Birmingham Sunday by Joan Baez

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on the 15th September 1963? The parents of Denise McNair aged 11, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley; all aged 14, certainly do. On that day a special service for children was being held in the 16th street Baptist church in Birmingham. The four girls were singing their little hearts out, full of hope for the future. Their parents were justifiably proud of them.
But a few minutes after the church service had started, a white man stepped out of a turquoise and white Chevy, and coolly and calmly placed a box under the church steps before driving off. Shortly afterwards, an explosion ripped through the chapel killing the four girls and seriously injuring dozens of others. All that was found of Denise was one of her white dress shoes, and one of her friends was decapitated by the force of the blast. Cynthia’s father could only identify his daughter by the ring a friend had given her.
Dozens of the congregation, faces dripping with blood, cut by flying shards from the stained glass windows, staggered out of the cloud of dust and debris. Two nearby cars were crushed like toys by the force of the blast and windows were blown out for blocks around.
The KKK claim to be white supremacists. Now why is that phrase such an oxymoron where they’re concerned? Superior what, intellect? I don’t think so. After all what brains does it take to place a bomb in a crowded church full of kids?
A witness later identified local Klansman, Robert Chambliss as being the man responsible for placing the explosives, but then seeing as he was known locally as dynamite Bob, that shouldn’t have been too difficult a call. He was subsequently arrested, charged with murder and possession of 122 sticks of dynamite. But unbelievably the all white jury acquitted him of the main charge, convicting him for illegal possession of explosives and fined him a $100.
As the enquiry dragged on, the distraught families of the four dead black girls quite rightly accused the FBI of dragging its feet. In fact the men suspected of aiding and abetting dynamite Bob, were still being investigated two years later when Hoover suddenly abandoned the case saying he couldn’t get a guilty verdict. And then adding insult to injury, Bull Conner, the local chief of the good ol boys, implied that Civil Rights activists had bombed their own people for the free publicity. How much more abusive and insulting could it get?
This moving song was written by Richard Farina who was the partner of Joan's sister, Mimi. It was written in response to the KKK's murder of those four young black girls. The song concludes with these words,

"On Birmingham Sunday a noise shook the ground.And people all over the earth turned around.For no one recalled a more cowardly sound.And the choirs kept singing of Freedom.
The men in the forest they once asked of me,How many black berries grew in the Blue Sea.And I asked them right with a tear in my eye.How many dark ships in the forest?
The Sunday has come and the Sunday has gone.And I can't do much more than to sing you a song.I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong.And the choirs keep singing of Freedom"

This song is one of sixty found in my book "Play it again Uncle Sam" details of which are available on my website, http://www.playitagainunclesam.com/

Masters of War by Bob Dylan

Bob wrote this song in 1963 and it was released on his "Freewheelin" album, probably one of the most influential albums of all time. It was created in the shadow of the virtual mushroom cloud that had almost arisen from the Cuba Missile Crisis where Russia and the USA had gone eyeball to eyeball. But according to Dylan himself, the genesis of the song was earlier, Eisenhower's resignation speech, where he referred to the disproportionate amount of power exerted on US foreign policy by the Miltary/Industrial complex, and its potential for violent confrontation around the world. This is evident in the first two verses

Come you masters of warYou that build all the gunsYou that build the death planesYou that build the big bombsYou that hide behind wallsYou that hide behind desksI just want you to knowI can see through your masksYou that never done nothin'But build to destroyYou play with my worldLike it's your little toyYou put a gun in my handAnd you hide from my eyesAnd you turn and run fartherWhen the fast bullets fly

The line, "You play with my world like its your little toy" is as relevant today as it was then, given the war in Iraq and the hawkish interest in regime change in Iran. This would be for the second time ,because in 1953, the combined forces of US and British Intelligence had removed the democratically elected Iranian Government of Mossadegh from power, as he was a threat to our oil interests in the region. In conclusion the song has reached iconic status because of ts relevance today but the world still desperately needs a new protest singer for a new generation.

Please feel free to post coments about his song or suggest others. And if you have the time visit my website, www.playitagainunclesam.com