Tom Morello, friends release Occupy-inspired song ‘We Are the 99%’

This post has been updated. See note below for details.

The 2012 presidential campaign seems to have generated fewer politically motivated songs from the pop music community than we heard four years ago, but as election day draws nearer, the output is on the rise.

Last week, Randy Newman released “I’m Dreaming” with his take on some unspoken issues at work in this year’s election campaign, and now political rabble-rouser Tom Morello, Rise Against singer Tim McIlrath and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian are sending out a new song, “We Are the 99%,” as a free download.

Morello says the song, which he wrote with McIlrath and Anne Preven, was inspired by the Occupy movement, and he recorded it in time to mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Occupy Wall Street last year.

“I wanted to capture the excitement and energy of people fighting for change and make sure the song was free to anyone who wants it,” Morello said in a statement.

“Were you born to serve your betters/Live and work on bended knee?” Morello sings during the acoustic break in the otherwise hard-riffing, electric-guitar driven track.

The song will be available starting Friday at Morello’s website AxisofJustice.net. It’s currently streaming exclusively at RollingStone.com.

Update Sept. 28 at 11:18 p.m.: A spokesman for Morello said heavy demand for the track has caused the AxisofJustice.net site to crash on Friday. An alternate link has been created to allow downloading of the track here.

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