Posted on 05/20/2008 12:53:37 PM PDT by jwalburg
Recently, I reviewed a new American history anthology. I was amused to find included in the book a generous selection of 1960s protest songs. Apparently, lyrics by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Country Joe MacDonald are making their way into the academic canon, and at least some professors seem to think these are “must-read” documents for our students.
Well, maybe so. But if one really wants song lyrics that reflect the 1960s, I'd point my students instead to some of the songs from math professor and musical satirist Tom Lehrer. In terms of insight into America, Lehrer's “National Brotherhood Week" beats Dylan's “The Times They are A-Changin'' hands down, while Lehrer's “Send the Marines" teaches a lot more about American military intervention than MacDonald's “I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-to-Die Rag" (fish cheer or no).
And then there's the wonderful opening verse of Lehrer's Folk Song Army, “We are the folk song army. Every one of us cares. We all hate poverty war and injustice - unlike the rest of you squares.”
Lehrer captures perfectly both the idealism and the na•vetŽ that typified so many of the young protesters of the 1960s. We were the generation of love, peace, and justice - things (obviously) our parents didn't appreciate or understand. We were going to fix all their mistakes and bring in a new age of harmony, understanding, sympathy and trust, and all by singing about it!
Unfortunately, while correcting our parents' mistakes, we were making plenty of our own. Idealism untempered by experience isn't a great recipe for wise choices, and the “don't trust anybody over 30” attitude of so many 1960s young people meant a deliberate abandonment of lessons we could have learned from the “great generation” that preceded us.
No - we thought we were the great generation. We protested this, we protested that, and we ended up developing a smug feeling of moral superiority to all those who didn't join in with our efforts to save the world.
Ironically, in terms of their personal lives, baby boomers aren't all that admirable, choosing lifestyles that, in most societies would be condemned as selfish and immoral. Particularly when it comes to marriage and family, boomers tend to be utterly selfish: who cares about the kids if I can find a new partner more exciting at the moment than my current spouse?
How does one justify such an attitude? Well, it's easy: We just remember the lessons of the 1960s. Protest the right cause and you're a “good person” no matter what kind of lifestyle you lead. Even the moral midgets of the 1960s could think themselves mighty good people if they protested that awful war in Vietnam. Later, you could earn your “good person seal of approval” by fighting the evil tobacco companies or campaigning against global warming.
The problem is that, for those who tie their self worth to specific political and social causes, it's very, very difficult to consider opposing points of view. If you think you're a good human being because you fight against global warming, then you don't even want to listen to evidence that suggests that global warming isn't man-made, that it isn't necessarily harmful or that (worst case scenario) it isn't even real. If your support for “a woman's right to choose” is part of what gives you a positive self concept, then you certainly don't want to hear about things like post-abortive stress syndrome. And if opposing the war in Iraq is part of what's earning you your good-person-seal-of approval, you'll never, ever consider the possibility that you might be playing the part of an Axis Sally or a Tokyo Rose.
And if - tolerant person that you are - you find yourself seething at columns like this one, well, you're a perfect example of one of Lehrer's most amusing lines, “There are people in this world who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that.”
Sad, but true. There’s an agenda, even with tests.
My own favourite is The Merry Minuet.
“They’re rioting in Africa
They’re starving in Spain!
There’s hurricanes in Florida!
And Texas needs Rain!
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls:
the French hate the Germans;
the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs!
South Africans hate the Dutch!
And I don’t like anybody very much!
But we can be thankful and tranquil and proud
for man’s been endowed
with that mushroom shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
someone will set the spark off
and we will all be blown away!
They’re rioting in Africa!
There’s strife in Iran!
What nature doesn’t do to us
will be done by our fellow man.
Actually, “Eve of Destruction” was written by P.F. Sloan.
An interesting, if not particularly well crafted song.
I can still see McGuire singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show in those skin-tight white jeans and boots. It was an interesting time....
“There are people in this world who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that.”
Just love that line. No tolerance for the “intolerant”
Tom Lehrer Radio @ Pandora
http://www.pandora.com/?tc=x-036801-0035-1149&?searchFilter=artist&search=Tom+Lehrer+
I hear ya.
Wow! This is great! A Tom Lehrer radio station. I’m listening right now to something on gallbladders and national gallbladder week and segueying into Fiestatime in Guadalajara. Never heard these before.
