What Are the Conservative Protest Anthems?

Ace of Spades HQ ^ | 12/02/2004 | Ace of Spades HQ

[Warhead W-88]

That Ukranian protest song got me thinking.

We all make fun of the painfully-earnest and stridently-liberal balladeers who fill us with so much excess stomache acid, but, hey, I'll be the one to admit it: I'm jealous.

Where's my protest anthem? Where's my catchy sing-a-long rock rebellion?

Sure, such songs don't really advance a philosophical position. They're the near-religious chants of the already-converted. But damnit, it gets kinda tedious just quoting Larry Kudlow and Deborah Orin all day. Why can't we occasionally just be able to sing our politics and maybe even groove to it? ...

The only real conservative protest anthems are only such if considered metaphorically, or loosely. There aren't too many songs with lyrics which explicitly champion conservatism.

The best you can find, really -- and this is either sad or pretty cool, depending on your taste -- is the sort of dunderheaded heavy metal screw-your-parents-and-teachers rock of the eighties. The actual specifics of the lyrics are usually pretty irrelevant to politics -- unless your politics is in fact fighting for your right to party -- but often just the attitude and a phrase in a chorus is close enough to an expression of the conservative discontent as to qualify as a bona fide political anthem.

And the song that I think is best example of this is Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It. Yeah, it's kinda silly, but that guitar and drum really kick, and the lyrics, actually, are pretty easily read as a conservative manifesto:

We've got the right to choose it There ain't no way we'll lose it This is our life, this is our song

We'll fight the powers that be, just don't pick our destiny, 'cause you don't know us, you don't belong

We're not gonna take it, no ain't gonna take it We're not gonna take it anymore

Oh you're so condescending Your gall is never-ending We don't want nothin', not a thing from you

Your life is trite and jaded Boring and confiscated If that's your best, your best won't do

We're RIGHT (Yeah!) We're FREE (Yeah!) We'll FIGHT (Yeah!) You'll see! (Yeahhhhh!)

If anyone can top that -- by a rock performer, not by Darryl Whorley, Tobey Keith, or Charlie Daniels -- I'd like to know about it.

More at Ace of Spades HQ.

[redneckerinBoston]

Excellent song as well. There are so many good country songs that could be used as our anthem, it's impossible to list them all. Furthermore, it would irritate the libs more than our listening to a bunch of rock music.

[t_skoz]

THE AMERICAN RUSE
( Words & music by MC5 )

They told you in school about freedom
But when you try to be free they never let ya
They said "it's easy , nothing to it"
And now the army's out to get ya
Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses
I'm sick and tired of paying these dues
And i'm finally getting hip to the American ruse


I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation

Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses
I'm sick and tired of paying these dues
And i'm sick to my guts of the American ruse
Phony stars, oh no! crummy cars, oh no!
Cheap guitars, oh no! Joe's primitive bar... nah!

Rock'em back, Sonic !

The way they pull you over it's suspicious
Yeah, for something that just ain't your fault
If you complain they're gonna get vicious
Kick in the teeth and charge you with assault
Yeah, but i can see the chickens coming home to roost
Young people everywhere are gonna cook their goose
Lots of kids are working to get rid of these blues
cause everybody's sick of the American ruse


Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !






Over And Over
( Fred Smith )

People talkin 'bout solutions, over and over
'Bout how we need a revolution, over and over
I was talking 'bout ecology, over and over
'Bout how we'll be saved by technology, over and over
While the cat next door spends all his time
Trying to think up new antisocial crimes

I said no, I said hang on a minute now
I set let me outta here
I said no, no, no

People talking revolution, over and over
About a mass execution, over and over
Well I was working in a factory, over and over
Just trying to make it satisfactory, over and over
But all these inclinations toward manic frustration
I want my vaccination against castration
Vietnam, what a sexy war
Uncle Sam's a pimp, wants us to be whores,

I said no, I said I can't take much more of this
You better let me outta here
I said no, no, no
Oh you see I need a release for my frustration
Oh don't you see I can't hold my aggravation
Oh...no, no, no, no

I see people dyin', over and over
Why don't I sit around crying, over and over
I see people taking, over and over
Why don't I sit around waiting, over and over

The cop on the street wants us down on our knees
The president says we've got to have peace
The other cat says we need our liberation
The hippies telling us we're in the love generation


I said whoa, I said hang on a minute now
This can't go on much longer
I said no, no, no

Over and over, over and over
Over and over, over and over







GOTTA KEEP MOVIN'
( Dennis Thompson )

