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"Songs that Speak for US"
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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 06:28 PM (EST)
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"Songs that Speak for US"
I was listening to music today as a respite from the News, and suddenly a song on the CD brought a massive lump to my throat and a tear to my eye, the music and lyrics speaking to me about all the people who have come to the U.S. and the cost of getting here, the cost of staying here.

I thought I would share the lyrics at least, although--trust me--the beautiful plaintive music must be heard to bring out the song's full power.

I looked for the right thread, and didn't find it. It occurs to me others may want to share favorite songs for the moment, whether to suggest people check them out or post the lyrics.
There are many many songs out there I have missed hearing, and I would welcome learning about them. Same perhaps for this song, which happened to strike me on this day, one of many great songs.

"Ellis Island"

I was driving down Ninth Avenue
As the sky was getting dark
Didn't have nothin' else to do
So I kept on riding to Battery Park
I stepped out in the damp and misty night
As the fog was rolling in
Man said, "Last boat leaving tonight
Is the boat for Ellis Island"

As my feet touched solid ground
I felt a chill run down my spine
I could almost hear the sound
of thousands pushing through the lines
Mothers and bewildered wives
that sailed across the raging sea
Others running for their lives
to the land of opportunity
Down on Ellis Island

"What is this strange paradise?"
They must've wondered through their cries and moans
After all they've sacrificed
Their faith, their families, friends and homes
Then on the Inspection Stairs
They were counted out or counted in
Frozen while the inspectors stared
Down on Ellis Island

Now me I only stumbled in
Just to wander around that empty hall
Where someone else's fate had been
Decided in no time at all
And cases filled with hats and clothes
And the belongings of those who journeyed far
They're strange reminders I suppose
Of where we're from and who we are

But as the boat pulled off the shore
I could see the fog was lifting
And lights I never seen before
Were shining down on Ellis Island
Shining down on Ellis Island

"Ellis Island," Marc Cohn, 1997,from Burning the Daze
(Whole album highly recommended!)

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  Table of Contents

  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
 RE: Songs that Speak for US SherpaDave 09-17-01 1
   RE: Songs that Speak for US samiam 09-17-01 4
 Strange Fire Outfrontgirl 09-17-01 2
 RE: Songs that Speak for US LadyT 09-17-01 3
   Because you asked.... samiam 09-17-01 5
       RE: Because you asked.... LadyT 09-17-01 8
 Get Together Outfrontgirl 09-17-01 6
   RE: Get Together samiam 09-17-01 7
       10000 Wars Outfrontgirl 09-17-01 10
   Coincidences AyaK 09-17-01 11
       Great story, Aya! Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 31
           RE: Great story, Aya! SherpaDave 09-18-01 34
               Great story, Dave! Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 41
                   Quick asides SherpaDave 09-18-01 44
   RE: Get Together ItzLisa 09-17-01 15
       Songwriter credit AyaK 09-17-01 17
           RE: Songwriter credit Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 30
               RE: Songwriter credit ItzLisa 09-18-01 33
               Advertising for Monterey Pop AyaK 09-18-01 37
                   RE: Advertising for Monterey Pop Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 43
                       RE: Advertising for Monterey Pop SherpaDave 09-18-01 46
                       No Neil AyaK 09-18-01 50
           RE: Songwriter credit Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 42
               RE: Songwriter credit SherpaDave 09-18-01 45
                   RE: Songwriter credit Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 48
                       RE: Songwriter credit SherpaDave 09-18-01 49
 RE: Songs that Speak for US boomerang 09-17-01 9
   Censorship AyaK 09-17-01 12
   Well That Would Mean... IceCat 09-17-01 14
       Same channels... AyaK 09-17-01 16
           I Agree... IceCat 09-17-01 18
               Perfect! AyaK 09-17-01 19
       Read my mind Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 29
           Silly censorship AyaK 09-18-01 38
               RE: Silly censorship samiam 09-18-01 39
               RE: Silly censorship Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 40
               Silly Indeed... IceCat 09-18-01 47
 Neil Young: Hawks and Doves moonbaby 09-17-01 13
   Great song AyaK 09-17-01 20
       yes indeed moonbaby 09-18-01 21
           Jerry Reed Monkeyboy 09-18-01 22
           RE: yes indeed SherpaDave 09-18-01 35
   RE: Neil Young: Hawks and Doves Outfrontgirl 09-18-01 32
       Albums AyaK 09-18-01 36
 RE: Songs that Speak for US shakes the clown 09-18-01 23
   An interesting choice AyaK 09-18-01 24
       not to be confused with this verse.... shakes the clown 09-18-01 25
 Old Standard Rally Song dabo 09-18-01 26
   RE: Old Standard Rally Song IceCat 09-18-01 27
   RE: Old Standard Rally Song AyaK 09-18-01 28

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 07:05 PM (EST)
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1. "RE: Songs that Speak for US"
This one, for me, has much the same effect. It's probably better known, so not nearly the find that the Cohn piece is, but... put a similar lump in my thought hearing it as I was reading it again.

"America"

"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've come to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

"America," Simon & Garfunkel, 1968, from Bookends

(written in red to compliment the blue of Mr. Cohn's piece)

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09-17-01, 08:06 PM (EST)
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4. "RE: Songs that Speak for US"
Synch! I was listening to this on the way home tonight and got that same lump. Thanks.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 07:51 PM (EST)
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2. "Strange Fire"
Sherpa,
I can NEVER hear "America" by S&G without a lump and a chill, especially when the voices soar on the line "I'm empty and aching and I don't why." One of my few perks for being older than most here--I was privileged, at age 15, to hear them sing this song when it was new, at the Monterey Pop Festival. (this was the same night that Jimi Hendrix debuted, those were amazing times) I'm so glad you reprinted it...

