Get up, stand up, sing out!

A great protest song may not help change the world in the same way the civil rights and anti-war movements did a half century ago, or the way the Black Lives Matters movement has this year. But a great protest song can unify and provide inspiration for people seeking a better world by serving as a vital soundtrack for actions large and small, personal and universal designed to promote positive change.

Such songs can be rousing or soothing, provocative or contemplative, strident or understated. They can question the status quo or rail against it, offer a moment for reflection and renewal, or do both simultaneously.

They can be rallying cries against social and racial injustice, or a source of comfort during times of stress, uncertainty and upheaval. And they can endure for decades, whether as inextricable signposts of the causes they mirrored and amplified, or simply as stirring music that stands on its own.

This holds true whether the song comes from Bob Dylan (1964s"The Times They Are A-Changin ) or Bob Marley (1973s Get Up, Stand Up), Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969s Fortunate Son) or Public Enemy (1989s Fight the Power), Billie Holiday (1939s Strange Fruit) or Janelle Mone (2015s Hell You Talmbout).

Mones galvanizing song features the chanted names of Black Americans who died at the hands of the police and vigilantes, or while in custody.

The victims include Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and more. The recitation of each is punctuated the phrase say his name or say her name, both of which are frequently heard today at Black Lives Matter marches. Sadly, that list of names has grown even larger with this years tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others whose names have become synonymous with police violence and vigilantism.

Rapper Trey Songz, left, country-music singer Mickey Guyton, center, and neo-soul singer Leon Bridges, right, are among the growing number of artists who have made songs in response to the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

(Associated Press)

The visceral power of Hell You Talmbout inspired Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Byrne, the co-founder of the band Talking Heads, to perform Mones song as the encore at each concert on his 2018 American Utopia concert tour, which last year was transformed into a hit Broadway production, David Byrnes American Utopia.

Its an incredible song, said Byrne, speaking in late July from his New York home. When I first heard Hell You Talmbout, I really liked that (it) is a protest song that is not lecturing the listener in a very straightforward way. The song is not telling them exactly what to think. Its just saying: These are lives that have been taken from us. Dont forget them.

Of course, there is a political message people have been taken from us that is very moving and really works. I like protest songs that are not obvious and not preachy. Theres a new song by (Grammy Award-winning former San Diego singer-songwriter) Gregory Porter called Mr. Holland, that I think is beautiful and subtle. I really like people who do songs that engage with social issues and take them to a different place.

Porter agrees.

Sometimes, you can do more with subtlety, said the SDSU alum, whose at least partly autobiographical Mr. Holland examines racism from the perspective of interracial dating by high school students.

Woody Guthrie, whose original 1940 version of This Land is Your Land decried the social and economic inequities of American life, contended every song could be political, in varying degrees. But songs that are unabashedly political often make the greatest impact.

This holds true whether the song comes from artists protesting oppressive governments in South Africa (1965s Beware, Verwoerd by Miriam Makeba) or Brazil (1973s Calice by Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil), Haiti (1992s Nanm Nan Boutey by Boukman Eksperyans) or Egypt (2011s Leave by now-exiled singer Ramy Essam).

And it holds equally true for songs that come from artists in San Diego (2007s When Did Jesus Become a Republican by Cindy Lee Berryhill and 2020s America by Rebecca Jade, Erik Canzona and Alfred Howard), or from Los Angeles (2015s Alright by Kendrick Lamar).

Alright, a song by Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar, center, has provided a hopeful chant at many Black Lives Matter marches.

(Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images)

Intriguingly, Lamars Grammy Award-winning Alright was not written as a modern-day protest song, per se, but as a reflection on suffering and a promise of better times to come. It was inspired by the legacy of slavery and by Lamars trip to South Africa, where he visited what had been Nelson Mandelas prison cell on Robben Island.

Accordingly, Alright is alternately ruminative and raw, using the N-word and referring to the police as po-po. Its lyrics include such couplets as: Wouldnt you know, we been hurt, been down before / N----, when our pride was low / Looking at the world like: Where do we go?; and N----, and we hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho / N----, Im at the preachers door / My knees gettin weak, and my gun might blow.

Alrights recurring refrain We gon be alright has been embraced in recent years by Black Lives Matter marchers nationwide as a chant of hope in troubled times. It extols resiliency in times of adversity by promising things are going to get better, regardless of how bleak they may be right now.

For demonstrators who are grieving and protesting the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others who have died this year alone, and in previous years, despair and anger should be tempered by a sense of optimism.

Four hundred years ago, as slaves, we prayed and sang joyful songs to keep our heads level-headed with what was going on, Lamar noted in a 2015 NPR interview. Four hundred years later, we still need that music to heal. And I think that Alright is definitely one of those records that makes you feel good, no matter what the times are.

