I have finals for my English class on Wednesday, and we are doing an 8-15 minute partner presentation on a time period in English history (a weird thing to do for finals, I know). Part of this involves playing a song for the class that represents our time period. My partner and I were assigned the Victorian time period. Can anyone recommend any songs that could tie into industrialization, polarization of rich and poor, slums, poor working conditions, English imperial supremacy, or other cultural movements such as decadence and aestheticism?
Help me find a song!
This is such a hard question. Best I could come up with:
Ring A Ring O' Roses.
Wild Colonial Boy is an Irish folk song that is pretty well know and touches on some of those subjects. The Irish have many songs dealing with British oppression during that time period. Another is Irish Soldier Boy.
You may want to look here for English (as well as other nations) folk songs from the 19th Century.
Thanks for the ideas. I may use "Rule Britannia", but our teacher told us she wanted a more contemporary song from the 1960's onward. Any more ideas?
Thanks for the ideas. I may use "Rule Britannia", but our teacher told us she wanted a more contemporary song ... [more]
What? She wants you to represent one period in history, with a song from another period in history? Uhhh... is ... [more]
Yeah, if you are covering Victorian England or 1837-1901, then why would you use songs from the 1960s to present to showcase the time period? How do you exemplify Imperial England when (no offense to the British citizens on the site) Imperial England has been "downsized" since the late 1940s?
But if you want songs about the themes you mentioned, I suggest Rage Against the Machine for anti-imperial and rich vs poor anthems. A lot of rap songs promote decadence. I always liked Nelly's "Ride with me" because it must be the money. But I am sure there are others. For something about working, you can go back to the 80s for some stuff by Springsteen.
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