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20 Protest Songs That Matter: No. 10

'Allentown'
--Billy Joel (1982)

Rebelling Against: Recession!

The pop piano man made a bid for topical currency with this bleak snapshot of a struggling blue-collar town. Despite the promises made "if we worked hard, if we behaved," a generation feels the dream slipping away: "Something happened on the way to that place/ They threw an American flag in our face." Oof!

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12 Comments

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GWB

To Tom, You're a good man. Thank you for your service!

March 22 2008 at 2:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
daystar

I always thought of this song whenever I watched Roger and Me.

March 01 2008 at 1:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gena

allentown is not a blue-collar town. the song was written when he came here to bethlehem/allentown and wrote about the bethlehem steel closing down. it caused a lot of problems because my dad lost his job there along with thousands of other people- like all of my uncles and both my grandfathers. but yeah, the song is actually very true.

February 03 2008 at 6:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom

Note to Jim. I came back from Nam in 1967. I went to work for the Ford Motor Co. immediately after I got out of the army in 68. In fact, it cramped my love life because I worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week. Maybe you remember no jobs, but I didn't and I walked the walk. I was on an engine line that made Mustang 302s and the BOSS 302 (the real boss). Springsteen always acts likes this tough guy. This is the reason he needs to be punched. We cried for him in Nam (not really) but he never showed up. Where were you Bruce? That's right. You only cared about your own butt. Let's see, he was never in Nam, and as Seger did, he was never makin Thunderbirds. How can that guy be called the Boss. Boss of what, BS.

December 12 2007 at 7:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Darlene

Born and raised in the suburbs of Allentown, and graduating in 1981 from Northampton High, this is what Allentown, Bethlehm was all about. Families raised their children, working at Mack, the Bethlehem Steel, no one ever left life was good, then as one comment said, then the city folk came in and took the blue collar industry away, the children left, as did i. But still long for them days. They were good, honest and decent days. I wouldn't have wanted to be raised anywhere else. The song is a great way to what happened. I remember.

October 17 2007 at 4:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mankins

Born in the USA is a much better protest song. Although most people miss the point and think it's a pro America song. Stanley Clarks version makes this more apprent. Go to war in Vietnam, come back with no jobs and no future.

September 22 2007 at 12:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

Allentown used to be blue collar before the allure of cheap property lured the people from the cities to it

August 27 2007 at 11:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
beki

umm allentown and bethlehem aren't blue collar!

August 27 2007 at 9:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tEQUILA

Beatles "Revolution"
Black Sabbath "Mob Rules"
Bob Dylan "Blowing in the wind"
Bob Marley "Redemption Song"
Megadeth "Peace Sells"
The Byrds "Eve of Destruction"
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Youing "Tin Soldiers"
Pink Floyd "Another Brick in the Wall"
The Doors "Five to One"
Nazereth "Hair of The Dog"
No Misfits??
No Metalica??
No Neil Young??

What the hell and who the hell wrote this crap review? What do most of these musicians have to protest? The fact that most of them DO NOT write their own songs? The artists they got right, they got the wrong song. MORON! Learn something about music and protest. Just because you spend four years in college reading about someone ELSE's opinion doesn't mean a thing

July 15 2007 at 5:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom

Leslie, you might like it "better", but "WDSTF" is not a protest song. This is from the net: "Billy Joel (reportedly) wrote this song after overhearing a child say that he felt sorry for "older people" like Billy Joel because no "history" happened in their lifetime, that NOW (or the time the song was written) was going to be the world's most historical time period. The comment got to Billy Joel so much that he sat down and wrote this to prove that his lifetime has been FULL of history."

July 15 2007 at 3:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply