Veterans Day: Wars and Peace

Billy Joel - "Goodbye Saigon" - It’s Veterans Day weekend and I am trying to imagine what it must have been like for my family members and friends to experience war up close. There are no words to adequately describe my gratitude but there is this Joel song. I consider it to be a tribute. God bless our soldiers.  (B. Rosenbaum)

Barry McGuire - "Eve of Destruction" - The more things change, the more they stay the same…this song was written and performed as a protest song in the tumultuous times of the 1960’s. Topics included (but were not limited to) racial tensions, the threat of nuclear war and distrust of government power. The video images that accompany this link are updated from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s.

"Eve of Destruction" was written by P.F. Sloan in mid-1964. Several artists have recorded it, but the best-known recording was by Barry McGuire. This recording was made between July 12 and July 15, 1965, and released by Dunhill Records. The accompanying musicians were top-tier Los Angeles session players: P. F. Sloan on guitar, Hal Blaine on drums on, and Larry Knechtel on bass guitar. The vocal track was thrown on as a rough mix and was not intended to be the final version, but a copy of the recording "leaked" out to a disc jockey, who began playing it. The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded. (J Gaffney)

Max Roach (with Abbey Lincoln) - "Triptych: Prayer, Protest, Peace" (from Max Roach’s We Insist! - Freedom Now Suite, 1960) - Politics on the brain this week, and last. Here’s a challenging listen, but hopefully worth the effort. This is a selection from Max Roach’s 1960 We Insist! - Freedom Now Suite. This is a duet between Roach (a drummer) and vocalist Abbey Lincoln, on a wordless vocal. You’ll want to brace yourself for the middle of this one; it gets intense. Keep in mind the year, 1960 - this record is one of the first really overt Civil Rights statements in America… for comparison, Sam Cooke’s "A Change Is Gonna Come" and Dylan’s "The Times They Are a-Changin’" were both 1964. (K. Saulnier)

Toby Keith - "American Soldier" - For Veterans Day, I’d like to submit this song from 2003. I do think we lay it on a bit thick with the “support the troops” mantra, but the kids who serve are truly a remarkable bunch. (T. Williams)

Professor Williams does not say that he served for many years in the U.S. Army, that he has trained officers at the Army War College, and continues to work/teach for the Army even after his retirement.  It's a choice he made many years ago knowing, like the people in Toby Keith's song, that he would be away from his family for long stretches of time.  (RBK)

The Guess Who - "American Woman" - My little barb from Canada. (D. Dugre-Martin)

Ms. Dugre-Martin does not inform us that her son currently serves in the Canadian Army and just began a one-year deployment to the Middle East.  Nevertheless, her choice of song for this week comes from one of Canada's most popular rock bands of the 1970s. This version includes the acoustic blues opening from the album - the extremely popular 45 rpm release consisted of only the "electric" version. (RBK)

Rhiannon Giddens - "Last Kind Words" - Hard to find songs from World War I from the African American viewpoint.  This tune, written and recorded in 1930 by Geeshie Wiley - one of only six songs the Ms. Wiley recording her lifetime - is not really a "war song" but can be viewed as a response to the treatment Black soldiers received upon their return home after fighting for their country. According to the website "African American Odyssey", more than 350,000 African Americans served in the "Great War", all in segregated units often led by Black Captains and Lieutenants (by October 2017, over 600 Black officers were commissioned).

Ms. Giddens is one of number of young Black artists who are bringing to light more music from the rural South. (RBK)

Have a great Thanksgiving. No matter your religious beliefs or political bent, we can all use the time to reflect on this and previous years, thanking the people who watch over our cities, serve overseas or here in the US, work in hospitals and hospices as well as nursing homes and in soup kitchens.