About the Playlists Page
This page will contain a list of all songs we listen to in the class and as well as links to any song videos we’ll be watching. Nearly all the songs will be available on our Spotify playlist. If the song is not on Spotify, I will provide a link to it below or, if necessary, on the Readings and Texts page. Sheet music is available on the Readings page.
Protest Music Spring 2026 Spotify playlist
list of all required songs
The below list and the Spotify playlist will be updated throughout the semester as they are assigned.
Course Info at a Glance
- Office Hours: MW 2:00 – 3:00
- Office Location: Bronstein Annex 202
- Protest Music s26 Quicklinks
- Week One
Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner” (1969)Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A” (1984) - Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.” (1982)
- Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.” (2018)
Week Two - Shakira & J. Lo’s Full Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show (2020)
- Sinead O’Connor’s SNL Performance of Bob Marley’s “War” (1992)
- Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car” (1988)
- Eminem, “Lose Yourself” (2002)
Week Three - Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” (1979) (video)
- Hozier, “Take Me to Church” (2013) (video)
- Brandi Carlile, “The Joke” (2018) (video)
- Janelle Monae, “Turntables” (2020) (video)
Week Four - Rhiannon Giddens, “At the Purchaser’s Option” (2017)
- Our Native Daughters (featuring Allison Russell), “Quasheba, Quasheba” (2019)
- Adia Victoria, “South Gotta Change” (2020)
- Mickey Guyton, “Black Like Me” (2020)
- Amythyst Kiah, “Black Myself” (2021)
- Kim and Reggie Harris, “Oh Freedom” (1997)
- Kim and Reggie Harris, “Follow the Drinking Gourd” (1997)
- Kim and Reggie Harris, “Now Let Me Fly” (1997)
- Kim and Reggie Harris, “Go Down Moses” (1997)
- Kim and Reggie Harris, “Deep River/Swing Low” (1997)
- Bernice Johnson Reagon (featuring Kim and Reggie Harris), “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep” (2007)
Week Five - Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1936)
- Josh White, “Strange Fruit” (1954)
- Nina Simone, “Strange Fruit” (1965)
- Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land” (1945)
- Bob Dylan, “Song to Woody” (1962)
- Woody Guthrie, “I Ain’t Got No Home in this World No More” (1938)
- Woody Guthrie, “Hard Travelin’” (1944)
- Woody Guthrie, “1913 Massacre” (1945)
- Woody Guthrie, “Talking Dust Bowl” (1940)
- Arlo Guthrie, “Deportees” (1974)
- Dolly Parton, “Deportees” (1980)
- Tish Hinojosa, “Deportees” (2013)
- Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, “This Land is Your Land” (2005)
- Gary Clark, Jr. , “This Land” (2019)
Week Six - Betty Mae Fykes, “This Little Light of Mine”
- Hollis Watkins, “Oh Freedom”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, “Go Tell It On The Mountain”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, “Wade In The Water”
- Voices Of Civil Rights Movement, “We Shall Overcome”
- SNCC Freedom Singer, Rutha Harris, “We Shall Not Be Moved”
- SNCC Freedom Singers, Cordell Reagon “Which Side Are You On?”
- SNCC Freedom Singers, Bertha Gober, “Oh Pritchett, Oh Kelly”
- SNCC Freedom Singers, Marshall Jones, “In The Mississippi River”
- SNCC Freedom Singers, Cordell Reagon “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”
- Pete Seeger, “We Shall Overcome” live (learned in the late 1940s, sang throughout the 50s, and this recording from 1963)
- Pete Seeger, “Talking Union” (1941)
- Pete Seeger, “Wasn’t that a Time” (1949)
- Pete Seeger, “If I Had a Hammer” (1949)
- Pete Seeger, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone” (1955)
- Pete Seeger, “Turn, Turn, Turn” (1959)
- Pete Seeger, “It Could Be a Wonderful World” (1962)
- Pete Seeger, “Guantanamera” (1963)
- Pete Seeger, “Little Boxes” (1963)
- Pete Seeger, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” (1967)
- Pete Seeger, “The Clearwater” (1971)
- Pete Seeger, “My Rainbow Race” (1971)
- Fannie Lou Hamer, “Woke Up This Morning”
- Fannie Lou Hamer, “This Little Like of Mine”
Week Seven - Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddam” (1964)
- Nina Simone, “Sinnerman” (1965)
- Nina Simone, “Four Women” (1966)
- Nina Simone, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free” (1967)
- Nina Simone, “Why? (The Kind of Love is Dead)” (1968)
- Nina Simone, “To Be Young Gifted and Black” (sung first at Harlem Cultural Festival, summer 1969)
- Hozier (featuring Mavis Staples), “Nina Cried Power” (2019)
Week Eight - Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963)
- Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changing” (1964)
- Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come” (1964)
- Bob Dylan, “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
- Many Anti-Vietnam and Counter-Culture Songs on Spotify Playlist Numbers 64-91
Week Nine: Children’s Music (for America250@SJU and Misher Festival) - Lead Belly, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (1940s)
- Lead Belly, “We’re in the Same Boat, Brother” (1940s)
