Mumford & Sons Teams With Elvis Costello, Records Protest Song For G8 Summit

In preparation for next week’s G8 Summit in Northern Ireland, the group Mumford Sons has been recruited by U2 frontman Bono.

Bono has been working endlessly with bands to create protest songs ahead of the event. Bands and artists from Green Day to Ed Sheeran to Sting have already signed up to release new tracks.

The protest event is being run by Bono’s One Campaign organization, and it backs the agit8 project which aims to influence key leaders who are attending the G8 summit.

Bono is attempting to end poverty around the world, and his main focus is to have G8 Summit officials increase food production in Africa while increasing international aid where needed.

On Tuesday, more than 50 songs were released online. Songs have included Ed Sheeran’s own rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” and a Mumford Sons collaboration with Elvis Costello for the Bruce Springsteen song “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

One.org has released all of the protest songs for free listening. According to the organization, all of the recordings include “songs that changed the world.” The songs include a tracks’ back story, full lyrics, and its historical impact since the time or original release.

On its YouTube page, the One Campaign writes:

“Think music can change the world? We think so. Go to http://one.org/protestsongs and listen to covers of the world’s most iconic protest songs by top global artists like Mumford Sons, U2, Macklemore, Will.i.am, Angelique Kidjo, Ed Sheeran, Elvis Costello and more.”

Here’s an introduction to the organization:

Take a listen to the organizations songs and let us know which renditions you like.