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Something happening here – what it is is exactly clear.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Likely, the best-known rock protest song of the last half of the last century was "For What It's Worth" and it's surprising how many people are left scratching their heads after hearing that song title. But when you sing a few words, "Something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there. Telling you to beware." Think about it. Heard it before.
The song still sends a shiver down my spine, although I can't remember if this was a Stephen Stills solo effort or whether Buffalo Springfield should get credit. Whatever, it was a huge hit and it still gets huge amounts of air play even today – and well it should, especially in these troubled times.
And before we get along any further, we have to acknowledge another effort that Stills was involved in – the CSNY classic Ohio. This song still has the potential to bring tears to my eyes on occasion if the mood is right. I think of the four who died at Kent State and i realize that the war was indeed lost that day.
And even thinking about that brings Phil Oches to mind. I'm a latecomer to Oches' music and must admit I missed him back during the 1960's. Since becoming a fan back just a few years ago, I've come to realize his relevance to the counter culture, both as a singer/songwriter and as a type of prophet.
Oches' take on the 1960's has become mine over the last couple of years. I see conspiracy in the deaths of counter culture icons like John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I see conspiracy in the deaths of Janice and Jim and Jimi. It was all just a little too convenient for me and for Phil Oches as well.
Back during the era, I didn't see the possible connection between the string of significant deaths that rocked our world for about a ten-year period. Now I got talking about Phil Oches from Ohio and here's the connection to that. Oches thought that the counter culture died at Kent State along with those students. He felt that at Kent State the counter culture found out that you could die for your beliefs – even if you were an upper middle class white person. That scared the crap out of most anti-establishment types and most quickly fell into line.
Anyway, the whole reason for this diatribe about sixties protest music is the current war in Iraq and how it is proof to me that most of these tunes could be taken out and dusted off and they'd still make a lot of sense and could, perhaps, serve as a grim reminder of the way things were back in the Viet Nam era.
In my mind, the Establishment is now in total control of the planet and those of us who try to buck the trend are vastly outnumbered and drowned out by the unwashed masses. The current war is proof enough. Most people wouldn't fight their way out of wet paper bags unless they felt they were forced to. It's a weird thing.
Anyway, I've included the Zagger and Evans cover as well because of their hit 2525. It's about as prophetic a tune as you can find and there were a bunch of those back in the old days. The problem was that nobody really listened. So, here we go again. Down the same path.
I hear some musicians are busily writing some new anti-war stuff and although I haven't heard any, I hope they'll write some truly memorable stuff as happened back when I was young. Great tunes back then. And they've stayed with me always.
John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:
- Melancholy Man and Minister's Son
- Reality Check
- Grim Faerie Tale
- Once Upon a Visit
- Toward the End, Oyster Boy
- And It Was Christmas
- From Genesis to Revelations (Chapter 1) - the novel. the rest of the novel follows month by month
