Good historical songs?

[MCpeePants]

Hey everyone. For my AP US History class, we have a historical song project. We have to pick a song that pertains to basically any period of time in American history and elaborate on the lyrics and discuss its significance.

The only constraints are that the lyrics actually have to sort of tell a story or give details. Also, the song can't be anything too well known and done before (We Didn't Start The Fire for instance).

I just want a song that has the needed lyrics and hopefully is actually a good song. Could anyone help me out?

[Jacaranda]

Ohio by CSNY would be a great one.

[el doctor]

They Might Be Giants have some good historical songs. I used "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" for a project last year.

[Sam]

Minutemen - The Punchline

[sr800bkBassist]

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan Bob Dylan.

try the song Hurricane. it's about a black boxer (Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter) framed for a mass murder in a bar, with a fixed trial and everything. true story, too.

one of the few people who can tell a simple story, with a plot and everything, and put it into a song and make it poetic.

[cb240]

Bob Dylan has quite a few candidates for this thread

[DrunksWithGuns]

Yeah, Mr. Bojangles is pretty historical if you ask me. How poverty effects the United States and such.

[mr_jackalope]

It's rather abstract and would potentially be pretty difficult, but Brian Wilson's SMiLE has a lot of history in its lyrics, especially in the first and third movements.

[Kayetan]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Sufjan Stevens yet. Maybe you could find a good one by him. Also, you could use Chocolate City by Parliament and discuss the history of chocolate cities.

[michaelthebrute]

i had this same project last year. I did Street Fighting Man from the Rolling Stones. In hindsight, there are probably better songs you could choose than that though. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is very historical, as its about the confederate soldiers during the end of the civil war.

[Bron-Yr-Aur]

"American Pie" by Don McLean, though that might be stretching it.

[Zmev]

Alice in Chains - Rooster

[Iai]

NWA - **** The Police

[Zorg]

Dead Souls by Joy Division?

[Iai]

For my AP US History class, we have a historical song project. We have to pick a song that pertains to basically any period of time in American history

ENGLISH BAND LOL
....and how the hell is he going to do a whole project on a song that only has 9 lines, anyway?

[mr_jackalope]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Sufjan Stevens yet. Maybe you could find a good one by him. Also, you could use Chocolate City by Parliament and discuss the history of chocolate cities.

...oh yeah. Sufjan would actually be pretty fantastic for this.

[Zorg]

....and how the hell is he going to do a whole project on a song that only has 9 lines, anyway?

Well I guess I should have read the OP. But hey the Conquistadors came to the Americas...ok I got nothing lol.

[cobert]

"Autobiography of a Nation" by Thursday is about how the United States was formed by murdering native americans.

I also agree with ""Rooster" and Bob Dylan.

[bwell]

Hey everyone. For my AP US History class, we have a historical song project. We have to pick a song that pertains to basically any period of time in American history and elaborate on the lyrics and discuss its significance.

The only constraints are that the lyrics actually have to sort of tell a story or give details. Also, the song can't be anything too well known and done before (We Didn't Start The Fire for instance).

I just want a song that has the needed lyrics and hopefully is actually a good song. Could anyone help me out?

oh **** my APUSH class has the same assignment

[WAK (while killing)]

Gordon Lightfoot did a song about a boat sinking in the great lakes, it was a pretty cool song. I think it was called "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" or some such.

[Aryeth]

Neil Young - Cortez the Killer

[MCpeePants]

Unfortunately, my teacher has had too many people do Ohio in the past; so that's out.

It also turns out that one of my friends claimed Hurricane before I could. Do you know any other Dylan songs that are equally interesting and historically relevant?

[Iai]

"Blowin' In The Wind" is obvious, but still a great song for your purpose.

You could also try Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come", which is also about racism in 150s America. That one's interesting because Aretha Franklin's cover later added an aspect of female empowerment to the song's original meaning, which you could touch upon.

Or what about Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"? That's definitely what I'd pick.

