“Jackboot Jump”, a single by the artist Hozier uses a Chicago Blues-type style to highlight moments of protest and speak out against the silencing of voices. Without a chorus, this anthem tells stories of protest from around the world, beginning with the protests at Standing Rock. The second line of the first verse goes as such, “Whether tearing up old treaties/Or just tearing up the place,” refers to the upwards of 380 historical and sacred Native American sites that were being demolished by the Dakota Access Pipeline. The second verse begins with, “In Moscow the Jackboot show has so much in store/For any silly student/Who doesn’t wanna learn the score,” this relates back to protests in favor of democracy led by students in Moscow, Russia that was met with an intense response from the government. The third verse moves to the protests in Hong Kong in response to a law that could make it possible to be extradited to China, “In Hong Kong it won’t be long ‘til they have to fall in line/For the long hand of Beijing/Stretches south a thousand miles”.
Jackboot Jump fits perfectly as a protest song; it has the witty nature that makes one think of Woody Guthrie’s anti-war songs. They blatantly call out the government or whatever broken system the song is about through thinly veiled analogies and metaphors.
