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February 2, 2007

Free mp3s: More than 1,200 protest songs at Songs of the Times; 7 live albums at BigO

SONGS OF THE TIMES hosts more than 1,200 protest songs that made the cut at Neil Young's Living With War Today site.

At the bottom of the links:

Do you have a protest or topical song available on the web? Send us a link for possible listing here.
Send your song link to: songs@lwwtoday.com

There's a backstory at BigO, Singapore (of all places): Virtual War

When Neil Young performed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on August 18-19, 2005, the show inspired Karen Barry Schwarz to review the show (A Prairie Wind Blows Through Nashville). When Neil Young challenged writers to write new anti-war songs about the war in Iraq, Karen responded. This is what she wrote:
"Neil Young wrote protest songs long ago that have since become icons of rock and roll (Ohio, Southern Man). He's still writing them today. And he thought, for a moment, he was one of the only ones. He was wrong.

"When Neil Young released his latest album, Living With War, he was quoted as saying that, well, he had been waiting for such a long time now for someone to write these songs and '...no one did, so I had to do it.' Hundreds of irked songwriters turned their pens on Neil, and wrote to let him know that, yes, indeed these songs were being written, but not necessarily heard. Radio stations don't play this kind of music anymore, and not many songwriters have the far-reaching voice power of Neil Young. Neil listened, and heard. He has responded with an innovative and ground-breaking page on his website, featuring Songs of the Times: Protest and topical songs from known and unknown artists alike, submissions wanted.

"Neil Young's Songs of the Times currently has more than 1,200 songs, with undoubtedly more to come. Many are available for free download. Like my song, Virtual War, which is at #33 this week."

The lyrics follow.

Friday tunes: Also at BigO for download this week...

Neil Young, Last Album (1973);

Joni Mitchell, Mississippi River Festival 1969;

McCoy Tyner, Tokyo 1972;

Corinne Bailey Rae, New Pop Festival 2006;

Herbie Hancock, Toronto 2003;

Robert Fripp/Brian Eno, Peel Session;

Neil Young, New York 1974.

Go Bears! Like my friend Gail Ciampa, the Journal's food editor, I'm not posting Super Bowl recipes this year. Bah humbug.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 12:43 PM | Permalink