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Choose wisely… 

I’ve been working on this soundtrack for the 2008 Election and I think now is about the right time to share it with you all.  The songs are about the American Idea:  How it’s changed for the better over the last century, how during the past eight years the Bush Administration has defiled it, and the direction we must go to renew it.  The songs are meant to be played in this order, so no shuffling!

1. This Land is Your Land – Woody Guthrie, from This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1 (1997)

2. Red Cat Till I Die – Ry Cooder, from My Name is Buddy (2007)

3. Workingman’s Blues #2 – Bob Dylan, from Modern Times (2006)

4. Oxycontin Blues – Steve Earle, from Washington Square Serenade (2007)

5. Dress Blues – Jason Isbell, from Sirens of the Ditch (2007)

6. Whitey on The Moon – Gil Scott Heron, from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1988)

7. They Wore Blue – Otis Taylor, from The Definition of a Circle (2007)

8. Don’t Let it Bring You Down – Neil Young, from Live at Massey Hall (2007)

9. My Own Eyes – Mavis Staples, from We’ll Never Turn Back (2007)

10. The Harder They Come – Jimmy Cliff, from The Harder they Come (1972)

11. Escapism – Public Enemy, from How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul (2007)

12. Act III Scene 2 Shakespeare – Saul Williams, from Saul Williams (2004)

13. Time to Go Home – Michael Franti, from Yell Fire! (2006)

14. A Gospel – The Style Council – from Café Blue (1984)

15. Borrow Your Cape – Bobby Bare, Jr., from The Longest Meow (2006)

16. Living Well is the Best Revenge – R.E.M., from Accelerate (2008)

17. Walk A Mile in My Shoes – Joe South and the Believers, from Theme Time Radio Hour: With Your Host Bob Dylan (2008)

18. Long Walk Home – Bruce Springsteen, from Magic (2007)

19. This Land is Our Land – Slim Cessna’s Auto Club from Cipher (2008)

This is the last in my series of three compilations of political songs that chronicle the Bush years, so if you are wondering why you don’t see some songs that you think should be on this list, you might find them on the previous two compilations.  Keep reading…

This July 2002 compilation titled is a comment on the early Bush years:  The recession that Bush made worse with his tax cuts for the rich, the Bush Administration’s assault on the Bill of Rights, and their labeling of anyone who doesn’t agree with them as un-American.

Why Do You Hate America So Much?

Masters of War—Bob Dylan
Born in the U.S.A.—Bruce Springsteen
I Ain’t Got No Home—Woody Guthrie
The Unwelcome Guest (W. Guthrie)—Billy Bragg & Wilco
Man in Black—Johnny Cash
I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts—X
Piss Factory—Patti Smith
Union Sundown—Bob Dylan
Excuse Me Mr.—Ben Harper
Read My Lips—A Thousand Points of Night (Don Was)
Exhuming McCarthy—R.E.M.
W.M.A.—Pearl Jam
Aginst th’ Law (W. Guthrie)—Corey Harris w/ Billy Bragg & Wilco
A Thanksgiving Prayer—William S. Burroughs
15 Feet of Pure White Snow—Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
All You Fascists (W. Guthrie)—Billy Bragg & Wilco
I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.—The Clash
America—Allen Ginsberg

This one from 2005 is a reflection on the first two years of the disastrous War on Terror that was and is still being waged in Iraq even though the terrorists responsible for the 9-11 attacks weren’t there, and still aren’t.  Up until around mid 2005, the majority opinion was that the war was “just” but, after two years of carnage, more people started questioning whether Bush’s use of massive military strength in his a war on a noun was the right thing to do, even if he was acting on instructions from God as he claimed during a meeting with Palestinian leaders in 2003.

With God on Our Side

God is in the  House—Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
With God on Our Side—Bob Dylan
What is Truth—Johnny Cash
Rich Man’s War—Steve Earle
Fortunate Son—Creedence Clearwater Revival
Black Steel—Tricky
Combat Rock—Sleater Kinney
Hate and War—The Clash
Hyena—R.E.M.
My Mother the War—Ten Thousand Maniacs
Warrior—Steve Earle
Shock and Awe—Z*Trip, featuring Chuck D
Bomb the World (Armageddon Version)—Michael Franti
Might Makes Right—Camper Van Beethoven
Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore—John Prine
No more Stalins, no more Hitlers—William S. Burroughs
When the President Talks to God—Bright Eyes
Devils & Dust—Bruce Springsteen
Day after Tomorrow—Tom Waits
Let Me Die in My Footsteps—Bob Dylan

…

See also best political songs of 2006 and 2007.