Let Me Be (The Turtles song) Sloan's song "Eve of Destruction", which became a number 1 hit in the U.S. for Barry McGuire, recognizing that, with its uncompromising message, "You just couldn't make a statement like that and ever work again." He said that they accepted "Let Me Be" because it represented "just the perfect level of rebellion … haircuts and non-conformity".<ref name="Unterberger/JingleJangleMorning"></ref> Author Peter Doggett describes "Let Me Be" as a "perfect encapsulation of teenage angst". In his book "1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music", Andrew Grant Jackson identifies it as part of a "subgenre" of protest songs that emerged during 1965, in which
Protest song There is not so much a protest song trend in France, but rather of a permanent background of criticism and contestation, and individuals who personify it. World War II and its horrors forced French singers to think more critically about war in general, forcing them to question their governments and the powers who ruled their society. Jazz trumpeter and singer Boris Vian's was one of the first to protest against the Algerian war with his anti-war song "Le déserteur" (The deserter), which was banned by the government. Several French songwriters, such as Léo Ferré (1916–1993), Georges Brassens (1921–1981), Jacques Brel