Music of the 1960'S DBQ

Music of the 1960's DBQ

byTomMaguire,ScarsdaleHighSchool

1963to1973wereyearsofradicalchangeinmanyaspectsofAmericansocietyand culture.Themusicoftheperiodreflectedmanyofthesechanges.Recognizingthata small selection of songs from a decade can only give a partial picture of all that was goingon,pleaseusethedocumentstodothefollowing:

Analyzetheattitudes,opinions,emotions,andbeliefs of American youth in the period1963-1973.

Youmightwishtobeginyourthinkingaboutthistopicwiththefollowingquestion:whatarethebigIssuestackledbythesongwritersandartistsrepresentedhere?

ForeachsongIhavenoteditsduration,theyeartherecordingwasreleased,itspopularity(asdetermined bytheBillboardTop100),thesongwriter(s},andthenameofthegroup.InsomecasesI havewrittenout thelyrics.OftenIhaveincludedanexplanatorynoteaboutthesong.Tom Maguirealsoannotatedsomepossiblyconfusingtopicalreferences.Whenyouseeunderlinedsonglyrics,lookfortheannotationattheendofthe song.Readthese,please!Theymayhelpyouavoidsomemisinterpretations,andmaybeeducational,too

ImportantPoints

•Youshould makecomparisonsbetweenandamongdocuments.Themoreofthesecomparisonsyou make, the better you will do. An example:One song includesthe line"We don't smoke marijuana ...." Another song says "the sale of pills are at an all-time high."You need to make theconnectionbetween these documents,andothersonthesametheme.

•Speakingofthemes,besuretoorganizethematically;discusschronology withineachtheme.

•DonotassumethatbecauseasongwasnotintheBillboardTop100itdoesnotreflectpeople's attitudesandbeliefs.Manyofthesesongswereonbest-sellingalbums,andthusdidnothitthe chartsassingles. Besides,thefolksingersrepresentedheredidnotalwaysreleasesingles.

•Yourpapershouldbe10-12pages,typedanddouble-spaced.Eachdocumenthasanumber. Please use parenthetical citations to tell me the number of the document to which you are referring, for example: (8).

1963

Headlines

BeatingsbyPoliceandAngrywhitesmarkCivilRightProtestsin Birmingham,Alabama 200,000 Freedom Marchers Demonstrate in Washington

KennedyAssassinatedinDal1as;JohnsonSworn inasPresident

Document 1 ( 3:15)

The Times They are A-Changin'

Written by: Bob Dylan Performed by: Bob Dylan Highest rank in Top 100: - - Number of weeks in Top 100:--

This song was the title track of Dylan's third album. It was also recorded by Simon and Garfunkel on their first album, Wednesday Morning 3 AM. It was an anthem of the 1960s, but somehow never sold enough copies in any one recording to make the BillboardCharts.

Come gather 'round people wherever you roam, And admit that the waters around you havegrown,

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your t,me to you is worthsaving,

Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like astone,

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics who prophecies with your pen, And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't come again, And don't speak to soon, for the wheel's still inspin.

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin', 'Cause the loser now will be later to win, For the times, they are a-changin'.

Come Senators, Congressmen, please heed the call, Don't stand in the doorway, don't lock up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who hasstalled.

The battle outsideragin',

Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, For the times, they are a -changin'.

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, And don't criticize what you can't understand.

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin',

Please get out of the newone If you can't lend yourhand,

For the times, they are a -changin'.

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast. The slow one now will later befast,

As the present now will later be past. The order is rapidly fadin',

And the first one now will later be last, For the times, they are a -changin'.

Headlines

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Passes; More US TroopsHeaded for Vietnam

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Wins Nobel Peace Prize A All the Way with LBJ: Johnson Re-elected in Landslide

"Freedom Summer" in Mississippi; Three Civil RightsWorkers Found Slain

Only a Pawn in TheirGame

Written by: Bob Dylan Performed by: Bob Dylan Highest rank in Top 100: - - Number of weeks in Top 100: --

Document 2 ( 3:32)

This song was written after the assassination of the black Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, an event depicted in the film Ghosts of Mississippi, with James Woods, Alec Baldwin, and Whoopi Goldberg, which came out a few years ago. The subject of the film was the eventual conviction of Byron de la Beckwithfor Evers' assassination- a conviction which could not be obtained until 1992.Beckwith was tried twice in the 1960s, but both times all-white Juries could not reach averdict.

