Basically any upbeat song that reminds you to appreciate life in the middle of absorbing and applying theory. Anything from the Internationale to Red Army tunes to modern(ish) artists like Chumbawamba are allowed. Even Lofi.
Personal favorite of mine is Quand Fera-T-Il Jour, Camarade? by Mireille Mathieu. It's bittersweet, hopeful and resolute. Even if I don't speak French, I sometimes mumble to it.
Runner-up would be Solidarity Forever by Pete Seeger.
Chumbawumba are anarchists who accidentally got a radio hit
Check out their song "The Day The Nazi Died"
Quand Fera-T-Il Jour, Camarade is fucking great.
For other upbeat Seeger songs there is "If I had a hammer"
Joe Hill has a lot of bops along with his somber songs: Mr. Block , The Tramp , It's a long way to the soup line , There is power in a union
Billy Bragg: Never cross a picket line, There is power in a union (no connection to the Hill song, instead it has the tune of Rally round the flag) ,
Chumbawamba has a lot of good stuff like you alluded to, I like their Diggers stuff: world turned upside down and Diggers Song Other stuff would be Give the anarchist a cigarette, Land of do what you're told, Enough is enough
There is a fuckload of other ones but that's what I got off the top of my head and from specific places
My kind of thread!
You mention "Quand fera-t-il jour", you might like Le Drapeau Rouge, great lyrics ("dare, dare to defy it, our great red flag, stained red with the blood of the worker")
I have a soft spot for Latin American songs, and they're particularly topical these days; check out Venceremos.
The Italians made one of the most radical and violent versions of the Warszawianka in the 70s and it absolutely does not fuck around with the lyrics.
Connolly Was There is superb in its hopeful message near the end (Oh Irish men, the day will come when workers one and all, will rise up on their bended knee and rally to the call, throw out the bosses' tyranny and shout from shore to shore, for a working man's Republic and for freedom ever more!). The final alteration of the refrain implies the spirit of James Connolly will watch benevolently from above as the Irish begin their new project of a worker's state.
Tearing up now writing this, thanks for this thread
Le Drapeau Rouge
Another one of my favorites, actually. Admittedly, I first heard of it from the same source, Kaiserreich. That game's OST is great.
From Here to Utopia from Ramshackle Glory is the peppiest (for me) track, but its hard to pick off Live The Dream, the whole album is bloomin' and makes me want to brain the bourgeoisie
if whole folkpunk album is too much, Cristo Ya Nacio En Palacaguina is a warm blanket of a song, i know we all love the Sandinistas and :jesus-cleanse:
I think this one fits: Apesar de você , by Chico Buarque
It's a very hopeful song composed at the height of Brazil's military dictatorship, and one of my all time favorites. The title means "In Spite of You", and the lyrics are about communion and the innevitability of the better times that (were) are bound to come, with just a dash of revenge for flavor
Lmao Hakim has a 2 year old comment in that Lofi comments section.
Anyway the song that pumps me up the most is Oh Fields My Fields.
I'm also a huge fan of this Swedish song about Vietnam but it might not fit the bill for this thread. It does teach basic theory though.
New Phone Who's This by Georgia Maq (of Camp Cope) is a good modern take on this kind of song. At least for me it addresses a lot of anxieties present in our society and provides a hopeful outlook.
People by AJJ is a good representation of a feeling I think all leftists have. Of recognizing the shit that people do and how terrible they are but ultimately believing in the good in people and the love inherent to being a leftist.
Lenin is always with you/Ленин всегда с тобой is a really beautiful song
El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido is another hit - written by Chilean socialists shortly after the coup of Allende
Utah Phillips "We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years" live album is very joyous, lots of banter and fun songs from a real life IWW union organizer and anarchist. I don't agree with all his politics but I still really enjoy the album and listen to it a lot.
Commonwealth of Toil always helps. "But we have a glowing dream of how fair the world will seem, when each man can live his life secure and free... when the earth is owned by labor and there's joy and peace for all, in the commonwealth of toil that is to be"
Especially those first 6 words really just fill me with motivation and hope like nothing else
My Idea of Fun by Wingnut Dishwashers Union. The last part of this song is really inspiring and just kinda makes me happy even though my life is shit.