Teachers, parents and politicians
They ridicule my wild ambitions
They say, "settle down son, live decently,
Or you'll rot in jail before your 23!"
They don't know their stuck in the past
Can't stop me now 'cause I'm movin' too fast

Presidents, priests and old ladies too
They'll swear on the Bible
what's best for you
Atom bombs, Vietnam, missiles on the moon
And they wonder why their kids are shootin'
drugs so soon
Young men fightin' for democracy
And sacrificed for mediocrity

I can't stay in one place for too long a time
I get stone bored, I go outta my mind
I'm here and I'm there and doncha know I'm free
Gotta keep movin' baby, you and me

People wakin' up, but they've just begun
To realize what needs to be done
But as for me I keep movin' on
The future's now, yesterday is gone
I never let nobody tell me what to do
And no matter what I'm gonna see things things through

probably not what you had in mind, but...

[t_skoz]

dude! don't forget to ping weegee and me, along with the rest of the R&R ping list! Go to weegee's home page, copy the graphic and the ping list, and go to town!

whoo! :-)

[RockinRight]

Ping!

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Yankee Doodle Dandy. ( Since we are such "country bumpkins!!)

LYRICS AND MIDI HERE!

[RobRoy]

When Newt was in town (Seattle) about a decade ago, I went downtown to greet him. I was standing next to a guy with a "pocket trumpet." We were facing a large "mob" of bussed in protesters. I asked him if he knew the tune to "All we are saying is give peace a chance." He didn't (must've been pretty young), so I hummed it a few times.

In no time our crowd was singing, "all we are saying, is give Newt a chance," with trumpet backing. It was actually pretty funny.

[GSWarrior]

Okie From Muskogee

[dead]

From his congressional testimony , Dee Snider, mocks Senator Al Gore and his bondage-seeking wife:

SENATOR GORE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

[NOTE: Earlier in the day, Al Gore had begun questioning both John Denver and Frank Zappa by telling them he was a big fan of their music. He later did the same thing to Courtney Love of Hole, and made an ass of himself when she asked him to name one song.]

MR. SNIDER. Excuse me. Are you going to tell me you are a big fan of my music as well?

SENATOR GORE. No, I am not a fan of your music. I am aware that Frank Zappa and John Denver cover quite a spectrum, and I do enjoy them both. I am not, however, a fan of Twisted Sister and I will readily say that. Mr. Snider, what is the name of your fan club?

MR. SNIDER. The fan club is called the SMF Fans of Twisted Sister.

SENATOR GORE. And what does "SMF" stand for when it is spelled out?

MR. SNIDER. It stands for the Sick Muther F*cking Fans of Twisted Sister.

SENATOR GORE. Is this a Christian group?

MR. SNIDER. I do not believe profanity has anything to do with Christianity, thank you.

SENATOR GORE. It is just an interesting choice. I was getting the impression from your presentation that you were a very wholesome kind of performer, and that is an interesting title for your fan club. You say your song "Under the Blade" is about surgery. Have you ever had surgery with your hands tied and your legs strapped?

MR. SNIDER. The song was written about my guitar player, Eddie Ojeda. He was having polyps removed from his throat and he was very fearful of this operation. And I said: Eddie, while you are in the hospital I am going to write a song for you. I said it was about the fear of operations. I think people imagine being helpless on a table, the bright light in their face, the blade up, who knows, dead, handicapped. There is a certain fear of hospitals. That is what, in my imagination, what I see the hospitals like.

SENATOR GORE. Is there a reference to the hospital in the song?

MR. SNIDER. No, there is not. But there is not a reference to a woman, sado-masochism, or--well, bondage, yes.

SENATOR GORE: There is a reference to someone whose hands are tied down and whose legs are strapped down, and he is going under the blade to be cut.

MR. SNIDER: Yes, there is.

SENATOR GORE:So it is not really a wild leap of the imagination to jump to the conclusion that the song is about something other than surgery or hospitals, neither of which are mentioned in the song?

MR. SNIDER: No, it is not a wild jump. And I think what I said at one part was that songs allow a person to put their own imagination, experiences, and dreams into the lyrics. People can interpret it in many ways. Ms. Gore was looking for sado-masochism and bondage and she found it.

[RockinRight]

Algore has always been an idiot.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Dee really put it to them. They were expecting a stupid foul mouthed idiot. He was not what they thought he was going to be.

John Denver really screwed them when he went on his rant about censorship. Dee had a new found respect for John Denver after that.

