Our new Official Rock Song!

It has taken hours of contemplation and reflection, but after many rounds of elimination we have finally decided on the GNU Public Dictatorship's Official Rock Song. Some of the songs were relatively easy to eliminate, such as "World Leader Pretend" by R.E.M. Others were more difficult. Most of the songs submitted by our supporters were the same ones we had considered, but there were a few surprises. We have considered songs as different as "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin and "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. Our favorites are listed below, and we'll reveal our choice at the end of this post (supporters who peek ahead to the winner will be censured, so don't think about it). The favorites (other than the winner) are in no particular order.

• The Future Soon (by Jonathan Coulton) (unofficial video here). We hope our New Future is as exciting as the protagonist's in this song.


• Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From The New World". We know this isn't a rock song, but we couldn't help including it here as it is such an enjoyable piece and its title is so appropriate. We couldn't let it win, but we had to include it.


• I am not Your Broom (by They Might Be Giants)(album version here). A very nice little song that serves as a nice allegory for what we are doing.

And finally, the Winner (and the GNU Public Dictatorship's Official Rock Song):

• Free Nelson Mandela (by the Special A.K.A.) (video here). No other song captured our indignance at injustice in the world as well as our hope for the future better than Free Nelson Mandela.

We considered many other songs, but as there cand be only one we let the songs chop each other's heads off until there was only one. We hope you enjoy it.