A recent tweet by The Gateway to 21^st Century Skills, an NEA-supported site that gathers educational resources online, asked a question that intrigued us: “Anyone have ways to incorporate events in Egypt and Middle East into different subject areas?”

Naturally, we thought about using songs! Freedom and protest songs have a rich history, and GreenBookofSongs.com® has catalogued hundreds of songs from Civil Rights, peace and other political movements that are relevant to Egypt’s fight for democracy. And of course, music is a great way to get students involved and bring subject matter to life.

We compiled the following list from a variety of Green Book categories, among them Freedom; Protest; Politics: Political Classics; and Politics: Social Injustice. Whether you’re using music as a background to discussion, connecting American history with the Middle East, or helping students learn to put their own thoughts into words, you’ll find something useful here.

1. Eyes On The Prize Mavis Staples; We’ll Never Turn Back (Anti/Epitaph)
2. (For God’s Sake) Give More Power To The People Chi-Lites; Greatest Hits (Epic)
3. Get Up, Stand Up Bob Marley & The Wailers; Songs Of Freedom (Tuff Gong)
4. Power To The People John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; Shaved Fish (Capitol)
5. Revolution Beatles; Hey Jude (Capitol)
6. Rhythm Nation Janet Jackson: Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (A&M)
7. Something In The Air Thunderclap Newman; ST/The Strawberry Statement (MCA)
8. Stand! Sly & The Family Stone; Greatest Hits (Epic)
9. Takin’ It To The Streets Doobie Brothers; Takin’ It To The Streets (Warner Bros.)
10. We Didn’t Start The Fire Billy Joel; Storm Front (Columbia)

If you’re teaching about Presidents Day, here are five songs that may help bring history alive. What student will forget James K. Polk after listening to They Might Be Giants?

1. All Across The Land [Abraham Lincoln] Jonathan Sprout; American Heroes (Sprout)
2. James K. Polk They Might Be Giants; Factory Showroom (Elektra)
3. Obama Song Michael Franti & Spearhead featuring SoliLLaquists Of Sound, Cherine Anderson & Anthony B; Single-Obama Song (Anti/Epitaph)
4. Roosevelt The Cry [Theodore Roosevelt] Oscar Brand; Presidential Campaign Songs-1789-1996 (Smithsonian Collection)
5. We Remember You, George Washington Children From N.Y.P.S. 24; Twelve Songs for All Year Long (Folkways)

Find more songs on this topic in the GreenBookofSongs.com® category Presidents.

Last month, we featured songs about civil rights leaders. This month, we honor Black History Month with this brief selection of songs from the Civil Rights movement itself. Each one helped strengthen and motivate those in the fight.

1. Keep Your Eyes On The Prize Pete Seeger; We Shall Overcome-Complete Carnegie Hall Concert (Columbia)
2. Move On Up Curtis Mayfield; Curtis (Rhino)
3. Oh, Freedom Joan Baez; How Sweet The Sound (Razor & Tie)
4. Say It Loud-I’m Black And I’m Proud-Pt. 1 James Brown; 20 All-Time Greatest Hits! (Universal Motown)
5. We Shall Not Be Moved Mavis Staples; We’ll Never Turn Back (Anti/Epitaph)
6. Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed On Freedom Sweet Honey In The Rock and James Horner; Freedom Song (Sony Classical)

For more songs on this subject, see GreenBookofSongs.com® category Politics: Civil Rights.

We honor Martin Luther King Day 2011 with these songs about the civil rights movement, and those who sacrificed so much for freedom.

1. Anne Braden Flobots; Fight With Tools (Universal Republic)
2. Change Is Gonna Come, A Sam Cooke; Portrait Of A Legend-1951-1964 (Abkco)
3. Everyday Angel Radney Foster; Another Way To Go (Dualtone)
4. He Was My Brother Simon & Garfunkel; Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. (Columbia)
5. Here Comes The Freedom Train Merle Haggard; Capitol Collectors Series-Merle Haggard (Capitol)
6. No Easy Walk To Freedom Peter, Paul & Mary; No Easy Walk To Freedom (Warner Bros.)

For more songs on this subject, see the GreenBookofSongs.com® category, Politics: Civil Rights.

