Episode 38. Something in the Air
SOCIAL SHARE
SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
This week I continue our exploration of the movement for social justice as expressed in song. This constitutes not just the fight in the United States for racial and class equity but also the worldwide struggle against imperialism, focusing in particular on African and South American singing freedom fighters, including Miriam Makeba, Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour, Letta Mbulu, Mercedes Sosa, Milton Nascimento, and Víctor Jara. Other artists heard include Marvin Gaye, Leontyne Price, Nanci Griffith, Frederica von Stade, Nina Simone, David Crosby, Pete Seeger, Marin Mazzie, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jefferson Airplane, Sam Cooke, Joséphine Baker, Joan Baez, Tracy Chapman, Thunderclap Newman (whose song lends the episode its title), Harry Belafonte, Dawn Upshaw, Phil Ochs, Rosemary Clooney, Curtis Mayfield, and Mahalia Jackson, as well as number of present-day troubadors. Composers represented include Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington, John Adams, Silvio Rodríguez, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Stephen Foster, Violeta Parra, Jason Mark Brown, Ary Barroso, and Caiphus Semenya. I address the spectrum of emotions that persons of conscience are experiencing right now, including despair, rage, anger, struggle, ending with faith, hope, and resolve. Don’t miss this episode!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Billy Taylor, Dick Dallas, arr. Margaret Bonds: I Wish I Know How It Would Feel To Be Free. Leontyne Price, Rust College Choir
Tom Prasado-Rao: $20 Bill (for George Floyd)
Stephen Foster: Hard Times Come Again No More. Nanci Griffith and Friends
Industrial Folk Song, based on “The Alcoholic Blues” by Albert Von Tilzer and Edward Laska: The Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues. Pete Seeger
I mentioned on the podcast that the American composer Frederic Rzewski had composed a set of variations for piano on The Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues. Here is a link to a performance of that work played by the composer himself. And here is a link to his live 2016 performance of his even more famous set of variations for piano on The People United Will Never Be Divided.
Jamaican Folk Song: Day-O (Banana Boat Song). Harry Belafonte
Ary Barroso, Albert Bossy (French words): Terre sèche [Tera seca]. Joséphine Baker; Jo Bouillon
Sam Cooke: A Change Is Gonna Come.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: My Country, ’tis of Thy People You’re Dying
Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein (English words, adapted Nina Simone). Pirate Jenny (Threepenny Opera). Nina Simone [live from Carnegie Hall 1964]
Phil Ochs: Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
Speedy Kean: Something in the Air. Thunderclap Newman
Curtis Mayfield: Power to the People
Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On. Marvin Gaye
Marty Balin (in window), Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner
Paul Kantner: We Can Be Together. Jefferson Airplane
Tracy Chapman: Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution
Vuyisile Mini: Ndodemnyama we Verwoerd [Beware, Verwoerd]. Miriam Makeba
Salif Keita: Soros (Afriki)
Youssou N’Dour, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Habib Faye, Thomas Rome, Lamine Faye: No More. Youssou N’Dour
Caiphus Semenya: Mamani, Letta Mbulu
Silvio Rodríguez Mercedes Sosa Milton Nascimento
Silvio Rodríguez: Sueño con serpientes. Mercedes Sosa, Milton Nascimento
Víctor Jara: Manifiesto
Violeta Parra Mercedes Sosa and Joan Baez
Violeta Parra: Gracias a la vida. Mercedes Sosa, Joan Baez
Joni Mitchell: Woodstock. David Crosby and The Lighthouse Band [Becca Stevens, Michael League, and Michelle Willis]
Amythyst Kiah: Black Myself. Our Native Daughters [Amythyst Kiah, Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell]
John Adams, Alice Goodman: This Is Prophetic (Nixon in China). Dawn Upshaw; David Zinman, Orchestra of St. Luke’s
John Adams Alice Goodman David Zinman
Nelson Riddle and Rosemary Clooney
Marc Blitzstein: I Wish It So (Juno). Rosemary Clooney; Nelson Riddle
Marc Blitzstein Leonard Bernstein and Marc Blitzstein
Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens: Back to Before (Ragtime). Marin Mazzie
Leonard Bernstein, Alan Jay Lerner: Take Care of this House (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). Frederica von Stade, Leonard Bernstein, National Philharmonic [live performance 16 January 1977]
Duke Ellington: Come Sunday (Black, Brown and Beige). Mahalia Jackson