Hit songs written to protest something are often quite clear at the time. They should be so now, when everyone has access to what's going on in the news. Or maybe not, considering the astonishing number of people who don't keep up with news. But even so, the poetic lyrics of protest songs that become classics can be confusing 40, 50, or 60 years later. When I saw this list, I immediately opened it to see if I knew the meaning behind all of them. After all, I am old and remember when these songs were new. Alas, I had missed the mark on two of them, and there was one song I'd never heard of.
Take the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth." The list writer said that many young people today assume it's a Vietnam War protest song. I thought, no, listen to the lyrics. It's about police brutality against those who protested against the war. But I found out that was wrong as well. Turns out it was a local issue in Los Angeles, and I was a kid in Kentucky. In fact, geography explains all my failures in this subject. See if you can recall the meaning of five old protest songs at Cracked.
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Only got the 55 one.
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