This one's for the Dangerkitty thread on Falwell/Robertson and the Taliban, and all who preach intolerance. (Had to use Red, clearly)

strange fire

i come to you with strange fire,
i make an offering of love,
the incense of my soil is burned by the fire in my blood.
i come with a softer answer to the questions that lie in your path.
i want to harbor you from the anger, find a refuge from the wrath.

chorus:
this is a message of love.
love that moves from the inside out,
love that never grows tired.
i come to you with strange fire.

mercenaries of the shrine, who are you to speak for god?
with haughty eyes and lying tongues and hands that shed innocent blood.
who delivered you the power to interpret calvary?
you gamble away our freedom to gain your own authority.

find another state of mind. grab hold.
strange fire burns with the motion of love.
when you learn to love yourself,
you will dissolve all the stones that are cast,
you will learn to burn the icing sky and to melt the waxen mask.
yes, to have the gift of true release,
this is a peace that will take you higher.
i come to you with my offering.,
i bring you strange fire.

Indigo Girls, title song, Strange Fire, 1987

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LadyT 5567 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 07:56 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: Songs that Speak for US"
Thanks you guys for doing this. I wish I knew the words to AMerica fron Neil Diamond (I think its him) AYaK should know this. That song always puts chills down my spine
GOD BLESS AMERICA
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samiam 5976 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 08:08 PM (EST)
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5. "Because you asked...."
AMERICA -- Neil Diamond

Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star

Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America

Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm

Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America

Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America

They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today

My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today

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LadyT 5567 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 08:26 PM (EST)
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8. "RE: Because you asked...."
Thanks Sami
GOD BLESS AMERICA
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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 08:20 PM (EST)
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6. "Get Together"
Thanks, samiam!
T, you can find many if not most lyrics on the web if you do a search for the artist, or the title and the word "lyrics."

Sorry to keep adding to my own thread (just my way of saying, as this song urges, Come on People)

Here's a real old classic; thinking about the Monterey Pop reminded me of the Association performing a moving version in which they inserted a story about atomic apocalypse before the final verse. Although I first knew it from Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods, it was also recorded by Joy of Cooking, Indigo Girls, Kate Wolf (Austin City Limits Live), Grateful Dead, and I don't know who else. I found the lyrics on the Dead's official lyric page (an unexpected find thanks to this search), and I left the commentary from that page at the bottom.

This song makes one of the best mass singalongs I know....


"Get Together"
by Chet Powers (Dino Valenti)

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.
Tho' 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.

---------------
From Dead web page:
"What a joy it was to hear Phil and his Friends perform Get Together during his Fall, 1999 tour. It's such a wonderful song, full of meaning and memories. For those who doubt that "the 60's" made a lasting difference, consider that this was a revolutionary song back then. Where we grew up in the '50s and '60s in that place they call the Midwest, the kindest thing that anyone around us could say about Get Together was that it was "Communist propaganda" ..... and that's just one more reason that we moved the fuck out of Ohio as quickly as we could.
Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods popularized Get Together in 1967 with an extremely beautiful, lyrical rendition."

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samiam 5976 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 08:24 PM (EST)
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7. "RE: Get Together"
Indigo Girls covered this one, too, on Strange Fire. From Nomads-Indians-Saints, a verse from "You and Me of the 10000 Wars":

After the battles and we're still around
Everything once up in the air has settled down
Sweep the ashes, let the silence find us
A moment of peace is worth every war behind us.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 09:14 PM (EST)
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10. "10000 Wars"
Sami,
I was listening to N-I-S the weekend before the attack...this excerpt is beautiful. I have the Indigo's cover of "Get Together" and in fact have sung along with them when they played it here in Berkeley's Greek Theatre. They do Georgia and the South proud.
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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 09:54 PM (EST)
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11. "Coincidences"
"Get Together": an amazing story. The fact that the Youngbloods had the hit with "Get Together" was in large part due to a choice by RCA Records, a drug bust, and a public service ad.

The song was a well-known San Francisco anthem written, as OFG notes, by the legendary SF-area musician Dino Valenti (best known as the leader of Quicksilver Messenger Service). Shortly after he returned to SF from the coffeehouse scene in NYC in 1963, he changed his name (from Chester Powers) and recorded the original version for Autumn Records, but it was never released. (For those of you who never heard of Dino Valenti, SF critic Ralph Gleason described Valenti the folk singer this way in 1965, "Valenti had the kind of charisma that really turns the female audience on and he's so good musically that it doesn't ruin him with the males.")

Jefferson Airplane recorded the song under the title "Let's Get Together" and included on their 1966 debut album ("Jefferson Airplane Takes Off"). It was intended to be the Airplane's second single, but the Airplane asked to re-record it, and so a different single ("Blues from an Airplane") was issued instead. The producer who was assigned to do the re-recording for RCA decided to dump the new version in favor of "Somebody to Love". So, another RCA band, the Youngbloods, recorded the song instead ... but their version flopped as a single in 1967.

Supposedly, Valenti intended to re-record the song in an electric version with QMS -- but he was busted for marijuana possession (reportedly only two joints) and spent two years in California state prison. Before his trial, Valenti sold his rights to "Get Together" to raise money to pay for his lawyer.

The song later was picked as the backing for a public service announcement (in favor of environmentalism, I believe), and the Youngbloods' version was used in the ad. Even though the group had already left RCA, the label reissued the song as a single, and it became a Top-10 hit.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 05:58 AM (EST)
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31. "Great story, Aya!"
*Does Happy Dance that AyaK's posting all over this thresd and telling the backstory on stuff*

*Also happy that Itz likes this song so much. I almost didn't post it thinking it was too 60's. If you like Get Together, Lisa, I bet you would like "Give Yourself to Love by Kate Wolf*

This is a terrific story, AyaK, and all new to me about how the song bounced around. (although I did/do have the Airplane's first album but forgot to list their cover).