[latina4dubya]

Get Out of Cheney's House!

i just love thinking about that... during the Florida recount drama, "Get Outta' Cheney's House!" stands out like a beam of light... that and when the Cubans stormed the Democrats taking the recount behind closed doors!

were any Freepers involved in either of these events?

p.s. and can't forget SoreLoserman!

[Steel Wolf]

If no one has suggested the 'Team America' theme, then I must be the first South Park Republican on the thread. Our unit has this as an unofficial theme song, and I know that some Marines were blasting it over Civil Affairs speakers in Falluja.

'America: F^%$ Yeah!'

America...
America...
America, F%$# YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother f%$#ing day yeah,
America, F%$# YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, F%#$ YEAH!
@# #%$^ %^ !@##, !@# @#$% #$ $% %^&&
America, F%#$ YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow

F%#$ YEAH!

[latina4dubya]

my favorite is In America by Charlie Daniels:

Well the eagle's been flying slow and the flag's been flying low And a lot of people are saying that America's fixing to fall

But speaking just for me and some people from Tennessee We got a thing or two to tell you all

This lady may have stumbled but she ain't never fell And if the Russians don't believe that they can all go straight to hell

We're gonna put her feet back on the path of righteousness And then God bless America again

And you never did think that it ever would happen again In America, did you?

You never did think that we'd ever get together again Well we damn sure fooled you

We're walking real proud and we're talking real loud again in America

You never did think that it ever would happen again

From the sound up in Long Island out to San Francisco Bay And ev'ry thing that's in between them is our home

And we may have done a little bit of fighting amongst ourselves

But you outside people best leave us alone

Cause we'll all stick together and you can take that to the bank

That's the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks

You just go and lay your head on a Pittsburgh Steeler fan And I think you're gonna finally understand

And you never did think that it ever would happen again In America, did you?

You never did think that we'd ever get together again Well we damn sure fooled you

We're walking real proud and we're talking real loud again in America

You never did think that it ever would happen again

[RockinRight]

Dee is surprisingly articulate.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

There are a few that are much smarter than they appear.

Have you caught Alice Cooper's radio show yet. He is on for 5 hours on Mon. - Fri. He can come up with some real witty stuff. He cracks me up. I don't get to listen a lot, but when I do, he doesn't disappoint. Its called Nights with Alice Cooper. He does a Droopy Dog impression that was so good, I almost crashed the car laughing. Who would ever expect to hear Alice doing Droopy Dog!!

[BobS]

Skrewdriver - "Strikeforce"
Status Quo - "You're in the Army Now"
Humble Pie - "I Don't Need No Doctor"
Poco - "Good Feelin' to Know"
Tuff Darts - "Fun City"
Mojo Nixon - "You Can Dress 'em Up (But You Can't Take 'em Out)" LOL!

Melanie - "Brand New Key" - For guys who are with a woman who is in open-loop mode. She'll figure it out in a minute and laugh:)

[the invisib1e hand]

mojo nixon, what a character. I like "I hate banks."

"I'd Love to Change the World" -- Ten Years After...

"Everywhere is freaks and hairies, dykes and fairies, tell me, where is sanity?..."

[BobS]

"I kind of like, "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers" The left calls us rednecks so we need a good song!"

How about:

Romper Stomper - "Pullin On The Boots"
The Klansmen - "Fetch That Rope"

[BobS]

Mojo Nixon is great. Ask your date/wife if she like country music, then put him on and watch her climb a tree:):)

[Our man in washington]

Jonathan Edwards' "Sunshine" sounds like a conservative anthem to me, with a strong libertarian twinge. "He can't even run his own life, I'll be damned if he'll run mine" sums up the message I'd like to give people like Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, and Bill Clinton.

Anyway, the lyrics:

Sunshine go away today
I don't feel much like dancing
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
Don't know what he's asking

He tells me I'd better get in line
Can't hear what he's saying
When I grow up I'm going to make it mine
But these aren't dues I been paying

How much does it cost, I'll buy it
The time is all we've lost, I'll try it
But he can't even run his own life
I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

Sunshine go away today
I don't feel much like dancing
Some man's gone he's tried to run my life
Don't know what he's asking

Working starts to make me wonder where
The fruits of what I do are going
He says in love and war all is fair
But he's got cards he ain't showing

Sunshine come on back another day
I promise you I'll be singing
This old world, she's gonna turn around
Brand new bells'll be ringing