Sung to the tune of “We Need a Little Christmas,” the lyrics sound light-hearted and cheerful……….
We need a little Woodstock … Right this very minute ….
The times in which we find ourselves, though, don’t speak to us of frivolity and relaxed family gatherings. Instead, they cry out for some sort of universal effort to get people to simply breathe … to calm down … to treat one another with respect … to cleave toward leadership that takes us (all of us) to a better place.
In other words … we do, indeed, need a little Woodstock. Not an actual journey to upstate New York, of course, but a pause to take stock of the world around us and, like the assembled masses at Yasgur’s Farm, say: “enough is enough.”
The sad event that got me thinking along these lines was the recent passing of Country Joe McDonald, lead singer of County Joe and the Fish. At the 1969 Woodstock Festival, McDonald was asked to perform an impromptu solo while the rock band, Santana, struggled to set up their equipment. With the Vietnam war at its peak, his performance of “I Feel Like I’m Fix’in to Die Rag” was both powerful and meaningful:
Anyone who lived through that tumultuous era will attest that the Vietnam war had divided the country while, at the same time, we reeled from the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and Malcolm X. With the Manson Family wreaking havoc and Dr. Tim Leary encouraging us to “turn on … tune in … and drop out,” it seemed like the whole country had lost its mind.
Knowing this, how can it be possible that we, once again, find ourselves embroiled in a war that makes no sense … with no clear rationale for fighting … with no discernible path for ending hostilities … and with casualties mounting among American troops? All the while, the breathtaking financial costs for this conflict continue to rise, and American consumers are slammed by increased grocery and gasoline prices.
Adding to our national angst, ICE agents continue to act without regard for civil rights or accountability, including deportations to third-world countries. And, in a stroke of absolute absurdity, the administration seeks $1.8 billion for an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to pay individuals who believe they were unfairly targeted and prosecuted … including those who were convicted and pardoned … for having stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Though Country Joe’s Woodstock performance provided the impetus for this brief piece, protest songs in the United States are a tradition extending from the early 18th century through today. Tied to social movements, this musical genre has focused over the years on slavery, poverty, war, women’s rights, racism and politics. It continues to do so.
By definition, a “rock anthem” is a powerful, often uplifting, musical composition that embodies themes of unity, rebellion or celebration. In that vein, if Country Joe’s performance engendered that sort of coalescence for the Woodstock generation, Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of “Streets of Minneapolis” speaks with similar clarity to us today:
In August, 1969, the Woodstock Festival brought together some 400,000 people for a three-day celebration of “peace, love and music” in Bethel, New York. Though relatively peaceful, it is unlikely we will ever again see such a remarkable and placid gathering of this magnitude … even the 30th Anniversary of Woodstock held in 1999, devolved into chaos and disorder.
Impossible though I know it to be, how delightful it would be to travel back to that sodden meadow just one more time, to peer through the all-encompassing marijuana haze, and to listen to Country Joe begin his performance … if you were there, you will remember how it goes:
“Gimme’ an F ………… “
DanBonBooks 