Music Library: Protest Music

Strange Fruit

Lyrics by Abel Meeropol
Sung by Billy Holiday
 

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather
For the wind to suck
For the sun to rot
For the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

My Country 'Tis of Thee
(Abolitionist version)

A.G. Duncan

My country,' tis of thee,
Stronghold of slavery,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Where men man’s rights deride,
From every mountainside
Thy deeds shall ring!

My native country, thee,
Where all men are born free,
If white’s their skin;
I love thy hills and dales,
Thy mounts and pleasant vales;
But hate thy negro sales,
As foulest sin.

Let wailing swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
The black man’s wrong;
Let every tongue awake;
Let bond and free partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father’s God! to thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing;
Soon may our land be bright,
With holy freedom’s right,
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King.

It comes, the joyful day,
When tyranny’s proud sway,
Stern as the grave,
Shall to the ground be hurl’d,
And freedom’s flag, unfurl’d,
Shall wave throughout the world,
O’er every slave.

Trump of glad jubilee!
Echo o’er land and sea
Freedom for all.
Let the glad tidings fly,
And every tribe reply,
“Glory to God on high,”
At Slavery’s fall.

Mississippi Goddam
Nina Simone

The name of this tune is Mississippi goddam
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying 'Go slow!'

But that's just the trouble
'Do it slow'
Washing the windows
'Do it slow'
Picking the cotton
'Do it slow'
You're just plain rotten
'Do it slow'
You're too damn lazy
'Do it slow'
The thinking's crazy
'Do it slow'
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin'

Picket lines
School boycots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
For my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying 'Go slow!'
'Go slow!'

But that's just the trouble
'Do it slow'
Desegregation
'Do it slow'
Mass participation
'Do it slow'
Reunification
'Do it slow'
Do things gradually
'Do it slow'
But bring more tragedy
'Do it slow'
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam, that's it

B.Y.O.B.
System of a Down

Why do they always send the poor?

Barbarisms by barbaras
With pointed heels
Victorious victorious kneel
For brand new spankin' deals

Marching forward hypocritic and
Hypnotic computers
You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth

Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

Kneeling roses disappearing into
Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox stealing
Our intentions

Hangers sitting dripped in oil
Crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth

Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

Blast off!
It's party time!
And we don't live in a fascist nation!
Blast off!
It's party time!
And where the f**k are you?

Where the f**k are you?
Where the f**k are you?

Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?

Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?

Kneeling roses disappearing into
Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into fort knox stealing
Our intentions

Hangers sitting dripped in oil
Crying freedom
Handed to obsoletion,
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth

Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sun

Where the f**k are you?
Where the f**k are you?

Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?

Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
They always send the poor!
They always send the poor!

You’re One Day Old and No Damn Good

Hush little babe, don't be forlorn
Though you were lynched before you were born
Your skin is black so it's understood
Though you're one day old you're no damn good

No hush my babe, you're right to squawk
Your skin will creep before you can walk
You live just as long as some people think you should
When you're one day old and no damn good

Some day you may be President
You'll have a White house for your residence
So dry your tears, don't you frown
The rope and the whip can't keep you down

This nightmare, babe, can't last the night
We'll end it soon, the black and the white
We'll mark its grave with a cross of wood
Saying, One day old and no damn good