Tangent--
I asked my husband about any past with QSM, and caught him in the rare mood to reminisce about when he knew all these SF bands when they were just like "garage bands."

Example, the Warlocks (AKA Grateful Dead), who lived a couple blocks away in Palo Alto. Hub and his girlfriend went to support one of their first real gigs, where they were only opening for an RnB duo. He and his girlfriend were the only people dancing in front of the stage, trying to get some energy going. True story, my husband helped start the tradition of dancing to the Dead in an altered state... I'm so proud of him!

He was also telling me about how he started working with Bill Hamm at the Filmore, when the light show was at its inception. He was shooting/editing film image loops and he suggested Hamm add them to the show, so he and Bill were doing it together. Then someone else came along and used his science/engineering background to come up with liquid projection with dyes. Sigh. He was in on all the beginnings. No fair. So he knew QMS from the Filmore.

But when I said Dino Valenti, he said he remembered Dino used to play at the "Insomniac"--a beat coffeehouse on Sunset Strip, where black comedy people like Lenny Bruce and Jonathan Winters were performing at the time. (Which led to another great tangent about Winters taking his clothes off during his act one night and the LAPD carting him away...)

My husband helped run the Insomniac coffeeshop and 'beat' bookstore (owned by Mickey Cohen's nephews), and he thinks that was about 1960, because he had just turned 21.

So Dino must have gone to NYC after that (trying to fit it with Aya's chronology)... but husband says all the dates from the 60's run together in his mind and are not deemed highly reliable... The happenings happened but the order gets jumbled!

Sorry to digress so much but I am finding the memories comforting and who knows, they might interest you young 'uns.
(Some other time I'll find a way to work in his Ken Kesey, Neil Casady, Jack Kerouac memories)

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 12:01 PM (EST)
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34. "RE: Great story, Aya!"
You touched ever so briefly on Lenny Bruce, who infiltrated my life for several months one year at Northwestern. There was one class in the Performance Studies department that EVERYONE wanted to take, and that two of my room-mates actually did take. Basically, the entire quarter was dedicated to crafting one person's life into a one-person show, typically about an hour long. Final exam was public performance of said show. So, for several months, I lived with Lenny Bruce and Jim Bouton. And Hunter S. Thompson came over to visit a lot. Had I gotten into the class, btw, I'd have been Ken Kesey (there's your opening for that; and another tangent: my favorite piece I ever wrote was a reflection, of sorts, on Cassady's last words; I can't seem to find a copy of it anywhere, but if I do, I will most certainly post it). My first experience with Kerouac, as well, was seeing one of these shows during my freshman year (whew, just worked in all three of your folks, openings galore!).

Okay, lots of expostion above to explain why I seemed to have picked up lots of Lenny Bruce stories. One of my favorites is from the first episode in which he was busted for obscenity. Until that point, the performers at Second City had never used profanity on stage before. Del Close was vamping, talking about nonsense in a way that only Del Close can do, when one of the other performers came running onstage.

"Del! Del! Lenny Bruce just got arrested for obscenity!"

Pause. Del: "No shit?" Blackout.

By the way, if anyone ever wants to see the kind of humor that shakes ever so occasionally achieves, rent Lenny Bruce's concert movie. Skip the act. It was his second-to-last performance before OD'ing, and is seriously depressing. After the concert, however, is an animation of one of Lenny's best known routines, "Thank you, Mask Man." Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 05:09 PM (EST)
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41. "Great story, Dave!"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 05:14 PM (EST)

Loved this bit of your history, Dave. I will be re-reading On The Road tomorrow as I have to lead an American lit class discussion on it Thursday. I would love to see your piece when you find it. My husband--aka Joe, husband is such a stuffy-sounding word to keep using--met and hung out with Kerouac in the North Beach coffee house/bookstore/poetry-reading scene of the early 60's--more of an acquaintanceship than a close tie. Jack had published On The Road but he was not full of himself.

Later, Joe left S.F. (he had been attending the S.F. Art Institute) and went to Palo Alto where he hooked up with Kesey, the Warlocks, Owsley (Joe had some chemistry know-how, shall we say), and became friends with Neal Cassady. Joe was there at Kesey's when Cassady arrived driving his schoolbus. His main comment about Neal--"he was a madman and he talked faster than anyone I've ever known!" But he liked him anyway.

Edit: Dave, I notice you listed Richard Brautigan on your Criminals website... Joe met Richard through a mutual friend during the time somewhere in this period that Joe tried out the back-to-nature scene in Big Sur.
*loves Confederate General in Big Sur--made me ROFL*

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 06:05 PM (EST)
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44. "Quick asides"
Love the stories from you and Joe. I find Cassady particularly fascinating, serving as he does as the common link between Kerouac and Kesey. You mighta noticed the use of the name Japhy in one or two of my stories; that's, in its way, an homage to Cassady; Japhy was the Cassady character in Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums." Coupla quick tidbits.

Two of the guys who were early influences on my writing (but who aren't quite so obvious now) were Kerouac and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In one of his more autobiographical works (possibly "Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons," but it's been a while), Vonnegut talks about having coffee with Kerouac. They were sitting in Kurt's kitchen when Kurt's son Mark came in. Jack started screaming at Mark about how Mark didn't know anything about him, apparently because Mark was dressed in a way that suggested to Jack that Mark thought of himself as one of the Beats. Go figure. This was late in Jack's life and a few screws seemed to have come loose.

An aside to the first tidbit: I'd read several times Kurt referring to his kids as being better writers than he. It wasn't until I read Mark's "The Eden Express" that I believed him. Quite an amazing little tome about the descent into madness. Recommended reading, but not if you're depressed to begin with (sorta like Styron's "Darkness Visible : A Memoir of Madness;" it's amazing, but I can't read it anymore).

