Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

No one could have predicted…

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Everybody saw this coming.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Eve of Destuction

Eve of Destuction

by | 207 Comments

This post is in: ,

Someone mentioned the song Eve of Destruction in a post this morning, having just learned that the Byrds took a pass on the song that would later be a hit by Barry McGuire, and wishing they had heard a Byrds version.  (Sorry, I don’t recall who it was, so chime in if you’re the one.)

I listened to the song this morning.  Several times.  And I was struck by the fact that with just a few changes, this song could have been written today, or yesterday, or tomorrow.

Such a powerful song, and I think his gravelly voice –and his palpable anger – is a big part of the reason why.

Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace.

This song takes me right back.  How many years later, and we are still fighting many of the same battles. Lyrics are below the fold.

What other political songs are as true today as when they were written?  We need more music like this, and I’ll bet it’s out there.  Any songs to share, old or new?

Lyrics

The Eastern world, it is explodin’
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?
And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

Don’t you understand what I’m trying to say
Can’t you feel the fears I’m feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away
There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’
I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

And think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace

And you tell me
Over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction
No no, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

207Comments

  2. 2.

    Jerry

    Talking about The Byrds and you request that we “chime in”? I see what you did there. Excellent

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    I keep coming back to LesMcCann and Eddie Harris, Compared to What.

     

    I don’t keep up with much contemporary pop music, so I don’t know how the current generation is dealing with protest and similar themes in their music. But it is up to this current generation to set the tone and make their mark on these times.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    Some news.

    1. Paul Pelosi attack video released.
    2. Tyre Nichols video will be released shortly. I’m glad the cops are black so people will focus on the police and not the race if the people involved.
    3. Mass casualty attack on Israelis in Israel.
  9. 9.

    FelonyGovt

    Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush. Ignore the fact that he mentions the 1970’s:

     

    Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming,
    Saying something about a queen.
    There were peasants singing and drummers drumming,
    And the archer split the tree.

    There was a fanfare blowing to the sun
    That was floating on the breeze.

    Look at Mother Nature on the run
    In the nineteen seventies.
    Look at Mother Nature on the run
    In the nineteen seventies.

    I was lying in a burned out basement
    With the full moon in my eyes.
    I was hoping for replacement
    When the sun burst through the sky.

    There was a band playing in my head,
    And I felt like getting high.

    I was thinking about what a friend had said.
    I was hoping it was a lie.
    Thinking about what a friend had said.
    I was hoping it was a lie.

    Well, I dreamed I saw the silver space ships flying
    In the yellow haze of the sun.
    There were children crying and colors flying
    All around the chosen ones.

    All in a dream, all in a dream
    The loading had begun.

    Flying Mother Nature’s silver seed to a new home in the sun.
    Flying Mother Nature’s silver seed to a new home.

  10. 10.

    Sparkedcat

    The “Eve of Destruction” evokes early childhood memories that involve fallout shelter signs and drilling to “duck and cover” underneath a school desk.

  14. 14.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Which Way to America
    by Living Colour (Black rock band) 1987:

    “I look at the T.V.
    Your America’s doing well
    I look out the window
    My America’s catching hell

    I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?
    I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?

    I change the channel
    Your America’s doing fine
    I read the headlines
    My America’s doing time

    I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?
    I just want to know which way do I go to get to your America?

    Where is my picket fence?
    My long, tall glass of lemonade?
    Where is my VCR, my stereo, my T.V. show?

    I look at the T.V.
    I don’t see your America
    I look out the window
    I don’t see your America

    I want to know how to get to your America
    I want to know how to get to your America”

  18. 18.

    jackmac

    Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”  (1971)

    “The narrative in the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice,” according to Smooth Radio (smoothradio.com). “Gaye’s lyrics explore themes of racism, drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War.”

    The lyrics:

    Mother, mother
    There’s too many of you crying
    Brother, brother, brother
    There’s far too many of you dying

    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today, eh eh

    Father, father
    We don’t need to escalate
    You see, war is not the answer
    For only love can conquer hate

    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    Talk to me, so you can see
    Oh, what’s going on
    What’s going on
    Yeah, what’s going on
    Ah, what’s going on
    Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
    Oh, but who are they to judge us
    Simply ’cause our hair is long

    Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some understanding here today

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    C’mon talk to me
    So you can see
    What’s going on
    Yeah, what’s going on
    Tell me what’s going on

  20. 20.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    Oh boy, this is taking me back.Tom Paxton, We Didn’t Know

    The third verse is Vietnam, of course. Not completely apt, but the idea is the important thing. Does anything ever change? Yes and no — it’s hard to claim “we didn’t know” these days, the crazies are out and proud.  Yet it doesn’t stop willful blindness and flat denial.

