What do you think that song means?

Songs about Historical Events

Of all the music forms, the song about a real historic event has the deepest roots. The very first songs were epic ballads telling of historic events, a way to pass down knowledge in the age of mostly oral communication. In medieval times, bards were hired by monarchs to compose ballads of the king's heroic ancestors. Minstrels, too, traveled the medieval world, singing educational and informative songs of far-off places and events.

Yeah, how cool is that? So modern bands sometimes take a stab at contributing to history. For one thing, it's a sure way to call attention to an event if you have an activist bent. You'll also notice that a song about a historic event tends to go down in history itself. Maybe some enterprising group will simply make singing the news their main gig?


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