-- The issue or event needs to be something relatively limited in scope or scale. For example, a straightforward anti-Cold War song would be too big, but Phil Ochs' "Talkin' Cuban Crisis" would be perfect. Here, Ochs is making statements about a relatively specific historical event, while at the same time saying something about larger political and ethical concerns. The topic of the song needs to be narrow enough that students could go to newspapers and the like to research the event and the various contemporary perspectives on its significance.

Frank Zappa, "Trouble Comin' Every Day" -- L.A. '65 riots Bob Dylan, "Oxford Town" -- Ole Miss riots over James Meredith's enrollment, '62 Wasn't one of Elvis Costello's songs a protest against the Falklands war? William Crump