We might need to remember some of these older songs like Talkin in Vietnam Talking Blues by Johnny Cash
One mornin' at breakfast, I said to my wife,
We been everywhere once and some places twice,
As I had another helping of country ham,
She said "We ain't never been to Vietnam,
"And there's a bunch of our boys over there."
So we went – to the Orient: Saigon.
Well we got a big welcome when we drove in,
Through the gates of a place that they call Long Vinh.
We checked in and everything got kinda quiet,
But a soldier boy said: "Just wait 'til tonight,
"Things get noisy. Things start happenin'.
"Big bad firecrackers."
Well that night we did about four shows for the boys,
And they were livin' it up with a whole lot of noise.
We did our last song for the night,
And we crawled into bed for some peace and quiet,
But things weren't peaceful. And things weren't quiet.
Things were scary.
Well for a few minutes June never said one word,
And I thought at first that she hadn't heard.
Then a shell exploded not two miles away,
She sat up in bed and I heard her say: "What was that?"
I said: "That was a shell, or a bomb."
She said: "I'm scared." I said "Me too."
Well all night long that noise kept on,
And the sound would chill you right to the bone.
The bullets and the bombs, and the mortar shells,
Shook our bed every time one fell,
And it never let up; it was gonna get worse,
Before it got any better.
......
So we sadly sang for them our last song,
And reluctantly we said: "So long."
We did our best to let 'em know that we care,
For every last one of 'em that's over there.
Whether we belong over there or not.
Somebody over here love's 'em, and needs 'em
Well now that's about all that there is to tell,
About that little trip into livin' hell.
And if I ever go back over there any more,
I hope there's none of our boys there for me to sing for;
I hope that war is over with,
And they all come back home,
To stay.
In peace.
A bit of talking blues history
One source cites Christopher Allen Bouchillon as the originator of this song form. Dylan's early work including talking blues, but his source was John Greenway
Heard a cut off her latest The Last New York Horn don't remember the cut but remember I liked it. It's her 5th cd! She's not touring right because she's in grad school. A back up plan is always good. Not everyone gets a career like Dar's.
I have not chronicled the many Native American singer/songwriters -- of which there are many. Joanne Shenandoah comes to mind, of course, but also John Trudell. But I did hear one tonight, a nice antidote to the debates, that reminded me of the power of politics in song: Annie Humphrey. Her voice, guitar, and lyrics strong and clear - unlike one of the debaters and and more like the other. How's that for enigmatic? Humphrey is not. Humphrey is a member of the Leech Lake Ojibwe, based in Minnesota
Annie Humphrey's music is on the
(Makoché (makochay) Music which looks like a great resource for Native music)
Her recordings: The Heron Smiled, Edge of America
The Whispering Tree (with others such as John Trudell)
Call her a voracious musician/singer/songwriter. Ani Difranco. Love reading articles like these in business mags.
On an Ani jag these days. Maybe it's the times, the political climate -- the hurricane of accusations, lies, pretense, the fatigue of these days. Dilate is talking for me:
so i'll walk the plank and i'll jump with a smile if i'm gonna go down i'm gonna do it with style and you won't see me surrender you won't hear me confess 'cuz you've left me with nothing but i've worked with less and i learn every room long enough to make it to the door and then i hear it click shut behind me and every key works differently i forget every time and the forgetting defines me that's what defines me
When I came of age, I listened to Joan Baez, Holly Near anti-war songs during the late 1970s and 1980s. Sure, there are singer/songwriters who you would expect to have anti-war/political songs -- Ani Difranco, Holly Near.
Chuck Brodsky's Dangerous Times lyrics catch me every time
These are dangerous times
And so we lose our rights
While these terrorists among us
Do their dirty work at night
There isn't time to read
The contents of the bills
That Congress votes for anyway
Up there on The Hill
There's terror in our midst
It wears the good disguise
Fools alot of people
They seem like such regular guys
Rewriting all the rules
You don't have any say
In fact they even count on you
To look the other way
There's terror in our midst
All over the tv
It's what's behind the words
That scares the daylights out of me
The twisting of the facts
The stretching of the truth
The terrorists among us
They manipulate the news
But....don't count out the other singer/songwriters...hip hop. The Hip Hop community is stepping up to write anti-war/political songs. Take a look at HipHopSlam. Direct, no messing around lyrics that tell the urban African American take on the war, politics. DJs of Mass Destruction are pretty blunt: "What Weapons Of Mass Destruction" and "Nobody Cares (Die for oil sucker)" are two songs.
