Each generation of young musicians produces protest songs reflecting the issues of its time. The current crop of pop artists is no exception.

Today, there are songs by rap groups like EarthGang protesting systemic racism and oppression, songs by individuals such as Flores expressing the trauma and struggles faced by immigrants on the southern border, and bands like Midnight Oil writing lyrics dealing with the perils of climate change.

Whether or not such protest lyrics will still be relevant 50 years from now is an interesting question and, for obvious reasons, one certainly hopes not. But considering how well protest lyrics from my youth in the 1960s have aged, it is definitely possible.

Let’s take Sly & the Family Stone’s 1968 hit single “Everyday People” for example. The following lyrics were written during a time in this country when headlines were dominated by racial upheaval and civil rights leaders were being gunned down, including Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 that same year:

“There Is A Yellow One That Won’t / Accept The Black One / That Won’t Accept The Red One / That Won’t Accept The White One”

Somewhat revolutionary at the time, these simple yet powerful lyrics are still as true today as ever. One only needs to skim headlines from the last five years to verify that fact: George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, hate crimes against Asian Americans, anti-Semitism — “And So On And So On, And Scooby Dooby Dooby” as Sly so succinctly put it.

Sly goes on in “Everyday People” to sum up a remedy for the turbulent 1960s scene with this lyrical aphorism: “Different Strokes For Different Folks.” Though I’m guessing that even Sly could not have foreseen the variety of “Different Strokes” and “Different Folks” which would make the scene 55 years later.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” released in 1969 contained the prescient lyrics “Some folks are born silver spoon in hand / Lord, don’t they help themselves, Lord? / But when the taxman come to the door / Lord, the house lookin’ like a rummage sale, yeah.”

Today, one need look no further than to a twice-impeached former president for the poster child epitomizing such greed and entitlement.

In 1967, Buffalo Springfield released the hit single “For What It’s Worth.” Though written to protest Hollywood’s Sunset Strip curfew riots involving police and young people in November 1966, the song’s lyrics were readily applied in its day to any cause triggering public protest — and still can be.

First, there is the relevance of these 1967 lyrics in 2023: “Paranoia strikes deep / Into your life it will creep.”

According to an American Psychological Association wide-ranging survey titled “Stress in America 2022,” around 75 percent of adults said that the current political climate and the very future of our nation are significant sources of stress in their lives.

The survey revealed many more depressing details, all indicating that paranoia still “strikes deep” into the lives of Americans in 2023.

Buffalo Springfield’s song lyrics also protest a situation clearly pertinent to today’s fraught political atmosphere:

“There’s battle lines being drawn / Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.”

Don’t believe this is relevant today? Remember Jan. 6, 2021? It seems that everyday new political lines are drawn and each side feels that the other is completely wrong; there is no middle ground.

In fact, partisans on both sides of the battle lines today continue to say, in the song’s words, “Hooray for our side.” Even to the extent that after losing an election by 7 million votes, one side years later still proclaims, “Hooray, we won!”

Barry McGuire’s 1965 hit song “Eve of Destruction” perhaps most masterfully summed up the turmoil of that era, referencing the Vietnam War, the draft, the nuclear war threat, the Civil Rights Movement, China threat, Middle East upheaval, the American space program, all in one little ditty—most of which still pose risks today.

“The Eastern world, it is explodin’ / Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’ / And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’.” Afghanistan? Yemen? Syria? Israel? Well, today take your pick from those and more.

“Can’t you feel the fears I’m feeling today? / If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away / There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave.” Current nuclear threats from Russia, North Korea, and Iran make people “feel the fears” once again.

“Handful of senators don’t pass legislation / And marches alone can’t bring integration / When human respect is disintegratin’.” Over the last two years, 18 states have passed 34 restrictive voting laws, which can disproportionately affect voters of color.

“And So On And So On, And Scooby Dooby Dooby.”

Needless to say, this is an abridged sample of protest songs coming out of the 1960s, ones that most people in my age group easily recognize.

Yet, the 1966 tune that I personally can most identify with in today’s crazy world, and I’m quite sure that I am not alone in this regard, is “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV (Jerry Samuels) with its lyrics: “They’re coming to take me away / Ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-ha, to the funny farm / Where life is beautiful all the time.”

Not exactly a protest song, but sums up things nicely, don’t you think?