Photo from Dr. Martin Luther King’s memorial service, 1968, displayed at the Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville, KY. The Supremes at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial service in 1968.
(via Hard To Find CD Covers)
I wanted this to be an audio post, but I couldn’t figure out how to convert and upload after Itunes did it’s uncopy on the single I bought, in ye olde indie folk punk single days. Unfortunately, it’s out of print and like lots of smaller non-USA bands, you can’t get even their hits online. So like, lyrics instead:
Across this land everybody’s settled down
To a night of fitful dreams, and strange apparitions
As we tossed and turned we saw ourselves exactly as we are
And not surprisingly, we found it frightening.Hey yeah!
Well you don’t choose the place or choose the time
But history’s a slippery slide
Be careful of those nasty drops down to the right
When you’re hit it must seem a pretty good choice
For they give all of our malice voice
What do we expect if we won’t open our arms?Singin’ hey, we’re all just earrings to the left of our parents
They’re all just haircuts to the left of theirs
And we all wonder: why do Nazis grow like wildflowers?Hey Helen let’s ditch the car let’s hide!
We’ll throw seeds of doubt at passersby
They will cross onto our side, we’ll sing our songs into the night!
As we cast off all those strange facades
We’ll see that we’re all uniquely scarred
By the same hand, beneath the same smileSinging hey! We’re all just earrings to the left of our parents
They’re all just haircuts to the left of theirs
And we all wonder: why do Nazis grow like wildflowers!?
Cos everybody dreams the same visions in the end
I know, that everybody feels trapped and tired
So if you see a strange door to your left
Then drop your things and run for it!!Singing hey! We’re all just earrings to the left of our parents
They’re all just haircuts to the left of theirs
And we all wonder: why do Nazis grow like wildflowers!?Why do Nazis grow like wildflowers??
It’s quite a pretty, upbeat but blunt song, if you’re into pop-folk. I wish I could share it with you better.
People never rebel just because they have to carry a heavy load or because of exploitation.
They don’t know life without exploitation, they don’t even know that such life exists. How can they desire what they cannot imagine? The people will rebel only when, in a single movement, someone tries to throw a second burden, a second heavy bag onto their backs. The peasant will fall face down in the mud - and then spring up and grab an ax.
He’ll grab an ax, my gracious sir, not simply because he can’t sustain this new burden—he could carry it—he will rise because he feels that, in throwing the second burden onto his back suddenly and stealthily, you have tried to cheat him, you have treated him like an unthinking animal, you have trampled what remains of his already strangled dignity, taken him for an idiot who doesn’t see, feel or understand.
A man doesn’t seize an ax in defense of his wallet, but in defense of his dignity.
“
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Ryszard Kapuściński (via whiporwill) Strangely resonant with things I’ve been trying - and failing - to articulate this week about ahistorism. |
