I feel like people are really sleeping on Leon Rosselson. He’s one of the most prolific songwriters of all time with beautifully crafted text, approaching such a broad variety of subjects with biting lyrics and thoughtful reflection, and he did it for more than 50 years without ever losing his edge !
You can’t deny neither his musical excellency and his profound humanity in the ideas he defended. He started writing when the U.S. was still under segregation and women couldn’t open a bank account in most Western countries and yet talked at length about patriarchy (Don’t Get Married Girls, the Mother Christmas Union, Whatever Happened to Nannerl), imperialism (The Jackboot Democrats, Who reaps the profit ?), the incredibly flawed perception and treatment of mental illness and crazy people by a society that is itself nonsensical(She was Crazy He was Mad, Suzie), Palestinian struggle (Song of the Olive Tree), Romani’s struggle ( The Wall that Stands Between)… There are also more personal, metaphorical and/or lighter songs about love, music, or nuclear apocalypse
If you call yourself a Leftist, there is something to be learned from this elephant (iykyk) of a Jewish musician.
