Songs of Peace, Politics & Protest Part III Quiz

Answer: It was a protest against fire-arms

While it was never released as a single, "Put Out The Fire" is recognised as being the most "traditional" Queen song on their 1982 album "Hot Space."

Guitarist Brian May reportedly wrote the song after the death of John Lennon in 1980, as a protest against fire-arms. The song appears to be sung from the perspective of both a gunman and someone who is anti fire-arms. While not one of Queen's best songs, the lyrics are cleverly written and get the point across very well.

Interestingly, the song succeeding "Put Out The Fire" on the album was titled "Life Is Real," and is a tribute to John Lennon.

Answer: Buffy Sainte-Marie

While most people recognise "Universal Soldier" as being the work of Scottish folk-singer Donovan, the song was originally written and recorded by Buffy Sainte-Marie. It was originally released on her 1964 album "It's My Way!"

Essentially, the song talks about how hard the life of soldiers is. It also attempts to debunk the stereotypical idea of soldiers being "all brawn no brains," by singing about how during the time of the Vietnam War, soldiers came from all sorts of different backgrounds. It also goes on to suggest that leaders and dictators would be nothing without their soldiers, and how it's not right that soldiers should have to give their lives while the people giving their orders are quite comfortable.

Answer: World Wide Suicide

"World Wide Suicide" comes off Pearl Jam's self-titled 2006 album.

This song is clearly a protest against the Iraqi War, and how, despite supposedly being a dispute between Iraq and the USA, the entire world is affected by it. It also somewhat criticizes the US Government, but in a classy and subtle manner.

The song also talks about soldiers who are losing their lives in the war.

Answer: How many eyes must one man have before he can see all that's there?

"Blowin' In The Wind" came off Bob Dylan's 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan."

It was one of the most popular protest and anti-war songs used during the Vietnam War in the 1960's and 70's, and it's enduring and endearing quality was the fact that it does not specify any events, places or people. Even now, it is sung at peace rallies, and has been adopted as a "hymn" by some liberal churches.

The general idea is that we would be able to find the answers to all the questions posed if we could be able to listen to the "blowin' wind," and it also looks at how some people would rather just ignore the problem than try and help, or at the very least understand what's going on.

Answer: All of these are correct

What was voted as the third most popular song of all time in 2004 by the "Rolling Stone" magazine, John Lennon's "Imagine" has inspired many many people since the time of its release in 1971. It was released on his 1971 album of the same name.

It was in the book "Lennon In America" written by Geoffery Giuliano, Lennon famously said that "Imagine" was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted."

The lyrics show Lennon's vision of a more peaceful world, a utopia. The song inspired the concept of Nutopia, an ideal country created by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Nutopia would have no borders, no passports, only people governed by Cosmic Laws.

Interestingly enough, after the release of "Imagine," Lennon received numerous death threats, despite it being a song of peace.

I'll leave you here with the lyrics of the song, as they truly are beautiful.

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"

Answer: Pink

"Dear Mr. President" is definitely one of my favourite modern political/ protest songs. It came off Pink's 2006 album "I'm Not Dead."

This is one of Pink's most political songs ever. Pink said that it was an open letter to George W. Bush, and stated that she never wanted it released as a single for fear of the fact that it might be perceived as a publicity stunt. She said of the song that she hoped Bush would hear the song, and that he was proud to live in a country in which people can voice their opinions.

It's interesting in that she "asks" a rhetorical question to politicians other than George W. Bush. The lines "What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?" is perceived by many as "asking" Dick Cheney how he cannot accept gay rights when his very own daughter is a lesbian.

While not exactly perceived as a protest song, despite the fact that it wasn't meant to be released as a single (event though it has in several countries), this song still strikes a chord with many Bush lovers and haters alike.

Answer: Crazy

"Crazy" came off Simple Plan's 2004 album "Still Not Getting Any..." and was released in 2005.

The song asks what is wrong with society, and how bad things have become the reality for many people. The line "rich guys driving big SUV's, when kids are starving in the streets" accurately reflects the social divide between (I hate this word) classes; "diet pills, surgery, photo shop pictures in magazines, telling them how they should be" shows how much (and how badly) Hollywood, the media, and the pop culture influences people these days.