A bullet from the back of a bush Took Medgar Evers'blood

A finger fired the trigger to his name A handle hid out in thedark

A hand set the spark Twoeyestooktheaim Behind a man's brain Buthecan'tbeblamed

He'sonlyapawnintheirgame

The South'spolitician

Preachestothepoorwhiteman

"You got more than the blacks don'tcomplain You're better thanthem

You've been born with white skin" Theyexplain

And the Negroe'sname Is used, it is plain

For the politician's gain Asherisestofame

And the poor whiteremains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him toblame

He's only a pawn in theirgame

The deputy sheriff, the soldiers, The governor's getpaid

Andthemarshalsandcopsgetthesame But the poor white man'sused

Inthehandsofthemalllikeatool He'staughtinhisschool

CFrom the start by therule

That the laws are with him To protect his white skin Tokeepuphishate

Soheneverthinksstraight 'Bouttheshapethathe'sin But it ain't him toblame

He'sonlyapawnintheirgame

From the povertyshacks

Helooksfromthecrackstothetracks Andthehoofbeatspoundinhisbrain Andhe'staughthowtowalkinapack Shootintheback

With his fist in a clinch Tohangandtolynch

To hide 'neath thehood To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain Heain'tgotnoname

Butitain'thimtoblame

He'sonlyapawnintheirgame

TodayMedgarEverswasburied From the bullet hecaught

They're lowering him down as a king Butwhentheshadowysun

Setsontheonethatfiredthegun He'll see by hisgrave

On the stonethat remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain:

Only a pawn in theirgame

Headlines

MalcolmXAssassinated

Rev. King Leads Protest March i nSelma, Ala.; KKK Shootings Take Place Watts Riots in Los Angles Kill 35

WoolyBully

Written by: DomingoSamudio

Document 3( 2:22)

Performed by: Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs Highest rank in Top 100:2

Number of weeks in Top 100:18

Yes, this song was the number 2 song in the country for two weeks in 1965. Any idea why?By the way: Sam the Sham (his real name is listed as the composer of this song)

Uno, dos, one, two, tres, quatro

Matty told Hatty about a thing she saw. Had two big horns and a wooly jaw.

Wooly bully, woolybully.

Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully.

Hatty told Matty, "Let's don't take no chance. Let's not be L-seven, come and learn todance."

Wooly bully, wooly bully

Wooly bully, wooly bully, woolybully.

Matty told Hatty, ''That's the thing todo.

Get you someone really to pull the wool with you." Wooly bully, wooly bully.

Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully.

IAin'tMarchingAnymore

Written by: Phil Ochs Performed by: Phil Ochs Highest rank in Top 100: - - NumberofweeksinTop100:--

Document 4 (2:34)

Without question the best-known of Phil Ochs' many songs. In introducing this song Ochs used to say "What is a protest song? A song they don't play on the radio." Thus, no Top 100 for Phil.

Oh Imarched to the battle of NewOrleansAt the end of the early British wars Young men startedgrowing,

The young blood started flowing But I ain't a-marchin'anymore

Oh I killed my share of lnjuns In a thousand different fights

Iwas there at the Little Big Horn I heard many mena-lying

I saw many more a-dying

But I ain't a-marchm'anymore

It's always theold

Who leadus to the wars

Always the young to fall Nowlookatallwe'vewon With a saber and a gun Tell me, is it worth it all?

For I stole California from The Mexicanland

Fought in the bloody CivilWar Yes I even killed my brothers And so manyothers

But I ain't a-marchin'anymore

For I marched to the battles Of the GermanTrench

In a war that was bound to end all wars

Oh I must have killed a million men And now they want me back again But I ain't a-marchin' anymore

.t's always theold

Who lead us to the Wars Always the young to fall Now look at all we've won With a saber and a Gun Tell me, is 1t worth ,tall?

For I flew the final mission 1n the Japanese skies

Set off the mighty mushroomroar WhenIsawthecitiesburnin'

I knew that I waslearnin'

But I ain't a marchinganymore

Now the labor leaders screamin' When they close a missileplant

United Frujt screams at theCuban shoreCall it peace or call it treason

Call it love or call itreason

ButIain'ta-marchin'anymore Iain'ta-marchin'anymore

Mushroom roar: nuclear explosions result in mushroom clouds.