  22. 22.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Brachiator: Americans by Janelle Monae:

    “Until women can get equal pay for equal work
    This is not my America
    Until same gender loving people can be who they are
    This is not my America
    Until black people can come home
    From a police stop without being shot in the head
    This is not my America
    Until poor whites can get a shot at being successful
    This is not my AmericaI can’t hear nobody talkin’ to me
    Just love me baby, love me for who I am
    Fallen angels singing, “clap your hands”
    Don’t try to take my country,
    I will defend my land
    I’m not crazy, baby, naw
    I’m American (love me baby)I’m American (love me for who I am)
    Until Latinos and Latinas don’t have to run from walls
    This is not my America
    But I tell you today that the devil is a liar
    Because it’s gon’ be my America before it’s all over
    Please sign your name on the dotted line”

  24. 24.

    Adam Lang

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvZSAr_7RCg

    (Mostly the last verse, of course).

    We met on the beach amid rumours of war
    Your head in your hand, what you saw you won’t say
    As the newspapers blew in the wind
    I can see you’re one of that kind
    Who carry round a time bomb in their mind, no one knows
    When you’ll slip the pin
    Rumours of war
    Rumours of war

    I see that your dress is torn at the edge
    You were lost, intense, like a man on a ledge, waiting to jump
    As the waves break over the shore
    You say there’s a storm that can’t be delayed
    And lately it seems to be comin’ this way, you can hear it break
    Like the slam of a door
    Rumours of war
    Rumours of war

    You tell me, just look all around
    At the past and the present, the cross and the crescent,
    The signs and the planets are lining up like before
    There are souls on fire in the day and the night
    On the left and the right, in the black and the white
    You can see it burn in the eyes of the rich and the poor
    Rumours of war
    Rumours of war

  25. 25.

    John Revolta

    “Skip a Rope”, 1968    Nice & cynical, esp. for a country song back then

    Cheat on your taxes, don’t be a fool

    Now what was that they said about a golden rule?

    Never mind the rules just play to win

    And hate your neighbor for the shade of his skin

    Skip a rope, skip a rope

    Oh, listen to the children while they play

    Now ain’t it kinda funny What the children say?

    Skip a rope

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GKWoQ9wrnk

  29. 29.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    All the questions posed in Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind remain unanswered. So that’s pretty much as relevant as when it was written more than a half century ago.

  30. 30.

    TheOtherHank

    I’m watching the R&R video now. My dad was stationed at the Navy Hospital in Taipei from 1972 to 1974 and he got to bring his family. I’m going to assume that my experience living there as a elementary school student at Taipei American School was somewhat different from the soldiers featured in the video.

  41. 41.

    Snarlymon

    Bob Dylan’s Masters of War and A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall are both songs that have remained relevant.

  42. 42.

    geg6

    @TaMara:

    Yes.  I spent that years in a constant state of anger.  Politics, the wars…the lies I knew they were telling.  Meanwhile, my ex and I were breaking up after 18 years.  It came as a shock and surprise to me.  Not a good time in my life, all the way around.

  43. 43.

    Wag

    My favorite subversive song is Devo’s Its a Beautiful World  

    A spectacularly  put together piece of work, the banal lyrics of the song drive home to violence in American society as displayed in the classic music video.  This is the full video which includes a satirical introduction by a recurring Devo character, General Boy. His intro is 2 minutes that perhaps sets the stage for the video, but feel free to skip to the main event.

  44. 44.

    UncleEbeneezer

    New via Wash Post: Justice Dept has asked the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any enforcement action against George Santos, as prosecutors conduct a parallel criminal probe.

  47. 47.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Oh Lydia, oh, Lydia, say have you met Lydia
    Oh, Lydia, the tattooed lady
    She has eyes that folks adore so
    And a torso even more so
    Lydia, oh, Lydia, that encyclopedia
    Oh, Lydia, the queen of them all
    On her back is the Battle of Waterloo
    Beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too
    And proudly above the waves
    The Red, White and Blue
    You can learn a lot from Lydia

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @Jackie:

    This, by Buffalo Springfield:

    A great song. Originally written in response to the Sunset Strip curfew demonstrations in Los Angeles, in 1966.  It caught the mood for the emerging counter-protest movements of the 1960s.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @gwangung: Yeah. Somebody said the other day that Janis Joplin was forgotten. I don’t think that’s true, but I’m surprised Scott-Heron isn’t mentioned more often.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara:  I don’t even know how families handle it when a family member is off at war.

    When your dad was in Vietnam, were you old enough to understand how dangerous that was?

  55. 55.

    Jackie

    @TaMara: I introduced my very liberal open minded Dad to a lot of protest music from that era. Dad was 37 (first time father) when I was born, so I didn’t appreciate at the time how unusual it was to haul my 45’s and albums to his office and share my music with him. And he shared his with me – which included Sons of the Pioneers, Hank Williams… Mom hated both genres…

  57. 57.

    CarolPW

    @Jackie: Looked at a Dan Rather interview with Crosby, Stills and Nash after Crosby died, and Stills talked about how that song came about. The whole thing is worth watching for CSNY fans.

