Top ten songs for this political nightmare we can't seem to wake up from

If you’re feeling enraged, depressed, scared or all three (as I am), all I can offer you is a musical antidote. A little rock ‘n’ roll medicine for the soul. The following ten songs deliver this more than any others I can think of at the moment (in chronological order):

Bob Dylan, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (1963)

If you want to understand why Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is as good a place to start as any, a song he wrote when he was still just 22 years old. I wonder what he thinks of this predicament we’re in. He’ll never say.

The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968)

A top ten album opener in my book, up there with “Black Dog,” “Begin the Begin,” and, uh, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Boy, did Mick have something to say and say it brilliantly on this one. Among other things, it reminds us that evil takes many forms.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Bad Moon Rising” (1969)

So many perfect songs from the Vietnam era that fit our times as well; it’s almost comforting. I was torn between this, from Green River, and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” from Cosmos Factory. I recommend you listen to both and decide for yourself.

The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (1971)

Except that we did. Say what you want about him, but I’ll give him this: he’s the greatest conman who ever lived.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Powderfinger” (1979)

There’s never been a better song about danger approaching (or about getting your face blown off for that matter). Get ready, America! It’s coming.

The Clash, “Clampdown” (1980)

Has anyone ever said it better than Joe Strummer in this song from London Calling that begins by asking the urgent question, What are we gonna do now? And continues a minute later with the most punk answer there is: Let fury have the hour/anger can be power,/you know that you can use it.

Prince, “Sign O’ the Times” (1987)

This song is very much about its specific time in America (AIDS, the Challenger explosion, the crack epidemic, etc). It’s dated even. But I’ve always loved it. And always will. Prince’s song “Baltimore” from the last album he recorded before he died would be more relevant, but it would step on my next pick…

Drive-by Truckers, “What it Means” (2016)

From their album American Band, my favorite album of 2016, this song that wrestles with the implications of a series of murders of unarmed black teenagers by cops and others (remember George Zimmerman?) came four years before George Floyd’s murder, a moment of reckoning for the entire country. It’s not hard to figure out which candidate in our recent election may pardon Derek Chauvin (Floyd’s murderer). Hint: the one whose dad was arrested at a Klan rally in the Bronx in 1927.

Aimee Mann, “Can’t You Tell?” (2016)

This is a song most of you won’t know, as it’s not on any of her albums. But it is available on streaming platforms. She recorded it about America’s favorite fascist the first time around, and the chorus culminates with the subject asking his voters, My god/Can’t you tell/I’m unwell?

Wilco, “Cruel Country” (2022)

I love my country/stupid and cruel/red, white, and blue

Sometimes Jeff Tweedy gets it exactly right. This was one of those times for me.

Final thought: notice I never mentioned his name. I have resolved to never utter or write his name again. Won’t you join me?