“Mama’s in the factory she ain’t got no shoes, Daddy’s in the ally, he’s looking for food, and I’m in the kitchen with the tombstone blues.“
This is the chorus from “Tombstone Blues”, a 1965 song by Bob Dylan, who is no less than one of the greatest lyricists and poets of all time.
The lyrics still have a great significance to today’s culture and so do many of his songs, especially anti-war songs about Vietnam that could easily be applied to the conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan in the earlier part of the decade.
He is one of the most influential artists of the baby-boomer generation and has shaped my convictions on social structure in more ways than I’m able to understand.
But while these songs are wonderful, I want a modern artist to speak about the problems affecting us now.
I am writing a story in the near future about the expansion of Folk as a genre and its expansion into the national scene. With great folk artists such as Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars and hundreds of others, you would think that one of them would pick up the banner of protest music.
I’m sure Occupy Wall Street protesters would be happy to have some sort of anthem to rally behind and spread a message lyrically. Or even the Tea Party, as long as it was country or had bad rhythm.
And not to be picky, but “American Idiot,” with its whinny ballads, isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Also, for the record, I love System of a Down but “Cigaro” doesn’t exactly get Ma and Pa on your side.
Between war, the poor, the rich, health care, gay marriage, the deficit, the debt, the European economic crisis, the Arab spring, nuclear weapons and terrorism, I think there are many topics that can be touched upon.
I don’t expect anyone to be the next Bob Dylan, but I think all of these new folk and indie bands could really step up and find a new audience in protest music
To their credit, certain bands have made songs protesting war with songs such as “Two Weeks From Twenty” by Yellowcard and “War Hero,” by Rise Against. These songs are not my normal style of music but have particular worth in their lyrics.
The songs capture a good sense of the strong animosity most Americans felt about the Iraq War when it was in its worst years, and more importantly the devastating effects soldiers experience coming home. Or worse — never making it home.
And even though I’m not partial to these types of music styles, I could still find great meaning in the songs because they spoke to social issues of the time. Now, I want to see the same from a genre I adore.
Bob Dylan eventually realized that playing protest music wasn’t going to stop the war so he stopped playing it (I wish he hadn’t because that was his best stuff) but it allowed people to express their frustration through his beautiful lyrics in ways they couldn’t do themselves.
Folk and indie music is all about tapping into the social problems of the day. Bands have been good at taking advantage of the emotional aspect, but the time has never been better to seize the political side.
William Hoffman is a freshman studying political science and a columnist for The Post. Email him at wh092010@ohiou.edu