  59. 59.

    kalakal

    Black Sabbath – War Pigs 

    The Who – Won’t get fooled again 

    Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil, Paint it Black 

    Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son, Who’ll stop the rain

    Pink Floyd – Us and Them 

    Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground 

    Kate Bush – Army Dreamers

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, …

    I liked the idea of giving this video of Tyre Nichols prominence over the video of his murder by the racist state. Here he is, alive and happy, as he should have remained: pic.twitter.com/4WbFk9mBrR

    — 💭 (@samthielman) January 27, 2023

    :-(

    Change for the better is long overdue.

    Let’s make sure it happens.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    gwangung

    @WaterGirl: On the supply side, of course, there’s no shortage of ways for Black folks to talk about their life and to express their anger musically (a much better way than their whiny white conservative brethren).To vent about injustice is what an artist can do, and do it well.

    On the demand side, there I a tendency in middle and upwards class to indulge in oppression porn. TO nod along with the injustice and do performative acts of allyship; buying/consuming oppression porn is a cheap and easy way to perform as allies. But doing something constructive about that is a lot harder (which many readers of this blog actually know about).

    I rag a little bit on oppression porn, but it does serve a necessary function; without it, any progress would be much harder. But it’s easy to get cynical when  it gets used more as performance than as ignition for change.

  64. 64.

    TaMara

    @WaterGirl: Just old enough. And boy did I understand. I remember vividly still, my mom sharing a letter with her sister about how my dad’s barrack’s had been blown up and how they all barely escaped.

    To this day, I can remember every sound and smell from the day he came home. Huskers on the radio, World Series on the TV, cottonwoods in Oct and the dank smell of his military trunk (he still has it, it still smells the same – can’t get humid jungle out easily)

  68. 68.

    TaMara

    @WaterGirl:  And my brother’s unit was attacked (I’ve told this story before here) on the day the RETHUGS in congress were obsessed with Terri Shavio.

    Their convoy was almost kidnapped/killed, and not a peep from those assholes. This was at that time they were beheading prisoners and sharing the videos.

    It was the first convoy attacked that brazenly  – they used to run from Kuwait to Iraq without escort. Not after that.

  70. 70.

    Sister Golden Bear

    In today’s ethnic trans cleansing news:

    We’re now up to 242 anti-trans bills — more than the last three years combined — so far this year, including:

    – 81 bills banning Gender Affirming Care
    – 33 bills banning trans people from sports
    – 35 Don’t Say Gay/Forced Outing bills
    – 18 bills banning drag
    – 10 bills banning trans people from bathrooms
    – 10 bills ending legal recognition of trans people

    Also:

    – Utah becomes the first state legislature to pass a gender affirming care ban for transgender youth. It now heads to the governor, where if signed it will take effect almost immediately It is only the third state leg to pass such a ban, joining AL and AR.
    – Montana had hearings on another trans health ban.
    – Wyoming had hearings on classifying trans care as child abuse.
    – Virginia had hearings on forcibly outing trans kids, as well as another bill requiring parental permission for students to participate in school clubs, which was written in response to School Gay-Straight-Alliance action against the Governor’s Transgender Model Policy.

    One bright spot, Washington State held hearings on protecting both abortion and gender-affirming care.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    Speaking of destruction —

    Former President Donald Trump is unveiling a missile defense policy plan, promising “to build a state of the art, next–generation missile defense shield” should he take office again. Source

  75. 75.

    TiredOfItAll

    Wings. Blech, I know.  “Give Ireland Back to the Irish.”  Lyrics pretty lame, but sentiment remains for a United Ireland.

  81. 81.

    TaMara

    @WaterGirl: Two things that remind me that my dad was definitely affected (of course) – I loved to catch garter snakes as a kid, and my dad would grimace and pretend to be okay with his nature-loving daughter’s fascination with them. Without reminding me they had to do snake checks every morning (boots) and evening (cots).

    And when we went to visit the Henry Dorley Zoo’s new habitats, he had to skip the Southeast Asian building. I was a teen when that happened, and really the first time I’d seen him that way.

    My brother still has ptsd from that and from hitting an IED.

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    A federal judge sentenced the Pennsylvania man who pepper sprayed U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on Jan. 6, 2021, to six years and eight months in prison Friday, saying he found his assault on outnumbered officers inexcusable. Source

  84. 84.

    CaseyL

    @Scout211:

    That song always gives me chills.

    I remember Kent State, and I remember the reaction to Kent State: so many, many people thought the National Guard should have killed more of the students.

    Makes me remember that the sheer viciousness and glorification of cruelty prevalent in the American Right is nothing new.

  86. 86.

    cckids

    Another one from Green Day; Holiday.

    Hear the sound of the falling rain

    Coming down like an Armageddon flame

    The shame, the ones who died without a name

    Hear the dogs howling out of key

    To a hymn called “Faith and Misery”

    And bleed, the company lost the war today,

    Oh I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies

    This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

    On holiday

    Hear the drum pounding out of time

    Another protester has crossed the line

    To find the money’s on the other side

    Can I get another amen?

    There’s a flag wrapped around a score of men

    A gag, a plastic bag on a monument

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara: I have a snake phobia, my memories of the snake house at Brookfield Zoo still make me shudder.  Your dad sounds like a good man.  I don’t see how anyone can go through what your brother and others went to without having PTSD.

