Songs for Occupy Wall Street

"This Little Light of Mine" was a hymn intended for children when it was appropriated for the civil rights movement by folks like Zilphia Horton at the Highlander Folk School, Fanny Lou Hamer, and others. The way its verses repeat make it easy to remember and easy to teach. The fact that only one line changes from verse to verse also makes it an easy song to update and adapt to any circumstance, whether it's being sung at a rally for human rights or one focused on the balance of wealth.

All around the world
I'm gonna let it shine
All around the world
I'm gonna let it shine
All around the world, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This song was popularized - if you can call it that - by the Almanac Singers in the 1940s, but it was written a decade earlier by Jim Garland. The song nails the sentiment of many during the Great Depression who just wanted to be able to work an honest job again. Its relevance to the current Occupy Wall Street movement nearly goes without saying, considering verses like:
"I don't want your millions mister.
I don't want your diamond ring.
all I want is the right to live mister.
give me back my job again."

This classic protest song was written by Pete Seeger and fellow Weaver Lee Hays, but was probably made most famous by folk-pop trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Together, the trio gave the song a certain swing which could resonate with people working on the peace movement and the civil rights struggle alike. The lyrics start out wishing for various tools - a hammer, a bell, etc. - before realizing that we already have the tools we need to make changes in the world around us.

I've got a hammer
and I've got a bell
I've got a song to sing
all over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom

A lot of effort seems be getting made to clarify that the Occupy movement is not anti-American, but rather is a patriotic movement where American citizens are using their peculiarly American rights to ensure a balance of wealth and power for all Americans. They're not looking to overthrow the government, simply to get the government to listen to everyone instead of merely the wealthiest one percent. Still, in the plight to clarify the pure Americanism of the movement, patriotic songs seem appropriate. Many are uncomfortable with the "bombs bursting in air" lyricism of the National Anthem; but what about "America the Beautiful"? Occupiers and those who disagree with them can all agree on the sheer beauty of America, so this song makes good sense.

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountains' majesty
Above the fruited plain...

This classic song by protest songwriter Patti Smith is kind of a no-brainer when it comes to people's movements like Occupy Wall Street. The song itself is about reminding people they don't have to rely on those "in power" - that, in fact, all people have power to make things better. Smith's lyrics are provocative and direct, albeit frequently draped in elaborate poetry:

The people have the power
to redeem the work of fools
upon the meek the graces shower
it's decreed the people rule

James McMurtry is widely considered one of the best songwriters in the Americana music world, and that distinction is largely for songs like "We Can't Make It Here." Told over the course of a number of verses and choruses which share vignettes of poverty and near-poverty - the tales of the working poor, so to speak - McMurtry's song could easily be an anthem of the Occupy movement. Take this verse for example:

Will work for food, will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore