Sunday, April 20, 2008

Protest Song

For my protest song, I chose “Be the Change that You Want to See” by Kat Edmonson, who is a local Austin artist. I had never heard of her before, but this song came on the radio the other day and I really liked it. I looked up her music video on myspace and it is also really interesting The title of this song alone is similar to the quote by Mahatma Gandhi that says “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” First of all, Gandhi definitely classifies as a protester for peace and change, and that quote is even on the front page of the website for our class!

In her song, Kat is protesting for people to take a stand and do something about all the troubles we see. It’s so easy to notice a problem (which a lot of people do) but more people need to start doing something about all the problems. Her music video consists of a bunch of images of people who are all different ages, genders and races each holding up a cardboard sign with something they believe written on it. Some of the quotes say “stand for change,” “empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things,” “paint the white house green,” “talk to our enemies,” “keep an open mind,” and so on. There are over thirty different quotes on cardboard each with something that we should strive for to make our world a better place. Kat’s song is a great example of a protest song because it tells you over and over again what she is protesting; which is to quite standing around and watch as bad things happen, but to take action and get involved and do something to help our society.

2 comments:

cbialick said...

I think that this protest song draws a really good point that we too often see problems but do not do anything to change what is wrong. It is cool that you found a song done by a local Austin artist, who has such a great message. I listened to the YouTube and really liked the song too!

dkernan said...

I looked up the video myself and found it very interesting too. I have heard the song before but did not realize that she was a local artist...
After looking at serveral of the examples of protest songs recently, I have noticed several things this video has in common with others including the incorporation of diversity in culture, age and attitudes among those featured in the clips.
Good example.