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well done, john. I agree with your slant on 'revolution' by the beatles (mark kurlansky's excellent book '1968' comes to the same conclusion) and I'm really glad you mentioned 'what's going on' by marvin gaye, a beautiful and fiercely thoughtful record.
I made this point on another thread here lately, but I feel that in reference to the irish music scene, we are too enamoured with fashionable causes like big bad george w. bush rather than protesting about our own domestic issues (don't know if you follow what happens in ireland, john). 'what's going on' shows that an articulate protest about local issues can resonate globally - dublin and every town and city have their own litany of inner city blues; ireland and every country have their own injustices and wastes; 2004 and every age have their own heroes and villains. their stories are in today's paper, tomorrow's paper, the day after's paper...
however, as for john lennon as a protest singer post-beatles, I think elvis costello nailed this one:
"was it a millionaire
who said 'imagine no possessions'?
a poor little schoolboy
who said 'we don't need no lessons'?"
{'the other side of summer')
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