We add here to other lists we’ve posted in previous years, in remembrance of 9/11 and all that was lost.

1. God Bless This Mess Sheryl Crow; Detours (A&M/Interscope)
2. Have You Forgotten? Darryl Worley; Have You Forgotten? (DreamWorks/SKG)
3. Him Lily Allen; It’s Not Me, It’s You (Capitol)
4. If I Had A Time Machine, That Would Be Fresh MC Lars; The Graduate (Horris)
5. You’re Missing Bruce Springsteen; The Rising (Columbia)

For more songs on this topic, see the GreenBookofSongs.com® categories Danger & Disaster: 9/11/2001 and War: Middle East.

A 5th Grade teacher whose school subscribes to GreenBookofSongs.com® asked us to suggest songs she could use when teaching about the post-Civil War period of Reconstruction. Her syllabus included the following discussion points:

1. Devastation in the South after the war, from different viewpoints
2. Government plans for Reconstruction
3. Segregation and discrimination (e.g., “Jim Crow” laws)
4. Sharecropping

This is not one of our easier assignments! But we were able to find a good selection of songs. See the Amazon.com widget at the end of this post to listen to audio clips.

Devastation in the South after the war, from different viewpoints

• An Old Unreconstructed Waylon Jennings. This folk tune vehemently expresses a Rebel soldier’s resentment of the side that defeated him.
• Hard Times Come Again No More Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Though written by Stephen Foster prior to the Civil War, the song provides an effective backdrop for a discussion of the poverty and loss experienced throughout the South at the war’s end.
• No More Auction Block For Me Sweet Honey In The Rock. This spiritual captures both the pain of the past and the hope for the future.

All three songs can be found on the album Songs Of The Civil War (Columbia).

Government plans for Reconstruction

Many teachers will enjoy Oscar Brand’s album Presidential Campaign Songs, 1789-1996 (Smithsonian Folkways). Songs relevant to a discussion of Reconstruction include:

• If The Johnnies Get Into Power. Northern suspicion of Southern politics is clear in this James Garfield campaign song.
• For Hayes And Wheeler, Too. Here too, Southern candidates are portrayed as hostile to the values of the Union.

Segregation and discrimination (e.g., “Jim Crow” laws)

Some songs in the GreenBookofSongs.com® category Prejudice may be too graphic or intense for younger grade levels. We suggested the following songs as appropriate for 5th Grade students.

• When Will I Get To Be Called A Man Big Bill Broonzy. This WW II-era song conveys the frustration of being a second-class citizen.
• I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free Nina Simone. Simone’s rendition of this emotionally powerful song is positive and Gospel-oriented.
• Alabama Blues JB Lenoir. This classic blues song describes how murderers of Black victims were set free by the state.
• Jim Crow Blues Leadbelly This is a general but age-appropriate protest of Jim Crow laws.

Sharecropping

• Pick A Bale Of Cotton Leadbelly. This staple of American folk music has a long history. It provides a musical backdrop for discussions of the sharecropping life.

Finally, here are two lesson plans on the Reconstruction period that teachers may find helpful:

• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/teachers/pdfs/segment7-1.pdf
• http://www.voicesacrosstime.org/come-all-ye/ti/2006/Song%20Activities/0405PekarWhittakerWorkSongs.html

Please share with us any songs you’ve used when teaching about this important period in American history!

Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas. The images of Americans calling for help from rooftops and flooded streets will stay with us forever.

In our post on this topic last year, we looked at songs from the personal, the political and the practical perspectives. This year, we list songs of rebuilding and renewal, of strength and hope. New Orleans — indeed, the entire Gulf Coast – will not be washed away.

1. How’s Your House Ian Hunter; ReDefine 8/29-C (NOMRF.org)
2. Let Your Light Shine R. Kelly; Single-Let Your Light Shine (Jive)
3. Poor Man’s Paradise Subdudes; Street Symphony (Narada)
4. Washed By The Water Will Hoge; Draw The Curtains (Rykodisc)
5. We Got Each Other (The Evacuation Song) Imagination Movers; Eight Feet (Walt Disney)

For all 64 songs on this topic, see GreenBookOfSongs.com® category Danger & Disaster: Hurricane Katrina.

