April 9, 2003

In May 1970, the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young spent one day recording a song about the shooting of four Kent State University students during protests of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Atlantic Records rush-released it two weeks later, and Ohio emerged as one of the Vietnam War era's most indelible protest songs.

Thanks to the Internet, musicians can get songs into circulation as soon as they're recorded. Around the globe, many are taking advantage of technology to rush out new music addressing the war in Iraq -- some for it, but most against.

Songs and videos are turning up on Web sites months or even years ahead of when they might be available in record stores.

All of the following songs can be downloaded free, and more are turning up every day at www.protest-records.com.

Beastie Boys: In a World Gone Mad....

Long involved in the cause of Tibetan freedom, the Beasties offer up their typically distinctive Brooklyn rap take on the conflict: "Now don't get us wrong 'cause we love America/But that's no reason to get hysterica/They're layin' on the syrup thick/We ain't waffles we ain't havin' it."

Clint Black: I Raq and Roll

Black comes down on the pro-war side, but does so with a dollop of humor: "It might be a smart bomb/They find stupid people, too." Even though it hasn't been commercially released as a single, I Raq and Roll has picked up enough radio airplay to break onto Billboard's "Hot Country Singles & Tracks" chart.

Luka Bloom: I Am Not at War With Anyone

Irish folk singer Bloom checks in with a prayer for peace for both sides: "Give my love to Iraq, and to America/Give my love to Israel, and to Palestine/We could live as one, between the sea and sun/I am not at war with anyone."

Chumbawamba: Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name (www.chumba.com).

Best-known for the 1997 novelty hit Tubthumping, this British punk collective's antiwar song is more characteristically angry: "Hellfire and brimstone/Swapped for oil and guns/When we're pushing up daisies/We all look the same/In the name of the father maybe/But not in my name."

Zack de la Rocha: March of Death

The former Rage Against the Machine frontman collaborates with DJ Shadow on a fiery antiwar statement. "Lies, sanctions, and cruise missiles have never created a free and just society," De la Rocha writes on the Web site. "Only everyday people can do that."

Michael Franti and Spearhead: Bomb the World

The popular reggae band offers an antiwar track that will be on its next album: "We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it to peace."

Green Day:, Life During Wartime

An acoustic recording by guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, covering a song by Pinhead Gunpowder.

Nanci Griffith: Big Blue Ball of War

Griffith says she was moved to do this song because of her pacifist beliefs. "An individual cannot be a Vegetarian just between meals, and I cannot be a Pacifist just between wars," she writes on her Web site. "I am against any war, anywhere, anytime."

Yusuf Islam: Peace Train and Angel of War

The former Cat Stevens returns with his first pop recordings in 25 years, remaking two of his songs from the early 1970s. Peace Train is his signature hit single, while Angel of War updates Lady D'Arbanville.

Junoon, No More

A pop band from Karachi, Pakistan -- the city where kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl was killed. With its martial tempo and anthemic hook, this sounds like something U2 might do: "Keep yourself alive, hold on, we will survive."

Lenny Kravitz: We Want Peace

Kravitz oversaw an all-star remake of John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance during the 1990-91 Gulf War. A sequel of sorts, this song declares: "There won't be peace if we don't try." Kravitz's co-writer and performing partner: Iraqi pop star Kadim Al Sahir.

John Mellencamp: To Washington

This updates the late great Woody Guthrie's Baltimore to Washington, recast to fit the current situation: "He wants to fight with many/And he says it's not for oil/He sent out the National Guard/To police the world." This will be on Mellencamp's next album, a covers collection including songs by Hoagy Carmichael, Robert Johnson, Lucinda Williams, Willie Dixon and Skeeter Davis.

Meshell Ndegeocello: Love & Forgiveness

Ndegeocello checks in with an outtake from her 2002 album, Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape. Writes Ndegeocello on her Web site, "I wrote this song following Sept. 11, 2001, and thought it might be appropriate to release now given the present worldwide mobilization for peace."

R.E.M.: Final Straw

Recorded during for the next R.E.M. album. Writes singer Michael Stipe on the band's Web site: "This is the strongest voice I could think of to send out there. We had to send something out there now. We are praying and hoping for the lives of all people involved...Safe home, all."