CivilizedNation.com Blog

One of the great things about music is that it has not only has the power to uplift, but it also has the ability to make you stop what you're doing and reflect on the world. Your foot may still be tapping, but the lyrics end up take you down a trail you might not otherwise have followed.

At CivilizedNation.com we're constantly trying to find songs of social significance.

These may include, but are generally different from protest songs, labor union songs, anti-war songs, etc.

Because songs of social significance are found in every genre of music. Rap, hip-hop, rock n roll, country, folk, you name it. Different artists from every genre have at one time or another sung at least one song dealing with social issues.

Paul Simon's song, "Boy in the Bubble" is a perfect example of this. He's not trying to "stick it to the man" with his words, but the things he's singing about give us plenty of material to contemplate.

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art, think of
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

So if you know of any songs out there that really cause you to think and wonder and dream, please let us know, because we're actively looking for them, and we want to help give them a collaborative home here at CivilizedNation.com, where we believe that songs of social significance from every genre and ever corner of the globe have the ability to inspire and the potential to change the world.

Schools are always looking for ways to fund their music programs, and for many years now, students and teachers have turned to the familiar car wash and bake sale events as a way of making that money to help pay for new instruments or special uniforms or field trips to one location or another.

And while these ideas aren't bad, we at CivilizedNation.com would like to propose an entirely new set of imaginative ideas for raising funds for school's music programs, while at the same time bolstering the town's entertainment offerings and sense of community pride.

The first idea would be to partner with organizations that are actually involved in the business of music, such as Napster, Yahoo Music, etc. With the proliferation of mp3 devices now available, and musical piracy at an all time high, an agreement could almost certainly be reached whereby organizations would agree to donate 10% of all earnings during a specified period of time towards schools across the country or to a specific school where students sold musical download cards (10 songs for $10) to members of the community. Besides raising funds for schools, such a program might also help lower the amount of musical piracy on the internet as people might be more encouraged to perform legitimate downloads since they would now know that a portion of their purchase amount would be going back to benefit their own community.

Another idea for raising funds for music programs would be to form smaller bands (from within the school band) and have them perform at local restaurants on weekends, announcing that all tips/donations would be for this field trip or these uniforms, etc. This would benefit both the restaurant in terms of entertainment and it wold benefit the students themselves, teaching them a greater sense of responsibility while putting their musical talents to work.

Still yet another idea would be to reach an agreement with local music stores, creating a special events month where a percentage of all purchases could be donated to the local high school's music program. Students could play music in varying locations around town promoting the store while at the same time promoting their cause.

The point to these ideas is that students and schools that are in need of funds for their programs have numerous opportunities all around them. Rather than selling candy or brownies (and aiding in what is quickly becoming a national pandemic of diabetes), students can form partnerships with local businesses, making the situation music to everyone's ears.

As a Teaching Assistant at UT Austin, I work with students who almost seem to be activated by the clock rather than the pursuit of knowledge.

This automaton-like response led me, the other day, to write something that I would love to say if it were my class and were I not just a T.A.

"This is supposed to be a school, a place of learning and enlightenment, but as you have no doubt already noticed, there are bells in this building, because this building was made in the age and spirit of factories, the bells acting as the prehistoric pterodactyl calls of management, coralling workers from station to station, herding them like cattle towards their final destination.

But you are not cattle or sheep or Pavlov's dogs. And in my class you will not be conditioned to close your notebooks and jump up at the sound of a bell. In fact, it is my hope that you will be so involved in what you are learning that you won't even hear the bell when it does ring. Because the act of learning cannot and should not be forced between artificial borders of time. The process of discovery is timeless and it is what keep our spirits forever young."