Looking for a playlist to celebrate America’s birthday? Here are positive songs from various eras in our history. To find more, see the GreenBookofSongs.com® category Holidays: Fourth Of July.

1. American Child Phil Vassar; American Child (Arista)
2. Back In The U.S.A. Chuck Berry; Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits (Everest)
3. Better In The USA Glenn Frey; The Allnighter (MCA)
4. Chicken Fried Zac Brown Band; The Foundation (Atlantic/Home Grown/Big Picture)
5. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. John Cougar Mellencamp; Scarecrow (Riva)
6. This Is Worth Fighting For Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra; 4^th Of July-Living In America-C (Goldenlane)
7. You’re A Grand Old Flag Jon Peterson; George M. Cohan Tonight! (Sh-k-boom)

 C = Compilation

On Memorial Day, we honor those who have died for our country. We also think about the sacrifice of the loved ones left behind.

In their honor, the GreenBookofSongs.com® has compiled a playlist from its category of songs about Love: Love & War. Each is a story of love cut short. They are described below but not ranked — there is no way to compare the stories of soldiers who do not come home.

Three of these songs take the soldier’s point of view, in varying stages of their exit from life. The soldier in Tracy Lawrence’s “If I Don’t Make It Back” hasn’t yet gone to war, but he knows he may not return. On his last night out with friends, he tells them to  ”find someone good enough for Amy / Who will love her like I would have / If I don’t make it back.” His would-be best man is left to honor those last wishes.

Tim McGraw’s “If You’re Reading This” is the voice from beyond the grave; a soldier has left a letter to be opened by his pregnant wife and his parents  in the event of his death. He hopes to comfort them with his faith that in his mission and his God, and frees his wife to find love again: “There’s gonna come a day / When you move on and find someone else, and that’s okay…Know my soul is where my momma always prayed that it would go.”

It takes a close reading of David Gray’s “You’re The One I Love” (and a look at Gray’s own discussion of the song) to see the war theme, but this is a soldier’s prayer of love. As he lies dying on the battlefield, no sound other than “the bullets whispering gentle /  ’mongst the new green leaves,” he thinks of his girlfriend and sends out his love: “As the tracer glides / In its graceful arc / Send a little prayer out to ya / Cross the falling dark…You’re the one I love.”

Another three songs take a woman’s point of view. In Carrie Underwood’s “Just A Dream”, a bride arrives at church not for the wedding she has dreamed of, but for the funeral of her soldier, who is not coming home. “..They handed her a folded-up flag / And she held on to all she had left of him.” She is left wishing that this nightmare were only a dream.

The song “Travelin’ Soldier”, by the Dixie Chicks, tells a story of young love, forever unfulfilled. A lonely young man on his way to Vietnam asks a waitress if he can write to her, because he has no one else. And when he falls, she alone is left to mourn his loss: “And one name read, but nobody really cared / But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair.”

Finally, in “Silver Wings & Sweet Memories”, performed by the Statler Brothers, a woman raises a child alone, remembering throughout her life the young solider who died in battle. “To this day on her top shelf / There’s a flag folded three-cornered layin’ all by itself.” For her, as for all the families of fallen heroes, the war will never end.

We salute all the soldiers who will not come home from war, and the families who mourn them.

Months ago, we posted a song list in support of the families of coal miners. We’re reprinting it now, as mining families face another deadly accident, with hope that their loved ones will be brought home safely.

1. Aberfan Coal Tip Tragedy Thom Parrott; Neon Princess (Folkways)
2. Big Bad John Jimmy Dean; Greatest Hits (Columbia)
3. Dark As A Dungeon Johnny Cash; Essential Johnny Cash (Columbia)
4. Dying Miner Woody Guthrie; Struggle (Smithsonian Folkways)
5. Hard Working Miner Sarah Ogan Gunning; Harlan County USA-Songs Of The Coal Miner’s Struggle (Rounder)
6. Miner’s Life Weavers; Reunion-At Carnegie Hall-1963-#2 (Vanguard)
7. New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones) Bee Gees; Gold (Polydor)
8. You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive Patty Loveless; Mountain Soul (Epic)

Find more songs about miners in the GreenBookofSongs.com® category Mining.