On July 4th - Remember - This Land Is YOUR Land

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - "This Land Is Your Land" (Woody Guthrie cover) from Consequence of Sound on Vimeo.

Irritated by Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Woody Gutherie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" in 1940 and recorded it in 1944 yet it wasn't released until 1951. Performed by many artists, perhaps most notably by Pete Seeger, this song remains our premier anthem of Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. More about "This Land Is Your Land" including the missing verse and why it took so long to be released.

This Independence Day may we all recommit to our democracy by reclaiming it from the corruption of money both nationally and here in Virginia.

Tom Morello - "my job is to steel the backbone of people on the front lines...."

From the time I went to college in the late 60s, protest songs, especially those with roots in folk music and rock, have always spoken to a part of my conscience and heart. Like many of my generation, I still have vinyl recordings of Woody Gutherie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, CCR, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and others.

Today, one of the most persistent and angry of those voices is Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and The Nightwatchman. A stellar guitarist, Morello lends his talents and voice to help galvanize grassroots rallies supporting unions and those in poverty from Madison, Wisconsin to May Day in New York City. His recent album, World Wide Rebel Songs was selected as one of the best of 2011.

Here, Morello puts his amazing skills on display along side Bruce Springsteen as they bring new life and energy to "Ghost of Tom Joad" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert in 2009.

Harvard educated (political science) Morello could have gone a more traditional route, but he chose music, including pretty heavy rock and recently traditional folk music, to make a difference in causes for working people around the world. In this interview with Bill Moyers, Morello talks about his mission, message, and music... "my job is to steel the backbone of people on the front lines of social justice struggles and to put wind in the sails of those struggles...."

Bill Moyers celebrates protest songs.

Death to My Hometown

Bruce Springsteen has announced more dates in the Wrecking Ball Tour including September 14 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. This bird is accepting donations!!! Below is a live/rehearsal compilation (with Tom Morello) of the powerful "Death to My Hometown" placing blame squarely on the bankers and CEOs who sold out so many American towns (and would do it again and again):

 Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done 

Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well

Send the robber baron’s straight to hell

The greedy thieves that came around

And ate the flesh of everything they’ve found

Whose crimes have gone unpunished now

Walk the streets as free men now

Excellent: Springsteen's Political Voice

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball arrived on my porch earlier this week and I've finally had the opportunity to listen it multiple times, to ponder and to reflect upon the power of Bruce Springsteen's music and lyrics. Not since Darkness on the Edge of Town has Springsteen delivered such a powerful and angry commentary on the loss of the American Dream. While he doesn't delve into partisan politics, this is a political album that points a finger at the bankers and the powerful whose greed and avarice have left many Americans in an economic and emotional dustbin.

Springsteen pulls out all the stops in Wrecking Ball. There is his trademark rock as well as Biblical, gospel, Irish, and hip hop influences. While most of the songs carry his passion and outrage there are songs of a better tomorrow like the grittier version of "Land of Hope and Dreams." And he explores the mystery of love and friendship in "You've Got It."

Even the titles of many of the songs make Springsteen's disdain for the political and economic elite clear - "Shackeld and Drawn," "Death to My Hometown," "Rocky Ground," and "This Depression" just to name the most obvious. But his deepest passion and anger is found in lyrics that make it clear who Springsteen holds responsible for killing the hopes and dreams of so many. For example in "Shackled and Drawn" Springsteen laments -

Gambling man rolls the dice

Working man pays the bill

It's still fat and easy up on Banker's Hill

Up on Banker's Hill, the Party's going strong

Down here below we're shackled and drawn

In "Death to My Hometown" Springsteen holds the robber barons accountable -

They destroyed our families, factories

And they took our homes

They left our bodies in the plains

The vultures picked our bones

Other songs repeat the themes with different settings and musical styles, but among some there is a glimmer of hope and a call for individuals, communities, the nation to help one another. "Jack of All Trades," one of my personal favorites, especially when Tom Morello's guitar adds a bit of rage, lays the blame for our economic woes squarely on the "banker man," but reminds us of the resiliency of American families -

The hurricane blows, brings the hard rain

When the blue sky breaks

It feels like the world's gonna change

And we'll start caring for each other

Like Jesus said we might

I'm a jack of all trades, we'll be all right

In "We Take Care of Our Own" Springsteen expands on the notion of "caring for each other" to a national scale as he reminds us of all that the politicians in Washington are forgetting -

Where's the promise from sea

to shinning sea

Where's the promise from sea

to shinning sea

Wherever this flag is flown

Wherever this flag is flown

Wherever this flag is flown

We take care of our own

Check it out for yourself....

Springsteen's detractors (I guess there are a few dumb clucks) probably question his sincerity - after all he's obviously part of the 1%, in the video above playing to others of the 1% about the trials of those of us in the 99%. But Bruce Springsteen's heart and soul are clearly rooted in his working class family and upbringing. Powerful songs throughout his long, prolific career speak to day-to-day life and challenges faced by Americans trying to make it in life - "Racing in the Street," "The Promise," "Factory," "The River," "Youngstown,""The Ghost of Tom Joad,""American Skin," and many others. In Wrecking Ball Bruce Springsteen reminds us that life can be horribly unfair but that we all hope for a better future for ourselves and our children. In 2007's Magic, Bruce Springsteen reminded us that finding our national soul will be a "Long Walk Home." By helping one another, we will get there.