Change the world!

[Gob]

20 of your songs that changed the world

1. "For me and for my generation it was Free Nelson Mandela by The Specials (1984). I was born in 1960 and had no memory of Mandela being sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. So when we heard the song on the radio, it was a case of who is this guy and what has he done? Before long I was a member of Anti-Apartheid Movement, taking part in boycotts whilst apartheid, Desmond Tutu, Winnie Mandela and Steve Biko all became household names and in the national news." Barry King, Walsall, UK

2. "I am a fan of Barbara, but feel you have made far too much of it. The important one is Jean Ferrat's Nuit et Brouillard, or Night and Fog (1963). It talks about the trains that took Jews, like his father, to the concentration camps and is very powerful. De Gaulle did not like it as it interfered with his rapprochement with Adenauer. Ferrat says let the young dance the twist if they like, but the world should know who you - the people in the trains - were." Irene Ball, London

3. "Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready (1965), a hymn of the civil rights movement and taken up in other places of struggle such as South Africa. The song has been covered by many, but the original still inspires, unites and reminds all of the human struggle for equality. It's also been used and played by many LGBT groups and causes." Cookie Schwartz, US

4. "It may be cheesy and too popular for consideration, but maybe Band Aid's Feed the World (1984) is important for just that reason. Until the song was released, with its videos of starving children, the plight of millions of African families was seen as just a footnote in the news. Live Aid generated revenue, but it was the song which caught people's imagination and made us realise that famine abroad was a problem for all of us to fight, not just the people suffering. The response to other subsequent disasters has been markedly different to before, and millions have benefitted as a result." Jamie, Aylesbury, UK

5. "Ben Kayiranga's Freedom was a daring song in 1997 right in the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, not much for the bits of dancehall and reggae there, but the lyrics. It's not just that the lyrics were in Kinyarwanda, French and English either. But the message - freedom for people, freedom forever, freedom. The youth wants freedom, children want freedom. And maybe not the message either, because it was not that new in Rwandan music. But the moment, the timing - that fresh message of hope when a country is still mourning. The song gave a smile to a whole nation, so if Rwanda is the world, then that song changed the world." Rafiki Ubaldo, Knivsta, Sweden

6. "The anthem of the incredible movement that rescued almost two million Soviet Jews from oblivion and launched an effective human rights push that was the demise of the Iron Curtain was launched with a repetitive, easy Hasidic-style song that ignited people in Britain, the US and, most of all, the silenced Jews in post-Stalinist, atheistic USSR. In 1965, Shlomo Carlebach, an American Jewish rabbi/singer-songwriter, debuted the song Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live, the Father Lives). Almost a decade later, I was a student at UCLA in California, protesting the continued gulag internment of Jews and other human rights protestors, and we danced to that anthem. At the same time, in protest, young Jews were courageously gathering outside boarded-up synagogues across the USSR and danced too. A few years later, I married one of them!" Racelle Weiman, Charlotte, NC, US


7. "Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit (1939). There's racism in the world, but for many it's far too easy to mentally block out. This song kept it in your face, dangling from the tree, completely unable to be ignored. A brutal awaking to what was still transpiring in the southern parts of the United States long after the emancipation." Michelle, Iowa

8. "The Japanese song Ue O Muite Aruko (I Will Walk Looking Up, 1961) - but inexplicably known in the US and UK as Sukiyaki (1963) - did as much or more to change the attitudes of Americans toward their former enemies as any policy or speech. I am not old enough to remember the song coming out in 1963, but many older Americans have said this song marked the first instance where they began to see Japanese people not just as a former enemy or some mysterious, exotic race, but as people with feelings no different from their own, and capable of expressing beautiful, tender emotions. The effect went both ways. I lived in Japan for about five years, and many older Japanese shared with me how moved they were at the reception this song received in America, and this made them feel more positive toward their former foes. It is still to this date the only Japanese song to ever top the American charts. I do think it helped accelerate the alliance between Japan and the US that has maintained peace in the Pacific for over 50 years." John Taylor, Washington, DC

9. "Former slave ship captain John Newton wrote Amazing Grace in 1772. He mentored William Wilberforce in his long fight to outlaw slave trading. The song took root in the US during the Second Great (religious protestant) Awakening in early 1800s. It became a standard hymn sung by all races but also a protest song associated with civil rights and with Martin Luther King. It remains a hymn, a freedom song and also has a life as a radio chart hit for performers as diverse as Mahalia Jackson, Judy Collins and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. It is the song most frequently sung on Martin Luther King Jr Day in the US. Unfortunately, people-trafficking and slavery still exist, so the song has not been entirely successful. Yet." Alison Ahearn, London

