Songs About The Civil Rights Movement

Anybody who knows me well (mostly my friends) knows that I have a love for music. I believe it is the best way to express yourself, your emotions, and your thoughts. You can hear and feel the emotion behind the lyrics the person sings and how they sing it.

After Victoria and Ms. Andrews have shown us two songs about the Civil Rights Movement, I felt inspired to write this post.

As I searched the internet, I found a list of top 10 songs about the Civil Rights Movement:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165627/top-ten-civil-rights-songs

I have listened to most of the songs, and they are wonderful. Some of the videos do not work, so I recommend finding them on YouTube.

I managed to find a video of Bob Dylan performing "The Times They Are A-Changin". It is one of the videos that do not work in the link:

"This was definitely a song with a purpose...The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time," Dylan said. He wanted to write a song that was an anthem of change for the moment. The song was supposedly politically out of date almost as soon as it was written, but Dylan released it anyway.

I also happen to be a big Beatles fan and proud of it. However, I did not know that the song "Blackbird" was about the Civil Rights Movement, which was an interesting find:

Paul McCartney himself stated in an interview that it was about the Civil Rights Movement. He was inspired to write it while he was in Scotland as a reaction to racial tensions rising in the U.S.

 "I remembered this whole idea of 'you were only waiting for this moment to arise' was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic," Paul recalled.

Near the end of his performance of "Blackbird" during his solo acoustic set in the Driving USA Tour, a young black woman sang the final lyrics, "You were only waiting for this moment to arrive, Blackbird fly...", and the program went to commercial.

For anyone who does not know, "bird" is British slang for girl, meaning"blackbird" is a synonym for "black girl".

Although it was not written about the Civil Rights Movement, I feel that "Let It Be" was a good song to have listened to at the time, to instill hope.

Anyways, here is my extra little contribution to things relating to the Civil Rights Movement. I hope you enjoy the songs!

Peace & Love


References:

The Times They Are a-Changin' (song):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_They_Are_a-Changin%27_(song)

Blackbird (Beatles song):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(Beatles_song)