Oh...wait...I get it.
You didn't ask for songs *of* social protest.
You asked for songs *about* social protest. Sorry.
We are the Folk Song Army
Everyone of us cares
We all hate poverty, war and injustice
Unlike the rest of you squares
There are lots of innocuous folk songs
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience
Why they don't even care if Jimmy crack corn
If you feel dissatisfaction
Strum your frustrations away
Some people may prefer action
But give me a folk song any old day
The tune doesn't have to be clever
And it don't matter if you put a couple-a extra syllables into a line
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English
And it don't even gotta rhyme - excuse me - rhyne
Remember the war against Franco
That's the kind where each of us belongs
Though he may have won all the battles
We had all the good songs
So join in the Folk Song Army
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice
Ready, aim, sing!
-Tom Lehrer, 1965
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"Neither can his Mind be thought to be in Tune,whose words do jarre; nor his reason In frame, whose sentence is preposterous..."
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