Songs Of Civil Rights & Protest / Various Songs Of Civil Rights & Protest / Various CD

A significant strand of American music, especially in the folk and blues arenas, relates to what came to be known as protest songs when opinions on a number of key social and political issues during the post-war era - civil rights, nuclear disarmament, industrial justice and more - found a unified voice in the musical protest movement. However, this was nothing new, and many of the songs associated with this era came from earlier decades, as blues singers chronicled experiences of racial prejudice, poor rural folk sang about the privations of the Depression, industrial workers railed against exploitation, and gospel singers sought solace in spirituals. This 50-track 2-CD set brings together a selection of recordings which, one way or another, relate to the idea of songs as a medium of protest and social and political commentary, with the later incarnations representing the early stirrings of the classic folk protest movement which crystallised in the early '60s in the hands of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others - one or two of their early recordings are included here. Many of the noted voices of protest are featured here - Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson, Josh White - along with folk artists who embraced the cause like Odetta, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte and many more, plus some of the more obscure but no less important recordings that set the tone and led the way for later artists. It's a fascinating and we hope inspiring collection, which tells many a story.

1. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit 2. Southern Sons - Go Down Moses 3. Leadbelly - The Bourgeois Blues 4. Josh White - Uncle Sam Says 5. Paul Robeson - Song Of Freedom 6. Pete Seeger ; The Almanac Singers - Dear Mr. President 7. Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land 8. Tom Glazer - We've Got A Plan (G.I. Joe And The C.I.O.) 9. Sir Lancelot - Atomic Energy 10. Mahalia Jackson - Amazing Grace 11. Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Coyal McMahan - I Shall Not Be Moved 12. Big Bill Broonzy - When Do I Get to Be Called a Man? 13. The Ramparts - The Death of Emmett Till Parts 1 ; 2 14. The Weavers - Which Side Are You On 15. Cisco Houston - The Great American Bum 16. Brother Will Hairston (Hurricane Of The Motor City) - The Alabama Bus Parts 1 ; 2 17. Nat King Cole - We Are Americans Too 18. Odetta - Spiritual Trilogy: Oh, Freedom, Come and Go With Me, I'm on My Way 19. The Caravans - We Are Soldiers In The Army 20. Oscar Brand - Fair And Free Elections 21. Joan Baez - All My Trials 22. Harry Belafonte - Oh Freedom 23. Sister Rosetta Tharpe - This Little Light Of Mine 24. Soul Stirrers - Free At Last 25. Bob Dylan - The Gospel Plow 26. Bob Miller - The Rich Man And The Poor Man 27. Paul Robeson - Joe Hill 28. Josh White - Defense Factory Blues 29. Dave McCarn - Cotton Mill Colic 30. Bob Hill - Pity The Downtrodden Landlord 31. Furry Lewis - Judge Harsh Blues 32. Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown And White 33. Southern Sons - Lift Every Voice And Sing 34. Laura Duncan - I've Got A Right 35. Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry - We Shall Be Free 36. Almanac Singers - We Shall Not Be Moved 37. Earl Robinson - The House I Live In 38. Pete Seeger - Talking Atom 39. Nina Simone - Brown Baby 40. Staple Singers - I've Been Scorned 41. Cisco Houston - Soup Song 42. Dave Van Ronk - Please See That My Grave Is Kept Clean Dave Van Ronk 43. Mahalia Jackson - Go Tell It On The Mountain 44. Sam Cooke - Steal Away 45. Odetta - If I Had A Hammer 46. Judy Collins - Wars of Germany 47. The Weavers - Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream 48. Kingston Trio - Where Have All the Flowers Gone? 49. Bob Dylan - Song To Woody 50. Guy Carawan - We Shall Overcome