Music & Songs
Using songs and music in history class
Introduction
Playing music and songs in history class can create a welcome change of pace and can improve the learning of all students, but particularly of those who are primarily aural learners.
To involve visual learners as well, I often show an image or a slide show with several images to accompany the music I play in class.
I particularly enjoy introducing a new topic by way of playing music.
I often hand out the lyrics and have students analyze them. This sometimes requires lyrics being translated into English, of course. And occasionally words and expressions that are outdated or are part of a particular vernacular need to be explained before playing a song in class.
Some of the songs I pick are primary sources and can be analyzed accordingly; others simply help illustrate certain aspects of a topic.
The song titles below link to the songs on YouTube. They are listed according to time period.
Content
The French Revolution
Marxism
World War I
The Great Depression
World War II
Slavery, Jim Crow, and US Civil Rights
The 1960s in the US, the American Vietnam War, and Protest Movements
The Cold War
Twentieth-Century US History
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Examples
The French Revolution
“La Marseillaise” (Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792)
I always introduce the French Revolution by playing La Marseillaise. The French Army officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle wrote the music and lyrics in 1792, after revolutionary France’s declaration of war against Austria and titled it “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (“War Song for the Army of the Rhine”). Since volunteers from Marseillaise began singing the anthem in the street, including when they arrived in Paris, it later became known as La Marseillaise, and the French National Convention adopted it as the national anthem of the French Republic in 1795.
In class, I play the anthem in French, hand out an English translation of the French lyrics, and show revolutionary images to accompany the song. I then ask for opinions about what kind of revolution this was, based on the music, lyrics, images, etc.
In the context of World War II, I sometimes show the Marseillaise scene from Casablanca (1942)—whose democratic fervor is of course misleading, given that La Marseillaise remained the anthem of Vichy France, and Free France was determined to hold on to its empire after the war. It is also very Hollywoodish, but given that Casablanca was shot in 1942, it can be a useful primary source.
Marxism
“The Internationale” (Lyrics: Eugène Pottie, 1871; music: Pierre De Geyter, 1888)
This one must be put into its proper context: The lyrics were originally written to be sung to the melody of La Marseillaise by a former member of the radical socialist Paris Commune (18 Mar 1871–28 May 1871). Since then, it has become the international anthem of anarchists, communists, socialists, democratic socialists, and social democrats.
From 1912 to 1944, it was first the anthem of the Bolsheviks and then the national anthem of the Soviet Union, both of which had very little to do with the liberation of all peoples of the world the text of the anthem advocates. Not surprisingly, the USSR replaced it in 1944 with the “State Anthem of the Soviet Union“.
I usually play the Russian version in class, hand out the original lyrics in English, and have students analyze what the anthem tells us about leftist revolutionary ideology.
I do not use Billy Bragg’s version which is an anthem for democracy. It is a wonderful adaptation, but its lyrics focus too much on the present, and I don’t want to give students the impression that the Bolsheviks were ever interested in actual democracy.
I always mention, however, that the anthem was sung by pro-democracy protesters in Tienanmen Square in 1989, which may be fruitful basis for a discussion about just how much leftist ideologies have changed in the last 100 years, and how some of them have little to nothing in common with each other in the twenty-first century.
World War I
Eric Bogle, “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” (1971)
The lyrics of this anti-war song by Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle recount the Battle of Gallipoli (February 1915–January 1916) from the point of view of an Australian veteran who lost his legs in the battle. Written during the American Vietnam War, the lyrics condemn the romanticizing of war.
The words “Waltzing Matilda” refer to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australian wandering laborers who called the sleeping bags they carried Matilda, due to, as one hypothesis goes, the absence of women in their lives.
The original song “Waltzing Matilda” was written in 1895 by bush poet Banjo Paterson and tells the story of an itinerant worker who, being pursued after having stolen a sheep, kills himself by jumping into a watering hole which his ghost thenceforth haunts. The song has been considered Australia’s unofficial national anthem.