What they say about how the music is created -- The website calls it "cut and paste music"...
The political cut-and-paste production style that dominants the War (If It Feels Good, Do It) compilation is inspired by Steinski, who pioneered this genre back in the early 1980's along with other artists such as Keith La Blanc, who in 1984 produced for Tommy Boy No Sellout/Malcolm X which drew from Malcolm X speeches over hip hop beats, and Bonzo Goes To Washington whose 1984 single Five Minutes was built around Ronald Reagan's infamous "We begin bombing in five minutes" quote. At this same time Steinski, along with partner Double Dee, was in the midst of recording the classic Lessons trilogy, the first Lesson "The Payback Mix" being released in 1983. But it was after he went solo in 1985 that Steinski (along with his fictional band "Mass Media") began recording the groundbreaking song The Motorcade Sped On which would define the genre of "political cut-and-paste" music. Instead of using just one sample repeatedly to create an abstract message "Motorcade" took the concept of a hip hop driven, sample-based, political/historical commentary to a whole new level with its abundant use of various samples-mostly cut-up TV/radio news reports-all cohesively weaved together over hypnotic beats and breaks to eloquently retell the tragic story of the assassination of JFK. Unfortunately, due to some of the samples, this masterpiece would never be commercially released in the US. It was released eventually in the UK in January '87 on a free 7" EP with NME magazine.Consequently this political cut-and-paste genre, which sometimes employs electronic music as its backdrop, has become increasingly prolific especially in the USA where sampling political figures is copyright free. Hence countless
American politicians have become recording artists without ever setting foot in a studio: the biggest stars of this sample-based genre being presidents. From Reagan, whose aforementioned "Five Minutes" sound bite has
fueled many songs (and even makes a cameo on this Hip Hop Slam compilation), to George Bush senior who pops up on several tracks on the same compilation, to Bill Clinton, and of course Dubya (the backbone of this CD), US leaders have supplied cut-and-paste artists with much material. For some reason Republican presidents tend to be the most popular to sample with State of the Union (S.O.T.U.) addresses and wartime presidential TV news bites ranking as the most recorded sources.[from HipHopSlam War]
Today, in honor of the US Democrat nominee for President:
Mark Erelli sings Blue-eyed Boston Boy:
He was just a blue eyed Boston boy
His voice was low with pain
I'll do your bidding comrade mine
If I ride back again
But if you ride on and I should fall
You'll do as much for me
Mother at home is awaiting the news
So write her tenderly
.....Straight way was the course to the top of the hill
The rebels they shot with shot and shell
Ploughed furrows of death through the toiling ranks
And guarded them as the fell
There soon came a horrible dying sound
From the heights they could not gain
And those that doom and death had spared
Rose slowly back again[Blue-Eyed Boston Boy, from Memorial Hall Recordings, 2002]
While Blue-Eyed Boston Boy is a traditional tune that reminds me of one of themes of the Convention in Boston: Revolution, in fact, Blue-Eyed Boston Boy is a Civil War song that has its origins in Kentucky and Arkansas.
Other folks who have recorded this song include Mike Seeger, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerard, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman,and Bob Dylan.
I was introduced to nueva cancion , Inti Illimani's music, through Holly Near's music. In the mid-1980s, she recorded and toured with Inti Illimani. The record Sing to Me the Dream, on Redwood Records, now out of print, was one of my favorites of hers. Throughout her career, and especially in the 80s and 90s, Near spoke about the music , wrote songs about women's and men's lives Central and South America, about the US political legacy in those countries. The flutes and other Chilean instruments authenticate her songs on this record, though, draw one towards the Southern Hemisphere, to the mountains, to the language, to the people.
Green Linnet sells Inti's music in the US.
Nueva Cancion tradition/legacy:
In addition to Inti Illamani, Nueva Cancion came through the music of Victor Jara. He was tortured and murdered during Pinochet's coup in Chile 31 years ago.
Arlo Guthrie co-wrote a song about Jara. Violetta Parra is another artist to check out.
[nb: Nueva cancion is a big topic and I know just small pieces, music I like. I include links to more extensive sites, written by those more knowledeable.]