Selections from Jeff Emery's Sunday, January 17, 2021 KZSC "Backroads" show
For the so many who simply want/wanted to be treated fairly and with respect.
"Beautiful Fool" Don Henry
"Martin Luther who did you think that you were?
Appointed by some higher up
Merely mortal, your plans were unaffordable
No one wants to pay for love
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ’em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool
Walter Cronkite pre-empted Disney one night
And all us kids were so upset
We thought that you were a trouble instigator
Marchin’ through our T.V. set
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ’em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool
To fight a fight without a fist all human instinct puzzles this
How dare you threaten our existence
Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, history repeats itself so nice
Consistently we are resistant to love
I saw you on the black and white
With Blacks and White’s applauding you
I saw you on another time
Without a sign of life in you
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ’em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool"
and
"Still Small Voice" Bob Franke
"In a still small voice in the middle of the night,
Brother Martin heard the simple truthAnd he followed its pleading, though it led to a crossroads,
Parting in the days of my youth.
From the heart of my city came a single scream
And I heard it through all the white noise.
And the papers told us that they'd killed The Dream,
But they never killed the still small voice.
All the lies come at you in a million ways
Some you hear and some you tell yourself
And they say that virtue is a pile of gold
And that weapons are a nations wealth
But when kings stand naked in their ugly schemes
Will the poor of this world rejoice
Will they sell their children down a bloody stream
Or will they listen to a still small voice
Now the one-eyed bandit in your living room
Will convince you that you have no time
And it will swear to take you on your one free ride
While it's looking for your one last dime
But the light of heaven is a simple gift
And you can see it when you make that choice
It will shine like riches in your inmost heart
But it will speak in a still small voice
Oh the skies will open when the trumpet sounds
and its echo will shake these halls
And these stones so silent as they ring us round
they will shatter when they hear that call
And our chains will clatter when they hit the ground
and the people make a joyful noise
But when My Lover comes to call me home
it will be in a still, small voice"
and its echo will shake these halls
And these stones so silent as they ring us round
they will shatter when they hear that call
And our chains will clatter when they hit the ground
and the people make a joyful noise
But when My Lover comes to call me home
it will be in a still, small voice"
and
"Crazy in Alabama" Kate Campbell
"I heard Odessa's mind was sick
That she was crazier than hellThe police caught her turning tricks
Down at the Blue and Gray motel
Odessa was the neighbor's maid
She had ten mouths at home to feed
They bussed her kids to Birmingham
And put her in the county jail
Nobody seemed to give a damn
They say a white man posted bail
My dad said not to breathe a word
I told my brother all I heard
And the train of change
Was coming fast to my hometown
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down
It was crazy, grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King, KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
When the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama
Down at the corner Dairy Dip
They sold soft ice cream for a dime
White people ordered from the front
The side was for the colored line
And we all were told they had their place
Because they were a different race
We spent hot summer afternoons
At the public swimming pool
Where the privileged and the few
Played on their island of cool blue
And brown children watched outside the fence
It never made one lick of sense
But the train of change
Was coming fast to my hometown
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down
It was crazy, there were grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King and the KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
When the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama
They sold soft ice cream for a dime
White people ordered from the front
The side was for the colored line
And we all were told they had their place
Because they were a different race
We spent hot summer afternoons
At the public swimming pool
Where the privileged and the few
Played on their island of cool blue
And brown children watched outside the fence
It never made one lick of sense
But the train of change
Was coming fast to my hometown
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down
It was crazy, there were grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King and the KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
When the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama
My momma yelled child get inside
Drew the drapes and locked the doors
We watched the marchers passing by
Felt the rumble heard the roar
And they all held hands they sang and wept
And freedom rang in every step
'Cause the train of change
Was marching through my hometown
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down
It was crazy, there were grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King and the KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
When the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama
And I heard Odessa's mind was sick
That she was crazier than hell"
I was sitting on my mother's knee
Watching "Amos 'n' Andy" on TV
Amos was Santa Claus on Christmas Eve
A little girl was tugging at his sleeve
Saying, "Can I have a doll my own color please?"
He Said, "Honey, you can make believe..."
Just then came a call on the telephone
It was the mayor, he asked if my daddy was home
This was for his ears alone
Mom and me listened on the second phone
Mayor said, "The freedom Riders are on their way
And they'll be here by Christmas day
Our laws they vow to disobey
'Cause our school is as white as the milky way
Drew the drapes and locked the doors
We watched the marchers passing by
Felt the rumble heard the roar
And they all held hands they sang and wept
And freedom rang in every step
'Cause the train of change
Was marching through my hometown
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down
It was crazy, there were grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King and the KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
When the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama
And I heard Odessa's mind was sick
That she was crazier than hell"
and
"Number One in America" David Massengill
"In Nineteen hundred and sixty-three
In my hometown, Bristol TennesseeI was sitting on my mother's knee
Watching "Amos 'n' Andy" on TV
Amos was Santa Claus on Christmas Eve
A little girl was tugging at his sleeve
Saying, "Can I have a doll my own color please?"
He Said, "Honey, you can make believe..."
