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Carry Me Back to Old Virginny [Hayden Quartet]
This song can be used to discuss "Old South" or the "Antebellum South" nostalgia, which became a part of U.S. Southern culture. The song presents the story of an ex-slave who is longing to return back to their day on a plantation. The ideas expressed…
Carry Me Back to Old Virginia [Rick Pickren]
This song can be used to discuss "Old South" or the "Antebellum South" nostalgia, which became a part of U.S. Southern culture. The song presents the story of an ex-slave who is longing to return back to their day on a plantation. The ideas expressed…
Scatterlings Of Africa
Originally written by Clegg for his 1982 album Scatterlings for his previous band, Juluka, it was re-recorded by his new group Savuka. The word, scattering, is defined as someone without a fixed or a permanent home. The usage of the word scattering…
One (Hu)'man One Vote
Written by Johnny Clegg in memory of his former professor, friend and fellow academic, Dr. David Webster, the song's lyrics speak to the nation's frustration with its government. In addition to his work as a social anthropologist, Dr. Webster was…
Mississippi Goddam
Written in direct response to the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama Church bombing which killed 4 African American girls, this song can be used to instruct students on the shifting attitudes surrounding the conversation on race relations and the Civil Rights…
No More Apartheid
In addition to contributing to the 1985 dance track and protest song "Sun City," Peter Gabriel wrote a new song for the Artists United Against Apartheid's album Sun City. The protest group was founded by American musician Steven Van Zandt with the…
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was written by a Canadian - with assistance from his Arkansas-born bandmate, Levon Helm - who spent an extended period of time in the U.S. South. The song depicts the story of a poor white Southerner and former…
Crossroad Blues
This song introduces the common Blues music themes of crossroads and collective suffering. Crossroads, high traffic vehicular roads, feature prominently as landmarks in the Mississippi Delta area that Johnson called home. In the song, Johnson tries…
Come on in My Kitchen
The song could be used as an example of the loose narrative and references to the supernatural and/or folk beliefs often found within the blues genre. Though the song lacks a linear narrative, the collection of somewhat unrelated vignettes which…
El Padre Antonio y el Monaguillo Andrés
The song describes the assassination of a popular village priest and altar boy, indirectly referencing the assassination of Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, major figurehead of Liberation Theology. Romero's preaching of liberation theology sought to…