This chapter examines how French political and poetic song—the lyric-driven tradition often labeled in French as chanson (we use “song” throughout)—has functioned as a dynamic medium for political memory, resistance, and legal imagination in modern France. Focusing on key songs associated with World War II, revolutionary symbols, and debates on the death penalty, it traces how music operates not merely as cultural expression but as a site of historical contestation. Resistance songs, such as those by Jean Ferrat and Anna Marly, reveal how sound, performance, and context of circulation served as tools for defiance and remembrance under censorship. Postwar compositions continued this legacy, transforming national trauma into shared memory and reshaping narratives of justice and identity. The study also explores how song has engaged with political symbolism and legal tension—particularly in the use of icons like Marianne and anthems such as L’Internationale—highlighting the friction between artistic freedom and institutional control. In the context of capital punishment, the chapter contrasts abolitionist and retributive voices in song, demonstrating how music gave emotional and moral texture to legal discourse. Works by Julien Clerc, Michel Sardou, and Renaud illuminate how public conscience, legal reform, and cultural production became intertwined in the decades leading to the abolition of the death penalty. Through close analysis, the chapter shows that these songs are not simply reflections of public sentiment but active participants in shaping it. By channeling grief, outrage, and solidarity into sonic form, French popular music has continually negotiated the boundaries between art and law, personal memory and collective identity, offering enduring insight into the nation’s cultural and ethical landscape.