Samantha Poveromo
The first song that came to mind regarding a better world was the song Hope by Twista which was featured in the movie Coach Carter. It was released on September 8, 2005. This song talks about difficult times that many people go through (specifically urban youth), whether it be death, incarceration or other issues many people face every day. It is about being hopeful when life gets difficult and making it through these hard times by being hopeful.
The next song that came to mind was Michael Jackson’s Heal The World. This song was released on November 19, 1991and is about making an effort to make the world a better place. It says that if you care enough you can make a difference in the world. Along with this song he created a Heal the World Foundation which was designed to improve the lives of children. His main focus at this time was betterment for all.
When I spoke to my mom about this theme, she immediately thought of the musical Hair from 1969. She felt that this musical in general was a good generalization of this time period. The song Aquarius was released as a single in March of 1969. The lyrics were written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot. The lyrics of this song were based on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the “Age of Aquarius”, an age of love, light, and humanity. This show was all about the hippies in the 60’s where their main goal was “make love, not war” and this song portrays this time period and it’s goals especially well.