Freedom Songs

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Resources for musicians who want to spread libertarian messages with their music

Songs

Is your garage band looking for some songs to cover? Check out these songs with libertarian messages:

Rock

  • Support your local emperor by Blues Traveler : "It seems one's going to walk where he's willing to walk"
  • Free Will by Rush: "I will choose free will"
  • Closer to Free by Bodeans: "Everybody wants to live / How they wanna live"
  • www.pokerface.com/media/ram/video/patriot_md.htm Rather Die Than Be Your Slave by Pokerface (or www.pokerface.com/media/wax/video/patriot.htm Window Media Version)
  • Fortunate Son by Credence Clearwater Revival: "Some folks are born made to wave the flag/ Ooh, they're red, white and blue./ And when the band plays Hail to the chief/Ooh, they point the cannon at you/ It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son./It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one." Populist song against the war-mongering state and elites.
  • Free to Decide by the Cranberries: "I'll live as I choose, or I will not live at all."
  • The Fletcher Memorial Home by Pink Floyd: "Take all your overgrown infants away somewhere/And build them a home, a little place of their own./The Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings."

Hard Rock/Metal/Punk

  • Symphony of Destruction by MegaDeath: "Take a mortal man, and put him in control; watch him become a god, and watch the heads a'roll."
  • Cult of Personality by Living Colour: "Only you can set you free"
  • Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails: "I'd rather die than give you control."
  • We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance by Bad Religion: "To conquer was his goal / So he built his great empire / And he slaughtered his own kind / He died a confused man / Killed himself in his own mind." (covered by Sublime)
  • Don't tread on me by Metallica: "Never begins it, never, but once engaged/ Never surrenders, showing the fangs of rage."
  • Feel like I'm fixin to die by Chumbawamba: "Come on all you big strong me/ Uncle Sam needs your help again/ he got himself in a terrible jam/ way down yonder in desert-land"
  • War Pigs by Black Sabbath: "Politicians hide them selves away/ they only started the whole war/ Why should they go out to fight?/They leave that all to the poor"
  • Civil War by Guns 'N Roses: "...But still the wars go on as the years go by / With no love of God or human rights / 'Cause all these dreams are swept aside / by bloody hands of the hypnotized / Who carry the cross of homicide / And history bears the scars of our civil wars"
  • Fucking Hostile by Pantera "I'd bust the punks/That rape steal and murder/And leave you be/If you crossed me/I'd shake your hand/like a man/Not a god"
  • Eye Of The Beholder by Metallica "Independence Limited / Freedom of Choice / Choice Is Made for You My Friend / Freedom of Speech / Speech Is Words That They Will Bend / Freedom with Their Exception

Country

  • Mercy Now by Mary Gauthier: "People in power, well / They'll do anything to keep their crown / I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now."
  • "I used to be an american/and they told us we were free/but the only ones with rights were crooks/and the news heads on T.V." (From The American Zone by L. Neil Smith)

Dance

  • You Don't Know Me by Armand Van Helden: "You don't even know me / You say that I'm not living right /You don't understand me / So why do you judge my life?"

Uncategorized

  • Golden by Jill Scott: "I'm holdin' on to my freedom / can't take it from me / I was born in to it / it comes naturally"
  • The Lincolnshire Poacher a song about Poaching from a time and place were kill a deer to feed yourself or your family would bring death

Collections

  • LP selection of liberty songs
    • Disclaimer: Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the USA" is included on that list, but it is only a "Freedom song" in the most superficial sense. The song mentions "freedom" as a value, but does not provide any illustration of what freedom means, and it takes for granted the fact that Americans have "freedom". It is actually a patriotic song, and not a freedom song, but it is the least inspiring patriotic song that I've ever heard. I'll stick with the classics.
  • Song Lyrics for activists and protests from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty: Has a leftist and class-warfare tilt, but often focuses on the use of the state to rob and otherwise oppress.

Bands

Wikipedia maintains information about musical movements associated with political movements such as libertarianism.

Distribution

Radio stations may shy away from songs that are "too political" or have messages that management disagrees with. Other distribution channels exist:

  • Indy.tv: This is a program that helps music fans to find new music. Musicians post downloadable recordings on their websites, then notify a central database of these recordings. Fans use Indy to find songs that they are likely to appreciate. They do this by listening to songs on the database and rating them. New songs are recommended based on whether they received high ratings from fans who share tastes with the person using Indy.
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