Lamars comments underscore the fact that music can help invigorate, uplift and calm politically and socially inspired gatherings of like-minded people. A protest march can be a celebration, as well as a demonstration, a coming together of people with shared concerns, emotions and goals. Singing and dancing are as foundational to protests as speeches and declarations.

In any era, the timing of a protest song is as important as its lyrics, its melody and its beat. Whether offering a call to action or somberly reflecting on a moment of crisis or loss, the best protest songs perfectly capture a moment in time.

In some instances, they capture and transcend that moment be it Rev. Charles Albert Tindleys inspirational 1900 hymn, We Shall Overcome, the rousing gospel staple Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round or the 1965 Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions classic, People Get Ready.

And great protest music can be heard in an array of different genres be it a Beethoven symphony, jazz great Max Roach epic 1961 album, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, or American composer Frederi Rzewskis 1975 solo piano opus, The People United Will Never Be Defeated, which is based on the Chilean folk song, "El pueblo unido jams ser vencido!

Alas, the impact of protest songs and the artists who make them can sometimes have dire consequences for those artists, even for those championing the cause of peace.

In 1968, Brazilian Tropicalia music stars Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were arrested for on trumped-up charges, after having used their songs to express criticism of their countrys government. Their heads were shaved and they spent two months in prison, followed by four months of house arrest. They were then deported, spending three years in exile in England before they could return to Brazil.

In 1971, Chilean playwright and singer-songwriter Victor Jara wrote the song El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (The Right to Live in Peace), which is sung to this day at protests in Chile. The power of Jaras work, and his outspoken opposition to his homelands brutal dictatorship, led to his being tortured and murdered by Chilean soldiers in 1973.

In Nigeria, Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti was shot at least once and repeatedly jailed. His crime? Being a tireless human-rights activist who used his music and stardom to convey his fierce opposition to his countrys military leaders.

Starting in 1984, he was kept in government detention for almost two years. At one point in the 1990s, Kuti was shown in chains on state television. He died in 1997. In 2009, his life was celebrated in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Fela!

Zack de la Rocha (left) and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. Their music is striking a new chord with protesters, despite the band not having been active since 2011.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

In other instances, songs can resonate even more strongly years after they were made. A key case in point is the fiery music of Rage Against The Machine, which has disbanded and reunited several times since its first album was released 28 years ago.

In early June, the long inactive Los Angeles rap-metal band saw the online streaming of its music surge 62 percent, with more than 11 million online streams of its music in a single week, as a new generation of politically engaged young listeners embraced Rages music.

Two of the Rages songs in particular the anti-police brutality Killing in the Name and the anti-government oppression Bulls on Parade, both from 1992 have struck a new chord, specifically because they speak to this tumultuous moment so well. So, to varying degrees, do such recent songs as rapper YGs unabashedly brazen FTP, 12-year-old gospel singer Keedron Bryants I Just Wanna Live and Minneapolis-based Sudanese-American singer Dua Salehs Body Cast.

In 1970, 22 years before the release of Rage Against The Machines self-titled debut album, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded the anti-war anthem, Ohio, which Neil Young wrote barely a week after four student protesters at Ohios Kent State University were shot to death by National Guard troops. It was released a week later and remains one of the best-known songs of that tumultuous period.

Ohios opening verse captured the grief and outrage over the fatal shootings with admirable concision: Tin soldiers and Nixon coming / Were finally on our own / This summer I hear the drumming / Four dead in Ohio / Gotta get down to it / Soldiers are cutting us down ...

But Young fell flat with his 2006 song Lets Impeach the President, which targeted President George W. Bush with such scathing lines as: Lets impeach the president / For lying and leading our country into war / Abusing all the power that we gave him / And shipping our money out the door.

And Young has yet to gain traction with his recently updated version of another one of his 2006 songs, now re-titled Lookin for a Leader 2020. The new version targets President Trump and endorses his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, with such lines as: America has a leader building walls around our house / Dont all black lives matter? / Weve got to vote him out ... Just like his big new fence, this presidents going down.

Youngs heavy-handedness is readily apparent, but some of the most effective protest songs hit their mark precisely because of their lack of subtlety. Either way, the best protest songs inspire reflection, if not action, by opening the hearts and minds of their listeners.

They can also help animate the goals articulated in their titles be it Sam Cookes A Change Is Gonna Come in 1964 and the John Lennon-led Plastic Ono Bands Give Peace a Chance in 1969, or Patti Smiths People Have the Power in 1988 and Lin-Manuel Miranda & Artists for Puerto Ricos Almost Like Praying in 2017.