The Great Depression
In a discussion about the Great Depression one could use any song by the American folk singer Woody Guthrie (1912–1967), as many of them deal with honest working-class laborers being cheated by capitalist elites. Particularly good examples include
“This Land Is Your Land”, “Pretty Boy Floyd”, “Jesus Christ”, “I Ain’t Got No Home”, “Vigilante Man”, “Philadelphia Lawyer”, and “Hobo’s Lullaby”.
World War II
Wood Guthrie, “All You Fascists Bound to Lose” (1940s)
Although this song has since it was first written been also used as a protest anthem against more current forms of fascism, Guthrie originally wrote it in the 1940s, and it was directed at Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and their allies.
The lyrics to this song are almost completely based on a speech the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I made before the United Nations General Assembly on 4 October 1963 and could as such also be used in a class discussing Ethiopian history and decolonization.
However, most students, although they have heard of Bob Marley, have never heard of Haile Selassie, and I like using this song to introduce the emperor, the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and the emperor’s temporary exile as a result of it.
Arguably, any other Bob Marley song, especially those explicitly praising Rastafari would do as well in this case. Rastafari is the Jamaican religion first developed in the 1930s, which considers Haile Selassie God; the word also refers to Selassie in particular; he was born Ras Tafari Makonnen, “ras” being a noble rank.
As an introduction, one could play any track from the Legend compilation album—which many students will recognize—and then ask what Bob Marley could possibly have to do with World War II or any other historical topic related to Halie Selassie.
Johnny Cash, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” (1964; Peter La Farge, 1960s)
This song chronicles the life and World War II service of the Pima Native American Marine Ira Hayes, who was one of the men raising the US flag after the Battle of Iwo Jima (February–March, 1945), an event which in its restaged version became one of the most iconic images of World War II in the Pacific.
The song, written by folk singer Peter La Farge, describes how Hayes volunteered for the Marine Corps despite the way the US government treated his people, and how he finally died of alcoholism due to the racism he faced after he returned from the war. Johnny Cash’s version of the song is the most popular and still arguably the best one.
Leonard Cohen, “The Partisan” (1969)/Anna Marly, “La complainte du partisan” (1943)
One could play either Leonard Cohen’s version of the anti-fascist anthem about the French Resistance or the original “La complainte du partisan” (“The lament of the partisan”), or both. The melody was composed in 1943 by Russian-born Anna Marly (1917–2006), and the lyrics were written by French Resistance leader Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie (1900–1969). The original is an interesting primary source. Cohen’s version is arguably more haunting.
Slavery, Jim Crow, and US Civil Rights
One of the many spirituals sung by slaves working in the fields, it is also associated with the Underground Railroad network that helped slaves escape to the North. Some believe that such songs included coded message that helped slaves escape, although there is no conclusive historical evidence for this. Nevertheless, these songs certainly gave people hope and are beautiful and heartbreaking. As such, they may complement textbooks, slave narratives, and films in a class studying chattel slavery in the US and the transatlantic slave trade.
Billie Holiday, “Strang Fruit” (1939)
No song better illustrates the inhumanity of the Jim Crow South. The sparse piano and Holiday’s brilliant otherworldly singing make this one of the most powerful songs ever recorded. The video of the 1959 live performance adds to the intensity. Nina Simone’s version is possibly even more haunting.
Bob Dylan, “The Death of Emmett Till” (1962)
A lesser known Dylan song, but one that is easily on the level with any other protest song he wrote in the 1960s. It recounts in stark, powerful language the story of the gruesome murder of the 14-year-old African American Emmett Till from Chicago at the hands of racist killers in Mississippi in 1955 and the subsequent farcical trial that found the murderers not guilty.
Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On” (1971)
Marvin Gaye’s powerful and timeless protest song combined support for the Civil Rights movement and student protests with an anti-war message and opposition to police brutality and remains as timely as ever.
James Brown, “Say It Loud It Loud – I’m Black & I’m Proud” (1968)
This song became the unofficial anthem of the Black Power movement.
