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With thanks to Apesma’s Lament
I found something on John Shaw’s Utopian Turtletop that struck me as the perfect follow-up to yesterday’s post: this mesmerizing clip of protest songwriter Len Chandler, an amazing Joan Baez, and a barely audible Bob Dylan doing Keep Your Eyes on the Prize at the March 18, 1963 March on Washington. The tune behind the song began as Hands on the Plow, a traditional spiritual, but in the mid-fifties was reworked with new lyrics at the Highlander Folk School. The lyrics here were yet another take on what was by then a civil rights movement anthem.
The song never stops being relevant. Bruce Springsteen and The Seeger Sessions Band, wich includes my new hero Mark Anthony Thompson sharing lead vocals, performed this classic forty-three years later in Amsterdam, Holland. This remarkable 2006 concert tour often sold out in minutes at European venues, while U.S. tour dates, even in New Jersey, played to partially empty amphitheaters. Sad.
with Vusi Mahlasela
WEEPING
Written by Dan Heymann
(Copyright Bright Blue)
______________________________
I knew a man who lived in fear
It was huge, it was angry, it was drawing near
Behind his house, a secret place
Was the shadow of the demon he could never face
He built a wall of steel and flame
And men with guns, to keep it tame
Then standing back, he made it plain
That the nightmare would never ever rise again
But the fear and the fire and the guns remain
It doesn’t matter now
It’s over anyhow
He tells the world that it’s sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound
It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping
And then one day the neighbors came
They were curious to know about the smoke and flame
They stood around outside the wall
But of course there was nothing to be heard at all
“My friends,” he said, “We’ve reached our goal
The threat is under firm control
As long as peace and order reign
I’ll be damned if I can see a reason to explain
Why the fear and the fire and the guns remain”
Original Recording by Lyricist, Dan Heymann:
Program: In Performance at The White House
Episode: A Celebration of Music From the Civil Rights Movement
“In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement,” is a concert in the White House East Room. President and Mrs. Obama will host the event in honor of Black History Month, and the evening will feature songs from the Civil Rights Movement performed by top entertainers, as well as readings from famous Civil Rights speeches and writings. The music special, part of the WETA “In Performance at the White House” series, will include Yolanda Adams, Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Howard University Choir and The Freedom Singers, featuring Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Rutha Harris, Charles Neblett and Toshi Reagon. Morgan Freeman will serve as a guest speaker.
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