Just then came a call on the telephone
It was the mayor, he asked if my daddy was home
This was for his ears alone
Mom and me listened on the second phone
Mayor said, "The freedom Riders are on their way
And they'll be here by Christmas day
Our laws they vow to disobey
'Cause our school is as white as the milky way
Well, now we're really in a fix
We can't let 'em show us up like country hicks
But once the races mix
It's good-bye Jim Crow politics
First it's forty acres and a mule
Then they want to swim in our swimming pool
Pretty soon they'll be wanting to go to school
Where we were taught the golden rule"
Imagine them telling us how to live
Imagine them telling us how to live
We can't let 'em show us up like country hicks
But once the races mix
It's good-bye Jim Crow politics
First it's forty acres and a mule
Then they want to swim in our swimming pool
Pretty soon they'll be wanting to go to school
Where we were taught the golden rule"
Imagine them telling us how to live
Imagine them telling us how to live
We're number one in America
Number one in America
Beat the drum for Uncle Sam
Overcome in Birmingham
Dynamite in a Baptist church
Four teenaged girls lost in the lurch
Fire hoses and the billy clubs
Police dogs and the racist thugs
Nightriders and the lynching mobs
Lawmen say they're only doing their jobs
To stay number one in America.
Ax-handles vs. the right to vote
All white jury, that's all she wrote
Back of the bus, don't rock the boat
Separate but equal by the throat
That was twenty-odd years ago
Where's the change in the status quo?
The freedom land is lying low
It's shackled down on rotten row
The black skinned man still gets the snub
When he applies to the country club
But he still gets hired to trim the shrubs
Get down on the floor and scrub
Number one in America
Beat the drum for Uncle Sam
Overcome in Birmingham
Dynamite in a Baptist church
Four teenaged girls lost in the lurch
Fire hoses and the billy clubs
Police dogs and the racist thugs
Nightriders and the lynching mobs
Lawmen say they're only doing their jobs
To stay number one in America.
Ax-handles vs. the right to vote
All white jury, that's all she wrote
Back of the bus, don't rock the boat
Separate but equal by the throat
That was twenty-odd years ago
Where's the change in the status quo?
The freedom land is lying low
It's shackled down on rotten row
The black skinned man still gets the snub
When he applies to the country club
But he still gets hired to trim the shrubs
Get down on the floor and scrub
There's a businessman out on his yacht
He's a rain or sunshine patriot
He says it's all a commie plot
To be Number One in America...
The Ku Klux Klan is still around
With a permit to march in my home town
But only on Virginia's ground
The Tennesse side turned them down
The sheriff stood there with his deputies
Ostensibly to keep the peace
But he made us this guarantee
"By God, They'll not march into Tennessee!"
The network cameras were triple tiered
We laughed and cried, we hooted and jeered
But mostly we stood there unfeared
'Til the Ku Klux Klan dissappeared
In some far off distant dawn
When a Black is president and not a pawn
Will they burn crosses on the white house lawn
And talk of all the days bygone
Imagine them telling us how lo live
Imagine them telling us how to live
We're number one in America...
He's a rain or sunshine patriot
He says it's all a commie plot
To be Number One in America...
The Ku Klux Klan is still around
With a permit to march in my home town
But only on Virginia's ground
The Tennesse side turned them down
The sheriff stood there with his deputies
Ostensibly to keep the peace
But he made us this guarantee
"By God, They'll not march into Tennessee!"
The network cameras were triple tiered
We laughed and cried, we hooted and jeered
But mostly we stood there unfeared
'Til the Ku Klux Klan dissappeared
In some far off distant dawn
When a Black is president and not a pawn
Will they burn crosses on the white house lawn
And talk of all the days bygone
Imagine them telling us how lo live
Imagine them telling us how to live
We're number one in America...
Last Christmas Eve at the K-Mart store
A white family there, they was dirt poor
Father said, "Kids, pick one toy - no more
Even though we can ill afford..."
I watched his son choose a basketball
The oldest girl a creole shawl
The littlest girl chose a black skinned doll
And she held it to her chest and all
I watched to see how they'd react
Since they were white and the doll was black
But the mom and dad were matter-of-fact
They checked to see if the doll was cracked
So may you make a rebel stand
Where black and white go hand in hand
Until they reach the freedom land
Where the lion lies down with the lamb
A white family there, they was dirt poor
Father said, "Kids, pick one toy - no more
Even though we can ill afford..."
I watched his son choose a basketball
The oldest girl a creole shawl
The littlest girl chose a black skinned doll
And she held it to her chest and all
I watched to see how they'd react
Since they were white and the doll was black
But the mom and dad were matter-of-fact
They checked to see if the doll was cracked
So may you make a rebel stand
Where black and white go hand in hand
Until they reach the freedom land
Where the lion lies down with the lamb
O Number one in America
Number one in America
Beat the drum for Uncle Sam
Overcome in Birmingham
Dynamite in a Baptist church
Four teenaged girls lost in the lurch
Firehoses and the billy clubs
Police dogs and the racist thugs
Turn back the clock to Little Rock
Bought and sold on the auction block
Nightriders and the lynching mobs
Lawmen say they're only doing their job
To stay number one in America
We shall overcome someday"
Number one in America
Beat the drum for Uncle Sam
Overcome in Birmingham
Dynamite in a Baptist church
Four teenaged girls lost in the lurch
Firehoses and the billy clubs
Police dogs and the racist thugs
Turn back the clock to Little Rock
Bought and sold on the auction block
Nightriders and the lynching mobs
Lawmen say they're only doing their job
To stay number one in America
We shall overcome someday"
and
"Ready For Memphis" Neal & Leandra
and
"The Colours of Dreams" Eric Bogle
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