Second tidbit. In Kesey's "Demon Box," there's a story called "The Death of Superman" (again, I think; been a while since I've read this one, too). In it, Kesey finds out what Cassady's last words were (I alluded to this earlier). Ready for this? "Sixty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight." Apparently, those who knew Cassady were mystified for a while at the meaning of this, that these should be the last words from the infamous motormouth's lips. The solution to the mystery? Someone had dared Cassady to count the railroad ties between two cities (don't recall which) and, completely drugged out, Cassady set out to do so. He seemed to have gotten to 64,928 before succumbing to hypothermia. Hopefully, I haven't butchered the details to badly here. I haven't revisited much of Kesey's stuff since going through a serious phase several years ago.

Finally, a quick Brautigan hit. Couldn't find my favorite of his poems on the web, "It's Raining In Love" (and I don't have the book handy) but I did find another that I like. Hope others will, too:

I Feel Horrible. She Doesn't

I feel horrible. She doesn't
love me and I wander around
the house like a sewing machine
that's just finished sewing
a turd to a garbage can lid.

Okay, so those weren't so quick. Get me started on these guys and my mouth (or keyboard) can quickly turn into Cassady's.

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09-17-01, 10:33 PM (EST)
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15. "RE: Get Together"
LAST EDITED ON 09-17-01 AT 10:35 PM (EST)

*SIGH!!!* "America" by S&G and "Get Together" are two of my favorite songs - they just totally relax me, and I should break out my CDs so I can hear them right now while I'm trying to chill out.

Another song I love, also from the 60's, that has nothing to do with the theme going on here, per se, but it's another one that completely relaxes me, no matter what mood I'm in...

"San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie

If you're going to San Francisco,
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
If you're going to San Francisco,
you're gonna meet some gentle people there.

All those who come to San Francisco,
summertime will be a love-in there.
In the streets of San Francisco,
gentle people with flowers in their hair.

All across the nation, such a strange vibration,
people in motion,
there's a whole generation, with a new explanation,
people in motion, people in motion.

All those who come to San Francisco,
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
If you come to San Francisco,
summertime will be a love-in there.

Basically, it's a great hippie song, and I guess I can tie it in here by saying "Peace!"

****************************************


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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 10:47 PM (EST)
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17. "Songwriter credit"
LAST EDITED ON 09-17-01 AT 10:56 PM (EST)

To give credit where credit is due, "San Francisco" was written by Scott McKenzie' good friend John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.

Edited to add that Phillips and McKenzie remained friends despite all of Phillips' problems over the years; they co-wrote the song "Kokomo" for the movie "Cocktail", which reached #1 for the Beach Boys in 1988.

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09-18-01, 05:14 AM (EST)
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30. "RE: Songwriter credit"
Also performed (by McKenzie) at the Monterey Pop Festival (June 16-18, '67), plus they played it on the loudspeakers out in the Fairgrounds. (Not coincidentally, Mamas and Papas were major organizers of the festival.)

LOL, when it ended everyone had been seduced by that song and was saying, We're taking the party to San Francisco, let's go!

Because I was 15 and my parents were under the somewhat inaccurate impression I had attended the Festival as part of a summer-camplike chaperoned excursion, I had to go home...

There WERE chaperones, but they had overbooked the lodgings and sent me and other volunteers to stay in cabins on the beach, and that was the last I saw of the "tour" until I caught the bus home.

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09-18-01, 06:24 AM (EST)
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33. "RE: Songwriter credit"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 06:41 AM (EST)

OFG, LOVE the stories about your hubby being around when alot of this began!!

Montery Pop Festival is one of the most amazing rock documentaries I've ever seen (sorry, but considering I was five, and living in Atlantic City, all I have to go on is the video, LOL!!!)

Favorite parts: The very beginning, when "San Francisco" is playing and we see the hippy snuggling and kissing his baby. The first time I saw that, combined with that song playing, I just burst into tears!

Janis doing "Ball and Chain" - my FAVORITE Janis song, plus the most incredible performance by her I've EVER seen! At one point during the song, the camera pans down to the audience, and speaking of the Mamas & Papas, they show Cass Elliot watching Janis, her mouth hanging open, and this look on her face like she's witnessing a miracle. (Sure, okay, it was probably the acid , but it was still a very cool moment to see one performer looking at another like that!)

My own trivia, which I'm sure you all know, but because the last part of this happened in my neighborhood, I love this story...

All teasing of "Peter Torque" aside, I DO love the Monkees - I've been a fan since I was three, when I used to snuggle up with my sister to watch the show every Monday night. Probably the longest I've ever been a fan of a band (and you thought it was Def Leppard! Not so - they come in at #3 for length of fan worship history! Monkees fan since 1966, Beatles fan since 1976, Def Lep since 1983. Although, Beatles are my favorite, then Def Lep, then the Monkees! Feel better now that you know?) On a Monkees documentary from a couple years ago, Micky Dolenz is telling about how they "had heard about this amazing young guitar player who played guitar with his teeth." So they're at the Montery Pop Festival (not performing, just attending), when Hendrix hits the stage and Micky Dolenz goes "HEY!!! It's the guy who plays guitar with his teeth!" Well, the rest is history, as the Monkees get Hendrix to open for them on their upcoming tour (I know I know...Hendrix opening FOR the Monkees....), which he did. Then Mike Nesmith takes over the story about how Hendrix, every night when he'd open during the tour, would step out on stage and encounter "The Beast with 10,000 Waving Pink Arms" - the audience screaming "DAVY!!!" So Hendrix would try to play and do his psychadelic stuff, and the girls would just scream louder "DAAAAVYY!!!" So, (we finally get to my neighborhood!) at Forest Hills Stadium in good old Forest Hills, Queens, Hendrix gets so fed up with the Davy Jones screaming teenies that he unplugs his guitar, HURLS it in to the audience by the neck, and stomps off the stage! Quits the tour right here in Forest Hills, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Edit to say: I thought of "Eve of Destruction" too, but under the circumstances, it just really gives me the creepies right now! Plus, I borrowed Sami's flag since mine keeps popping in and out for some reason!

