.

(2007)
Album: Flying Upside Down

Amanda Palmer & Rhiannon Giddens - 2020
Cover di una canzone dei Portishead - 1994 (dall'album Dummy)


I can't breathe through this mask

Le due cantanti trasformano il pezzo dei Portishead in «un dialogo tra amiche chiuse in uno sgabuzzino che si fanno forza l’una con l’altra e sussurrano: usciremo di qui». È una canzone perfetta per questi strani giorni

C’è una canzone nascosta in Dummy, l’album d’esordio dei Portishead. Non è celebrata quanto i singoli Glory Box o Numb. Anzi, nelle prime stampe europee dell’album, nel 1994, non era nemmeno inclusa nella tracklist. Scritta principalmente dalla cantante Beth Gibbons, parlava di errori e sogni, paura e salvezza. Era suonata con un organo Hammond e aveva un beat stranamente sensuale per il tema del pezzo. Conteneva uno strano passaggio nel ritornello: “Questa vita è una farsa / non riesco a respirare con questa maschera / come una stupida... (continua)

[1998]
Testo di Barry Taylor
Sull'aria dell'antica ballata inglese "The Grenadier and the Lady"
Il testo racconta degli avi dell'autore, che nel 1842 emigrarono in Canada dalla Contea irlandese di Tyrone. La loro figlioletta, la più piccola di quattro bimbi, non sopravvisse alla traversata...
Trovo una bella versione in "Land of my Soul", un album di un gruppo italiano, i "Túatha Dé Danann" (dal nome di un popolo preistorico leggendario che si racconta abbia colonizzato l'Irlanda prima dei Gaeli...)

[1970]
Nell'album "III"

Una splendida ballata scritta da Robert Plant e Jimmy Page durante un loro ritiro nel cottage di Bron-Yr-Aur, Galles, di proprietà della famiglia Plant.

Storia di un'amicizia tra ragazzi avversata e impedita dai pregiudizi degli adulti.
Il brano doveva inizialmente intitolarsi "The Boy Next Door", il ragazzo della porta accanto, quello coi capelli lunghi, quello strano, quello che vive nella parte più povera del paese, quello da cui bisogna stare alla larga... così dice mamma e così deve essere.

2008

Written by Peter Skellern to honor those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, as well as those who passed away in WWI and WWII.

(2017)

Singer and songwriter John Baldwin Gourley of Portugal. The Man said, "With all the talk right now, of building a wall at our borders, and the Berlin Wall, it was so much just like the image that you had in your head growing up that these people are separated by a wall, and why do we need that?" It becomes real unfortunate that we have these children being raised watching the separation between our country and other.

2012
Peace of Mind

Album: Grand National (2007)

(2016)

(2001)

Fugazi’s “The Kill” is about the use of military and militarized police in the United States, at home and abroad, and a commentary on its racialized nature, written for their 2001 album The Argument, the political content of which MacKaye described as an “anti-war manifesto”.
Genius

2001
Album: The Argument

[2009]
Lyrics & music by Pat Lamanna
Album: Full Circle: Songs of Peace and Love by Pat Lamanna

[2018]
Lyrics & music by Jack Warshaw
Album: Misfits Migrants and Murders

• Jack Warshaw, vocal and banjo;
• Ben Paley, fiddle;

“A somewhat personal reflection, and story of many thousands of my generation who were exiled for their opposition to the Vietnam War..”

(1967)

La title track dell'album del 1967 di Bill Frederick riprendeva il famoso slogan delle manifestazioni contro la guerra del Vietnam "Hey, hey LBJ! / How many kids did you kill today?" trasformandole in una vera e propria canzone. LBJ è ovviamente il presidente Lyndon Johnson.


Incredibile che ancora non l'avessimo inserita. La trascrizione è di lilyjamey da YouTube.

1971

Una lunga serie di nomi di morti in guerra, non solo nel Vietnam e non solo soldati americani.