Looking through my CD collection I noticed a few songs with libertarian lyrics/theme. Thought I would post a few and encourage people to post a few of their own.
Legal Tender by The B52s
"Gangster presidents" are making "prices go through the roof"!
I'm Paying Taxes, What Am I buying? by James Brown and The J.Bs
Self explanatory.
Don't own any Beatles but:
Taxman by The Beatles
Deserves a mention.
Just a few, anybody want to contribute?
(Sorry if anything comes out as Mary Poppins, I was using this thread as a template and I might have made a bad click)
Not necessarily libertarian, but he hated the USSR!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfzGLWv8vxM
The Anarch is to the Anarchist what the Monarch is to the Monarchist. -Ernst Jünger
This one by Pete Seeger is really cool--"Andorra". Can't get it out of my head :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2yKjobBt8k
I posted this in one of the low content threads. It's a dubstep song by Porter Robinson featuring Jeff Riggenbach reading from For A New Liberty.
Well, another libertarian music thread (the 3rd one thus far?). One thing I need to know about these threads is should the entire band have a libertarian-ish base, or just a few pop songs easily accessible by the mainstream/casual radio listener? On a whole I could say Crass, Discharge, and tons of other anarcho-punk bands have rather libertarian lyrics (if they aren't bitching about capitalism), and more well known bands on a whole like Rush (2112, Anthem, Trees, etc.), as well as plenty of folk music.
Most libertarian punk song?
You talk about your revolution, well, that's fine But what are you going to be doing come the time? Are you going to be the big man with the tommy-gun? Will you talk of freedom when the blood begins to run? Well, freedom has no value if violence is the price Don't want your revolution, I want anarchy and peace You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool You speak of liberation and when the people rule Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be? Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me But what about those people who don't want your new restrictions? Those that disagree with you and have their own convictions? You say they've got it wrong because they don't agree with you So when the revolution comes you'll have to run them through You say that revolution will bring freedom for us all Well freedom just ain't freedom when your back's against the wall You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool You speak of liberation and when the people rule Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be? Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me Will you indoctrinate the masses to serve your new regime? And simply do away with those whose views are too extreme? Transportation details could be left to British rail Where Zyklon B succeeded, North Sea Gas will fail It's just the same old story of man destroying man We've got to look for other answers to the problems of this land You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool You speak of liberation and when the people rule Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be? Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me Vive la revolution, people of the world unite Stand up men of courage, it's your job to fight It all seems very easy, this revolution game But when you start to really play things won't be quite the same Your intellectual theories on how it's going to be Don't seem to take into account the true reality Cos the truth of what you're saying, as you sit there sipping beer Is pain and death and suffering, but of course you wouldn't care You're far too much of a man for that, if Mao did it so can you What's the freedom of us all against the suffering of the few? That's the kind of self-deception that killed ten million jews Just the same false logic that all power-mongers use So don't think you can fool me with your political tricks Political right, political left, you can keep your politics Government is government and all government is force Left or right, right or left, it takes the same old course Oppression and restriction, regulation, rule and law The seizure of that power is all your revolution's for You romanticise your heroes, quote from Marx and Mao Well their ideas of freedom are just oppression now Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated Nothing's really different cos all government's the same They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated Nothing's really different cos all government's the same They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game There's nothing that you offer but a dream of last years hero The truth of revolution, brother................... is year zero.
I might like this band except that they have a song where it goes "Do they owe us a living? OF COURSE THE FUCKING DO!"
The sense of entitlement makes me cringe.
Depends how you take it. It's like how someone says "I have a right to health care" and someone else says "I have a right to bare arms". One is a sense of entitlement, and the other is a sense of not being restricted in the act of doing so. Seems there has been a line or two from Flux of Pink Indians and Crucifix that had some sense of "someone should do something", or that "we need to make a change", etc., and just had some sense of collective authority to it. Like there's some social problem so we must act blah blah. Anyway...
The living that is owed to me I'm never going to get They've buggered this old world up Up to their necks in debt
Relate this to our own government's debt and the rise of inflation? Do they owe us a living? Well, they surely don't owe us a killing.
Thank you so much for your post. __________________ Watch Hugo Online Free
Bert: Well, another libertarian music thread (the 3rd one thus far?). One thing I need to know about these threads is should the entire band have a libertarian-ish base, or just a few pop songs easily accessible by the mainstream/casual radio listener?
Well, another libertarian music thread (the 3rd one thus far?). One thing I need to know about these threads is should the entire band have a libertarian-ish base, or just a few pop songs easily accessible by the mainstream/casual radio listener?
Any songs with libertarian lyrics or implications I suppose.
I'll be the guy that posts the metal song.
Revocation - Dismantle the Dictator
The corpse master presides Over congregation zombified, Indoctrinating the populace. A military nation. Upon the eve of war. Inflicts retaliation. On enemies in distant shores. Gripped by an iron hand. Military industrial. Exterminating the dissident voice. A military nation. Upon the eve of war. Inflicts retaliation. On enemies in distant shores. The fog of propaganda. Instilled across generations. Inhibits thought, Sapping vital motivations. Proliferation instead of disarmament. Destined to fail, meltdown is imminent. Overlord overthrown. (Overlord overthrown.) A challenge to rise from the rhetoric, (Overlord overthrown.) Dismantle dictators and rancorous politics
Bert, good luck trying to interpret Crass as an AnCap band. Not only did they take on things that would be considered "cultural Marxism" here (like anarcha-feminism) they hated private defense. Listen to Securicor if you don't remember.
Jargon: Not necessarily libertarian, but he hated the USSR!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfzGLWv8vxM
Each time I listen to it I think how greatly this song expresses the spirit of totalitarianism. Englisch translation (not the best one. I corrected it a little but it is still hard to preserve the original meaning since several lines in Russian are ambigious.)