Common, “A Song for Assata” (2000)
This song by rapper Common tells the story of Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur who in 1977 was convicted of the murder of a police officer in New Jersey, although medical evidence suggested that it was impossible for her to have shot him. In 1979, members of the BLA successfully broke Shakur out of prison.
Since 1984, she has lived in Cuba where she received political asylum. Using a rap song like this in class may not only the get students’ attention, it also addresses the history of the Black Liberation Army, which often does not receive enough attention in history lessons about the African American freedom struggle.
The 1960s in the US, the American Vietnam War, and Protest Movements
As is the case with the Civil Rights movement in particular, one is certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to using music of the 1960s in general in history class. The possibilities are endless. What follows is thus only a very small selection.
Bob Dylan: “Masters of War” (1963), “With God on Our Side” (1964)
These are quite possibly two of the best anti-war songs ever written. “Masters of War” is a brilliant critique of the military-industrial complex. “With God on Our Side” traces the US’s history of genocide and war from the slaughter of Native Americans to the at the time looming nuclear annihilation.
Merle Haggard, “Okie from Muskogee” (1969)
This country song represents the views of those conservative, rural Americans who did not approve of the 1960s Counterculture. There are various explanations for why Haggard (1937–2016) wrote this song. Some say it was intended to be a satire—Haggard himself certainly was no strait-laced square—but Haggard is also on record criticizing hippies for not appreciating the freedoms they enjoyed.
In any case, the song is useful to show students “the other side” in the Vietnam War debate. This other side was one of the reasons Nixon was reelected by a landslide in 1972.
The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968)
I like using it in history class for two reasons. One, it makes reference to historical events such as the Russian Revolution, blitzkrieg, and the assassination of John F. and Robert Kennedy (The lyrics originally were “Who killed Kennedy?”, but were changed when Robert was also assassinated before the song was released.).
More importantly, I like the song because it asks a fundamental question—Does it make sense to blame evil, or in this case the devil (or, for that matter, larger historical forces), for the ills of the world or should we take more personal responsibility for the what happens? Are we all to blame equally?
The Beatles, “Revolution” (1968)
I prefer the faster version released as a single to “Revolution 1” on The White Album. Either way, it addresses the issue of Maoist extremism and violence that serious social revolutionaries had to face during this time. Were they fighting for a more democratic society or working toward a communist revolution?
One could also discuss Lennon’s out/in switch on the album version and the question of whether rock stars have ever seriously contributed to societal change in the way in which those who brave fire hoses and police batons in the streets have done.
The Cold War
Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (1989)
Although Joel himself has admitted that “We Didn’t Start the Fire” may be the worst song he has ever written, its lyrics do recount US-, Cold War-, and parts of world history from Harry Truman to the Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989. I have never assigned this song as group project, but there is plenty of material available online for teachers to do so. How well such a project would work will very much depend on the class. One must keep in mind that this song does not exactly represent the musical tastes of most of today’s teenagers (I am fully aware the most of the songs discussed here do not do so either.)
Elton John, “Nikita” (1985) and Billy Joel, “Leningrad” (1989)
These two songs are good examples of Western ethnocentric views of the communist world in the 1980s, although Billy Joel describes his actual at first long-distance friendship with a Soviet citizen. Still, they are good examples of Cold War culture. And not unlike he does in “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, Joel also recounts a number of important Cold War events in the lyrics.
Twentieth-Century US History
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “The Message’ (1982)
Not only might this still be the best rap song ever recorded (according to Rolling Stone magazine it is), it was also the first political rap song and speaks to the urban decay and the economic malaise in Reagan’s America.
Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the USA” (1984)
Springsteen’s most famous song is interesting for two reasons. One, it is perhaps the most famously misinterpreted song in the history of popular music, with many conservatives in the 1980s, including Ronald Reagan, perceiving it as a patriotic anthem. The song’s actual message is the second reason it is interesting. Springsteen tells the story of an unemployed Vietnam War veteran who has become completely disillusioned with his country. One may want to play the acoustic version in class as well, as it gets the songs actual message across much better.