Find the songs that inspire you to change the world.
What is the connection between music and social movements? Consider Taylor Swift’s support of LGBTQ activism in “You Need to Calm Down”:
Why are you mad?
When you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)
Sunshine on the street at the parade
But you would rather be in the dark ages
Making that sign, must’ve taken all night.
These lyrics do more than affirm the artist’s commitment to equality: They place Taylor Swift in the middle of a Pride parade with her fellow Swifties, throwing sass at any counter protesters.
On the other side of the world, nearly a half-century earlier, consider the remarkable story of Sixto Rodriguez, an itinerant Detroit musician. The documentary Searching for Sugar Man tells how his folk songs from the 1970s were bootlegged and smuggled into South Africa in the 1980s, contributing to anti-apartheid protest culture.
Music is integral to politics
Perhaps more than any other subject, social movements give us the opportunity to explore the way that music itself becomes part of the fabric of how ordinary citizens participate in political life.
For social movements to succeed, they need to offer a vision of a better future as well as a sense of history. Also needed: a sense of shared identity with fellow activists, along with the motivation to mobilize and sustain that mobilization. Music can reflect the agendas of social movements and the frustration of citizens engaged in struggle against their government.
Kelly Clancy’s 2024 book Democracy: A Love Letter (and a guide for everyone fighting to save it) explores the evolutionary steps in social movements: how we envision them, build them, mobilize, and sustain them. Corresponding to each chapter is a playlist that uses the power of music to inspire people to unite for a common goal.
Below is a closer look at some of the songs and lyrics that give rhythm and voice to social movements past, present, and future. These playlists feature over 60 songs spanning nearly a century of music. Everyone should be able to find a tune that inspires them to change the world.
Music and social movements
The opening song on the first playlist is Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” originally a protest poem about lynching, which Holiday turned into “the first unmuted cry against racism” in Jim Crow’s America. The final playlist closes with a rendition of “We Shall Overcome” by Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, an adaptation of a gospel hymn that was popularized during the 1963 March on Washington. The experience of singing “We Shall Overcome” on the way to jail is recalled by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his final speech, delivered in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968.
Fast forward to the nationwide protests in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” grounds us in the contemporary struggle for a better, more equal, more just, and more accountable America. Understood alongside the Black Lives Matter movement and the legacy of dissent in communist Czechoslovakia, the songs featured on these playlists are more than earworms. They remind us that democracy is as much a way of life as it is an infrastructure of cries and appeals captured in the time, place, and music of an era. Take for example, “We Shall Overcome,” which unites the social movements of 1968 in the United States with Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution in 1989.
Political movements and activism
We find ourselves and our people through Nina Simone’s “Ain’t Got No / I Got Life,” and “Mississippi Goddam.” We mobilize with Fela Kuti (“Zombie,” a scathing attack on the military dictatorship of Nigeria in the 1970s). We galvanize for change with John Lydon of Public Image Ltd, who takes an Irish blessing – “May the road rise with you” – and weds it to the song’s chorus, “anger is an energy. ”
As the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) might have said, a little “good trouble” might just quicken the movement of a public eager for change. Guided by Lewis’ vision of civil rights and democratic reawakening, the playlist for Democracy: A Love Letter invites us to listen to his timeless words again:
[d]o not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.
A guide through each playlist:
We live in unsettled times – better buckle up!
“The Times They Are a-Changin,’” performed by Tracy Chapman: “Come senators, congressmen / please heed the call / Don’t stand in the doorway / Don’t block up the hall”
“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” performed by R.E.M.: “Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline”
“Good as Hell,” performed by Lizzo: “Woo child, tired of the bullshit / Go on, dust your shoulders off, keep it moving”
People need something to fight for.
“People Have the Power,” performed by Patti Smith: “I awakened to the cry / that the people have the power / to redeem the work of fools”
“Song 33,” performed by Noname: “We democratizin’ Amazon, we burn down borders / This a new vanguard”
“Fixed Positions,” performed by Andrew Bird: “Promise to resist until you die (until you die)”
Who is doing great work in your community? Can you join them?
“Run the World (Girls),” performed by Beyoncé: “My persuasion can build a nation / Endless power, with our love, we can devour”
“Nina Cried Power (feat. Mavis Staples),” performed by Hozier and Mavis Staples: “It’s not the song, it’s the singin’ / It’s the heaven of the human spirit ringin’ / It is the bringin’ of the line / It is the bearin’ of the lie / It’s not the wakin’, it’s the risin’”
“What’s Going On,” performed by Marvin Gaye: “Picket lines and picket signs / Don’t punish me with brutality / Talk to me / So you can see / What’s going on”
What resources do you have available? What kind of actions can your group take to get some quick wins?
“The Bigger Picture,” performed by Lil Baby: “It’s bigger than black and white / It’s a problem with the whole way of life / It can’t change overnight / But we gotta start somewhere / Might as well gon’ ‘head start here”
“Just A Girl,” performed by No Doubt: “Oh, I’m just a girl, take a good look at me / Just your typical prototype / Oh, I’ve had it up to here / Oh, am I making myself clear?”
“Listen to the Painters,” performed by The Ex: “We need filmers, and writers, dancers, musicians / Actors and sculptors, bakers, electricians / Thinkers and doctors, cyclists, and builders / Lovers, friends, and neighbors, and others / poets and painters”
How do you keep people showing up week after week? How do you sustain momentum?
“Mean (Taylor’s Version),” performed by Taylor Swift: “Someday, I’ll be big enough, so you can’t hit me / And all you’re ever gonna be is mean / Why you gotta be so mean?”
“I Will Survive – Single Version,” performed by Gloria Gaynor: “Did you think I’d lay down and die? / No, not I, I will survive / Long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive”
“One Love / People Get Ready,” performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers: “Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One love) / So when the Man comes, there will be no, no doom (One song) / Have pity on those whose chances grows thinner / There ain’t no hiding place from the Father of Creation, singing”
What do you need to know about America’s past in order to create a better future?
“Mississippi Goddam,” performed by Nina Simone: “Alabama’s gotten me so upset / Tennessee made me lose my rest / And everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn / This is a show tune but the show hasn’t been written for it, yet”
“Blowin’ In The Wind – Live,” performed by Sam Cooke: “Tell me, how many years can some people exist / Before they are allowed to be free / What I wanna know is / How many times can a man turn his head / Pretending that he just doesn’t see”
“Pride (In The Name Of Love),” performed by U2: “Early evening, April four / A shot rings out in the Memphis sky / Free at last, they took your life / They could not take your pride / In the name of love”
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Kelly Clancy holds a PhD in political science. An academic editor and consultant, her most recent book is Democracy: A Love Letter (Epilogue Publishing, 2024).
Jim Baker holds a PhD in geography and teaches undergraduate courses in global studies. A former record store manager, he is the owner of CitywalksNYC, providing culinary cartography tours of New York City.
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