The enduring culture and limits of political song

The connection between song and politics is well documented, but in recent years is said to be severed. This is not the case. The relationship between politics and song endures, reflecting and revivifying a culture of political struggle. In this essay, I survey political song, outlining how it is approached, before arguing for a tighter definition after working through the claim that all song is political. In doing so, I build a platform for discussion of songs by English singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson. For over 50 years, Rosselson’s songwriting has illuminated historical and topical events from a left-wing perspective, but he is also clear a song converts noone and changes nothing. To think otherwise misunderstands that songs are neither mobilisers or opiates, but an idiom for people to express their everyday lives and struggles. The essay concludes by assessing Rosselson’s insights on the power and limits of song

You can't do that: the Beatles, artistic freedom and censorship

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The Sound of Geopolitics:Popular Music and Political Rights

In respect of its subject matter, much popular music tends to be introspective and parochial. Its focus rarely falls upon international affairs and global politics. However, there are instances when popular music does engage with wider, political issues and even affects the relations between states. This article draws attention to some of these instances, from the recent imprisonment of Pussy Riot in Russia to Live 8 in 2005. It asks how and when music comes to engage with the geopolitics of human rights and what impact it might have