Fun with the D chord . . . song is a mini time capsule of the year 1965 and was someting of an "anthem" in the U.S. at that time. I added a fill-in to mimic the harmonica part. In response to Eve of Destruction, there was an "answer song" called the "Dawn of Creation". I can't remember who sang it, or even the lyrics . . . just the refrain:
"I say you're wrong
We are just on the dawn . . . of creation."
If anyone can give me any information on the Dawn of Creation (i.e. writer, lyrics, tab, etc.); I would be grateful.
Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
Intro(4x): D Dsus4 Dsus2
dud u u
Verse 1:
D G A
The Eastern world it is explodin',
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
violence flar - in', bullets loadin',
D G A
You're old enough to kill, but not for votin',
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
You don't believe in war, but's what's that gun you're totin'?
D G A
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'
Chorus:
D G A D Bm
And you tell me, over and over and over again my friend,
G A D(dud)
Ah, you don't believe we're on the Eve of Destruction.
Dsus4 Dsus2 D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 [G A (1st time only)]
Verse 2:
D G A
Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say?
D(dudu) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
And can't you feel the fear that I'm feelin' to-day?
D G A
If the button is pushed there's no running away,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave.
D G A
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you boy,
Repeat Chorus
Fill (haromonica):
e ----------------------------------
B ----------------------------------
G -----------0----------------------
D ---0---0-0-0---4---2---2-0--2-0---
A ---------------0---0---0----------
E ----------------------------------
Verse 3:
D G A
My blood's so mad feels like coagulatin',
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
I'm sittin' here ju - st contemplatin'
D G A
You can't twist the truth it knows no regulation,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
handful of Sen – a - tors don't pass legislation.
D G A
Marches alone can't bring integration,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
when human re - spect is disintegratin'.
D G A
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'.
Repeat Chorus/Fill
Verse 4:
D G A
Think of all the hate there is in Red China,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
then take a look a - round to Selma, Alabama!
D G A
You may leave here for four days in space,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 G A
but when you re - turn, it's the same old place.
D G A
The pounding drums, the pride and disgrace,
D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2 D G A
you can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
D G A
Hate your next door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace.
Repeat Chorus
G A D(dud)
No, no, no, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Dsus4 Dsus2/ D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2/ D(dud) Dsus4 Dsus2/ Dsus2 D
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
Good one shug,
A real classic, I love folk rock. Looking forward to trying this out over the weekend. Very much of its time this song. Keep em coming mate.
Chris :D :D
The guitar is all right John but you'll never make a living out of it! (John Lennon's Aunt Mimi)
My sentiments exactly
Brings back great images of teenage years
many thanks
Christiaan
Hi Cristiaan . . . thanks for the comment and welcome to the ESD. Just went over to the meet and greet section and read your "greeting". Sounds like we have a lot in common in that I too tried the guitar as a teenager and left it (more or less) for 30 years, only to return. There are a lot of "us" around here! Enjoy the forum and we look forward to your posts!
Shug
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
Sounds like we have a lot in common in that I too tried the guitar as a teenager and left it (more or less) for 30 years, only to return
Thats spooky shug, If you read my first ever post in the meet and greet forum,I also, tried guitar as a teenager and gave up for about thirty odd years!
Just seen your "She loves You" post too. I'm jamming with Rodders tonight and I just know he's probably got that one licked and he will expect me to have acheived the same. No chance yet I'm afraid. Still should have fun anyway.
Chris
The guitar is all right John but you'll never make a living out of it! (John Lennon's Aunt Mimi)
Sounds like we have a lot in common in that I too tried the guitar as a teenager and left it (more or less) for 30 years, only to return
Thats spooky shug, If you read my first ever post in the meet and greet forum,I also, tried guitar as a teenager and gave up for about thirty odd years!
Just seen your "She loves You" post too. I'm jamming with Rodders tonight and I just know he's probably got that one licked and he will expect me to have acheived the same. No chance yet I'm afraid. Still should have fun anyway.
Chris
Just goes to show how we rearrange our priorities as we get older regarding what is really important in life. :lol:
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
What ever happened to Barry McGuire?
Come to think of it what has happened to the protest songs of the 70's?
I do not want to get into a polotical discussion but it is sad to think that nothing has been learned forty years on.
Christiaan
Thanks for writing down the chords. I have been trying to figure out the exact rhythm myself but it is to hard for me. How do you strum the G and A chords? Something like UD for each?
I found the reply song "Dawn of Correction" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gp_mlHL9D4 . What an ugly song.
Hi Cristiaan . . . thanks for the comment and welcome to the ESD. Just went over to the meet and greet section and read your "greeting". Sounds like we have a lot in common in that I too tried the guitar as a teenager and left it (more or less) for 30 years, only to return. There are a lot of "us" around here! Enjoy the forum and we look forward to your posts!
Shug
I'm one of 'us' too. I played through the 60's then set it aside about 1969 to pursue alot of other things, just playing intermittantly for about.... 30 years. In 1999-2000 I went on medical disability and decided to devote myself to music. I felt like I had missed my calling as a guitarist because I love to play but setting it aside and pursuing other adventures in life was all for a purpose: to come back to playing again with songwriting/composing as my objective- I had alot of adventures, experience, good times, very hard times, gaining knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment that I would now like to pass on through songwriting, so I have much to write about now.