    It takes more physical courage than I will ever have to join the military and go to war.

  88. 88.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Anotherlurker:

    Another timeless Zappa favorite of mine: “Trouble Every Day”

    Well I’m about to get sick
    From watchin’ my TV
    Been checkin’ out the news
    Until my eyeballs fail to see
    I mean to say that every day
    Is just another rotten mess
    And when it’s gonna change, my friend
    Is anybody’s guess

    So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
    Hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    That there’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    Wednesday I watched the riot…
    Seen the cops out on the street
    Watched ’em throwin’ rocks and stuff
    And chokin’ in the heat
    Listened to reports
    About the whisky passin’ ’round
    Seen the smoke and fire
    And the market burnin’ down
    Watched while everybody
    On his street would take a turn
    To stomp and smash and bash and crash
    And slash and bust and burn

    And I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
    Hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    That there’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    Well, you can cool it,
    You can heat it…
    ‘Cause, baby, I don’t need it…
    Take your TV tube and eat it
    ‘N all that phony stuff on sports
    ‘N all the unconfirmed reports
    You know I watched that rotten box
    Until my head begin to hurt
    From checkin’ out the way
    The newsman say they get the dirt
    Before the guys on channel so-and-so

    And further they assert
    That any show they’ll interrupt
    To bring you news if it comes up
    They say that if the place blows up
    They will be the first to tell,
    Because the boys they got downtown
    Are workin’ hard and doin’ swell,
    And if anybody gets the news
    Before it hits the street,
    They say that no one blabs it faster
    Their coverage can’t be beat

    And if another woman driver
    Gets machine-gunned from her seat
    They’ll send some joker with a brownie
    And you’ll see it all complete

    So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
    Hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    That there’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    Hey, you know something people?
    I’m not black
    But there’s a whole lots a times
    I wish I could say I’m not white

    Well, I seen the fires burnin’
    And the local people turnin’
    On the merchants and the shops
    Who used to sell their brooms and mops
    And every other household item
    Watched the mob just turn and bite ’em
    And they say it served ’em right
    Because a few of them are white,
    And it’s the same across the nation
    Black and white discrimination
    Yellin’ “You can’t understand me!”
    ‘N all that other jazz they hand me
    In the papers and TV and
    All that mass stupidity
    That seems to grow more every day
    Each time you hear some nitwit say
    He wants to go and do you in
    Because the color of your skin
    Just don’t appeal to him
    (No matter if it’s black or white)
    Because he’s out for blood tonight

    You know we got to sit around at home
    And watch this thing begin
    But I bet there won’t be many live
    To see it really end
    ‘Cause the fire in the street
    Ain’t like the fire in the heart
    And in the eyes of all these people
    Don’t you know that this could start
    On any street in any town
    In any state if any clown
    Decides that now’s the time to fight
    For some ideal he thinks is right
    And if a million more agree
    There ain’t no Great Society
    As it applies to you and me
    Our country isn’t free
    And the law refuses to see
    If all that you can ever be
    Is just a lousy janitor
    Unless your uncle owns a store
    You know that five in every four
    Just won’t amount to nothin’ more
    Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
    And make up songs about being poor

    Blow your harmonica, son!

  89. 89.

    Ohio Mom

    @Baud: Like a lot of people, I was expecting the cops who killed Tyre Nichols to be white. After I saw their photos and got over my initial, “Oops!” at myself, I had a moment of wondering what got into them, how cop overwhelming cop culture must be, and then I realized Right wing nut jobs are going to twist this and use it as another example of Black-on-Black crime, or that Black people are so awful even other Black people want to kill them, or something else equally inane and hateful that I don’t have the imagination to think up.

    @Nelle: I also had a moment of wondering if the cops would have been arrested if they were white.

    On the subject of this post, I always think most of Tom Lehrer’s stuff holds up pretty well.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Another FYI.

    The FEC has over time been relegated to operating as a paper tiger. But tigers of any ilk still have teeth and claws. We shall see what transpires.

    Rep. George Santos’ campaign committee is facing new questions from federal regulators after submitting paperwork listing a new treasurer who says he never took the job. Source

  91. 91.

    Geminid

    I’m beginning to think Representative Ohlan Omar will be sitting on the Foreign Relations Committee this Congress. Kraven McCarthy wants to block her, but with Florida member Brian Steube recuperating from a bad ladder accident, four defectors can help put her on the committee.

    CBS reports there are now three Republicans who say they will support Omar’s return to Foreign Relations: Victoria Sparks (IN), Nancy Mace (SC), and now Ken Buck (CO). Like the other two, Buck voted to keep Reps Greene and Gosar on their committees and says he will not go along with this “tit-for-tat.” Several other caucus members tell reporters this is a bad idea, and Ms. Omar says a number of her Republicans have privately expressed their support.

    And like Rodney Dangerfield, the Squeaker can’t get no respect! At least not from Vicky Spartz:

        Spartz said she will oppose the “charade” and pushed McCarthy to “stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing.”