****************************************


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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 12:57 PM (EST)
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37. "Advertising for Monterey Pop"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 12:59 PM (EST)

The liner notes for the Monterey Pop 4-CD set say that John Phillips actually wrote the song "San Francisco" as a plug for the festival, not for the hippie lifestyle in general. Since the Mamas and Papas were in one of their dissolved states at the time, he gave it to his friend Scott McKenzie to record.

And one more John Phillips note: the classic Grateful Dead song "Me and My Uncle" was a Phillips composition from when he was living in NYC (pre-Mamas and Papas), recorded by Judy Collins. No one knows for sure how the Dead picked it up.

P.S. I looked up Dino Valenti on the Web. One article I found said that Valenti went to NYC sometime in 1960 and returned to SF in 1963. So he was probably playing the coffeehouse scene in SF in 1960 right up until the time he left.

Edited to add: Itzy, great story of Hendrix and the Monkees. OFG, I am incredibly jealous that you were actually at Monterey Pop.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 05:58 PM (EST)
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43. "RE: Advertising for Monterey Pop"
Promise, this is my last story of the 60's on this thresd...
>>OFG, I am incredibly jealous that you were actually at Monterey Pop.
Yes, I was incredibly lucky to go and it's kind of fun how it came about. My mom was very sheltering! She asked me if I wanted to go to summer camp, because my sister was going and she wanted to be fair. So I said, well there's a "music camp" going on and look, here's a packaged tour offer. Charter bus from LA and back, 2 nights lodging, reserved seats for all 5 concerts (and it was the performance by my Mom's musical hero, Ravi Shankar, that won her approval), fully chaperoned (ahem, so they said)--the whole package for $67 plus tax. I repeat, $67!!!

And for the money (sold separate for $5-10 per concert), I got to see, emceed by Tommy Smothers:
Friday Evening, June 16
The Association/ Lou Rawls/ Johnny Rivers/ Eric Burdon & The Animals
Saturday Afternoon, June 17
Canned Heat/ Big Brother & The Holding Company/ Country Joe & The Fish/ Al Kooper/ The Butterfield Blues Band/ Quicksilver Messenger Service /The Steve Miller Band/ The Electric Flag
Saturday Evening, June 17
Moby Grape/ Hugh Masekela/ The Byrds/ The Butterfield Blues Band/ Laura Nyro/ Jefferson Airplane/ Booker T & The MGs/ Otis Redding
Sunday Afternoon, June 18
Ravi Shankar
Sunday Evening, June 18
The Blues Project/ Big Brother & The Holding Company/ Simon and Garfunkel/ Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young)/ The Who/ The Grateful Dead/ The Jimi Hendrix Experience/ Scott McKenzie/
The Mamas & The Papas

I cannot even imagine nowadays that that much musical talent could perform back to back. I don't think Woodstock or even Live Aid can compare... Plus, this was a real concert experience with reserved seats and everything, so the focus was really on hearing the performances. And yes, Itz, I got to see Janis Joplin do Ball and Chain twice--and she blew everybody to the moon! That song was indeed what eveyone raved about at the time.

Maybe these extreme times will motivate some musicians to get together and do something big in the way of a benefit. I would like to see that happen.

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09-18-01, 06:15 PM (EST)
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46. "RE: Advertising for Monterey Pop"
Promise, this is my last story of the 60's on this thresd...

Heh, I should have read all your new posts at once and then responded. Each one brought up something I wanted to comment on. So, I at least would love to hear any more stories you want to share. (Gee, think anyone is figuring out where my dovish orientation originally came from?)

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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 08:01 PM (EST)
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50. "No Neil"
Neil Young didn't appear with the Springfield at Monterey Pop; he had briefly quit the group. Filling in for him -- with no rehearsal -- was David Crosby; it was the first time Crosby and Stills ever played together publicly.

When the Springfield broke up, Neil ended up with the rights to all of their material, and he still controls those rights to this day (for example, the songs included in the Springfield 4-CD box set issued this year were hand-picked by Neil).

All of the artists who played at Monterey were recorded by a professional sound system. Some of the artists (for example, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix) chosen to release their performances on their own LPs, but the rest remained in the vaults of Adler's Ode Records. In 1993, Lou Adler and an ill John Phillips licensed the tapes to Rhino Records to issue a compilation of the best material by each group. Despite their historical value, Neil refused to permit the Springfield songs to be included since he didn't appear on them (I believe the only other artist to refuse permission, consistent with their standard practice, were the Dead), and he also omitted them from the new box set.

For those people who don't know -- Woodstock was an attempt to recreate Monterey Pop on the East Coast. The organizers even tried to book all of the same artists (or their successors -- for example, since Springfield had broken up, CSNY appeared).

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 05:36 PM (EST)
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42. "RE: Songwriter credit"
Widening the curve so this doesn't go way down the page...

Itz, Peter Tork was my favorite Monkee, and George Harrison my Beatle of choice--although now I'd probably pick John Lennon. Love your story!

AyaK--I didn't mean to mix up the geography on Valenti. Joe (husband) knew him from the Unicorn in LA, but of course that was just a hop from San Francisco for a performance. It was in the Unicorn period that Joe became really good buddies with Harry Dean Stanton, who was also a Cohen nephews employee. (that friendship ended when Stanton stole Joe's girlfriend away at an LA party given by Hugh Romney AKA Wavey Gravey... all this history is so intertwined)

Joe left LA (and the MFA program at Otis) to come up to the SF Art Institute and continue beat painting and film. It was in his initial film period in LA that Frank Zappa's old English teacher approached Joe with a screenplay written by this unknown guy from the Antelope Valley named F.Z. Joe thought it was pretty interesting but it was way too special effects intensive to get made with no budget in the early 60's.