10. "Joan Baez's We Shall Overcome (1963), originally focused on the civil rights movement, was a powerful way to bring people of different races, classes, backgrounds, religions - but one shared value - together, and now has become the song any group trying to stand against old and needing-to-change practices uses. So I think it both changed, and continues to change, the world for the better. It is not usually a song performed by an artist for others to hear - it is a song everyone sings, to express unity in a good cause." Bev Noia, Denver, US

11. "How about Lili Marlene (1939), brought to the fore in the time of Rommel's Afrika Korps and gained popularity with Montgomery's Eighth Army? When Allied victory came, perhaps this quite arresting melody - and its background too - provided some foundation for the consolidation of nations in Europe (Churchill's United States of Europe) which was to be forged from the early 1950s onward." John Olszewski, Windhoek, Namibia

12. "I like to think that Glad to be Gay (1976) by the Tom Robinson Band made a big contribution to changing the world for gay people. It challenged everybody to confront their own prejudice and society's prejudice, and awakened people's awareness of the persecution of gay people by authority in the UK and US. After 300,000 people marched through Paris last week opposing gay marriage, perhaps a new version of the song should be released." Andi Ye, UK

13. "Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come (1963) was influential during the civil rights movement, particularly after Martin Luther King was killed. Some would say that it played a significant role in bringing white Americans to actively support the move towards equality." Peter Wilding, Sheffield

14. "Bob Dylan, inspired by the ravages of war and universal social injustice, wrote Blowin' in the Wind (1962). I first heard this song at a Scout camp in 1967. Before long, ALL of us were singing along - including those (like myself) who didn't speak English. One of its greatest merits is that it so simple. Over the decades, I have encountered this song - and the positive spirit that emanates from it - the world over. It ranks among the very few songs that are truly universal. Or, in a nutshell: Never before has so little given so much to so many." Siegmar Siegel, Gaufelden, Germany

15. "Nena's 99 Luftballons (1984) certainly cast an interesting light on the East/West Berlin division. The keyboardist, I believe, wrote the song after going to a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin where a bunch of balloons were released. He then wondered what people on the other side might think they were, if they floated over the Berlin Wall. It certainly gave me, as a young man, the idea to question what governments tell their people, and maybe it did for others too. In the song, a war takes place, because people in power used the balloons as a sign of provocation to start a war. In the end, she finds a balloon, releases it into the air, and thinks of someone she has lost, or is missing, or someone she hasn't seen in a while. A modern example might be North and South Korea." Clayton Dale, Anchorage, Alaska

16. "David Hasselhoff is on record as saying that he thought his song Looking for Freedom (1989) helped bring down the Berlin Wall. I disagree, but I haven't the heart to tell him." Paul Kachur, Oberheimbach, Germany

17. "U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) captured the raw emotion and feelings of many people in Ireland and the UK growing up in the early 1980s. The year after its release the IRA Brighton bomb-blast rocked the Tory leadership, and the Falklands War was still vivid in our memories. I have seen U2 perform this song live on several occasions and each time they turn the music down so just the audience can be heard singing: 'How long - must we sing this song'. Perhaps it simply shone a candle of hope for a while and made us all pause and draw in breath at the futility of war and violence." David Christman, Hove, East Sussex

18. "L'Internationale (late 19th Century). An anthem of revolution worldwide, a stirring and moving hymn and call to the oppressed everywhere to rise up against tyranny, the great rallying paean of the poor and downtrodden. Nothing to beat it as a world-changing song throughout modern history. Truly unites the human race." Terry Martin, Blairgowrie, Scotland

19. "I think Paul Simons' Graceland (1986) changed the world as part of a whole movement protesting against apartheid in South Africa, which started to gather momentum during that decade. The album introduced a commercial element to world music and significantly raised the profile of African musicians and performers. I remember Paul Simon being criticised by some supporters of the anti-apartheid movement at the time for breaking the cultural boycott but perhaps he had a point. Musical appreciation spans boundaries and cultures and can overcome politics." Jane Jarvis, Buckfastleigh, Devon

20. "Imagine (1971) by John Lennon encouraged a dialogue about war, famine and religion, but in a respectful and calm way, to the point now where even contemporary religious figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury use it in religious performances. I am not a religious person myself, nor really a hippie, but I feel that this song is still relevant today and am happy to have grown up with my Indian/Pakistani father playing it in the car on my way to school." Sara, Waterlooville, Hants/Salem, MA, US

[Lord Jim]

This is an easy one...

Unless some bugler or drummer accidentally sounded "retreat" when they should have given the signal for "charge" or vice versa during some pivotal major battle in history, no piece of music, ever, "has changed the world"....

