Music has a way of reflecting everything that’s going on around us in the world. In some cases, songwriters and artists write directly about current events. But this list is more about the artists who took a general temperature of the times in which they lived. Whether they were singing in protest or simply trying to make sense of it all, the best of these artists had a way of elucidating real-life situations and perhaps even enlightening their audiences about them. Take a look now at five songs that, when you hear them, will likely take you back to a specific moment in history.
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1.“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan (1963)
Bob Dylan’s debut album featured mostly cover songs of traditional folk material. But all the while, Dylan was imbibing the wisdom of these songs and formulating his own songwriting style. By the time he released his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), he was able to stake his claim as the preeminent songwriter of his generation at the tender age of 22. And “Blowin’ in the Wind” was the song that drew the most attention.
Many artists were quickly drawn to the wisdom of Dylan’s proclamation of the senselessness of war and violence. Peter, Paul and Mary scored a Top 10 pop hit by covering it. But it’s Dylan’s own version, sung with a voice that settles somewhere between helplessness and hope, that hits home the hardest. The famous refrain (The answer, my friend / Is blowin’ in the wind) suggests that the solutions are somehow both within our grasp and out of reach. And it captured the growing restlessness of an entire generation unnerved by the threat of nuclear war.
2. “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke (1964)
Sam Cooke was second to none when it came to light, soulful singles, which he rode with startling consistency to major success in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. But a couple of events transpired that pushed him to write about more serious matters. First, there was the racism that he endured, despite the fact that he was one of the biggest entertainers in the world. The other catalyst was when he heard the first song on this list; Cooke famously believed that Bob Dylan must have been a black man when he heard “Blowin’ in the Wind,” because who else could have understood that kind of pain and injustice?
Cooke was inspired to pen the towering “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which, despite the promise of the title, is actually a catalog of frustrations and travails. The song is given a majestic orchestral treatment to match the seriousness of the topic, while Cooke sings like a man who’s lived through it all and has the wounds to show for it. Sadly, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which became a touchstone for the civil rights movement, was released as a single only after Cooke’s death in December 1964.
3. “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones (1969)
The end of the 1960s was a tumultuous time, as the ideals of the Summer of Love seemed to disappear with every news report of riots and war. When Keith Richards began writing “Gimme Shelter,” he wasn’t consciously thinking about any of that. He literally was describing a rainstorm that he saw enveloping London without warning one day. But as he and Mick Jagger got deeper into it, the song started to touch on the scary stuff that was going on in the world.
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The lyrics referenced the ideals of the times (I tell you love, sister / It’s just a kiss away). But they also lean into the ugliness of what was all around, especially when backup singer Merry Clayton wails, Rape, murder, it’s just a shot away. With music as earthshaking as its lyrics, “Gimme Shelter” proved the Stones to be astute musical weathermen.
4. “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye (1971)
Marvin Gaye was the quintessential Motown hitmaker throughout the ‘60s, and he easily could have continued in that smooth, nonthreatening mode and done very well for himself as the ‘70s arrived. But Gaye was a restless sort when it came to his art, and he also had his antennae out for what was going on in the world. Those twin factors resulted in his landmark 1971 album What’s Going On, which found Gaye using his signature style to talk about the social issues of the times, with the title track becoming a major hit in the process.
Note that there aren’t any specific references to any current events, as Gaye, along with co-writers Obie Benson and Al Cleveland, are after a more general malaise. There’s something so elemental and yet so vast and unanswerable about the title question. The sad thing about “What’s Going On,” as brilliant as it is, is how it seems to always be timely. While it might take you back to 1971, it will likely hit home for the exact time and date you hear it in the future.
5. “London Calling” by The Clash (1979)
The Clash‘s Joe Strummer was encouraged by his then-fiancée to write about the fact that a flood in London would have been catastrophic. Mick Jones then joined Strummer and widened the scope of the lyrics, adding warnings about “nuclear error,” climate change, police brutality (“the truncheon ring”), and just about every other social ill that the pair could cram into the tableau. Jones then came up with the idea to make the song sound like a news report, hence the staccato blasts of guitar to snap every listener to attention.
The band even manages to reference the punk movement of which they were a leading light and which was sweeping London at the time, suggesting that “phony Beatlemania” wouldn’t help anything. “London Calling” very much captured a place and time, so much so that you can practically feel the water creeping up at your ankles and the pressure tightening on your chest, even as far removed as we are from the setting that inspired it.
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