The Protest Song and Its Afterlife
A song is written for a specific moment. A march, a strike, a movement. The melody is simple enough to be sung by a crowd. The words are direct enough to be understood without explanation. The song does its work: it unifies, it sustains, it gives a collective voice to a collective act.
Then the moment passes. The march ends. The strike is settled or broken. The movement achieves its goal or does not. The song, having served its purpose, is filed away.