My Art Director suggested I do a blog about these guys. Good musicians and great songs. He sez:
Of course their
politics run to the left, but they don't ask for much besides liberty and
justice. Anyway, I just ran across it and dug the tunes and vibe of it
all.
Before we get into the tunes I will offer my observations on some music that gained popularity because it spoke for the Little Man, the common folks like you and me.
Back in the Thirties musicians like Woody Guthrie, The Weavers, some others, they railed against Big Government and the bankers and industry leaders that had their boots firmly on the necks of us little guys. The Fifties had protest songs, same theme, common folks being oppressed by Big Government. The Sixties more of the same, us against "The Man". The Blacks in the Caribbean, Rastas mostly, they wailed about the Big Government keeping them down, in very, uh, flowery terms I must say.
The songs were good, the sentiments expressed are valid but they don't get totally across to me. I have a problem fully accepting and identifying with the music because I am not a beatnik, Commie, hippie, or ganga-smoking Rasta man, therefore I tended to dismiss the songs and the message therein contained.
Along came these guys, doing covers of some good tunes and conveying the message of "us against them" without the ethnic and political baggage.
"The
Wicked Messenger"
There
was a wicked messenger
From Eli he did come,
With a mind that multiplied
The smallest matter;
When questioned who had sent for him
He answered with his thumb,
For his tongue it could not speak, but only flatter.
He stayed behind the assembly hall
It was there he made his bed,
Oftentimes he could be seen returning;
Until one day he just appeared
With a note in his hand which read:
"The soles of my feet, I swear they're burning"
Oh, the leaves began to fallin'
And the seas began to part,
And the people that confronted him were many;
And he was told but these few words
Which opened up his heart:
"If ye cannot bring good news, then don't bring any".
From Eli he did come,
With a mind that multiplied
The smallest matter;
When questioned who had sent for him
He answered with his thumb,
For his tongue it could not speak, but only flatter.
He stayed behind the assembly hall
It was there he made his bed,
Oftentimes he could be seen returning;
Until one day he just appeared
With a note in his hand which read:
"The soles of my feet, I swear they're burning"
Oh, the leaves began to fallin'
And the seas began to part,
And the people that confronted him were many;
And he was told but these few words
Which opened up his heart:
"If ye cannot bring good news, then don't bring any".
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