  92. 92.

    Kelly

    John Prine “Sam Stone”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLVWEYUqGew&ab_channel=JohnPrine
    Sam Stone came home

    To his wife and family

    After serving in the conflict overseas

    And the time that he servedHad shattered all his nerves

    And left a little shrapnel in his knees

    But the morphine eased the pain

    And the grass grew round his brain

    And gave him all the confidence he lacked

    With a purple heart and a monkey on his back
    There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes

    Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose

    Little pitchers have big earsDon’t stop to count the years

    Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios,hmmm

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    @gwangung:

    I doubt that you need me to but I’ll explain anyway.

    I was of age during Vietnam.  I took my draft physical a month after graduating HS. I watched, standing in a line, in my underwear, holding the rest of my clothes, with approximately 80 other just 18 yr olds as a Marine drill sergeant across the hallway counted off every 1/3 man, then had the other 2/3 walk away to be sworn into the army, who then turned to that 1/3 left and told them “You’re mine, you’re in the Marines now.” Raven once told me it was every other man on his day. I’ve often wondered how many of those men are still alive and how many of their moms have a flag as the memory of their child. And then I flash forward to today and recall that when I go to the VA I almost always see more black men my age than white. I once sat with a man I know whose brother had just died the day before in the VA hospital, both of them had been drafted which wasn’t supposed to happen but then both of them were black, so it wasn’t all that unusual. Not any more unusual that they didn’t label the blood draw or the urine sample we all gave, because all you were was a number, possibly one of the unreasonable percentage of men who never made it to 21, let alone 50.

    So many of the songs of the coming of age era of my generation are about the savageness, the almost always needlessness, and always the death involved in war. I know that some wars are needed, many are not, and if so many men weren’t so fucking pig headed and greedy we most likely wouldn’t have the number of wars we do.

  94. 94.

    Jess

    Bob Dylan does seem incredibly relevant again, doesn’t he? I’ve been listening to his more recent song a lot, “Things Have Changed.”

    Not a political song, but I can’t believe I just discovered this–9-year-old Angelina Jordan’s smokin’ version of I Put a Spell on You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwFloCPXzCs

    Incredible. Sends chills down my spine and makes me believe in ghosts and reincarnation.

  102. 102.

    ColoradoGuy

    @CaseyL: I remember Kent State all too well. I was in college at the time, and it hit hard. Students could be slaughtered in cold blood, just like Russia or China.

    It took three days for the TV networks to announce it was done in cold blood, while KPFK (alternative radio) had a man-on-the-spot that reported things as they happened. It left an impression on me that the TV networks took the word of the state and Federal authorities over direct eyewitness reports … for three days, while KPFK was reporting something completely different.

    And the murderers got away with it. So much for “Equal Justice Under the Law”. Welcome to the United States of Nixon.

  108. 108.

    Redshift

    @Baud: Morrissey is extremely flaky (in many senses of the word), but since we won the special election, we don’t need him to vote things down in the state senate.

  109. 109.

    boba

    The trilogy of the last tracks on the Worst of Jefferson Airplane:

    Good Shepherd
    We Can Be Together
    Volunteers

    Always thought they should be played in this sequence and at ear blistering levels

    And then there’s the good ol Grateful Dead’s Throwing Stones:

    …
    Selling guns instead of food todaySo the kids they dance and shake their bonesAnd the politicians throwing stones

    Not much has changed over these past 40/50/60 plus years… Come to think of it, hasn’t changed much since, oh recorded history?

  110. 110.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Midnight Oil, Short Memory

    Conquistador of Mexico, the Zulu and the NavahoThe Belgians in the Congo short memoryPlantation in Virginia, the Raj in British IndiaThe deadline in South Africa short memoryThe story of El Salvador, the silence of HiroshimaDestruction of Cambodia short memory
    Short memory, must have a, short memory
    The sight of hotels by the Nile, the designated Hilton styleWith running water specially bought short memoryA smallish man Afghanistan, a watch dog in a nervous landThey’re only there to lend a hand short memoryWake up in sweat at dead of nightAnd in the tents new rifles hey short memory
    If you read the history books you’ll see the same things happen again and againRepeat repeat short memory they’ve all got itWhen are we going to play it againGot a short, got a short, got a short, got a shortThey’ve got a short must have a short they’ve got a short aahShort memory, they’ve got a.

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    @gwangung:

    The 60s and 70s were interesting times. In the US, the escalating war in Vietnam swept up a lot of young people of all ethnicities and social classes. Yeah, there were some fortunate enough to get deferments, but others volunteered.

    You had protests and revolutionary movements all around the world, from Mexico to hot spots in areas controlled by the Soviets.

    I know some people who became radicalized when they were serving in the US Army and were sent to the Dominican Republic in 1965 to “restore order.”

