I speak from experience when I say there’s nothing like a song to fill the void, feel the feels, and get whatever’s on your chest off your chest and out into the world gone wrong, as I’ve gleaned strength from so-called “protest” songs most of my life. Luckily, I’m not alone. With federal immigration agents crawling through the neighbourhoods, murdering US citizens and kidnapping children in the Twin Cities and all over Minnesota and beyond, songwriters have tapped into their talent, anger, artistry, and empathy, heard Minnesota’s cries for help, and responded. Suddenly, protest songs and songs of support for Minnesota are flying around like news updates and truth blasts you can dance and sing along to. Here are some that caught my heart and ears, with gratitude to all:
With everybody actually coming to Minnesota to lend songs and support, this stunning acoustic reworking of the hippie anthem “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” by the Marsh family band from South East England hits hard and heartfelt, like a poignant letter from a family friend you didn’t know you had or needed.
As this tremendous anthem and video ricocheted around the internet this week, poster after poster referred to The Boss as “my hero,” and ain’t that the truth. A balm to the exhausted masses, this one sounds like it came in one cathartic creative burst, no notes. You can feel Springsteen’s rage here, like he bottled it up and recorded it before it got away, spitting the words and all his pinched outrage, and now it’s down for posterity. As important a song as he’s ever written, as evidenced by how many singers are already covering it.
Speaking of heroes, Billy Bragg is no stranger to the streets he writes about on this, one of his all-time greatest anthems, roaring away on the historical crash-course that’s led to fascists occupying one of his favourite American cities with a voice that has never sounded stronger, wiser, fiercer. A song so good it will be sung at marches and union halls long after the goon squad has left.
Both “Streets of Minneapolis” and “City of Heroes” were written in a rush, and the urgency is everything. Songs that come straight from the heart and in the moment have an indelible timelessness to them, and this one, by St. Paul’s own superhero singer Lovejoy, comes with an immediacy that goes both soft and hard. Uplifting in a down time.
