OpEdNews » Wanted – Poetry and Music that Speaks to War and Other Progressive and Liberal Issues and Social Injustices

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Tag(s): Music; Poetry; Social Justice; War -Antiwar
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June 5, 2007 at 09:37:46

Wanted – Poetry and Music that Speaks to War and Other Progressive and Liberal Issues and Social Injustices

by Michael Bonanno Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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"The Spirit speaks directly to our hearts through music. That's why music has always had such power to move people into positive action." -- Kenny Loggins

Music and poetry were two very important devices which played significant roles in helping to bring the Vietnam War to an end.

There's been some disappointment in the lack of poetry and music in today's world promoting the antiwar movement and actually speaking to other social injustices.

It's said that poetry and music which reached the ears of the kids who were in line to be sent to Vietnam awakened them to the point of creating draft dodgers and deserters and even empowering active duty military personnel to mutiny against their commanding officers.

One obvious difference is that there are no kids who are anxiously awaiting to hear from the draft board in our present occupation of Iraq, in our on again, off again fighting in Afghanistan and in our build up to war with Iran. So the ears may not be as receptive.

Nonetheless, Neil Young has tried to get the musical part of this movement in gear with his Living With War Today Songs of the Times web site.

Poetry, narratives and essays are being written and published in such magazines as The American Dissident.

As was the case during the sixties and early seventies, poetry and music might raise the level of passion against the Iraq war and other social injustices.

OpEdNews thinks that promoting fresh, new anti-war and anti-social injustice poetry and music is important enough to publish. Subject matter might include environmental injustice, immigrant and other minority rights injustice, women's rights injustice and other injustices and others that you think are important.

If you are writing Music or Poetry that comments on today's world and issues, please feel free to submit it. We only ask that you include the word "poem" or "song" in the title so that the submission can be reviewed by the appropriate editors.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you.

Michael Bonanno

OpEdNews Music and Poetry Editor

Song sample for October, 2008 Everybody Knows from the cd Flameland.

Michael Bonanno is a published poet, essayist and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of his poetry can be found at The Poetry Corner at OpEdNews.He is an associate editor for OpEdNews.

Bonanno is a political progressive, not a Democratic Party apologist. He believes it's government's job to help the needy and that leaving the people's well being to the so called "private sector" is social suicide.His CDs may be purchased at CD Baby.

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10 comments

John Wayne Taylor lives in middle America and he eschews the reputation that middle America has gained as blinded, Bush-following lemmings.John asks, "Do we all think that Bush's polls could really be as low as they are without the help of middle Americans?"The answer, "No".John is also a musician. He's played horns in at least one of his brother's CDs entitled "Counter Clockwise".John is a progressive's progressive and a cynic's cynic.
JohnJohn Wayne Taylor lives in middle America and he eschews the reputation that middle America has gained as blinded, Bush-following lemmings.John asks, "Do we all think that Bush's polls could really be as low as they are without the help of middle Americans?"The answer, "No".John is also a musician. He's played horns in at least one of his brother's CDs entitled "Counter Clockwise".John is a progressive's progressive and a cynic's cynic.

Why is there so little message in today's music?

Actually, as Michael knows, there's lots of good "message music" being written and recorded, today. ...as there was during the Vietnam War days. But unlike during those days, the fascists now have much more control over what gets played on the radio. Clear Channel....and other mass programmers....are playing their roll in the dumbing-down of the American public. Now-a-days, for the truth to be said in song the message must be hidden in parables.

by John (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 29 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 12:07:12 PM

Song sample for October, 2008 Everybody Knows from the cd Flameland. Michael Bonanno is a published poet, essayist and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of his poetry can be found at The Poetry Corner at OpEdNews.He is an associate editor for OpEdNews. Bonanno is a political progressive, not a Democratic Party apologist. He believes it's government's job to help the needy and that leaving the people's well being to the so called "private sector" is social suicide.His CDs m...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Michael BonannoSong sample for October, 2008 Everybody Knows from the cd Flameland. Michael Bonanno is a published poet, essayist and musician who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of his poetry can be found at The Poetry Corner at OpEdNews.He is an associate editor for OpEdNews. Bonanno is a political progressive, not a Democratic Party apologist. He believes it's government's job to help the needy and that leaving the people's well being to the so called "private sector" is social suicide.His CDs m...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Submissions Should be Submitted

The input is much appreciated, but the hope is that the songs/poems will be submitted by the creators via the normal submission process and that the submissions would look similar to the following:

Why Don't We Go - where the title brings the reader to a lyric page or

Why Don't We Go - where the title is the song and plays when it's clicked.

I knew where they'd be sending me
even though I didn't want to go.
It was up to them I knew it
when I signed my life away.