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    I had a HS friend who joined the CHP when he turned 21. Did 30 yrs and told me a couple yrs after he retired that his HS ideal of a cop was true at that time – the 60s – mostly true anyway. But by the time he retired he said that the concept of US police had changed so much he hated being a cop. It had become such an us and them thing and everybody not with a badge was THEM. I have an idea it might have been the Vietnam war to some extent, and the concept that racism was wrong was making a somewhat more noticeable  appearance. It isn’t in full bloom yet but it does seem to be better. Not good, but better.

  116. 116.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @gwangung: After Trump was elected I joined an Indivisible group and eventually started running it.  Also got involved in local police reform because I was passionate and had the scheduling flexibility to do it.  But when I looked around, 99% of the people I know, didn’t do a damn thing.  A handful went to the Women’s March but that’s about it.  It was a real eye-opener to the fact that the vast majority of people in just about any community have little/no interest in being civically engaged beyond voting.  And while it definitely correlates with level of privilege(s), the same is true in the Black, Latinx, AAPI communities too, according to organizers I know within them.  They too, struggle to get people to do anything beyond signing a petition or maybe donating a few $ to a good cause and voting.  There will always be exponentially more people who will listen to protest music, watch a movie/tv-show about social justice issues etc., than there will be people willing to get off their asses and actually do something.  I’m pretty sure it has always been this way and always will.  It’s frustrating as hell, but that’s the reality.

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Baud: With the election of Mr. Rouse in Virginia Beach  Virginia Dems now have a 22-18 Senate majority. And the notorious Joe Morrisey may too distracted to make trouble now that his young wife has filed for divorce. That made for a banner headline in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and over 30 inches of copy. Morrisey’s big news in that town.

  121. 121.

    eclare

    @Ohio Mom:   I read a tweet about this that said with cops, there is only one race:  cop.  The author said as a Black man he was just as scared of Black cops as white, if not more.

    There is a line in Fuck tha Police about Black cops showing out for the white cops.  That song is 35 years old, not a damn thing changed.

  123. 123.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: Yup.  A small sliver of population do the work to set the right thing on the edge so that the collective can push it over the finish line without anyone individually having to do much.  I’ve just try to remind myself of that because otherwise I resent the hell out of the majority of the people I know and their complacency/ambivalence.

  124. 124.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Gin & Tonic: @Baud: @eclare:  Thanks. They’re hard for me to write, and I really, really would prefer to write about other things. But people need to know what’s happening

    @Geminid: Yes, I’m thankful for small things. But I’m feeling like parts of the country will be “no go” areas for me in the not to distant future. Especially as some of these laws are deliberately written so loosely that they can be used to arrest trans people merely for being in public. Just the “three articles of ‘gender appropriate’ clothing” were used for decades.

  129. 129.

    RSA

    Several of the songs on U2’s War album, which came out when I was in college, work just as well 40 years later: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Seconds, New Year’s Day, Like A Song, and The Refugee.

    I can’t believe the news today
    I can’t close my eyes and make it go away
    How long? how long must we sing this song?
    How long? how long?
    ‘Cause tonight we can be as one – tonight

    broken bottles under children’s feet
    Bodies strewn across the dead end street
    But I won’t heed the battle call
    It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall

    Sunday, bloody Sunday
    Sunday, bloody Sunday —

    And the battle’s just begun
    There’s many lost, but tell me who has won?
    The trenches dug within our hearts
    And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

    Sunday, bloody Sunday
    Sunday, bloody Sunday

    How long? how long must we sing this song?
    How long? how long?
    ‘Cause tonight we can be as one – tonight
    Tonight
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]
    Tonight, tonight
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]

    Wipe the tears from your eyes
    Wipe your tears away
    I’ll wipe your tears away
    I’ll wipe your tears away
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]
    I’ll wipe your bloodshot eyes
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]
    Sunday, bloody Sunday

    And it’s true we are immune
    When fact is fiction and TV reality
    And today the millions cry
    We eat and drink while tomorrow they die

    The real battle yet begun
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]
    To claim the victory Jesus won
    [Sunday, bloody Sunday]
    On Sunday, bloody Sunday
    Sunday, bloody Sunday

  134. 134.

    jonas

    I’m a Gen-Xer and Gn’R wasn’t exactly a hippie protest ban, but I think they got it mostly right with this one:

    My hands are tied
    For all I’ve seen has changed my mind
    But still the wars go on as the years go by
    With no love of God or human rights
    ‘Cause all these dreams are swept aside
    By bloody hands of the hypnotized
    Who carry the cross of homicide
    And history bears the scars of our civil wars

  135. 135.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    (Something Inside) So Strong by Labi Siffre

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eFpWN8Jfts

     

    The higher you build your barriers

    The taller I become

    The farther you take my rights away

    The faster I will run

    You can deny me

    You can decide to turn your face away

    No matter, cos there’s….