Somewhat later, Joe was amazed and pleased that Frank was actually selling records. LOL. When Joe met Frank again at the Fillmore he thought Frank needed a little mind expansion... and the Merry Prankster struck that night...
I know, that was bad, to dose someone without consent, but Joe was young and the times were different. Who knows, Frank's music may have benefitted from the experience... As far as I know, Frank never took drugs, so that was probably the sole occasion.

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 06:12 PM (EST)
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45. "RE: Songwriter credit"
Somewhat later, Joe was amazed and pleased that Frank was actually selling records. LOL. When Joe met Frank again at the Fillmore he thought Frank needed a little mind expansion... and the Merry Prankster struck that night...

Okay, I've gotta ask. Was your Joe one of the Pranksters? If so, was he one at the time that Wolfe covered 'em? And is he in the book ("The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test")? Or, for that matter, is any of his stuff in "Kesey's Garage Sale?" And what's Joe doing now (aside from living with this really interesting woman who posts on, of all things, a "Survivor" site)?

Throw movie stars in my path and I don't bat an eye. Throw one of the Pranksters in my path and I get all wobbly.

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 06:50 PM (EST)
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48. "RE: Songwriter credit"
LOL Dave, thank you. I am off to do some WORK now, LMAO, but first, a quick disclaimer to law enforcement agencies: "Joe" is the fictional spouse of a fictional persona named Outfrontgirl. Also, LSD was not illegal in the early 60's, LOL."

He hung out with the Merry Pranksters at their inception. I don't know if he made it into any of the books. I need to get copies and read them and see if I can get him to cop to anything.

This fictional Joe "Survived" the 60's by staying Under-the-Radar. He was never interested in fame. (I mentioned Harry Dean, by the way, not as a movie star, but because of your interest in crime fiction. In case you didn't catch the ref, he was working for the nephews who inherited what was left of Mickey Cohen's empire in Los Angeles and who also owned this beat haven called the Unicorn...)

"Joe" left the urban scene for Mendocino with about half a dozen other alternative types around 1967, raised a family, became part of a large counter-cultural community up there and a carpenter due to the small demand for film editors... Built a house there for his old friend Billy Kreutzmann...

Came back to Marin in the 80's only to find he was too "old" for Lucasfilm to show any interest. Became a video engineer. Now builds massive video installations around the world (and doesn't get paid enough) such as Direct TV and Staples Arena in LA. In other words, he's a techie.

He hopes to retire in 2002 and take me to the Big Island of Hawaii where he wants to grow orchids, paint once again, and fish a lot... (At one time he was a Scuba instructor...) I am hoping to write some stories, thus my volunteering for BV to get the old pen in hand... "Joe" refuses to watch Survivor, which is probably why I'm here!

And Neal Cassady died in Mexico... Joe's memory is that he was running down the railroad tracks (counting them) until his heart gave out, so I will have to see if I can find out which version is the myth, if that is possible.

*Waves at the dove...kindred spirit*

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 07:05 PM (EST)
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49. "RE: Songwriter credit"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 07:08 PM (EST)

Joe's version is probably correct and probably matches the version that Kesey relates in "Demon Box." It looks like "Demon Box" first came out in paperback around 1987, and I seem to remember reading it not long at all after it first came out. I'd have been off the drugs by then, but that's still fourteen years ago. The only parts of the story I remembered for certain were that he was counting tracks, and that his last words were "sixty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight" (only reason I remember the number so vividly is that it was a major part of the story I mentioned; alas, unless I have a copy tucked away somewhere deep in boxes, it's lost, residing on the hard drive of a computer long since discarded). Those, at least, match up purty well with Joe's recollections; I'd be more than willing to bet Joe's got the rest of the story right, too.

Side note: as organized as your writing always seems to be, I dunno how much use you'd find in Natalie Goldberg's books in terms of actual compositional inspiration. But... as far as getting a writer off her ass and producing, Nat's put together a helluva lot of useful advice. Most folks I know who've used her stuff swear by "Writing Down the Bones," but I think she really found her voice in "Wild Mind." If you're looking for other ways "to get the old pen in hand," I strongly recommend 'em both.

Thanks again for the various stories. I've enjoyed 'em immensely.

Edited to add: Since you mentioned getting work done, just thought I'd say to the people who I'm sure are wondering about the volume of my posts today (you know who you are, love ya ), yes, I've gotten a lot done today. Allowing myself to post has been a reward whenever I've hit a milestone.

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boomerang 556 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 08:56 PM (EST)
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9. "RE: Songs that Speak for US"
Outfrontgirl,

I know that music can be a very powerful force in people's lives, but I just read that some radio stations are limiting their play lists as a result of the terrorism. They think some songs, mainly dealing with death and destruction, would be inappropriate at this time. What do you think, people?

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09-17-01, 09:58 PM (EST)
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12. "Censorship"
If it means the end of Eminem or "gangsta rap", I'm all for it. Otherwise, count me out.
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09-17-01, 10:16 PM (EST)
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14. "Well That Would Mean..."
LAST EDITED ON 09-17-01 AT 10:26 PM (EST)

...that a song like 'Eve of Destruction' by Barry McGuire (a peace anthem) would not get played. That song has more than a few lines (and whole verses) that even more prophetic than the 'pseudo-nostradamus' emails that are making the rounds.

Censorship is always wrong...

Edited to post the lyrics...

Eve of Destruction Barry McGuire

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,
Ah, 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 running 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,
Ah, 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,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

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 your 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 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.



