-- "B." <docile_body@yahoo.com> wrote:
Carrol Cox wrote:

"The core of any criticism is first to recognize
genre, and the decorum of the relevant genre. Songs
such as Solidarity are not for listening but for
singing collectively in the midst of action."


Carrol,

Sometimes songs not intentionally written "for singing
collectively in the midst of action" become such,
spontaneously, or evolve into that over time. The 1984
Miners' strike in the UK: Crass did a benefit gig
[their last performance as a band, I believe] and a
lot of the striking miners were in the audience.
Crass's "Do They Owe Us a Living?" became a song
"singing collectively in the midst of action." The
"they" in the title became the mining bosses that were
fucking over the workers. I guess it's arguable if
John Lennon's "All We Are Saying...." was written for
singing at actions or not, too. Dunno the story behind
his intent.


-B.

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Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" is often played and sung at UMWA
pickets and demonstrations in the U.S.

Don't know if he's aware of it and I doubt he expected
that it would be co-opted by US coal miners.

Greg
gboozell@juno.com