On the USP, there's a thread called Disc Cuts/Casual Sounds (2) which got me to thinking how we really don't hear a lot about real troubadors today. I'm talking about people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, etc. who raised the consciousness of the nation in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I know there are some rock lyrics out there that address a few of today's more troubling issues, and certainly some of the rap and hip-hop stuff qualifies; however, who are the real troubadors, the poeple whose lives are dedicated to social consciousness through music and poetry?

I'd be interested in what you think and some examples of their work.

joet

Hmm, first thing that came to mind was Nick Cave. But, well, I hope his murder ballads are not too realistic.

Nowadays, U2 I think. And the levellers were ten years ago. Rammstein in an often very sarcastic way. There must be more, can't think of any at the moment.

I heard some troubadours on the street
just the other day
they sang songs
in their own languages
hotel worker locked out again
said the sign in mine
sing Tagalog and Chinese
and a language I'd never heard

Made me proud to be an American
just the other day



Post Edited (11-23-04 21:30)

Check out HOLLY NEAR (songwriter of "The Great Peace March" among other activist songs).

DANA LYONS (less well known, songwriter of "Our State is a Dumpsite," which has been adopted by anti-nuke groups in several states [it was originally about Washington State] )

BUFFY ST. MARIE - She is still performing! Info including upcoming shows at: [www.creative-native.com]

Some rap music would, I think, qualify as modern troubador-ism. On her show "Sound and Spirit" (public radio), Ellen Kushner said something like this: "At its best, rap music is a call to action against the hopelessness and violence of the African American poor. At its worst it cynically glorifies exactly the same things."

How about Billy Bragg? The following is a cut and paste from "The Daily Telegraph" 16-11-04.


Billy Bragg, the Left-wing songwriter, has written a new version of the classic Remembrance Sunday hymn, I Vow To Thee My Country, with the emphasis on socialism rather than patriotism.

Martin Linton, the Labour MP for Battersea who helped with the lyrics, said he hoped that the new version, called The Many Not The Few, would be sung alongside other Labour Party anthems like The Red Flag.

The original hymn, which was sung by the Queen at the annual festival of remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, is set to music from the Jupiter theme in Gustav Holst's The Planets.

Like the poem by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the Bragg version has two verses, both beginning with a "vow". That is where the similarities end, however.

While the 1918 original was a tribute to the millions who died in the First World War, the 2004 version is a plea for a world in which everyone is equal and can fulfil their true potential.

The Bragg version begins: "We vow to build a country/ Where all can live in health/ Where no child need live in poverty/ Where we will share our wealth."

At the end of the first verse, Bragg mentions the s-word: "As democrats and socialists/ We hold this to be true/ From each by their ability/ To everyone their due."

The second verse begins like a Blairite speech to the faithful: "We vow to build a country/ Where none of us take heed/ Of birth or disability/ Of race or sex or creed."

It ends with the optimism of John Lennon's Imagine: "For there is a simple principle/ That no one shall displace/ We are all alike in humankind/ We are the human race."

U2 LYRICS

"Pride (In The Name Of Love)"

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TESTIFY
--Rage Against the Machine

UGH!

The movie ran through me
The glamour subdue me
The tabloid untie me
I'm empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless
Ones who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside our door
Now testify

Now testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Yes testify
It's right outside our door

With precision you feed me
My witness I'm hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I'm choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball rushing
Witness your blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door
Now testify
Yeah testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside our door

Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set

Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?

Now testify
Testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside our door


Les

Linkin Park Lyrics


Nobody's Listening

Yo, peep the style and the kids checking for it
The number one question is how could you ignore it
And drop right back in the cut over basement tracks
Rap stack got you back in the sub black
Rewind that we just rolling with the rhythm
Rise from the ashes of stylist division
With these non-stop lyrics of life living
Not to be forgotten but still unforgiving
But in the meantime there are those who wanna talk this and that
So I suppose that it gets to a point where feelings gotta get hurt
And get dirty with the people spreading the dirt it goes

(Tried to give you warning but everyone ignores me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)
(Called to you so clearly but you don’t want to hear me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)

I got a heart full of pain, head full of stress
Head full of anger, held in my chest
And everything left’s a waste of time
I hate my rhymes, but hate everyone else’s more
I’m riding on the back of this pressure
Guessing that it’s better I can’t keep myself together
Because all of this stress gave me something to write on
The pain gave me something I could set my sights on
Never forget the blood sweat and tears
The uphill struggle over years the fear and
Trash talking and the people it was to
And the people that started it just like you

(Tried to give you warning but everyone ignores me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)
(Called to you so clearly but you don’t want to hear me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)

I got a heart full of pain, head full of stress
Head full of anger, held in my chest
Uphill struggle
Blood sweat n tears
Nothing to gain
Everything to fear

Heart full of pain, head full of stress
Head full of anger, held in my chest
Uphill struggle
Blood sweat n tears
Nothing to gain
Everything to fear

Heart full of pain

(Tried to give you warning but everyone ignores me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)
(Called to you so clearly but you don’t want to hear me)
Told you everything loud and clear
(But nobody’s listening)

I got a heart full of pain, head full of stress
(Nobody’s listening)
Head full of anger, held in my chest
(Nobody’s listening)
Uphill struggle
Blood sweat n tears
(Nobody’s listening)
Nothing to gain
Everything to fear
(Nobody’s listening)


Les

"Ghetto Village"
--Warren G

[Chorus]
Would you like to go with me, down my dead end street?
Would you like to come with me, to village ghetto life?