I've only got myself to blame
for being here.
I've only got myself to blame
for signin' on the little dotted line and I've

been so tired lately,
from beatin' down all of these doors.
I don't care what the reason,
they're shakin' like they're frightened to death.

Can't understand the words they scream
into my ears.
Can't understand the worlds they scream,
they're cryin' 'cause they're so afraid of dyin' now.

They once were independent
not so long ago,
then we came uninvited,
why is this so, why don't we go?

I've been so tired lately
from looking at all of the death.
I don't care what the reason,
it's getting old and doesn't make sense

I can no longer kill those that
I do not know.
I can no longer kill those that
are running 'cause they know that I'll be coming now.

They once were independent
not so long ago,
then we came uninvited,
why is that so, why don't we go?

My personal preference is to see the lyrics or poem right here at OpEdNews, whether the title is an mp3 or some other kind of audio file or brings the reader to a web page.

David, for some reason, your link isn't working for me.

Ben, I heard your song. What exactly are you trying to say with the lyrics? Just kidding.

Submit the songs/poems as you would submit any article.

Thanks.

Michael Bonanno

by Michael Bonanno (85 articles, 19 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 123 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 1:41:53 PM

Good Song, Ray

Ray, why don't you submit "Honk If You're Jesus", using the title as a link to the music and I'll get that bad boy up there ASAP.

Very nicely done.

Michael

by Michael Bonanno (85 articles, 19 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 123 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 2:02:18 PM

The Wilder's life has always veered between art and politics. When they got together in the late 1990's, Kimberly and Ian ratcheted up their activities. Together, Ian and Kimberly Wilder published chapbooks; gave dozens of poetry readings; published poetry; wrote newspaper articles; and hosted events.

Ian has performed spoken word as a part of the near-mythic folk groovin' band Nylon & Steel, and was co-founding lyricist for the duo Spiritwalkers. His work with Nylon & Steel can be ...

to see more of bio, click on member name
2kiwipressThe Wilder's life has always veered between art and politics. When they got together in the late 1990's, Kimberly and Ian ratcheted up their activities. Together, Ian and Kimberly Wilder published chapbooks; gave dozens of poetry readings; published poetry; wrote newspaper articles; and hosted events.

Ian has performed spoken word as a part of the near-mythic folk groovin' band Nylon & Steel, and was co-founding lyricist for the duo Spiritwalkers. His work with Nylon & Steel can be ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Try Max Wheat

The Democrats in Nassau County yanked the title of county poet laureate from him because they discovered he had written anti-war poetry. Nassau Rejects Poet Nominee Over Words About War in Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/nyregion/05poet.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

by 2kiwipress (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 2:35:08 PM

Please Submitt Original Stuff via Submission Process

David, Ben, kiwipress, please submit the songs as you would submit an article, with the word "song" in the title. I'm removing the posts from this article so that people don't get the idea that adding to this article is the method for submitting music or poetry.

WWJD, not only are we looking for new, fresh artists singing about the state of today's world, but I don't think that we have the copyright to any Rolling Stones songs.

The songs or poems should be originals, preferably submitted by the creator of the piece.

I do want to thank you all for your interest. Now if we can get songs and poetry submitted through the normal submission process, we can get them published. I'm looking forward to it.

Michael Bonanno

by Michael Bonanno (85 articles, 19 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 123 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 4:48:19 PM

GW is a proud American from NY State, concerned about media manipulation and overconsumption. He believes in fiscal responsibility, small government and strict ethics. He recently changed careers to become an inner city schoolteacher. A firm proponent of international adoption and curbing overpopulation, he hopes to adopt a third child and enjoys history, "honest" music and art and obscure vinyl records.
Gustav WynnGW is a proud American from NY State, concerned about media manipulation and overconsumption. He believes in fiscal responsibility, small government and strict ethics. He recently changed careers to become an inner city schoolteacher. A firm proponent of international adoption and curbing overpopulation, he hopes to adopt a third child and enjoys history, "honest" music and art and obscure vinyl records.

Showing support

For 99 cents on iTunes, downloading Sweet Neo Con also sends a message to the labels, distributors (Apple in this case) and the Stones that people are behind them! They were playing during the Vietnam era and are today the biggest touring act around. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young also sold out every date on a 2006 anti-war tour and got virtually no coverage in the news, on the radio or TV. Neil's "Let's Impeach the President for Lying" was offered as a free download I believe.

by Gustav Wynn (60 articles, 38 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 281 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 9:09:06 PM

None
Pam LaddsNone

Political Music

Hi, There is a ton of political music from artists of all ages, and in all genres. Mostly found under "folk" or "folk rock". The People's Music Network is an organization specifically for this purpose. One song from other wise maintstream pop singers barely counts. (although I am not knocking this). However, the real issue is why isn't this music being heard. Answer? Can you spell ClearChannel. Public radio is renowned for its conservatism musically. Political musicians are currently blacklisted, although it is not called that. There are still some festivals (www.clearwaterfestival.org and check out the line-up) and some small venues that invite polital musicians. Magpie (Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner) have a song called Too Political on one of their albums. Written as a response to being told to "lighten up" that they were "too political" 'downers" etc (www.magpiemusic.com) The music is out there - you just have to listen for it. ciao Pam L

by Pam Ladds (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 9 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 7:01:01 PM

Something's Happening Here!