- Pete Seeger, “It Could Be a Wonderful World” (1962)
- Nina Simone, “To Be Young Gifted and Black” (1968)
- Chris Pierce, “Young Black and Beautiful” (2021)
- James Brown, “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1968)
- Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” (1979)
- Jay-Z, “Hard Knock Life” (1998)
- Nappy Roots, “Good Day” (2008)
- Snoop Dog, “Affirmation Song” (2022), from Doggyland
- Mister Rogers with Officer Clemmons , “Sharing a Wading Pool” (1969)
- Mister Rogers with Officer Clemmons, “Sharing a Wading Pool” (1993; start 6:25)
- Mister Rogers with Jeff Erlanger, “It’s You I Like” (1981; song begins at 4:00)
- Mahalia Jackson with kids on Sesame Street, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (1969)
- Kermit the Frog, “It’s Not Easy Being Green” (1970)
- Nina Simone with kids on Sesame Street, “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” (1972)
- Sesame Street Kids, “We All Sing the Same Song” (1981)
- Jill Scott with various animals on Sesame Street, “We Are All Earthlings” (1990)
- Segi on Sesame Street, “I Love My Hair” (2010)
- Alastair Moock, “Go Pete Go (Grab Your Hammer)” (2020)
- Alastair Moock, “When I Get Bald” (2013)
- Alastair Moock, “Bright Side of Me” (2015)
- Alastair Moock, “Be a Pain” (2020)
Week Eleven: Indigenous People’s Songs - Buffy Saint Marie, “Universal Soldier” (1964)
- Peter LaFarge, “Ira Hayes” (1962)
- Peter LaFarge, “The Senecas: A Long as the Grass Shall Grow” (1963)
- Buffy Saint Marie, “Now that the Buffalo’s Gone” (1964)
- Buffy Saint Marie, “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying” (1966)
- Redbone, “We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee” (1972)
- Keith Secola, “This Land” (2006) [Ojibwa-language version of “This Land is Your Land”]
- Buffy Saint Marie, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (2013)
- Nataanii Means, “Genocide” (2013)
- StenJoddi featuring Joey Stylez, “Urban Nativez” (2016)
- Raye Zaragoza, “In the River: A Protest Song” (2016)
- Raye Zaragoza, “Fight Like a Girl” (2020)
Week Twelve: Conferences
Week Thirteen - The Members, “G.L.C.” (1979)
- X-Ray-Spex, “Oh Bondage Uo Yours!” (1977)
- Misty Roots, “Man Kind” (1978)
- Matumbi, “Black Civilisation” (1979)
- Elvis Costello & and the Attractions, “Goon Squad” (1979)
- Artists United Against Apartheid, “Sun City – Version II” (1985)
- Artists United Against Apartheid, “Revolutionary Situation” (1985)
- Artists United Against Apartheid, “The Struggle Continues” (1985)
- Artists United Against Apartheid, “Silver and Gold” (1985)
- U2, “Silver and Gold” (1988)
- The Stooges, “Search and Destroy” (1973)
- The Stooges, “Raw Power” (1973)
- The Damned, “Help” (1977)
- The Clash, “White Riot” (1977)
- The Clash, Hate & War” (1977)
- The Clash, “Cheat” (1977)
- Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the U.K.” (1977)
- Sex Pistols, “God Save the Queen” (1977)
- X-Ray-Spex, “Identity” (1978)
- X-Ray-Spex, “I am a Poseur” (1978)
- X-Ray-Spex, “I am a Cliché” (1977)
- X-Ray-Spex, “The Day the World Turned Day-Glo” (1978)
- Tom Robinson Band, “Up Against the Wall” (1978)
- Tom Robinson Band, “Better Decide Which Side You’re On” (1978)
- Sham 69, “Hey Little Rich Boy” (1978)
- Sham 69, “If the Kids are United” (1978)
- The Clash, “London Calling” (1979)
Week Fourteen: Riot Grrrl & Golden Age Hip-Hop - Bikini Kill, “Double Dare Ya” (1991)
- Bratmobile, “Love Thing” (1993)
- Bratmobile, “Cool Schmool” (1993)
- Bikini Kill, “Blood One” (1993)
- Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl” (1993)
- Heavens to Betsy, “Nothing Can Stop Me” (1994)
- Bikini Kill, “Bloody Ice Cream” (1996)
- The Sugarhill Gang (organized and produced by Sylvia Robinson), “Rapper’s Delight” (1979)
- Funky 4+1 (featuring Sha-Rock), “Rapping and Rocking in the House” (1979)
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, “The Message” (1982)
- Run D.M.C., “Hard Times” (1984)
- Run D.M.C., “King of Rock” (1985)
- Run D.M.C., “Proud to Be Black” (1986)
- ICE-T, “6 ‘N the Mornin’” (1987)
- N.W.A., “Straight Outta Compton” (1988)
- N.W.A., “Fuck the Police” (1988)
- Queen Latifah and Monie Love, “Ladies First” (1989)
- Public Enemy, “Fear of a Black Planet” (1990)
- Public Enemy, “Revolutionary Generation” (1990)
- Public Enemy, “Fight the Power” (1990)
- MC Lyte, “Cha Cha Cha” (1989)
- Sista Souljah, “The Hate That Hate Produced” (1991)
- Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.” (1993)
- Ms. Lauryn Hill, “Lost Ones” (1999)
Week 15: Songs of Love and Hope - Beyoncé (featuring Kendrick Lamar), “Freedom” (2016)
- Blind Boys of Alabama (featuring Solomon Burke), “None of Us are Free” (2007)
- Kae Tempest, “People’s Faces” (2019)
- Stevie Wonder, “Love’s in Need of Love Today” (1976)
- Big Freedia, “Explode” (2014)
- Lizzo, “About Damn Time” (2022)
- Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real, “Turn off the News (Build a Garden)” (2019)
- The Highwomen, “Crowded Table” (2019)
- Jon Batiste, “I NEED YOU” (2021)
- Matisyahu, “One Day” (2010)
- Mavis Staples, “You Are Not Alone” (2010)
- Bob Marley & The Wailers, “One Love / People Get Ready” (1977)