3. Bob Marley, War

There is just no way to make a list about anti-war songs and not include Bob Marley in it. This song is based on a speech given by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I before the United Nations General Assembly in 1963 and it's basically his "I Have A Dream" for Africa, America and the world : [...] That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion [...]

2. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Imagine

John Lennon's death was to my generation what the murders of Martin Luther King or JFK was to his. I remember where I was : At school, in my catholic school uniform sitting through a tedious math class when a teacher walking by our classroom, in shock, announced the news. I really feel that the 1960s and the social revolution that came with it ended with the murder of John Lennon. It makes this song, one of the last John Lennon recorded, even more relevant.

1. Marvin Gaye, What's Going On

In my book, there is no song that is more subversively political than "What's Going On". It's closeness in title to another Marvin Gaye hit, "Let's Get It On", belies the seriousness of the sexy jazz riffs fused with the cadences of the African drum. It's catchy, it's danceable, and ironically, it became Marvin's biggest hit, selling more than 2.5 million copies of the single --an unprecedented amount even by today's music industry standards. The version included here also has "What's Happening Brother", segueing from a song about the devastation of war to a song about veterans returning to the devastated cities back at home. Some things never change.

And there you have it, five songs to get your anti-war groove on and give the big heave-ho to those "hey hey ho ho" protest songs.