[Robert Crumb]

The Billie Holiday suggestion is good. I suggest Lou Reed's "Sick of You" if you want something more modern. 1980s.

[MCpeePants]

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll check out as many of the songs as I can. Though I may end up going with Manic Street Preachers - "Baby Elian". I'll keep looking in case I like any of the other songs better, but this one has the positives of already being in my library and being fairly easy to write about.

[YDload]

Try an Iron Maiden song, they love history and usually have at least one song per album that deals with some sort of battle or event like that.

[sr800bkBassist]

oooo
Manic Street Preachers- "Kevin Carter"
he won a pullitzer prize for a picture of a starving child, but killed himself because he felt guilty for offering no help to him. they wrote this song about him.

or even better, by the same band, "ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldf allapart" or "THe Intense Humming of Evil", the first is about a lot of different things about America and the UK, all in one song, and the latter is about the Holocaust. i guess the Holocaust doesn't count as American, but the first one does. great song too, especially the chorus.

[indy_undy]

Or what about Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"?

Exactly what I was thinking.

[Reaganista]

I'd do The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan.

[Against Miik!]

"American Pie" by Don McLean, though that might be stretching it.

We broke that song down in U.S. History one day. I forget the website that does it, but if you can find it, just about the every verse in that song is historical.

[Jude]

Hey everyone. For my AP US History class, we have a historical song project. We have to pick a song that pertains to basically any period of time in American history and elaborate on the lyrics and discuss its significance.

The only constraints are that the lyrics actually have to sort of tell a story or give details. Also, the song can't be anything too well known and done before (We Didn't Start The Fire for instance).

I just want a song that has the needed lyrics and hopefully is actually a good song. Could anyone help me out?
I was going to say We Didn't Start The Fire, but I have some other good ones too.

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Only a Pawn In Their Game, Blowin' in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin', basically any of Bob Dylan's early folk stuff. Plus the later song Hurricane, which rules.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down or Acadian Driftwood by The Band (although I guess the latter is more about Canada than the US)

[EonBlueApcolyps]

Ghost of Tom Joad could be for the Dust Bowl or some Woody Guthrie.

[Neodruid]

sailing to philadelphia by mark knopfler

its about the drawing of the mason-dixon line, which became the line between states with slavery and states that had abolished slavery. linked to all sorts of history as it was drawn by 2 brits while it was still a colony and its a bloody great song.

[myiaa]

all I can think of is Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2, but I wouldn't want to do a project about U2 (it's interesting subject matter though I suppose, a lot to write about) when I could write about the Manics or Rolling Stones :cool:

[cobert]

Speaking of U2, there's always MLK.

[Electric City]

Harry Chapin wrote a song called "Danceband on the Titanic" that has a lot of historical parallels to the Titanic.

Other than that, can't help you.

[HPK]

Bob dylan is your saviour.

[John Paul Harrison]

"Chicago"? Crosby Stills and Nash? It concerns the 1968 DNC riots in Chicago and the resulting "Chicago seven" trail. Abbie Hoffman, yo.

[Bfhurricane]

I know SO many historical songs. However, none of them pertain to American History

[Bfhurricane]

Try an Iron Maiden song, they love history and usually have at least one song per album that deals with some sort of battle or event like that.
I was about to suggest quite a few Iron Maiden songs but none of them have to do with American History :mad:

A HA! I finally found a good one. "Sacrificed Sons" by Dream Theater is a phenomenal song about 9/11, but idk if your teacher would allow that part in history to be discussed since it is so recent, but nevertheless its a good progressive rock choice

[YDload]

Dream Theater is never a good choice.

[Bfhurricane]

You can tell me that after you've listened to Sacrificed Sons. It's a great song about one of the most impacting situations in american history.

[looozer]

Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. It doesn't represent a particular event, but rather a time period and a mindset. I doubt anyone else will do it, and it's a funny/interesting, if annyoing song.