United Fruit : we have discussed this company in class. They owned a lot of agricultural land in Cuba, Guatemala,and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. When Castro came to power, he nationalized the land and threw United Fruit out of the country. This cost the company a lot of money, and caused them to lead the charge in theUnited States against the Castrogovernment.

Like a Rolling Stone Written by: Bob Dylan Performedby:BobDylanHighest rank in Top 100:2

NumberofweeksinTop100:12

Document5( 6:10)

This was Dylan's first commercial hit-and the first song he released after he "went electric"-to the shock and dismay of folkies-at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. (On the recently released "bootleg" recording of Bob Dylan's "Royal Albert Hall Concert," an audience member screams "Judas!" at Dylan Just as he launches into this song). In the recent book Mansion on the Hill , a history of rock's evolution into a multi-billion dollar industry since the 1960s, the author claims that Dylan's Newport performance of this song reinvented rock-and-roll by combining rock style and instrumentation with the meaningful lyrics of folkmusic

Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime 1n your prime Didn't you7

People call say beware doll You're bound to fall you thought They were all k1ddin' You

You used to laugh about Everybody that was hanging out Now you don't talk soloud

Now you don't seem so proud About having to be scrounging Your nextmeal

How does it feel? How does itfeel?

To be without ahome

Like a complete unknown Like a rollingstone

O you've gone to the finestschool

All right, Miss Lonely,

But you know you only used to get juiced in it Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street And now you're gonna have to get used to it

You say you nevercompromise

With a mystery tramp but now you realize He's not selling any alibis

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes And say "do you want to make adeal?"

How does it feel? How does it feel? Tobeonyourown

With no direction home A complete unknown Like a rollingstone

You never turned around to see the frowns On the jugglers and theclowns

When they all did tricks for you

Never understood that it ain't nogood

You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you Used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat

Ain't it hard when you discover that He really wasn't where it'sat

After he took from you everything he couldsteal

How does it feel? How does it feel? To be on yourown

With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rollingstone

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people They all drink and thinkin' that they got it made Exchanging all preciousgifts

But you better take a diamond nng You better pawn itbabe

Youusedtobesoamused

ANapoleoninrags,andthelanguagethatheused Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse When you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose

You're invisible now, you got no secrets toconceal

How does it feel? How does it feel? To be on yourown

With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rollingstone

"""'\.

EveofDestruction

Written by: P. F. Sloan Performed by: Barry McGuire Highest rank in Top 100:1

NumberofweeksinTop100:11

Document6 (3:37)

The eastern world It isexploding / Take a look around ya boy It's bound to scare yaboy / Ah, you don't believe we're on the Eve ofdestruction
Violence flarin' / And you tell me over andover / Think of all thehate
Bulletsloadin' / And over again myfriend / There is in RedChina
You're old enough tokill / Ah, you don't believe we're on the / Then take a lookaround
But not forvotin' / Eve ofdestruction / To SelmaAlabama

You don't believeinwarYeah, my blood'ssomadYou mayleavehereBut what's that gunyou'retotin' Feelslikecoagulating' For four daysinspaceAnd even theJordan River I'm sittin' here But when youreturn

Hasbodiesfloatin'Just contemplating'It's the sameoldplaceBut you tell me overandover I can't twist thetruth The poundin' ofthedrumsAnd over agarnmyfriend It knowsnoregulation The prideanddisgraceAh, you don't believe we'reonthe Handfulofsenators You can buryyourdeadEveofdestruction Don'tpasslegislation But don't leave atrace

Hate your next doorneighbor

Don'tyou understandAndmarchesaloneBut don't forget tosaygraceWhat I'm tryin' tosay Can't bringintegration

Can't you feel thefearsWhenhuman respectAnd tell me over and over andoverI'mfeelin' today Is disintegratin' And over again my friend

Ifthe buttonispushedThis wholecrazy worldYou don.'t believewe'reonthe There's norunnin'away Is just too frustratin' Eve ofDestruction

There'll be no onetosaveAnd you tell me overandoverNo, you don't believe we'reontheWith the world rnagrave And over againmyfriend Eve ofDestruction

,...,..,.,,

Draft DodgerRag

Written by: Phil Ochs Performedby:PhilOchsHighest rank in Top 100: - - Number of weeks in Top 100: --

Document 7 ( 2:12)