     

    Something inside so strong

    I know that I can make it

    Tho’ you’re doing me wrong, so wrong

    You thought that my pride was gone

    Oh no, something inside so strong

    Oh oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

     

    The more you refuse to hear my voice

    The louder I will sing

    You hide behind walls of Jericho

    Your lies will come tumbling

    Deny my place in time

    You squander wealth that’s mine

    My light will shine so brightly

    It will blind you

    Cos there’s……

     

    Something inside so strong

    I know that I can make it

    Tho’ you’re doing me wrong, so wrong

    You thought that my pride was gone

    Oh no, something inside so strong

    Oh oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

     

    Brothers and sisters

    When they insist we’re just not good enough

    When we know better

    Just look ’em in the eyes and say

    I’m gonna do it anyway [x4]

     

    Something inside so strong

    And I know that I can make it

    Tho’ you’re doing me wrong, so wrong

    You thought that my pride was gone

    Oh no, something inside so strong

    Oh oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

     

    Brothers and sisters

    When they insist we’re just not enough

    When we know better

    Just look ’em in the eyes and say

    I’m gonna do it anyway [x4]

     

    Because there’s something inside so strong

    And I know that I can make it

    Tho’ you’re doing me, so wrong

    Oh no, something inside so strong

    Oh oh oh oh oh something inside so strong

  136. 136.

    Steve in the ATL

    @RSA: for the record, I have an alibi—haven’t left Minnesota yet.  Though if there were burning police cars here, I could use the heat.

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @Sister Golden Bear: It is indeed only a small victory.

    I just like to talk up Senator Lucas. At age 78, Louise Lucas is the most dynamic politician in my state and that’s no reflection on the rest of them. She’s good.

  139. 139.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Paul Pelosi attack video released. 

    I saw this listed on an Australian YouTube news channel as “Paul Pelosi Attacked,” and I thought someone had invaded their home again.

    Watched the newscaster part of the clip and realized it was just the body cam footage being released.

    What was the point of releasing the body cam footage?

  140. 140.

    M. Bouffant

    We’re Only In It For The Money, from The Mothers of Invention.
    “THIS WHOLE MONSTROSITY WAS
    CONCEIVED & EXECUTED BY
    FRANK ZAPPA AS A RESULT OF
    SOME UNPLEASANT
    PREMONITIONS, AUGUST
    THROUGH OCTOBER 1967.”
    Unpleasant premonitions that continue to come true.

  141. 141.

    StringOnAStick

    I was 8 years old when the Kent State shooting happened, and I knew it was deeply wrong.  My oldest sister, 17 at the time, was one of the “they should have shot more of them” idiots.  It is no surprise that she turned into a RW evangelical and was the first person I knew who listened to Limbaugh and parroted his crap.

  144. 144.

    gwangung

    I go on about oppression porn because it’s a dawning realization in the arts (particularly among POC) that the gatekeepers (producers, corporations, artistic directors, directors) unconsciously select for this and select against POC-centric views of normal life.

  145. 145.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: If you are on Twitter you can follow Alejandra Caraballo and Erin Reed (and SGB too) and you will see all of this fuckery as it happens.

  146. 146.

    SFBayAreaGal

    A Change is Gonna Come

    I was born by the riverIn a little tentOh, and just like the river, I’ve been runningEver since
    It’s been a longA long time coming, but I knowA change gon’ comeOh yes, it will
    It’s been too hard livingBut I’m afraid to die’Cause I don’t know what’s up thereBeyond the sky
    It’s been a longA long time coming, but I knowA change gon’ comeOh yes, it will
    I go to the movieAnd I go downtownAnd somebody keep telling me”Don’t hang around”
    It’s been a longA long time coming, but I knowA change gon’ comeOh yes, it will
    Then, I go to my brotherAnd I say, “Brother, help me, please”But he winds up knockin’ meBack down on my knees, oh
    There been times that I thoughtI couldn’t last for longBut now, I think I’m ableTo carry on
    It’s been a longA long time coming, but I knowA change gon’ comeOh yes, it will

  148. 148.

    Geoduck

    I’ll always remember Eve thanks to its use in an episode of the old TV show Greatest American Hero. In it, the aliens who gave the protagonist Ralph his superhero suit warn him that a rogue American general is about to start World War III, and then as he races to stop this, proceed to blast the song at him from every radio he gets near. It may sound silly, but IMHO it was one of the best episodes the show did. Sadly, when the show went into syndication, rights issues meant they had to replace the song with some inferior substitute.

  154. 154.

    Rokka

    “We need more music like this, and I’ll bet it’s out there”There are few protest songs being recorded in the US and if you aren’t Taylor Swift, you’re not going to get it on the radio or anywhere else. Victoria’s Secret by Jax has gotten airplay in the Bay Area. We played Eve Of Destruction before a performance of Hair in SF in 2017.

    I co-produced this track from 2019.

    I See Birds

    While not exactly a protest song, the video for Dernière Danse by Indila does a good job of messing with Paris.

    Dernière Danse​​​​

  161. 161.

    prostratedragon

    From Archie Shepp:
    “Attica Blues”

    “Invocation,” read by William Kunstler:
    “Only when nature doesn’t take it’s natural toll am I worried about the human soul.
    Some people think that they’re within their rights when on command they take a black man’s life. Let me give a run-down on what I feel: if it ain’t natural, it ain’t real. I wish I were better.”