September 11, 2001

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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 10:35 PM (EST)
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16. "Same channels..."
IceCat, my original response to boomer's post was to quote the first verse from "Eve of Destruction" (I was a huge fan of the song's author, P.F. Sloan, and used to use a quote from one of his songs as my sig, if anyone remembers...)!

However, if I never had to hear again what a brilliant artist Eminem is, as he sings about murdering his wife and bringing his daughter along to view her body, I'd be better pleased.

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IceCat 17313 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 10:53 PM (EST)
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18. "I Agree..."
I am certainly no fan of Eminem...

... and he is far from original!

The Recipe for Eminem:

Start a large portion of the misogyny of Ford Fairlane...

Combine with a generous helping of the gangsta affectations of Vanilla Ice...

Gently fold in the eerily similar vocal range of Squiggy from 'Laverne and Shirley'...

Baste with the drippings of a thousand misguided music critics...

and season to bad taste!




September 11, 2001

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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 10:59 PM (EST)
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19. "Perfect!"
Good work breaking down the recipe. Now I need to study it, to develop an antidote.
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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 05:00 AM (EST)
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29. "Read my mind"
I too thought of "Eve of Destruction" when I read Boomer's post. I went off to have dinner and came back to find the lyrics and a discussion. Wonderful!

There were MAJOR protests about this song getting played at the time it became a huge hit. I'm not positive on the dates (and too tired to search) but "The Green Beret" was also a No.1 hit around the same time.

For those who weren't around then, one now-forgettable offshoot of the controversy was a lame song by The Spokesmen (never heard of before and never since that I know, and for good reason), which rewrote "Eve of Destruction" into "Dawn of Correction."
It got airplay ad nauseum.

As to playing songs that advocate destruction, especially hate crimes shall we say, stations can use discretion without getting into formal censorship.

To add another song of that era that talked about destruction in ways that were important to hear (but I won't reprint it and add to length)--I recommend Frank Zappa's "Trouble Comin'Every Day" from "Freak Out." (on Watts riots and symptoms of unrest)

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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 02:21 PM (EST)
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38. "Silly censorship"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 02:22 PM (EST)

I truly love "Trouble Comin' Every Day", OFG.

Censorship gets silly fast. I can't bring myself to waste board space by posting the full list of 162 questionable songs banned by Clear Channel Communications for "questionable lyrics", but here's a link:

http://slate.msn.com/code/chatterbox/chatterbox.asp?Show=9/17/2001&idMessage=8314

Not only is "Eve of Destruction" on it, but so is John Lennon's "Imagine" (apparently because of its one-worldism), the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (huh? Well, I guess because it has a line, "Life goes on") ... and the Youngbloods' "Get Together" and Neil Diamond's "America" (just because).

IMO, anyone who listens to a station owned by Clear Channel should find an alternate station fast.

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09-18-01, 02:31 PM (EST)
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39. "RE: Silly censorship"
I don't suppose any of those people who would get upset and throw a fit because their radio station was playing one of those songs would actually think of turning the radio OFF? Exercise a little PERSONAL censorship rather than inflicting it on the rest of us?

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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 04:55 PM (EST)
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40. "RE: Silly censorship"
Whoa! Thanks, AyaK, for reporting on some staggering silliness. I love it that you honed into their criteria--"just because"!

The topic of radio leads me to share a story about KPFA in Berkeley, a bastion of free speech (which recently made the news again due to a corporate takeover that wanted to take away its identity and fired everyone not with the program--until the community staged sit-ins and made them rethink the idea).

A good friend of mine was one of those Berkeley guys who marched on Washington with Martin Luther King and Joan Baez. Some years later, now a "solid citizen," he let his parking citations spin out of control and ended up in front of an ultra-uptight judge who hated KPFA with a passion and vented a lot on the topic.

My friend was sentenced to numerous hours of community service to work off his fine, and was delighted to see that KPFA, as a non-profit radio station, was on the list of organizations where he could volunteer and do his service.
He had to go back before the same judge when he'd completed it and explain exactly how he'd served his community. The poor judge nearly stroked-out on the spot!

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09-18-01, 06:40 PM (EST)
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47. "Silly Indeed..."
Note that there was not a single Eminem song on the list!

Also... the Cat Stevens songs on the list...

If the reason was his conversion to Islam, then there is some religious predjudice going into this list.



September 11, 2001

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09-17-01, 10:05 PM (EST)
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13. "Neil Young: Hawks and Doves"
LAST EDITED ON 09-17-01 AT 10:07 PM (EST)

Been thinkin of this song for days now. Thanks for the opportunity to post it!


Hawks and Doves

Ain't getting old,
ain't getting younger though
Just getting used
to the lay of the land
I ain't tongue-tied,
just don't got nothin' to say
I'm proud to be livin' in the U.S.A.

Ready to go, willin' to stay and pay
U.S.A., U.S.A.
So my sweet love can dance
another free day
U.S.A., U.S.A.

In history we painted pictures grim
The devil knows
we might feel that way again
The big wind blows,
so the tall grass bends
But for you don't
push too hard my friend.

Ready to go, willin' to stay and pay
U.S.A., U.S.A.
So my sweet wife can dance
another free day
U.S.A., U.S.A.

Got people here
down on their knees and prayin'
Hawks and doves
are circlin' in the rain
Got rock and roll,
got country music playin'
If you hate us, you just
don't know what you're sayin'.

Ready to go, willin' to stay and pay
U.S.A., U.S.A.
So my sweet love can dance
another free day
U.S.A., U.S.A.

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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-17-01, 11:57 PM (EST)
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20. "Great song"
moonbaby, that's a great patriotic song from Neil. Unfortunately, I've been thinking about another song of his, one with lyrics that stand as a jarring contrast to the hard rock tune of the song. I have been debating posting this, and I'm sorry to tag this onto a thread with so many positive songs, but reading all the stories about doomed people making last phone calls home got to me....

