Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Folk Singers

Suzz’s Serious Side

There’s something about folk music that touches our hearts with truth and purity. In the late ‘50s and early ’60, the Kingston Trio, one of the most famous of the folk singing groups, made a huge and lasting impact on popular music.

Today, while slipping into wonderful memories when hearing their music again, we are also jolted into reality as some of the words are not only reminiscent, but as true today as they were almost 50 years ago.

One of those "oldies" songs is particularly poignant.

Here are the words to The Kingston Trio’s view of the world situation – then. Not much has changed since this “minuet” was introduced except perhaps a few locations. For all the strides we've made in science and technology, how sad the nations of the world are still at war with one another.

The Merry Little Minuet

They're rioting in Africa.
They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls,
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs,
South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don't like anybody very much!

But we can be tranquil
And thankful and proud
For man's been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud.

And we know for certain that some lovely day,
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away!

They're rioting in Africa.
There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us
(whatever)
Will be done by our fellow man!

Perhaps in fifty more years, with a little luck, our grandchildren will have straightened things out and live in harmony, both with each other and this beautiful planet called “Earth.”

***
P. S. Visit The Kingston Trio home page and click on the jukebox to hear some of their hits including “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” and “This Land Is Your Land.”

http://www.kingstontrio.com/html/home.htm

© Copyright 2006 Suzzwords

4 comments:

  1. I hope one day there will be peace on earth. Thanks for this post.

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  2. Anonymous9:20 PM

    Very good post. Funny, I remember many, many of the Kingston Trio's songs, but I didn't remember this one. (Maybe I'm too young)

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  3. Anonymous9:27 PM

    I listened to this on a record album back in the 60s with my friends on their back porch. Now we have a whole stack of Kingston Trio CDs. The lyrics are the kind that stay in your head. Thanks for bringing them back for an encore.

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  4. Anonymous1:59 PM

    Yes, Suzz, Rose Marie was a peach and a swell female comic---on the Dick Van Dyke show, Hollywood Squares and elsewhere.
    Altho the Kingston Trio recorded the Merry Little Minuet, it was not their song. It was written by Sheldon Harnick and originated in one of those off-Broadwat shows that feature a host of up-and-coming young performers.
    ---Danny

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