And so true for today, too, especially with the Canada Human Rights Commission and their censoring of Mark Steyn and McLean’s magazine. Intolerance in the name of tolerance.
You got that right and if we Amercans don’t grow a set soon we will be dealing with exactly the same thing.
Yes, he’s still around, yes he’s a hard lefty, yes his songs were/are great, and there’s a guy who posts a lot of his songs on YouTube with the great one performing them i.e. video not just audio.
I love Hannukah in Santa Monica as well as I got it from Agnes, in addition to all the songs on the 3 major albums.
I’ll have to look for those on You Tube. I haven’t heard the ones you mentioned.
Sorry I tried to post Eve of Destruction which I have bookmarked in my Google favorites but it seems to want to copy another bookmark a Blondie bookmark for some reason.
This piece is easy to understand and delves into human nature. This of course, is key to understanding why our government is broken and our citizens quality of life is going down the toilet. Government itself is a reflection of cultural values and the author nails why people in our government behave a certain way and that in general is entitled.
But no matter what false perceptions were created during the 60’s, boomers wishing goodwill on all mankind without real accountability and true sacrifice, actual realities on the ground have recently in the past and will very soon come rushing up again to hit them over the head.
What’s going on is a dramatic shift in our quality of life and is beginning to change my generation’s viewpoints (gen x) and forming new viewpoints in gen y. The liberal ideas are very much alive now as in the 60’s but not well. Neither is the ideas of honoring constituent promises to the death as our recent Administration has painfully demonstrated. That world of honor is gone and has been inherited by the most cunning (survival of the fittest).
It’s global competition time and we will once again be called ‘a great generation’ by the time it’s done. But like the 60’s and the massive waste of time the liberal movement caused the resulting economic and social pain of the 1970’s, we’re redoing that but the ‘if it feels good do it’ generation is now in charge at the top of power in Washington. We’ll put the socialist ideas further to the test, accept the pain and adjustment period which I am not particularly looking forward to :) I wager 2010-2020 will be called the lost decade for America.
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09 1999 00:14:03 UTC XXXXX Anti-war activist Judy Collins is set this evening to sing at a gala White House state dinner -- all the while, the US led NATO war against Yugoslavia continues unrestrained. Collins, who made her name over the last 35 years as a social conscience, is known for her renditions of anti-war songs such as 'Masters of War', 'Song For Sarajevo', 'Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream' and 'Fortune of Soldiers'. Calls to Collins' label ELEKTRA asking for clarification on whether her fans can still apply her passionate, idealistic songs to the current war in the Balkans were unreturned. Incidentally, tonight's dinner -- honoring the President of the Republic of Hungary, Arpad Goncz and his wife, Mrs. Zsuzsanna Goncz -- features a menu of Copper River Salmon with Portobello Mushroom, Roasted Onions and Sweet Peppers, Fennel and Herb Salad, Toasted Caraway and Tomato Sauce, Pecan Crusted Lamb, Wilted Summer Greens, Sweet Potato Flan, Barbequed Peach Ragout, Salad of Bibb Lettuce, Asparagus and Avocado, Stilton Crisp, Tarragon Grapefruit Dressing. And for dessert: Bing Cherry Strudel Surprise and Creme Fraeche.... #####################################################
“National Brotherhood Week” is a brilliant song. Some of the references are a bit dated now, but it’s still a brilliant dissection of pompous liberal goo-gooism.
(Introduction)One week of every year is designated National Brotherhood Week. This is just one of many such weeks honoring various worthy causes. One of my favorites is National Make-fun-of-the-handicapped Week which Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis are in charge of as you know. During National Brotherhood Week various special events are arranged to drive home the message of brotherhood. This year, for example, on the first day of the week Malcolm X was killed which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is. I’m sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that. Here’s a song about National Brotherhood Week.
(Begin song)
Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks.
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.
But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek.
It’s fun to eulogize
The people you despise,
As long as you don’t let ‘em in your school.
Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It’s American as apple pie.
But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans ‘cause it’s very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can’t stand.
You can tolerate him if you try.
Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.
But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
It’s National Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It’s only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!
One of my counselors at summer camp wrote a protest song — against protest songs.
“Just remember...
Base eight is just like base ten - - if you’re missing two fingers.”
Still cracks me up just thinking about it.
How about Alma - the juiciest, raciest obituary ever written.
I thought that was the Kingston Trio at the Hungry I.
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