"There's not a dime's worth of difference between The Democrats and The Republicans" – George Wallace, 1968.

I abhorred Wallace's racism in 1968, but no truer words were ever spoken.

There have been a few variations of the word, but our government is The Corporacracy. Presidents, senators, congressman, all, work for The Corporacracy.

The Corporacracy tells us what the news is. It tells us what is and what is not entertainment.

The Corporacracy tells us what music is heard and what music isn't heard, especially by the masses.

Herein lies a problem, a very large problem.

Narcissists are owned by The Corporacracy and appear on American Idol. This is where the music comes from that's listened to by the masses.

There are no messages, just video clips of sad narcissists who've been rejected by representatives of The Corporacracy.

This, more than even the empty excuse for music, is what the masses watch American Idol to see. Americans have become obsessed with watching "real people" fail in "real time".

NASCAR fans go to races hoping to be lucky enough to witness in person a Dale Earnhardt moment.

Even boxing, an already vicious and primitive purposeful and personal destruction of another human being's brain, isn't good enough anymore. Now there's "Extreme Fighting" where the brain is more easily beaten and the unnecessary "fighting" is more savage. Americans pay money to watch people do this to one another on television.

Deep, thoughtful lyrics which clarify societal intercourse and its dysfunction are a bother, too much to think about.

"Something's happening here,
what it is is abundantly clear"

On Neil Young's web site, where two of my own songs have been fortunate to have been listed, there's a lot of great music.

I agree that there's thoughtful, passionate music and poetry out there. This is why I hope that OpEdNews can serve as just one more outlet for this real, as in keep it real, music and poetry, just one more place where caring people who see society as more than a collection of dollar bills to be hoarded by some and kept from most can hear and read well constructed words of wisdom, enlightenment, anger, sadness and hope.

Thanks for the heads up and let's hope that those very same people grace us by submitting their work to OpEdNews.

Thank you.

Michael Bonanno

by Michael Bonanno (85 articles, 19 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 123 comments) on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 10:11:21 PM

&&&&&&
HL Bumpkin&&&&&&

McLuhan still lives

Past tradition and entrenched modes of thinking are as much a problem with the discovery & distribution of poetry as inability of the peace message to penetrate the dominant war culture. Both share a top down hierarchal cultural modality that passes information through some kind of gate keeping process. In a wiki world, poetry must be a communitarian process. Moderators (we don’t need no frickin editors) might suggest a list of tags to seed the process, then poems could be written, tagged and submitted to a repository. (The submission could be a link to a blog, a traditional submission/moderator/link, other poetry site, etc.) The tags would inform the community where it it is, where it is going, which topics animate the group, who knows, and that is the point. Sitting and waiting for good stuff to show up in your mailbox is as obsolete as the cavalry horse.

I am thinking one might use something like Yahoo MyWeb as a ready made way to form the word cloud and do the linking just to get the ball rolling. (Don’t worry the community will come up with improvements). If the work was governed under the Creative Commons licence readers/writers could be encouraged to remix the submissions and produce new works in a collaborative process.

by HL Bumpkin (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 53 comments) on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 10:17:52 AM

Hi, my name is Leslie (Les ) I'm married, have 3 children, 3 grandchildren , and I am not working anymore due to health reasons . I am 61 years old . I am an online liberal activist ,and also have 2 health internet groups . I am an amature poet, and was intrigued when I saw your request for war protest poetry, I have a few , if you'd like to read and display them . Sincerely ,Leslie J. Luce
Leslie LuceHi, my name is Leslie (Les ) I'm married, have 3 children, 3 grandchildren , and I am not working anymore due to health reasons . I am 61 years old . I am an online liberal activist ,and also have 2 health internet groups . I am an amature poet, and was intrigued when I saw your request for war protest poetry, I have a few , if you'd like to read and display them . Sincerely ,Leslie J. Luce

Poetry

Hi,
My name is Leslie (Les) and I am an amature poet .I was intrigued by your request for poetry that speaks to war ,and wanted to know if you'd like to read mine, and display it if you think it's good enough .
Sincerely ,
Les

by Leslie Luce (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 1:35:49 AM