Bound by one chain Collective responsibility smears like soot I hold somebody's hand but feel elbow I seek for eyes but feel look There asses are higher than heads Behind red dawn is pink setting Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Here are weak joints but big space Here are broken memberships, from them columns are made Here is one type of words for kitchen and another for streets Here eagles are deserted for broiler chickens And even when I'm kissing I follow example of Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Bound by one chain, tied with one aim One can believe even in lack of belief One can be busy even in absence of business Poor people pray, pray that Their poorness is ensured Here one can play tuba with yourself But you can play just sound off And if there are people that come to you There will be people that will come after you That like others are Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Here women look for but find only old age Here yardstick of work is deemed to be tiredness Here aren't scoundrels in rooms trimmed with leather Here seniors are similar to the subordinates And must be tired no less than the latter of being Bound by one chain, tied with one aim Bound by one chain
Well, it's not like they are discussing theory here. The line "I'm a private in a private army" - Blackwater-esque? Well, I like a lot of feminist ideas and I've written a lot of my own stuff in support of feminist views and beliefs (at the same time I've got into some debates with feminists over privilege and raunch feminism - those involved in the queer culture movement are damn annoying).
From their song Where Next Columbus?
"Marx had an idea from the confusion of his head Then there were a thousand more waiting to be led The books are sold, the quotes are bought You learn them well and then you're caught"
Don't get me wrong. I love Crass. And I don't think they were Marxist at all, as most Anarchists aren't. I wouldn't ascribe any theory to them that they don't ascribe to themselves. They were just Crass.
Next Mises Daily - Austrian Analysis of Crass.
Since we're already on the topic of Crass, ever heard of The Apostles?
Haven't heard of them. Same scene as Crass?
Aren't Crass literal communists (as in they live/ lived in a self described commune), or at the very least were in the 70's and 80's?
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
In that sense, yes. Penny Rimbaud still lives at said commune.
Also weren't they pacifists? If so I guess that could be a political label you could give them. They kind of remind me of like a punk version of a Tolstoyan type of outlook. Been forever since I listened to them though and I think I only own/owned Penis Envy.
Same scene, and extremely under rated. Put out more material than all the other anarcho bands and kept releasing material up into the early 90's (of which they reformed and recorded a proper sounding studio album under the name Unit). They recorded a demo tape called Libertarian Propaganda in 82, but some of their songs had anarcho-syndicalist lyrics. Musically in my opinion they were a lot better, more experimental and didn't fall into the typical sounding anarcho-punk paradigm (Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, The Alternative, The Mob, etc.)
From reading interviews with them (and one of the inserts of an EP I have of theirs) they seemed to not really care about the scene at the time. They were more politically involved, but felt the punk movement itself was sort of full of shit. The Wiki page on them isn't bad.
I'll be sure to check them out. Thanks.
I tried to decipher the lyrics from their song Libertarian Youth (on The Acts of the Apostles - 1986, and Smash the Spectacle EP - 1984). Had to listen to both versions to figure it out.
Your body is a gift to the nation The result of a man and a woman's frustration Your taught to believe the unbelievable Your taught to accept the unacceptable The lies your told are painted as true Thought and questions won't come from you A school of thought is a school of the mind Self realization is not for your kind In the stream you swim, in the stream they set And it is yourself, and they make you forget They train you for work, they teach you a trade One of the many willing servants they've made We're the factory product for the office elite Don't attack one another (...) If you protest they'll lock you away Though you only feel anger because they made you that way Is it surprising that you salute the nation When you are wide aware of the degradation? You're a living a crime by obeying the law Have you ever thought why and what it is for? It's for breaking! You work for the nation until you die While they just stole it, ever wonder why? Your body is useless, it now lays dead All because you're so easily led Did you ever possess a thought inside your head? Open up the floodgates, paint us black and red Use your own head, use your own head, use your own head It's your life, live it
A couple from Mr. Jordan:
Metal is great. I think someone somewhere mention Metallica's song "Don't Tread on Me." I've read somewhere on the internet that James Hetfield is a libertarian, but who knows.
I dabble with songwriting myself. I love rock n' roll. I thought I would shamelessly share one of my own songs, "Economic Stimulus Blues." You can listen to and download it for free here. It's track # 7 on my album.
I haven't heard the Kinks mentioned yet, and I'm a huge fan. I was somewhat surprised to hear the libertarian tone of many of their songs. Although, I don't know for sure what Ray Davies' political/economic leanings are. Check out the "Muswell Hillbillies" album. A snippet from the lead track, "20th Century Man":
I was born in a welfare state
Fueled by beauracracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy
Got no liberty
'Cause the 20th century people
Took it all away from me
And they were saying that back in 1971 England; sheesh, not much has changed. Other good anti-state songs on the album include "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" , "Here Come the People in Grey", and "Uncle Son." You could also check out "Brainwashed" from the Kinks album Arthur, and "Gotta Be Free" from the Lola vs. Powerman album.
Derek Webb has a great song, "Savior on Capital Hill" on his album The Ringing Bell. May not be strictly libertarian, but I heard that he endorsed Ron Paul.
I'm sure there are plenty of good punk songs that are anti-state; "God Save the Queen" from the Sex Pistols comes to mind. Although, I suspect much of the punk movement tends more toward socialism than free markets.
Most of the stuff from Nashville Pussy. Ain't Your Business "... that badge doesn't make you the boss...", The Late Great USA "...back in the land of worthless cash and non-stop cops..."... tracks can be heard on http://www.nashvillepussy.com/home since there's very little on YouTube.
And if you happen to see one of their ultra-rare "Jesus on Motorcycle" t-shirts give me a shout.