History Of Protest Songs

History and codes and conventions of protest songs Protest songs are usually written to be part of a movement for cultural or political change, and to shock that movement by drawing people together and inspiring them to take action or reflect. Due to music... More

History and codes and conventions of protest songs Protest songs are usually written to be part of a movement for cultural or political change, and to shock that movement by drawing people together and inspiring them to take action or reflect. Due to music styles, human emotions, and social issues being wide-ranging, protest songs are too. Protest songs go back to war and slavery in 1755 for example, “Yankee Doodle” was actually written by British soldiers mocking their American counterparts during the Revolutionary War, but Americans took up the tune ironically to toss it back in the Brits’ faces and it is now a popular children’s song. However, more widely known protest songs came from slaves, mostly derived from hymns with themes of freedom or escape. In the 1930’s, record players and radios surged into wide distribution. The advent of this new technology meant a song could grow outside of the oral tradition, leading new protest songs to become ‘pop’ with genres like jazz. This mean Less