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In his new book, Music: A Subversive History (Basic Books), historian Ted Gioia explores 4,000 years of dangerous songs. Here, he exclusively shares with us a playlist of tracks with rebellious underpinnings.
“Buddy Bolden’s Blues (I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say)” (1939), Jelly Roll Morton
“Today jazz has highbrow grounding, but go back to the genre’s origins and you discover a completely different side. ‘The police put you in jail if they heard you singing that song,’ said New Orleans musician Sidney Bechet of this melody composed by cornetist Buddy Bolden. At one performance, he recalled, ‘Bolden started his theme song, people started singing, policemen began whipping heads.’”
“Hound Dog” (1956), Elvis Presley
“After the King performed this song on television, the Catholic magazine America warned ‘Beware Elvis Presley,’ while outraged citizens burned effigies, records, and photographs. Presley later gained mainstream cred, and in 1970 was even made an unofficial agent for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics by President Nixon—a bizarre event to which he may or may not have shown up stoned.”
“Do You Hear the People Sing?” (1985), From Les Misérables
“Millions have taken to the streets for the ongoing Hong Kong protests, and huge crowds have unexpectedly found a battle cry in this Broadway song. The same tune has also shown up at protests in Turkey, Australia, and other locales. It’s a good reminder that political music can come from almost any source, even a mainstream musical; more than its origins, a song’s subversion lies in its use.”
“Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl” (1931), Bessie Smith
“Sexy songs were censored until only very recently, and blues singers often used suggestive metaphors to push the limits of the law. But was there never any mystery behind songs like Bo Carter’s ‘Please Warm My Weiner’ and ‘Banana in Your Fruit Basket,’ Blind Lemon Jefferson’s ‘Black Snake Moan,’ or—in this instance—Bessie Smith’s 1931 song ‘Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl’? I don’t think so.”
“Ode to Joy” (1824), Ludwig van Beethoven
“At the opening of the European Parliament in July, a saxophone quartet struck up ‘Ode to Joy’—and were promptly met by an about-face from Nigel Farage and his crew of Brexiteers. They continued in their awkward defiance while an opera singer delivered Beethoven’s anthem to togetherness and good cheer, which, incidentally, is also the official song of the European Union.”
