BitchTapes: Fight for your Rights

This story was originally published on November 4, 2016.

It’s election season in the United States, and it seems more urgent than ever to exercise our rights. Much is at stake. (Find your polling place and check your voter registration here.) There is a rich tradition of protest music in this country, because protesting remains one of the things that makes this country rich. (In the nourishing sense, not the billionaire who’s not really a billionaire sense.) Our mix this week reminds us what we’re fighting for. 

Track List:

1. Sammus – “America”

2. Tracy Chapman – “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution”

3. Ani DiFranco – “Which Side Are You On?”

4. Lila Downs – “El Demagogo”

5. Judy Collins – “Masters of War”

6. Nina Simone – “Mississippi Goddamn (Live in New York/1964)”

7. Joan Baez – “There But for Fortune”

8. Martha Reeves – “Dancing in the Street”

9. Hurray for the Riff Raff – “The Body Electric”

10. Tune-Yards – “Real Thing”

11. Aretha Frnaklin – “A Change is Gonna Come”

12. Mirah – “No Guns No Guns (30 Days, 30 Songs)”

13. Mary Pinckney – “Been in the Storm So Long”

14. Janelle Monáe – “Mr. President”

15. Periwinkle – “Traditional Honoring Song”

16. Anaïs Mitchell – “Why We Build the Wall”

17. Adia Victoria – “Backwards Blues (30 Days, 30 Songs)”

18. Mahalia Jackson – “We Shall Overcome”

19. Thao Nguyen – “Before You Vote (30 Days, 30 Songs)”

20. Periwinkle – “Feathers”

21. Indigo Girls – “Pendulum Swing”

22. Barbara Dane – “Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”

23. Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl”

24. Tanya Tagaq – “Fight”

25. Downtown Boys – “Monstro”

26. Patti Smith – “Radio Baghdad”

27. Lesley Gore – “You Don’t Own Me”

28. Ethel Smyth, Eiddwen Harrhy/Chorus of the Plymouth Music Series, Minnesota/Orchestra of the Plymouth Music Series, Minnesota – “The March of the Women”

29. X-Ray Spex – “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!”

30. Queen Latifah – “U.N.I.T.Y”

31. Priests – “And Breeding”

32. Camille Yarbrough – “Tell It”

33. G.L.O.S.S – “Lined Lips and Spiked Bats”

by Katie Presley
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Katie Presley is a writer and editor currently based on the East Coast (help, how did this happen??). She's been with Bitch in one form or another since 2010, when she started as a New Media Intern, and most recently served as Bitch's first and only Music Editor, from 2016-2017. Past resume lines include Assistant Producer for All Songs Considered at NPR Music, panelist on Pop Culture Happy Hour, and bylines at NPR and Ms. Katie is also a doula and herbalist, and writes a blog on herbal medicine, "The Herbal Apprentice." She also co-founded the first full-spectrum doula organization in Texas, The Bridge Collective. She is also a late-comer to being a Dog Person, but currently lives with four cats. 

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