I heard this song on the radio some months ago, the general theme is very appropriate to our current times. The vocal is very powerful and the line that stands out most in my memory is "Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you boy,..."
We were in the middle of an escalating war in Viet Nam. There was a military draft and the perceived likelyhood of being drafted and sent to Viet Nam were very high. Keep that in mind. The attrocities and insanity of that unjustified war, the corruption of the government and the profiteering of the military industrial complex and the 'establishment' were at the heart of the protests and much of the whole 60's era. The civil rights movement was part of it as well. Personal enlightenment, higher levels of perception and consciousness were also fundamental in the 60's movement. Music was a powerful force that united us and gave us strength for these righteous causes.
I was at the march on the Pentagon in October 1967 to end the war in Vit Nam along with over 300,000 people. A few months later I turned 18 on January 21, 1968. This was just a week or two before the Tet Offensive began which was the worst and bloodiest part of the Viet Nam war. Within a week I received a draft notice ordering me to report to a military base on Feb 18th for an induction physical and tests, then presumably off to boot camp and Viet Nam. I boarded a bus and arrived at the military facilities along with other busloads of draftees.
I was not afraid to go to Viet Nam, fear was not even a part of this picture for me. I'm not afraid of anything, that's just me. Looking back at that experience, we were only 18, still vey impressionable and vulnerable. The whole memory of that day,the lines that were formed going from one part of the facilities to another now reminds me very much of sheep or cattle being hearded off of trucks (the buses) through chutes and holding pens into a slaughterhouse. The whole process was cold and methodical. However, unlike many others I was fortunate to have spent alot of time around University campuses among intellectuals, respected college professors and other respected professionals who all knew that this war was thoroughly corrupt and took an active roll in trying to bring it to an end. I knew the issues. I resented being ordered by a corrupt government, military industrial and corporate establishments to sacrifice my best and be forced to massacre and murder other people of a different race within their own culture and homelands. The MOST HONORABLE, MOST RIGHTEOUS AND MOST TRULY AMERICAN thing to do was to resist the corruption of the government, extensive military and corporate establishments and REFUSE to go to Viet Nam. Eventually we WON and the war had to be brought to an end.
History has proven that we were RIGHT. By the way, I got very lucky that day and received a medical deferrment which was a complete surprise to me so fortunately I did not have to go. I think that everyone in my age group knows at least one or several young persons who were killed in Viet Nam and Viet Namese persons in my age group probably know a dozen or more so that is a big deal.
What's different now? This country has been involved in a war that is arguably more corrupt and more insane than the war in Viet Nam. A million people have been killed in Iraq. Why don't we hear songs like this now?
Here are two reasons. First, The US government under George HW Bush (Senior) during the planning of the Gulf War in the early 1990s (also based on lies and corruption) did not want to see another national reaction such as was experienced with the Viet Nam war and initiated policies and proceedures to prevent that from happening. These involved direct media censorship and propaganda as well as concerted and strategic efforts to squash dissent, divide and disperse anti-war organizations etc. These practices were very much strengthened by the current Bush administration pursuant to the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Secondly, I think that not having a military draft (inductance program) benefited the Bush administration making it easier for them get away with this "biggest mistake in the history of this Country" (that is what I call it).
So, I think that the reason that we did not see a very similar reaction in music to the one experienced during the Viet Nam war is simply that the government is much more oppressive now than it was then. Due to the Patriot Act and success of pro-war propaganda, alot of people were in fact made afraid to speak out. Since there was not a military draft, (instead an all volunteer military) average citizens did not feel the same pressure to speak out
Granted, those are political comments but they are definately related to this song, this topic and the MUSIC of our time, in particular, anti-war and protest songs. You can't talk about this song or genre and understand it without reviewing the war in Viet Nam and the political/social conditions of the time. I am explaining my perspective on the different scenarios comparing the 1960's to the 2000's and addressing the often asked question (ie; where are the protest songs) and why we didn't see the same sort of reactions in music to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. For those reasons I think that the political elements of this post are essential to the topic and the music.
By the way, Shug, I remember making a song list probably around 1967 of all of the songs that I knew how to play, or could play part of (much of the list was songs that I could not play all the way through) ) and there were 400 songs on that list.
I can hardly remember 10 of those right now so seeing these old songs posted here brings back some memories, usually good ones.
400 songs is not that impressive when you consider that many of them were nearly the same chord progressions, so if you learned one song you'd later find several more that were almost identical.
Phangeaux
Phangeaux
BadBadBlues
Shug -
Was that answer song called "Dawn of Correcton"? Here's a link on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spokesmen
What ever happened to Barry McGuire?
Come to think of it what has happened to the protest songs of the 70's?
I do not want to get into a polotical discussion but it is sad to think that nothing has been learned forty years on.
Christiaan
In 2008, McGuire teamed up with former member of The Byrds John York for a live tour called "Trippin' the '60s", which McGuire describes as "...taking the songs and the truth that was in those songs from the 60's and bringing them into the present moment...It's not a cover pack, it's us singing songs that we sung with a lot of our friends that aren't around anymore to sing them."
As you can see, he is well and still playing. And, besides this song he was not active at all on the political scene. But, a lot other people did less than him.