Oh I'm Just a typical American boy From a typical Americantown

I believe in God and Senator Dodd And keepin' old Castro down

And when it came my time to serve I knew "better dead thanred"

But when I got to my old draft board Buddy, this is what Isaid:

"Sarge, I'm only eighteen I got a rupturedspleen

And I always carry a purse. I've got eyes like abat

And my feet areflat

And my asthmas's gettin' worse. Yes, think of mycareer

My sweetheart dear,

And my poor old invalid aunt Besides I ain't nofool

I'm a-goin' toschool

And I'm workin' in a defenseplant"

I got a dislocated disc And a racked-upback

I'm allergic to flowers and bugs And when the bombshellhits

I get epilepticfits

And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs I got the weaknesswoes

Can't touch mytoes

I can hardly reach my knees And 1f theenemy

Came close tome

I'd probably start tosneeze

"Sarge, I'm onlyeighteen

Igotarupturedspleen

And I always carry a purse. I've got eyes like abat

And my feet areflat

And my asthmas's gettin' worse. Yes, think of my career

My sweetheart dear, My poor old invalid aunt Besides I ain't no fool I'm a-goin' toschool

And I'm workin' in a defense plant"

Oooh,IhateChou-EnLaiAnd I hope hedies

Butonethingyougottasee

That someone's gotta go over there And that someone isn't me

So, I wish you well, Sarge, give 'emhell

Kill me a thousand or so And if you ever get a war Without blood andgore

I'll be the first togo

"Sarge, I'm only eighteen I got a rupturedspleen

And I always carry a purse. I've got eyes like abat

And my feet areflat

And my asthmas's gettin' worse. Yes, think of my career

My sweetheartdear,

And my poor old invalid aunt Besides I ain't nofool

I'm a-goin' toschool

And I'm workin' in a defenseplant"

SenatorDodd:a liberal senator from Connecticut; father of Chris Dodd, who is currently a senator fromConnecticut.

Chou-En Lai: as premier of China, he was Mao Ze-Dong's number two man in Communist China.

1966-

Headlines

International Days of Protest Against VietnamWar

LBJVisits U.S. Troopsin Vietnam

48 Hour "Christmas Truce" Observed in Vietnam

Document 8 (2:21)

The Ballad of the Green Berets Written by: Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler Performedby:BarrySadler

HighestrankinTop100:l

Number of weeks in Top 100:13

This song spent five weeks at #1, which is an eternity in the world of popular music. Sadler was amember of the U. S. Army Special Forces, better known as the Green Berets, until he hurt hrs leg in a booby trap while serving in Viet Nam.

Fighting soldiers from the sky Fearless men who jump and die Men who mean just what they say The brave men of the green beret

Silver wings upon their chest Thesearemen-America'sbest 100menwilltesttoday

But only three win the green beret

My DirtyStreamWritten by: Pete Seeger Performed by: Pete Seeger Highest rank in Top 100:-

Number of weeks in Top 100:--

Trained to live off nature's land Trained in combat hand to hand Men who fight by night and day Courage take from the greenberet

Silver wings upon their chest Thesearemen-America'sbest100 men will testtoday

But only three win the green beret

Document9 ( 2:29)

Back at home a young wife waits Her green beret has met his fate He has died for those oppressed Leaving her this last request:

"Put silver wings on my son's chest Make him one of America's best He'll be a man they'll test one day Have him win the greenberet."

It 1s more than a little ironic that a man who had such a fine singing voice should have failed to hit the charts himself (with one minor exception), while others' recordings of his songs should do so well. Pete wrote "Turn, Turn, Turn," "If I had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and a number ofother big folk-rock hits. This song comes from Pete's album God Bless the Grass, a collection of songs on a common theme, of which "My Dirty Stream," also known as "The Hudson River Song," is a shining example. By the way, the "Beacon" of the song is Beacon, NY, Pete's hometown.

1967

Headlines

700,000 People March i n Support of US Soldiers in Vietnam "Black Power" Conference Held i n Newark, NJ 50,000 Protest Vietnam War at LincolnMemorial

BlacksRiotInCleveland, Newark,andDetroit

Document 10 (3:21)

I-Feel-Like-I' m-Fixin'-To-DieRag

Written by: JoeMcDonald

Performed by: Country Joe McDonald and the Fish Highest rank in Top 100: --