Let me tell you bout the village where I dwell, it's a...
Living hell still tryin to make a heaven outta this right here
Watching fo' the postman hopin fo' paper
Please stop the bus mister driver, wait up we got...
Rock fights where the dead end meets
The stop lights is out so it's dead in the streets
The countyline look long, but I'm kinda hungry
So I pack a sack lunch, and got on
Late for class again, it's half past 10
And moms gonna whoop ma ass again
Now and then I get the feelin that the world is mine
I start sittin back watchin time fly by
But uh, I'm so proud to say
That the ghetto is the reason that I'm loud today
And you come get a glimpse of what's happenin
See for yourself how it is where I live at

[Chorus]

Les

Billy Gilman - One Voice Lyrics

Some kids have and some kids don't
And some of us are wondering why.
And Mom won't watch the news at night
There's too much stuff that's making her cry.
We need some help
Down here on earth
A thousand prayers, a million words
But one voice was heard.

A house, a yard, a neighborhood
Where you could ride your new bike to school.
A kind of world where Mom and Dad
Still believe the golden rule
Life's not that simple
Down here on earth.
A thousand prayers, a million words
But one voice was heard.

One voice, one simple word, hearts know what to say
one dream can change the world
keep believing till you find your way

Yesterday while walking home
I saw some kid on Newbury Route
He pulled a pistol from his bag
and tossed it in the river below.

Thanks for the help
down here on earth
A thousand prayers, a million words
But one voice was heard.

One voice was heard
One voice was heard

Les

"Shakespeare combs his hair with a soup spoon."

Joseph, Bob Geldoff has organized a new fund raiser for Band Aid:

Paul McCartney leads the list of headliners.

[news.scotsman.com] />
Farm Aid is still alive and well, Willie Nelson continues to be active there:

[www.farmaid.org] />
Many MTV regulars supported the Rock the Vote cause:

[www.rockthevote.com] />

I think there are many devoted souls, John Mellancamp, Dr. Dre, SnoopDog, Eminem and others are all active in one sort of cause or another.


Les

DAN BERN ! DAN BERN ! DAN BERN !

I'm surprised that Billy Korgan has not been mentioned. I am only a slight Smashing pumkins fan, but I realy think that his aim is to change society with his poetry. Has anyone read his book of poetry? The only problom is he cant cary a tune in a bucket

Dan

Good topic, Joseph.
A few that first come to mind - Leonard Cohen, the 'troubador of the heart,' is still going strong after 40 years. His new album 'Dear Heather' is just as good, and as stirring, as his early ones. Like "Villanelle for our Time"

From bitter searching of the heart,
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part.

This is the faith from which we start:
Men shall know commonwealth again
From bitter searching of the heart.

We loved the easy and the smart,
But now, with keener hand and brain,
We rise to play a greater part.

The lesser loyalties depart,
And neither race nor creed remain
From bitter searching of the heart.

Not steering by the venal chart
That tricked the mass for private gain,
We rise to play a greater part.

Reshaping narrow law and art
Whose symbols are the millions slain,
From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part.
---------

and Nick Cave's irony, yes, with songs like "God is in the house," "As I Sat Sadly by Her Side" and "Easy Money".


and more Australians - Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly and Yothu Yindi.

Thanks Desi, I tried and liked Nick Cave.

Did I mention Dan Bern?

Who?

Here you go, Peter:

[www.vh1.com] />

Les

rikki,

Midnight Oil, My, my.

Peter

Midnight Oil
Shakers and Movers


Won't you come on down the line, away from barren ground
The harlot and the autocrat, are they driving you further down
The season's rhymes, they anchor me, against the raging tide
Take you to the last wild place, skin and the stars they embrace
A caveman could a saint become, on a hospital ward on the Somme
We can dive into distant amoebas, our wings could melt in the sun

I can shake, I can move, but I can't live without your love
I can break, Over you, but I can't live without your love

Our poet, Henry Lawson, he named them, they lay'em out brigade
Here they come, there they go, oh great god of development
Don't really know you yet
Coastline hosed down washed away, economics now there's nothing left
Tomorrow's child takes concrete footsteps
And theyll drink champagne or be damned

And the storm is breaking now, yes the storm is crashing down

(Moginie/Garrett)


Les



Post Edited (12-05-04 23:02)

Thanks Les, just ragging Johnny. I started downloading Bern last week, great stuff. You are always helpful.

Peter

Peter,

[www.midnightoil.com] />

'you want a world you can save
so c'mon you poets and slaves'

rikki

I met Nick on the weekend! He's come back home for a visit and to do some concerts in the Sydney Opera House in January.

One of the things he chatted about was poetry - he reads prolifically but a couple of his favourites are W.H. Auden and Philip Larkin.
And he doesn't think that rock singers should be didactic and preachy
about changing the world - he prefers escapism in his lyrics, to create somewhere beautiful that people can go to to escape the world instead.

He is a really lovely person - very intense, intellectual, warm, wickedly witty. Very tall.

rikki

[www.htnet.hr]