The Revolution Can Be Heard: Five Protest Songs I’m Thinking About
While writing the last post, a friend rightly pointed out that I shouldn’t limit protest art to just visual art. Especially since so many other forms of art have come to define certain protests and movements more so than posters. So, I’ve decided to extend the post into a series where I share with everyone different genres of protest art that I am returning to at the moment, that feels salient in my life at the moment. These are songs I’ve been returning to provide strength, comfort, or understanding.
- Strange Fruit — Billie Holiday
This song needs no explanation, a requiem and record of the history of lynching in this country and constant reminder that Congress has never signed an anti-lynching bill. Not only does it mourn the loss of those brutally murdered, but bravely bears witness. Strange Fruit, a song that mourns Black bodies, feels especially relevant to me right now. However, going back to the Billie Holiday rendition, I am struck by the courage it takes for a song like this to exist. In the late 1930s, the nation was largely silent as thousands of Black people are lynched. Which, as I mention in my last post, prompts the NAACP to fly a flag over their offices documenting every Black person lynched in the south for 2 years. Abel Meeropol — a Jewish, Bronx public school teacher, with ties to the American Communist Party — wrote Strange Fruit to document his revulsion of lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in August 1930. Once released, New York lawmakers called Meeropol to testify. They wanted to ensure the communist party hadn’t paid for him to write the song. The fearlessness needed to keep singing a song aligned with the communist party in their time reminds me that the best art always transgresses.
2. Americans — Janelle Monáe
It’s hard to predict the long-term impact of the Women’s March. But I can see right now how these marches showed the range of issues Trump’s presidency unearthed — not just Trump’s history with sexual assault, but also police brutality (Janelle Monae put the chant Say her Name to music), immigration, and trans right. Many Americans learned to term intersectionality that day. “Americans” might not seem like an obvious choice. But here me out. What other artist would you think about when thinking about the Women’s March? Although released after the first series of Women’s Marches in 2017, “Americans,” sums up, in a fun, up-beat dance tune, a lot of Monáe’s speech at the Women’s March. The song celebrates, deconstructs, and redefines what American might mean from the vantage point of a Black queer woman. If I could choose a companion song for this spot, I might also add “Americans’” militant cousin “Django Jane.” They’re two sides in Monáe’s mission to femme the future. I’m excited to see what this future looks like when I jam to this song.
3. Mississippi Goddam — Nina Simone
I couldn’t make a list about protest music without talking about Nina Simone. Actually, she inspired me to continue this series. My friend admonished me repeatedly. If I couldn’t expand to include Nina Simone it’d be a missed opportunity. Originally, I had wanted to use the Nina Simone version of “Strange Fruit.” After Ms. Holiday, Ms. Simone’s rendition is one of the most popular. However, there’s a better song that encapsulates Simone as a protest artist and that’s “Mississippi Goddam.” Like “Strange Fruit,” Simone’s song is a part of the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. Simone wrote the insistent protest tune immediately after hearing about the bombing of the four girls in Birmingham, Alabama in September 1963. Musically it’s a marvel. The background melody chugs along, a train moving us through the injustice on our way to freedom. We hear her pain as plainly as possible as she sings “all we want is equality.” Even though the song speaks only of the south and the experiences of Black Americans during the 20th century, this pain Simone belts still feels palpable.
4. I Will Survive — Gloria Gaynor
At the time writers Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris gave Gloria Gaynor the song, she needed an anthem like this. Very quickly all of the New York disco scene did too. The song was a perfect storm. Gaynor herself identified with the message as a survivor of domestic violence. Many LGBTQ communities found the song particularly salient, especially as the AIDS crisis ravaged the nation. I would confidently bet that this song is one of the most covered songs and a karaoke favorite, and argue this song is still an ever-relevant protest anthem. Recently, Gaynor recorded a video on TikTok and found a new generation to identify with her song during this new global pandemic. She released a 20-second clip of her singing the song and washing her hands as a PSA to help fight the spread of COVID-19. Gaynor knows that no matter the hardship, injustice or conflict we can all still survive
5. U.N.I.T.Y. — Queen Latifah
Sometimes, as an artist, you’re not only protesting large structures, but challenging the oppression within your own communities. That’s what this last song does so well. While also not an obvious choice for to label a protest anthem, Latifah’s Grammy Award-winning hit definitely is a call to arms. The lyric “who you callin a bitch” definitely came to mind as I heard Representative Ted Yoho call Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex the b-word. On social media and in articles I’ve seen plenty of Black women take this moment to think about misogynoir in all forms, from joking about Meg the Stallion’s pain to transphobia in our discussions of police brutality. This song is a reminder that liberation and the fight for racial justice must include dismantling the patriarchy as well.
