Thats right, and we could add many,many more of her songs. A truely great writer and musician.
A bit left-field; as is the way with these guys. Great tune though - and massively overlooked at the time.
I also was going to post that.
So simple, so effective.
It’s one of the few things I actually can’t sing, I can never make it through the last verse.
This and Universal Soldier by Donovan
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Does ‘Dem He Fe Get A Beatin’, qualify?
There hasn’t been much mention yet of Neil Young, but from ‘For What It’s Worth’ and ‘Ohio’ to ‘Southern Man’, ‘Powderfinger’ and ‘This Note’s For you’, a lot of his best songs probably belong on here.
Someone has rightly flagged ‘Mississippi Goddamn’ already, but how about her ‘Backlash Blues’ and ‘Ain’t No Use’, Vega’s ‘Luka’ or CCR’s ‘Fortunate Son’?
Also, how about Green Day’s American Idiot’, about half of Tracey Chapman’s and RATM’s best work, Marley’s ‘400 Years’ and ‘Get Up, Stand Up’, lots of Burning Spear, PJ Harvey’s ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’, Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and GSH’s ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’?
After a moment’s thought, it ocurred to me that we should also mention The Special and Rhoda Dakar doing ‘The Boiler’, The Manic Street Preachers singing’ If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next’ or Lesley Gore’s ‘You Don’t Own Me’.
And I haven’t yet started on Sons of Kemet yet…
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James Blunt’s “No Bravery” comes to mind…
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Woody Guthrie’s ‘Sacco & Vanzetti’, a collection of songs about the trial, conviction and execution of two Italian immigrant workers in the USA in the 1930s.
Extraordinarily dark and powerful music from just voice and guitar (released on Smithsonian/Folkways Records).
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I’ll get me coat.
There’s only one……
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Bruce Springsteen did an incendiary cover of that. I think that it’s on his 3LP ‘live’ boxset.
Lots of great suggestions here. In my experience, often exceptionally powerful live - thinking of Springsteen et al performing War at the Wembley Amnesty show in 1988. The show also included They Dance Alone and Biko from other performers - powerful times.
I’d like to suggest Les Morts Dansants by Magnum.
The band, and Tony Clarkin in particular, were very vocally anti-war and wrote a number of songs on the issue. This one is just restrained but speaks well to the futility for those involved. Always a live highlight.
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I have just watched a live video Springsteen performance of ‘War’ on YouTube. Utterly fabulous, I had forgotten just how angry he was when he sang it!
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Not anti-war but a kind of protest, a song of social (in)justice, Dylan’s Hurricane
Yes, you can hear the anger in Bob Dylan’d voice as he sings about Ruben Carter in ‘Hurricane’.
Two of my great heroes (see Springsteen above) singing about things that made them violently angry.
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