Setlist Society

For this week's theme I selected a variety of songs that stick it to The Man in as many various ways possible: socially, culturally, and of course politically:

1. "They" from Finally Woken by Jem
2. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" from We Gotta Get Out of This Place [single] by The Animals
3. "Gold Watch Blues" from What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid by Donovan
4. "Power to the People" from Power to the People [single] by John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Band
5. "Let Me Be" from You Baby / Let Me Be [single] by The Turtles
6. "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock" from The Graduate by MC Lars
7. "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle" from Motorcade of Generosity by Cake
8. "Pop Lie" from The Stand Ins by Okkervil River
9. "Proud" from The Bruce Lee Band by The Bruce Lee Band
10. "I Should Be Allowed to Think" from John Henry by They Might Be Giants
11. "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" from Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
12. "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" from Indian Reservation by Paul Revere and the Raiders
13. "Fables of Faubus" from Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus
14. "For What It's Worth" from Buffalo Springfield by Buffalo Springfield
15. "A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme by Simon & Garfunkel
16. "Talking World War III Blues" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
17. "99 Luftballons" from 99 Luftballons by Nena
18. "Zombie" from No Need to Argue by The Cranberries
19. "Prevenge" from The Spine by They Might Be Giants
20. "7 O'Clock News / Silent Night" from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme by Simon & Garfunkel
21. "Blowin' in the Wind" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
    

The setlist opens with "They," generally suspicious of the vague and shadowy authorities that dominate the sundry aspects of our lives. 2-5 stick it to The Man socially, transitioning with track 6 into a more culturally-specific protest. 7-9 continue that cultural sticking with music-industry specific jabs. Track 10 refers to music and culture, but also provides a nice segue into the section on government--any song that starts out by quoting Allen Ginsburg has to have some anti-government angst in it.

The government section of the playlist comprises the rest, but is divided into two specific themes. 11-13 deal with the oppression of ethnic groups. Track 14 marks the beginning of the war section, which comprises the rest of the list, even though the song was actually inspired by clashes between unrestful youths and police in L.A. But For What It's Worth has long been used as a reminder of the anti-Vietnam protest songs, demonstrated here by Simon & Garfunkel. After that you have a couple of songs expressing trepidation at the potential for nuclear holocaust, a track by an angry Irish woman who doesn't like war in general, and a song that is almost certainly about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Wrap it up with two classics, one an ironic Christmas carol recorded in 1966, and one that offers a vague answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.