The Vietnam War era inspired an array of memorable songs. They include Edwin Starrs War, Nina Simones Backlash Blues, Jimmy Cliffs Vietnam, Country Joe & The Fishs I Feel Like Im Fixin to Die Rag, The Byrds Draft Morning, The Fugs Kill for Peace, the Edgar Broughton Bands American Boy Soldier, Pete Seegers Bring Em Home and Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, Barry McGuires Eve of Destruction, and a good number more.

For every protest song that endures, many more fail to make an impact. Artists who wrote and recorded songs protesting the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq range from Pink, Pearl Jam and Eminem to Lenny Kravitz, R.E.M. and Merle Haggard. Hands up if you can name more than one or two of those songs.

Of course, it remains to be seen which songs inspired by the Black Lives Matter will still be sung 10 or 20 years from now. It also remains to be seen how many more belatedly woke White groups will change their names, as Lady Antebellum (now Lady A) and The Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) both did in June. (See below for more on name changes.)

But there are new protest songs every month. Some of this years standouts include Mickey Guytons Black Like Me, H.E.R.'s I Cant Breathe, Beyoncs Black Parade, Trey Songzs 2020 Riots: How Many Times. Lil Babys The Bigger Picture, and Leon Bridges and Terrace Martins Sweeter.

How many times, indeed?

In the meanwhile, expect more protest songs to ring out. And in an age of instant streaming, smart phones and TikTok, expect those songs to be heard by an increasingly engaged population eager to sing out, stand up and get involved.

Lady Antebellum members Charles Kelley, left, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood perform at the Stagecoach festival.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The still-growing impact of the Black Lives Matter movement has had a profound impact on many facets of American society, as the groups formerly known as Lady Antebellum and The Dixie Chicks can both attest.

The impact of that movement extends from the federal government, NASCAR and professional sports teams in big cities to small community organizations in rural neighborhoods. And it extends from Madison Avenue to the music industry, an industry that has made the members of the recently renamed Lady A and The Chicks wealthy and famous.

Actually, there isnt much of a distance between music and Madison Avenue, whose national and international corporate marketing strategies extend across America and around the world.

Many bands and solo artists are brands. Their names and images adorn countless products, from recordings, posters and clothing lines to in the case of Jimmy Buffett bars, restaurants, food products, furniture, pool floats, surf boards, yoga mats, cornhole games, and more.

But its no longer business as usual, thanks to Black Lives Matter, at least not for the groups formerly known as Lady Antebellum and The Dixie Chicks.

In June, the three members of Lady Antebellum announced they were changing their name to Lady A, the better to distance themselves from the pre-Civil War South in general and the slave owners mansions specifically that Lady Antebellum referenced.

In a statement on Instagram, the groups Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelly wrote: Weve watched and listened more than ever these last few weeks, and our hearts have been stirred with conviction, our eyes opened wide to the injustices, inequality and biases black women and men have always faced and continue to face every day. Now, blind spots we didnt even know existed have been revealed.

After much personal reflection, band discussion, prayer and many honest conversations with some of our closest black friends and colleagues, we have decided to drop the word antebellum from our name and move forward as Lady A, the nickname our fans gave us almost from the start.

Its unclear why those conversations with their closest Black friends didnt take place back in 2006, when the country-pop trio was formed, or if not then soon after the deaths of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and Eric Garner and Michael Brown in 2014.

But better late than never, even though the group Lady A subsequently sued Lady A, a 61-year-old Black Seattle blues and gospel singer (real name: Anita White). She has been performing as Lady A for more than 20 years. The trios litigation was spurred by Whites request that the group give her $10 million, $5 million of which she said she planned to give to Black Lives Matter organizations.

In a Rolling Stone interview, White decried the trios move to file multiple trademark registrations that would co-opt her stage name, saying: Theyre using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldnt have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.

No, it shouldnt have.

As for The Chicks, who on June 25 dropped Dixie from their stage moniker, the groups three members initially explained their move in just six words: We want to meet this moment.

In subsequent interviews, The Chicks Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire maintained they had wanted to drop Dixie as far back as 2003, without really explaining why they didnt.

Ironically, their decision to do so now has led to cancel culture denunciations from some of the same people who vehemently attacked The Dixie Chicks in 2003. Those attacks came after Maines spoke critically on stage of President George W. Bush, telling a London concert audience: Were ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.

Embarrassment, if not shame, also spurred the recent decision by the London record company One Little Indian whose roster includes Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjrk to change its name to One Little Independent. And, in late June, the Sacramento post-hardcore rock band Slaves announced its own name change.

The new name, the band now formerly known as Slaves promised, will be announced later this year.

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Protest songs capture the times, from Black Lives Matter to civil rights and anti-war movements - The San Diego Union-Tribune