I'm looking for song lyrics that discuss important historical events. Any suggestions?

The purpose of acquiring the song lyrics is to have my AP World History students engage in a fun, post-exam project that allows them to explore good music with a historical slant.

I'm looking for song lyrics that discuss important historical events. Any suggestions?
we did not start the fire by billy joel





We Didn't Start the Fire


Billy Joel (1989)


1949 Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray


South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio


1950 Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television


North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe


1951 Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom


Brando, The King and I and The Catcher in the Rye


1952 Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen


Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye


We didn't start the fire


It was always burning


Since the world's been turning


We didn't start the fire


No we didn't light it


But we tried to fight it


1953 Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev


Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc


1954 Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron


Dien Bein Phu falls, Rock Around the Clock


1955 Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team


Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland


1956 Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev


Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez


We didn't start the fire


It was always burning


Since the world's been turning


We didn't start the fire


No we didn't light it


But we tried to fight it


1957 Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac


Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge on the River Kwai


1958 Lebanon, Charles de Gualle, California baseball


Starkweather Homicide, Children of Thalidomide


1959 Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia


Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go


1960 U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy


Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo


We didn't start the fire


It was always burning


Since the world's been turning


We didn't start the fire


No we didn't light it


But we tried to fight it


1961 Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger In a Strange Land


Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion


1962 Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania


Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson


1963 Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politicial Sex


J. F. K. blown away, what else do I have to say


We didn't start the fire


It was always burning


Since the world's been turning


We didn't start the fire


No we didn't light it


But we tried to fight it


1964-


1989 Birth Control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again


Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punk Rock


Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline


Ayatollahs in iran, Russians in Afghanistan





Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy Metal Suicide


Foreign debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz


Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law


Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can't take it anymore


We didn't start the fire


It was always burning


Since the world's been turning on us


We didn't start the fire


But when we are gone


Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on. . .
Reply:We didn't start the fire is an excellent song, its the first song I thought of when I saw your question. My teacher had us listen to the song, just to see what we heard at first. We then had to listen to it again and pick a topic in the song to write a paper about. Another good one would be "I Can" by NAS. The following lyrics are at the end of the song, the part that really fits in with history.


[Nas]


Be, be, 'fore we came to this country


We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys


It was empires in Africa called Kush


Timbuktu, where every race came to get books


To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans


Asian, Arabs and gave them gold when


Gold was converted to money it all changed


Money then became empowerment for Europeans


The Persian military invaded


They heard about the gold, the teachings, and everything sacred


Africa was almost robbed naked


Slavery was money, so they began making slave ships


Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went


He was so shocked at the mountains with black faces


Shot off they nose to impose what basically


Still goes on today, you see?


If the truth is told, the youth can grow


Then learn to survive until they gain control


Nobody says you have to be gangstas, hoes


Read more learn more, change the globe


Ghetto children, do your thing


Hold your head up, little man, you're a king


Young Princess when you get your wedding ring


Your man is saying "She's my queen"
Reply:There's a really cute and fun song called "Even Hitler had a Girlfriend." Probably not too historical, but could make a nice segway to teaching about WWII.





Also the song "Miss American Pie," talks about a lot of stuff going on in the fifties and it's also a fun song.





Can't think of any others in English, sorry...
Reply:For U.S. history, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is the first that comes to mind; for me, Joan Baez's version is the most moving. Also, there's "The Night Chicago Died" which was, ironically, brought out by Paper Lace, a British group.





Wikipedia has useful entries on these songs' histories; search under the titles of the songs.





Both songs speak to me of how individual perspectives and personal feelings will strongly determine one's interpretation of events, perhaps especially with regard to war.