The Top 5 Protest Songs for 4th of July

As the 4^th of July approaches, you begin to see a ton of articles and blog posts talking about the greatest patriotic songs to listen to on Independence Day. While I like a good patriotic ditty as much as the next guy, it only takes a brief reading of the Founding Fathers to know that blind patriotism and nationalistic jingoism isn't what they were about. With quotes like "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them", it's very likely that Thomas Jefferson would be much more likely to enjoy Bob Dylan than Francis Scott Key. So in honor of our founding fathers, who knew that true patriotism came in the form of questioning your government daily, we present the Five Best Protest Songs ever written.

"Masters of War" by Bob Dylan: While "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Times They are a Changin" are Dylan's most famous protest songs, "Masters of War" is his most scathing. A fiery indictment of the military buildup that eventually led to the Vietnam War, Dylan takes direct aim at the military industrialists who profit from death. "You that never done nothin' but build to destroy/You play with my world like it's your little toy/You put a gun in my hand and you hide from my eyes/And you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly."

"Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen: Strangely, you often see this song on the lists of best patriotic songs, apparently written by people who have never actually read the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen's biggest hit. The song is a clever indictment of both the process of luring the poor and vulnerable to join up and of the treatment these people receive upon returning home. The song starts out with a young man who "got in a little hometown jam/So they put a rifle in my hands/Sent me off to Vietnam/to go and kill the yellow man" and ends up with the same man jobless and downtrodden after the war is over. "Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/out by the gas fires of the refinery/I'm ten years down the road/Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go."

"Fortunate Son" by Credence Clearwater Revival: If there was ever a perfect protest song, John Fogerty and company might have created it with "Fortunate Son." Another song born out of the Vietnam war, this one starts out with a bang, warning against the false patriotism of the rich. "Some folks are born/ made to wave the flag/ they're red white and blue/but when the band plays Hail to the Chief/they'll point the cannon at you." The chorus makes it perfectly clear who the song is aimed at by saying "It ain't me/it ain't me/I ain't no millionaire's son/it ain't me/it ain't me/I ain't no fortunate one."

"Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" by John Prine: The best protest songs are timeless. Even though they're written about one era, their message can be applied to other times as well. After 9/11, when every SUV in America seemed to have one or more flag decals on it, I thought about this Vietnam era song often. In it, John Prine finds a plastic flag sticker "while digesting Reader's Digest/in the back of the dirty book store." He immediately runs out and places it on his car, saying "if I could see old Betsy Ross/I'd tell her how good I feel." Unfortunately, Prine's character feels so good that he "got my window shield so full of flags I couldn't see/so I ran my car upside a curb and right into a tree." He admits to a good deal of surprise when "the man standing at the Pearly Gates said/your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore/it's too overcrowded from your dirty little war/Jesus don't like killin'/no matter what the reasons for."

"Gulf War Song" by Moxy Fruvous: This is the only song in this list not to be written during or about Vietnam. But this, like those, has stood up well to time. Written during the first Gulf War in 1991, it echoes almost all of the protests during the second one. "Fighters for Texaco/fighters for power/fighters for longer turns in the shower/don't tell me I can't fight or I'll punch out your lights/and history seems to agree/that I would fight you for me/that us would fight them for we."

Do you have a favorite protest song? If you do, drop me a comment below so I can check it out.