While it's not a song of protest against any Government institutions, it is a strong (and accurate, I believe) commentary and reflection on the society we live in.

Answer: He was an unwilling white soldier drafted into the army by the oppressive Apartheid Government.

This beautiful song was originally written by a man named Dan Heymann during the 1980's. Heymann was unwillingly drafted into the South African army by South Africa's white supremacist regime. While in the army, he wrote the music to the song, and later added lyrics after the Apartheid Government declared a State of Emergency.

"Weeping" was first aired on South African radio stations in 1987, performed by a South African band called Bright Blue. It also included strands of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," (now South Africa's national anthem- and also something that could have you arrested at the time), but the Government at the time did not notice this, nor the overwhelming amount of references to the then President PW Botha and his declaration of a State of Emergency. The song has since been covered by numerous South African artists. However, the most popular version of the song was done by Josh Groban, featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

"I knew a man who lived in fear
It was huge, it was angry, it was drawing near
Behind his house, a secret place
Was the shadow of the demon he could never face"

These first four lines are referring either to PW Botha, or all of the Presidents of the Apartheid Government. They were so terrified of the black population, fearing that they would "overrun" the whites in the country, and try to take over. Being white supremacists, they weren't too happy about this.

"He built a wall of steel and flame
And men with guns, to keep it tame
Then standing back, he made it plain
That the nightmare would never ever rise again
But the fear and the fire and the guns remain"

The next six lines refer to the oppressive Apartheid Laws that were put into place in order to try and suppress the black population and achieve complete black and white segregation. They thought that these oppressive laws would help achieve their idea of a "white utopia," despite the fact that violence was everywhere, and peace was not being achieved.

"It doesn't matter now
It's over anyhow
He tells the world that it's sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn't roaring, it was weeping"

This is the chorus, and possibly the most inspiring bit of the song. It shows how Apartheid is now over, but also reflects back on the idea that the Apartheid Government tried to cover up, saying that everything was all fine and dandy when it really wasn't. The last three lines reveal that the black population was not the enemy; they were not angry, and they were not trying to "kill all the whiteys," as the Apartheid Government would have everyone believe. All they wanted was equality and their rights back.

"And then one day the neighbours came
They were curious to know about the smoke and flame
They stood around outside the wall
But of course there was nothing to be heard at all"

"Neighbours" refers to other countries who were looking into South Africa, who wanted to know what was going on and why. However, the last two lines of this excerpt show how the Apartheid Government again tried to cover it up.

"'My friends,' he said, 'We've reached our goal
The threat is under firm control
As long as peace and order reign
I'll be damned if I can see a reason to explain
Why the fear and the fire and the guns remain'"

These six lines again refer to one or possibly many of the Apartheid Presidents, and how they didn't care how much violence and killing was going on behind the scenes, as long as "peace and order" reigned amongst the white population.

I apologise sincerely for this incredibly long "Interesting Info" section, but I feel that this needs to be out there.

This is one of my favourite songs ever, and one that really makes me proud to be a South African.

Answer: Neil Young

"Let's Impeach The President" came off Neil Young's 2006 album "Living With War," which was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best rock album of the year."

This is a modern protest piece. The song basically lists various reasons why Young (and many others) believe that George W. Bush be impeached, listing reasons such as the Iraqi War, the economic problems of the USA, the tapping into of citizens' telephones, the "sloppy" Government policy after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and many other reasons.

Answer: Holiday

"Holiday" was the third single released off Green Day's 2004 album "American Idiot." Like many of the tracks on the album, it contains political commentary, and is considered by many to be a protest song.

The most popular part of the song is the spoken section:

"Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!"

This makes reference to Nazi Germany with "Sieg Heil," George W. Bush and France refusing to take any part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In true Bono style, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong often introduces this song during concerts with the band's political agenda, and why they wrote the song.

Thanks for playing. I hope you enjoyed it! I would appreciate all your comments and constructive criticisms very much! Cheers :)