In protest

Remembers classic songs from the late 1950s and 1960s
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winston
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Post by winston »

Off topic a bit but in reference to an earlier post; I would say that given that Bo Bice and Lynrd Skynrd lit up TV land with Sweet Home Alabama during the American Idol finals (and therein indelibly stamping that song into our collective consciences once again). I would think that Neil young still has a hard time
getting good service in the South.

"Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the southland
I miss alabamy once again
And I think it’s a sin, yes

Well I heard mister young sing about her
Well, I heard ole neil put her down
Well, I hope neil young will remember
A southern man don’t need him around anyhow"
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

Yo Harley...the governor may have ordered the boys out on to the lawn, but I would hardly say Nixon's in the clear. It was John Mitchell, his Attorney General who whitewashed the whole affair in the courts...I don't believe anyone ever did time for it. Pictures don't lie, but they don't change everyone's minds either.

Paul, glad you won your fight with the draft board...otherwise you might now be livin' down the block from Peter M. and ending every sentence with "eh", eh?

I have nothing against the 'southland' per se, and have had many close friends who are southerners...but my Army childhood causes me to have grave concerns over the display on State Houses of Battle Flags of a former enemy army...sorry, just my upbringing. I still harbor hopes for an American Holocaust Museum down on the docks in Charleston...when ya'll get that baby built, 'ole neil' and I will be there to say Congratulations.
I didn't get where I am today by being on time...
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jingle_jangle
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Post by jingle_jangle »

Don't forget "WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!"

YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Meet the new boss
Same as the new boss...

Thanks. I feel better now.

Dane, after endless meetings and gov't paperwork, I found myself after 18 months, standing in a darkened room in my draft board (think Dr. Strangelove) with a dozen or so working-class upstanding citizens in their 50s, sitting around a table meeting to pass judgement on my future. The guys all had suspenders on their Dickies and the women all had beehive hairdos and had marinated in a number of conflicting scents. Most were employees of Hammond Organ plant #2, which was almost across the street.

I was asked a number of personal questions about my financial and family situation, and then one final question which I'll never forget:

"Why should we send someone else to Vietnam in your place?"

But I CANNOT remember what my answer was. I left there thinking I was going in for sure. But two weeks later, I received a deferment for hardship.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
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jingle_jangle
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Post by jingle_jangle »

Er, same as the old boss...

Ah, what the hell, it's all the same, y'know?
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
harley
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Post by harley »

Paul, I'm glad you didn't have to go. Even though I admit that war may be a necessary evil, it's still evil. Beyond that, it's such a waste of resources, both human and material.

That whole "domino theory" may have been a paranoid reaction to the destruction caused by Hitler when Europe was late in responding to his empire-building. I remember hearing somewhere that the military always trains to fight the last war next.

Dane, if Charleston Harbor is going to be held responsible for slavery, then the Northern financiers who supported slavery ought to have to put up the money to build the museum. The blame/responsibility for that shameful part of our past spreads far outside the South. If you do go down for the grand opening, though, try the Sweet Tea. ;)

To bring this back around, sorta, to protest songs and still tie in with some of the recent posts, I heard a song by Sarah Lee and Johnny recently that talked about the Confederate Stars and Bars. One of the lines was "It's a battle flag, now we can put it away." As someone born in the South, that flag is part of my past, but it no longer means what it once did so it needs to be left in the past. I'm not at war, a battle flag is no longer appropriate.
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winston
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Post by winston »

This was considered a protest song at the time:

Get Together by The Youngbloods circa 1969

Love is but a song we sing
And fear's the way we die.
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry.
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why.

C'mon people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Some will come and some will go
And we shall surely pass.
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last.
We are but a moment's sunlight
Fading in the grass.

C'mon people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now

If you hear the song we sing
You will understand.
You hold the key to love and fear
In your trembling hand.
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command
C'mon people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Right now Right now
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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winston
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Post by winston »

This is one of my favourites by the Rascals circa 1968:

"People Got to Be Free" was an impassioned response to the assassinations of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy."

All the world over, so easy to see
People everywhere just wanna be free
Listen, please listen, that's the way it should be
Deep in the valley, people got to be free

You should see what a lovely, lovely world this'd be
Everyone learned to live together, ah-hah-unh
Seems to me such an itty bitty thing should be
Why can't you and me learn to love one another?

All the world over, so easy to see
People everywhere just wanna be free
I can't understand it, so simple to me
People everywhere just got to be free

If there's a man who is down and needs a helpin' hand
All it takes is you to understand and to pull him through, ah-hah-unh
Seems to me we got to solve it individually, ah-hah-unh
And I'll do unto you what you do to me

Shout it from the mountain on out to the sea (out to the sea)
No two ways about it, people have to be free
Ask me my opinion, my opinion will be
Nat'ral situation for a man to be free

Git right on board now

(Lead solo)

Oh, what a feelin's just come over me
Love can move a mountain, make a blind man see
Everybody sing it now come on let's go see
Deep in the valley now, we ought to be free
SPOKEN
See that train over there?
That's the train of freedom
It's about to 'rrive any minute, now
You know it's been'a long, long overdue
Look out 'cause it's a'comin' right on through
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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winston
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Post by winston »

And of course John Lennon:

Give Peace a Chance
John Lennon (1969)
Album: Shaved Fish

Give Peace a Chance came out in 1969 while fighting was still going on in Vietnam.
This song was first recorded during the Montreal Bed-In with Yoko in 1969.
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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jingle_jangle
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Post by jingle_jangle »

Jesse Colin Young sang that song live on the Tonight Show just before he gave Johnny Carson the finger and stormed off the set.

"Love is but a song we sing", indeed!
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
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varmint
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Post by varmint »

When Bush started the war in Iraq I had this song in heavy rotation on my iPod:

Monster
By Steppenwolf

Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

yep.
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

Right on, all!

Harley, don't know if you'll believe this, but it occurred to me last night that, well, ...everything you said, brother... I was planning to post it today and then I read your post. Just want to say I agree with you 100%...the U.S. couldn't have gotten so big so fast without slave, chain-gang and child labor, indentured servitude and the draft...and every thinking person in every part of the country has to come to grips with this 'heritage'...

Sorry, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, protest songs...how about Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun"? Beats "Ballad Of The Green Beret" anyday...82nd Airborne, 1; Special Forces, Zip...
I didn't get where I am today by being on time...
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winston
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Post by winston »

Did not see that episode Paul. Where is Jesse Colin Young now? Obscurity comes to mind. Johhny Carson was and still is a class act.
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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winston
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Post by winston »

Not a big Peter Paul and Mary fan but wasnt Blowing in the Wind a protest song?
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

That would be a Zimmerman tune, I believe...let's have Randy Z. address this...
I didn't get where I am today by being on time...
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royclough
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Post by royclough »

Would have thought some of you American Guys and Gals would have come up with Joan Baez's "We Shall Overcome" particularly those of you who tended to drift into political overtones, let's keep it simple and stick to the music
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