Powderfinger
(Young) (c) 1979

Look out, Ma, there's a white boat comin' up the river
With a big red beacon and a flag and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John
Cause it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun
And it's makin' big waves

Daddy's gone, my brother's out huntin' in the mountains
Big John's been drinkin' since the river took Emmy Lou
So the powers that be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
The closer they got
The more those feelin's grew

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassurin'
He told me "Red means run, son, and numbers add up to nothin"
But when the first shot hit the dock I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle up to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black
And my face splashed in the sky

Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Just think of me as one you never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love
I know I'll miss her...

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moonbaby 17013 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 00:03 AM (EST)
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21. "yes indeed"
Wow Aya, I know the chords for that one! So important you brought this up-absolutely another side to this that we shouldn't forget about. I have no doubt our armed forces will be called to serve- my prayers are with them. What a terrible task.
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09-18-01, 00:31 AM (EST)
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22. "Jerry Reed"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 00:33 AM (EST)

"Now Amos Moses was a Cajun,
lived by himself in the swamp!
Hunted alligator for a livin',
just knocked 'em on the head with a stump!

Now everybody blamed his ol' man,
for makin' him mean as a snake!
He'd just tie a rope around Amos,
and use him for alligator bait!"


You just show me some songwritin' or guitar pickin' in Afghanistan that compares to Jerry Reed and I'll believe that
they have a better system than us!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!


*edited because it needed more "good ol' boy editing"*

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SherpaDave 8324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 12:07 PM (EST)
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35. "RE: yes indeed"
Isn't it funny how many folks know the chords for at least one Neil Young tune? At one point, I could play maybe twenty songs, and a quarter of 'em were from Harvest ("Heart of Gold," "Old Man," "Alabama," "The Needle and the Damage Done", and "Words").
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Outfrontgirl 6830 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 06:06 AM (EST)
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32. "RE: Neil Young: Hawks and Doves"
Really happy you added Neil Young, Moon! Been a fan since he was with the Springfield, but I missed a lot of his later stuff, and so I don't know this one, nor Aya's. Which albums?
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09-18-01, 12:28 PM (EST)
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36. "Albums"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 12:29 PM (EST)

"Powderfinger" comes from Neil's "Rust Never Sleeps" album, from 1979, which is the classic album that began the second Neil craze.

"Hawks and Doves" is the title song of Neil's next studio album, from 1980, made up of various outtakes generated over the previous few years (dating back to 1974, I believe, for "The Old Homestead") but still including a few great songs. I'm not sure if "Hawks and Doves" was ever released on CD.

Edited because Angelfire won't let me post links to the album covers, and I don't want to upload them, either.

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shakes the clown 3366 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 00:38 AM (EST)
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23. "RE: Songs that Speak for US"
"Because I got High" by Afro Men....don't really know the lyrics because, well, becasue I got high.
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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 00:51 AM (EST)
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24. "An interesting choice"
Sample verse, from Afroman's Web site (www.hungryhustler.com):

I messed up my entire life because I got high.
I lost my kids and wife because I got high.
(say what, say what, say what, say what, ohhhhhh.)
Now I’m sleepin’ on the sidewalk and I know why.
(Why man?)
Cuz I got high

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shakes the clown 3366 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 00:56 AM (EST)
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25. "not to be confused with this verse......"
I was gonna go to work
But I got high
I could've been on the 95th floor
But I got high
Now I'm still alive and I know why
Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high

...don't knock drugs, they just might save your life.

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dabo 25344 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 00:58 AM (EST)
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26. "Old Standard Rally Song"

This Land is Your Land

Woody Guthrie

CHORUS (U.S.):
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

CHORUS (CANADA):
This land is your land, this land is my land
From Bonavista to Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters
This land was made for you and me


As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
O'er the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was saying
This land was made for you and me

When the sun came shining and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking I saw a sign there
On the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me

In the squares of the city in the shadow of the steeple
In the relief office I seen my people
As they stood there hungry I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me


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IceCat 17313 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 01:12 AM (EST)
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27. "RE: Old Standard Rally Song"
Hey thanks for including the Canadian chorus, Dabo!

September 11, 2001
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AyaK 10083 desperate attention whore postings
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09-18-01, 01:22 AM (EST)
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28. "RE: Old Standard Rally Song"
LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 01:23 AM (EST)

As I went walking I saw a sign there
On the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me

In the squares of the city in the shadow of the steeple
In the relief office I seen my people
As they stood there hungry I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me

Glad you printed all the verses. This is a bitter protest song, not the light patriotic song that the chorus makes it appear to be. One of the big issues of the 30s was agrarian land reform, to take the land away from the rich and give it to the deserving poor (Guthrie's "people" in the verse I bolded). It didn't happen, and the small farmer is rapidly heading toward extinction today.

Here's another one from Woody Guthrie, showing his thoughts about the social structure at the end of the Great Depression:

Pretty Boy Floyd
(Version #2 -- approx. 1940) (Guthrie)
If you'll gather 'round me children
A story I will tell
Of Pretty Boy Floyd an outlaw
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee
It was Saturday afternoon
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude
Using vulgar words of language
And his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain
And the deputy grabbed a gun
And in the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

He took to the trees and timbers
And he lived a life of shame
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

Yes, he took to the trees and timbers
On that Canadian River's shore
And Pretty Boy found a welcome
At a many a farmer's door.

There's a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How this outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little home.

Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal
And underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City
It was on a Christmas Day
There come a whole car load of groceries
With a letter that did say:

You say that I'm an outlaw
You say that I'm a thief
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.

Now as through this world I ramble
I see lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a Six gun
And some with a fountain pen.

But as through your life you travel
As through your life you roam
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

Note that at least Woody Guthrie wouldn't have confused terrorists with outlaws.

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