Great Moments in Vinyl presents: Songs of the Revolution
There was a time in America when the younger generation chose to sing truth to power. In the summer and fall of 2020, Great Moments in Vinyl presented an assortment of performances that captured the spirit of those challenging days.
It was our series Songs of the Revolution: music that matters presented in that unique GMiV style with stories about the songs and the artists that created them.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son”
When John Fogerty got his draft notice in 1966, he had his own solution for how to deal with it. He went right to the Army Reserve recruiting office and signed up. He had no illusions about what the Vietnam War might mean for himself as a guy with no connections...facing a situation that he might not survive.
In his memoir, Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, Fogerty recalls that feeling of being part of the younger generation being sent off to fight the older generation’s battles. And he put those feelings into a powerful piece of music.
We kick off the Great Moments in Vinyl series Songs of the Revolution with the help of Phil Angotti and a song made popular by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to Sweet Honey in the Rock, ”Ella’s Song”
The phrase Black Lives Matter may be new, but the powerful truth of that simple message has been growing in America for decades.
It’s the sentiment that informed the first inklings of resistance to segregation in the 1940s. It’s the attitude that empowered the first challenges to entrenched racial inequality in the 1950s. And it provided the moral authority for the sit-ins and boycotts and other peaceful protests of the 1960s.
The civil rights movement has its heroes: W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr. But throughout the fight for racial equality in those days, there was a woman with her eyes on the prize named Ella Baker who was right there through it all, too, working right alongside them.
“You didn't see me on television,” Ella once said about herself. “You didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is: strong people don't need strong leaders.”
In 1981, a documentary was created to celebrate the life and impact of Ella Baker. And for that movie, one of the members of the a capella vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock took that exceptional woman’s words and wove them into a song.
Recorded fall 2020, this arrangement originated with The Resistance Revival Chorus. This performance features The Us Project: lead vocalists Ebony Marshall Oliver and India Kolar with S Angelo Acevedo, Jamie Black, Valerie Façhman, Nazelah Jamison, Claudia Medina, Bubba Murray, and Karen Weinberg plus percussionist Rosalio Medina and storytelling by William Lindsey Cochran.
Images from The Civil Rights Movement Archive.
Video edited by Karen Weinberg. Audio mixed by William Lindsey Cochran.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to Gil Scott-Heron’s ”The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
Lily Scott was a civil rights activist and a musician. When her daughter’s marriage fell apart in Chicago, she brought her grandson Gilbert to live with her in Tennessee. There she introduced him to the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, in particular a jazz poet named Langston Hughes. Lily inspired the boy to write, and instilled in him a sense of fairness and justice. He became very good with words. And for good measure, she also bought him a second hand piano so he could teach himself to play.
With his writing skills and his musical talent, that boy grew up to become a legend named Gil Scott-Heron. He was a keen observer of the world around him. He had the ability to articulate those things that needed to be said. And he had the anger to give his words some power. Given the world he found himself in, he had no shortage of material, taking aim at everything from racial injustice to South African apartheid to Ronald Reagan to alcoholism to drug addiction to the dangers of nuclear energy and so much more.
Consider these lyrics from his recording “B-Movie.”
This country wants nostalgia.
They want to go back as far as they can.
Even if it's only as far as last week.
Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards.
As is often the case with his music, Gil Scott-Heron had a gift for taking stock and calling things like he saw them. More alarmingly, a lot of things he had to say are things that still ring true today.
. . . .
For this offering in the Great Moments in Vinyl series Songs of the Revolution, we’ve taken Gil Scott-Heron’s landmark recording from 50 years ago, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and updated it with headlines and buzzwords from the world we find ourselves in now.
William Lindsey Cochran steps out on lead vocals with percussion provided by Christian Rogala.
Video editing and production by Jim Roche.
Songs of the Revolution: Elton John, ”Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”
When Bernie Taupin accompanied Elton John on his first world tour, they crossed America in the summer and fall of 1970. It was their first visit to the United States, and they didn't know what to expect. The story goes that during their time in New York City, Bernie heard the sound of a gunshot outside his hotel window. It was an experience that shook him. The idea that the land of his dreams also had an unexpected dark side inspired him to write the words that became this song.
. . . .
For this offering in the Great Moments in Vinyl series Songs of the Revolution, we bring you a track from Elton John’s legendary album Honky Chateau.
Recorded in October 2020. Featuring vocalist and guitarist Andrea Bunch and storyteller William Lindsey Cochran.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to The Black Eyed Peas, “Where Is the Love?”
Next up in the Great Moments in Vinyl series Songs of the Revolution: a tribute to a legendary song by The Black Eyed Peas. It's a song that was born in the aftermath of 9/11...with a message that still rings true nearly twenty years later. will.i.am and the band have found it to be message they bring back every few years (in 2016 and again in 2020) whenever circumstances in America call for it.
Recorded October 2020. Featuring Judith Weirauch on vocals and guitar with William Lindsey Cochran on storytelling and additional accompaniment.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, “Find the Cost of Freedom”
In May of 1970, Neil Young responded to the killing of students at Kent State University with one of the most powerful protest songs ever written, a song named after the state where the shootings took place featuring the chilling chorus, “Four dead in Ohio.”
On the flip side of that 45, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded a Stephen Stills number that reflected the larger tragedy taking place overseas. It was a hauntingly simple song that spoke to another death toll, that of the Vietnam war itself.
Recorded November 2020. Featuring Bill Grady on vocals and multiple string instruments with William Lindsey Cochran on storytelling.
Songs of the Revolution: A tribute to Tracy Chapman, ”Across the Lines”
"Music, obviously, has always been a part of every social and political activist movement," Tracy Chapman told an interviewer during a 2015 appearance on the CBC radio show Q. "That’s simply because it’s evocative of emotion, and that’s powerful. It can uplift the spirit, enliven the mind, and bring solace and, hopefully, joy as well.”
We offer this tribute in that same spirit.
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Recorded and mixed in October and November 2020. Featuring The Us Project on vocals: Jamie Black, Valerie Fachman, Nazelah Jamison, India Kolar, Bubba Murray, Ebony Marshall Oliver, Ryan Russ, and Karen Weinberg with additional performances from guitarist Chris Clark-Johnson and drummer Jonathan Reed, plus bass, keyboards, and storytelling by William Lindsey Cochran.
Video editing and production by Karen Weinberg. Audio editing and mixing by William Lindsey Cochran.