    “Steam” (pt. 1)
    Steam was the nickname of a young cousin of Archie Shepp who met a pointlessly violent end.

  164. 164.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Cameron:

    Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
    Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
    Should I hate ’em for having our jobs today
    No I hate the men sent the jobs away

    I wish more people understood this.

  165. 165.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @MagdaInBlack:  it (An Evening…) is a great performance.  Dick Cavett introduces the one, the only.  Marvin Hamlisch is on the piano and Groucho makes him sing.

  167. 167.

    Scout211

    Does anyone else now have an ear worm or two running through their head?

    Both Ohio and Something’s Happening Here are playing in my head . . . over and over.

    Thanks, WaterGirl.

    😉

  168. 168.

    bjacques

    I’ve got two:

    ”Bold Marauder” by Mimi (Baez) and Richard Fariña. Haunting song about the god of war. I first heard the version by Kendra Smith, an early member of late 1980s bands Opal and The Dream Syndicate. She released a couple of solo albums, then moved to a cabin in the woods and disappeared. Here is the original version, on Pet Seeger’s TV show:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8wY-JJs9n78

    And this French Ditty by Georges Brassens, “To Die For Your Ideas”, sung in English by Bad Reputation:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G3AL7NU6Wn4

  178. 178.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: Here’s one from the musical South Pacific

    You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
    You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
    It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
    You’ve got to be carefully taught!

    You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
    Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
    And people whose skin is a different shade—
    You’ve got to be carefully taught.

    You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
    Before you are six or seven or eight,
    To hate all the people your relatives hate—
    You’ve got to be carefully taught!
    You’ve got to be carefully taught!

    I was cheated before
    And I’m cheated again
    By a mean little world
    Of mean little men.
    And the one chance for me
    Is the life I know best.

    To be on an island
    And to hell with the rest.
    I will cling to this island
    Like a tree or a stone,
    I will cling to this island
    And be free—and alone.

  179. 179.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @SFBayAreaGal:  I remember that one from childhood.  My mother was a big fan of musicals and that song is still in my head.  That expresses her essence.  She was ahead of her time.

  181. 181.

    Immanentize

    Freda Payne: Bring the Boys Home:

    Can’t you see ’em march across the sky
    All the soldiers that have died
    Tryin’ to get home
    Can’t you see them tryin’ to get home?
    Tryin’ to get home
    They’re tryin’ to get home

    This always made me very sad.

  184. 184.

    Immanentize

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ve been hoping to catch you for weeks now. I have a personal message for you:

    I am thankful every day for standing on the threshold of the most incredible, magical new age together with all of you.— Yoko Ono (@yokoono) January 7, 2023

  186. 186.

    Origuy

    @raven: Scottish-Australian folksinger Eric Bogle wrote “And the Band Played Walzing Mathilda”. Probably the best known cover of it is The Pogues’ version. Shane MacGowan’s gravelly voice gets to me on this song too.

  188. 188.

    BlueGuitarist

    Late getting here, and too many thoughts

    didn’t notice any references to Woody Guthrie, Sly Stone, Beatles, Lennon, Bob Marley, the Clash

  193. 193.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @gwangung: The Bury Your Gays trope is also strong in movies, TV and theater. Even the first lesbian holiday rom-com involved one of the protagonists being put through the wringer (and yes I know the writer/director was lesbian herself). While most straight people I know loved it, the vast majority of queer women absolutely hated it.

  196. 196.

    JWR

    @kmax: Okay, I think the copy/paste is fixed.

    Monster / Suicide / America

    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

  197. 197.

    dp

    I saw Barry McGuire live in the 70s, and he performed this.  He was pitching it to evangelicals as an Armageddon/Second Coming song, so I was not so impressed, as I was maturing out of my evangelical upbringing at the time.

  198. 198.

    Super Dave

    @Brachiator: Watching an American Masters segment on Roberta Flack tonight, who was “discovered” by Les McCann in the late 60’s, singing songs that even today could be BLM anthems. A true prodigy and genius only finding fame via serendipity when Clint Eastwood featured her version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in “Play Misty for Me” his first feature film. Well worth the time to watch. On PBS.

  199. 199.

    Matt McIrvin

    It’s odd that the song whose statements feel evergreen is… a song about how the end of the world is imminent and it’s foolish to not recognize that. I feel it too! But you’d think such a song would age the worst of any kind of song.

    Also, it just occurred to me that Elvis Costello’s “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?” feels very much like a tribute to “Eve of Destruction.”

  201. 201.

    Elizabird

    @WaterGirl: Yep. This has been true for a few years now. The acknowledgement began as something being read by the president of the senate, and is now a professionally-recorded statement read by several Native American members of the student body.

  207. 207.

    SeattleDem

    If you want to understand what so many of the Viet Nam War generation lived/lives with, listen to Redgum’s “I Was Only 19” 

    The Australian experience was different from America’s, but not by much. I thought my older brother was one of the few I knew who came home without being seriously hurt, but over the years, I’ve seen that he recovered from the shrapnel, but not the war.

Comments are closed.