Music simply does not have that kind of power.

[Andrew D]

Music is far above changing the world. Music is the world. Music is the essence of everything.

Music is the essence of the material: It is no accident that the ancients referred to the fundamental workings of the universe -- no matter how (relatively) primitively they may have understood them -- as "the music of the spheres."

Music is the essence of the divine: The Bhagavadgita is the Song of God.

Music is the essence of the human: "The inner nature of man is the province of music." (Confucius.)

Music is the essence of the relationship between the human and the divine -- the essence of the truly sublime: The most sublime biblical expression of God's love for humanity is the Song of Solomon.

Music is the essence of the structures of human society: “If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.” (Confucius again.)

Music is the highest possible expression of our understanding of ourselves, of the universe, material and otherwise, in which we are situated, and all of the relationships which those things entail.

Music is humanity's never-ending grasping for the perfect, and it is the perfect for which we grasp.

[rubato]

Louis Armstrong's rendition of "Black and Blue". (Thomas Waller-Razoff)

gotta run, late for work.

"A change is gonna come" (Cooke) was mentioned twice, btw, great song. Both music and lyrics. Sam Cooke said he was inspired by Bob Dylan and challenged to write something 'as good' which is why he wrote that.


yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

Music creates changes in the world every day. Well written lyrics put to a nice tune can change the way some people think and act. Pure melodies can trigger emotional changes in many people.






btw - Joan Baez shouldn't be given credit for 'We Shall Overcome'. The person who commented on the song appears to believe that she wrote it. She was only one of many that performed the song, which is of uncertain origin. Pete Seeger deserves more credit than Joan for popularizing it, in my opinion.

[Sue U]

Every song changes the world. Simply by being brought into existence, there is now something that wasn't there before.

Music connects people as nothing else does. Music can make you think in ways that nothing else does. Language is music. Mathematics is music. The physical world is nothing if not musical.

My vote for song that changed the world: This Land Is Your Land, Woody Guthrie.

[Lord Jim]

Every song changes the world. Simply by being brought into existence, there is now something that wasn't there before.

Okay, well if you want to use that kind of definition, every time a person takes a crap the world is changed....

You're settin' the bar kinda low there...

[Gob]

Philistine.

[Joe Guy]

You're settin' the bar kinda low there...

How can you say that you believe music can't change the world when by your own admission Leonard Cohen's music has the ability to make you change your behavior?

[Rick]

Van Halen, they changed everything...

[Joe Guy]

You're correct, keld.

I know a computer tech that studied Van Halen for years. He once explained the unchallengeable fact that the course of guitar playing technique was changed forever by Van Halen.

He also exposed Jimmy Page for the inept session musician that he was.

I wish he could come here and explain it to us in detail but I think he no longer has computer privileges.

[dales]

This is an easy one...

Unless some bugler or drummer accidentally sounded "retreat" when they should have given the signal for "charge" or vice versa during some pivotal major battle in history, no piece of music, ever, "has changed the world"....

Music simply does not have that kind of power.

How about our "Star-Spangled Banner"...Jim?

Don't care much for it but after all the fighting......our flag was stilll there.

[rubato]

"...

My vote for song that changed the world: This Land Is Your Land, Woody Guthrie.

Good choice. I'd also nominate "Pastures of Plenty" here is a version by Solas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPVGTENR8DM

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

How about our "Star-Spangled Banner"...Jim?

That was originally a poem, Dale...(I've seen the original Star Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry in Chesapeake Bay on that fateful day, a number of times at the Smithsonian)

But that having been said, it is a beautiful and uplifting piece of music...It has a stirring effect on most Americans, rich, poor or in between.... many millions of whom have absolutely no knowledge of it's provenance....

It's our song....







(The music was actually written by a Limey by the name of John Stafford Smith ...it was a drinking song.... )

[Econoline]

Actually, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is more a case of history changing music rather than the other way around.

ETA: ...or were you thinking of the Jimi Hendrix/Woodstock version?

[dales]

How about our "Star-Spangled Banner"...Jim?

That was originally a poem, Dale...(I've seen the original Star Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry in Chesapeake Bay on that fateful day, a number of times at the Smithsonian)

But that having been said, it is a beautiful and uplifting piece of music...It has a stirring effect on most Americans, rich, poor or in between.... many millions of whom have absolutely no knowledge of it's provenance....

It's our song....







(The music was actually written by a Limey by the name of John Stafford Smith ...it was a drinking song.... )

.....poor drunken sot!

[Lord Jim]

Music is humanity's never-ending grasping for the perfect,