Music is one of the most powerful means of expression and the best artists are able to channel more than personal pain and struggle into their songs. Whether it\u2019s a protest of a specific war, a universal plea for peace, a searing response to racism, or a celebratory victory cry, these seven songs tell human rights stories:<\/p>\n
Though not as successful as \u201cFast Car,\u201d the first single from Tracy Chapman\u2019s first album, \u201cTalkin\u2019 \u2018bout a Revolution\u201d has endured. The song focuses on poverty with lyrics like, \u201cWhile they\u2019re standing in the welfare lines\/Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation\/Wasting time in the unemployment lines\/Sitting around waiting for a revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2011, the song played frequently in Tunisia during the Tunisian Revolution, which was motivated by injustices like high unemployment, corruption, and food inflation. The longtime president was eventually unseated and the country democratized. \u201cTalkin\u2019 \u2018bout a Revolution\u201d also played before speeches at Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 campaign rallies.<\/p>\n
Bob Marley wrote and performed some of the most important songs in history. \u201cRedemption Song\u201d stands as one of the few without accompaniment beyond his guitar. It\u2019s also significant because it was his last recording before his death at age 36. \u201cRedemption Song\u201d follows a story of persecution and ultimately victory \u201cby the hand of the Almighty\/We forward in this generation\/Triumphantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most famous lines, \u201cEmancipate yourselves from mental slavery,\u201d comes from a 1937 speech by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican political leader. Marley embraces a tragic history with a hopeful future, asking the listener, \u201cWon\u2019t you help to sing\/These songs of freedom?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rolling Stones\u2019 1969 album \u201cLet It Bleed\u201d opens with this powerful song. The world reeled from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy, as well as the Vietnam War, which the band says inspired the song. \u201cGimme Shelter\u201d contains lyrics like \u201cWar, children, it\u2019s just a shot away.\u201d Merry Clayton joins Mick Jagger in the chorus, and takes on the bridge solo: \u201cRape, murder! It\u2019s just a shot away, it\u2019s just a shot away!\u201d Despite the bleakness of the lyrics, it ends on a note of hope with \u201cI tell you love, sister, it\u2019s just a kiss away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Jackson may be known as the \u201cKing of Pop,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t mean he couldn\u2019t write politically and socially-significant songs. In 1996, he released \u201cThey Don\u2019t Care About Us.\u201d It was immediately controversial for some questionable lyrics, and Jackson ultimately re-recorded the song with changed words. The message remained intact: persecutors don\u2019t care about those they persecute; those in power don\u2019t care about the oppressed.<\/p>\n
In the song\u2019s second video, Jackson is filmed handcuffed in a prison with cuts of real footage of police brutality, the Ku Klux Klan, Tiananmen Square, and other abuses of human rights.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bit sad that a beautifully-simple love song is revolutionary because it\u2019s a woman singing about her girlfriend, but these are the times we live in. Mary Lambert, who wrote and sang the hook in Macklemore\u2019s \u201cSame Love\u201d song, expands on the story.<\/p>\n
The lyric \u201cI\u2019m not crying on Sundays\u201d is especially poignant because Lambert was raised Christian, and experienced intolerance because of her sexuality. At the same time, she embraces the true message of \u201cLove is patient, love is kind,\u201d which is a reference to the famous love passage in 1 Corinthians 13. For anyone who has felt the sting of rejection from their religious community for being gay, but found acceptance in a partner, this song is magical.<\/p>\n
At first listen, it isn\u2019t obvious just how deep Childish Gambino\u2019s song is, and that\u2019s why you need to watch the video. It consists of happy go-lucky dancing amidst violence, including a gun execution, riots, and cars on fire. Countless essays pick apart the video\u2019s details, suggesting that the contrasting tones are meant to symbolize how America is outraged by an injustice only to be blissfully oblivious the moment the press cycle moves on. The verses get progressively darker and more serious, too, from the first bridge\u2019s \u201cWe just wanna party\/Party just for you\u201d to \u201cYou just a black man in this world\/You just a barcode.\u201d<\/p>\n