Protest songs in the United States Tom Paxton ("Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" - about the escalation of the war in Vietnam, "Jimmy Newman" – the story of a dying soldier, and "My Son John" – about a soldier who returns from war unable to describe what he's been through), among others. The first protest song to reach number one in the United States was P.F. Sloan's "Eve Of Destruction", performed by Barry McGuire in 1965. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s often used Negro spirituals as a source of protest, changing the religious lyrics to suit the political mood of the time.
Protest song 1966 Boudewijn de Groot released "Welterusten meneer de president", a song about the Vietnam War. The song spent 12 weeks in the Dutch Top 40 and to this day it remains an important song in nederpop and among Dutch protest songs. Following "Welterusten meneer de president", Boudewijn de Groot and Lennaert Nijgh, a Dutch lyricist, made more protest songs. The couple inspired other Dutch musicians, namely Armand and Robert Long. One of the earliest protest songs in New Zealand was John Hanlon's "Damn the Dam", recorded in 1973 in support of the Save Manapouri Campaign. During the bitterly divisive 1981