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It's starting to feel like I have to begin every one of these with some sort of disclaimer acknowledging, in effect, that "these are strange times." Still, at times it feels almost flippant not to toss it out there. "Unprecedented" is a word that gets thrown around a lot, it seems. And, like so many modern buzzwords ("Orwellian," for example), it now annoys me to no end.
The thing of it is, these aren't unprecedented times, it's just the first time it's happening in our lifetimes. Heck, you barely have to go back 100 years to find the last time we were dealing all at once with pandemics, widening economic disparity, and the global rise of fascism. Meanwhile, colonization is back in our sights, and interplanetary indentured servitude has already been floated as some sort of egalitarian ticket to the stars. History will always do its best to repeat itself, and we're all too scared to learn a thing from last time.
Still, if we're looking back at the last time we were dealing with all this nonsense, we might as well take a hint from how we've made it through before. One of those ways, of course, was through music. I've taken the liberty of assembling some of my favorite anti-fascist songs of the last century for your listening pleasure. Put in your headphones, friend, and keep on fightin' the good fight.
"All You Fascists Bound to Lose" - Woody Guthrie
Anti-fascism was a favorite topic of Mr. Guthrie's, as his guitar would attest. Other similar songs would include "Tear the Fascists Down," and - in retrospect - "Old Man Trump." Guthrie was outspoken at a time when it was genuinely uncommon and, at times, dangerous, but take one look at his guitar and you'll see exactly how worried he was about that.
"Como la Cigarra" - Mercedes Sosa
Banished from her home country of Argentina in 1979 by the right-wing Videla Junta, Mercedes Sosa returned from exile in 1982 and recorded the triumphant (and generally fantastic) live album Mercedes Sosa En Argentina. A pioneer of the Nueva Cancion movement, Sosa was known for her beautiful voice and politically-charged lyrics. Performing songs from a number of Argentine writers, Sosa was understood to be such a threat to the dictatorial Videla regime to be expelled from the country, only return upon their collapse. Hell yeah, Mercedes.
"Mr. Hitler" - Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly, was a friend, contemporary, and mentor to Woody Guthrie. To be outspoken was even more dangerous for Leadbelly, a Black man from the Jim Crow South, but he regardless wrote and performed this anti-fascist and specifically anti-Hitler song in 1942. Between Guthrie and Leadbelly, anti-fascist sentiment has become so deeply rooted in modern American folk music that anything less feels almost out of place.
"Talkin John Birch Paranoid Blues" - Bob Dylan
Guthrie and Leadbelly were two of the greatest influences on a young Bob Dylan, who covered many of their tunes and has spoken extensively on his love of their music. Though he's perhaps best known for his political songs, this lesser-known talking blues from 1964 has only appeared on live records. A hilarious take on a McCarthyist right-wing perspective,
"Talkin John Birch Paranoid Blues" is some of Dylan's best - if least-known - political work.
Ramones - "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg"
The song that I knew for years as the montage track from School of Rock is, in fact, an anti-fascist protest song written by Joey Ramone, a New York Jew, after then-president Ronald Reagan visited a Waffen-SS cemetery in Bitburg, Germany. By far the most danceable song of those listed here, "Bonzo" was a hit on college radio and became one of America's most popular protest songs.
In One Ear
Required listening for times like these:
The Revolution Begins - Gil Scott-Heron
I Ain't Marching Anymore- Phil Ochs
The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan
This Week's Mixtape
Each edition of Nightswimming will come complete with a companion mixtape. Some of the songs relate to this week's newsletter, others not at all. As with any mixtape, listening in order is recommended, but if you don't have Spotify Premium or - heaven forbid - you just prefer to shuffle, then don't worry. The songs are still great, and nothing's set to self destruct.
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David Lefkowitz is a writer, musician, and former Latin NHS president. His work has been featured by Melted Magazine, The Outbound Collective, and Vinyl Tap Magazine, among others.