Three (Classic) Protest Songs Of The Week: Anniversary Edition, Vol. 2

Every Monday, I typically feature a contemporary protest song. But this week let’s revisit another set of classic tunes celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2025.

10th Anniversary: “Irganda” By Songhoy Blues (2015)

Songhoy Blues, the desert blues band from Timbuktu, Mali, released their debut album, “Music In Exile” in 2015. The album included the song “Irganda.” The word irganda means “our environment,” and vocalist Aliou Touré has described how the song dealt with the lack of water, desertification, and poverty.

In 2012, Mali was taken over by Islamists and a crackdown on musicians forced Songhoy Blues to flee the country. Citizens could feel the Sahara Desert rapidly creeping up on towns, with Timbuktu’s “fragile eco-system” becoming more precarious in a “very fragile political state.” This defiant plea for reflection and action was a message to younger people to take a stand for Mali’s environment, especially amidst the destruction of war.

30th Anniversary: "Ghost of Tom Joad” by Bruce Springsteen (1995)

Bruce Springsteen says he had avoided topical songwriting for 10 years. The E Street Band needed a song for a greatest hits package. They could not figure out how to play it hard and loud, but he was inspired by Woody Guthrie and had the lyrics for the “Ghost of Tom Joad.”

The song was released as part of a 1995 acoustic solo album with the same title. It revolves around John Steinbeck’s Tom Joad character in Grapes of Wrath, but the story told is set in the 1990s. Springsteen grapples with deindustrialization, likening it to experiences during the “Dust Bowl” era.

“Ghost of Tom Joad” has developed into quite an anthem for impoverished and working class people. Years after its release, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello helped the E Street Band figure out how to perform it the way that Springsteen had intended, and that’s partly why it has become a regular part of the E Street Band’s live concerts. Out of 150 or more original songs, “Ghost of Tom Joad” is one of the top 30 songs performed live by Springsteen and the E Street Band.

(Yes, the hard rock version was not released in 1995, but it unlocks the power within the lyrics that were originally written 30 years ago so I’m featuring that version.)

35th Anniversary: ‘911 A Joke’ By Public Enemy

Public Enemy’s third album, “Fear Of A Black Planet,” marked its 35th anniversary on April 10. One of the more enduring tunes on the album is “911 A Joke,” which was performed by Flavor Flav. This jam directly called out emergency responders for taking so long to help residents of Black communities when they dial 9-1-1.

As Flavor Flav declares, “If your life is on the line then you're dead today.” The hip hop song relied on several samples, including “Flash Light” by Parliament, “Hit By a Car” and “Singers” by Eddie Murphy, and Vincent Price’s laughter in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Today, such creativity is discouraged or outright prohibited because borrowing elements from songs is considered “copyright infringement” under the law. But the frenetic energy of this song is owed to the various elements that Public Enemy weaved into the track. (For more on sampling and hip hop, I recommend the 2009 documentary “Copyright Criminals.”)