Bob Dylan had arrived in New York City on January 24, 1961 and visited his hero Woody Guthrie on the 29th.
John Hammond’s liner notes on the back of Dylan’s first album state: “The young man from the provinces began to make friends very quickly in New York, all the while continuing, as he has since he was ten, to assimilate musical ideas from everyone he met, every record he heard.”
Dylan plays
On April 11 Dylan played his first major gig in New York City, opening for bluesman John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City.
He played harmonica on a Harry Belafonte’s “Midnight Special” thus receiving his first money for as a recorded musician.
On September 29, 1961, Robert Shelton of the New York Times wroteof Dylan that he was, “A bright new face in folk music… Although only 20 years old, Bob Dylan is one of the most distinctive stylists to play in a Manhattan cabaret in months.”
He’d played Carnegie Chapter Hall.
Bob Dylan
And then he recorded his first album: Bob Dylan.
album cover
It sold 5,000 copies in the first year.
Here is it’s tracklist and notice how few songs this supreme songwriter and future Nobel Prize winner wrote for this album:
Side one
“You’re No Good” (Jesse Fuller)
“Talkin’ New York”
“In My Time of Dyin'” arr. Dylan
“Man of Constant Sorrow” arr. Dylan
“Fixin’ to Die” (Bukka White)
“Pretty Peggy-O” arr. Dylan
“Highway 51” (Curtis Jones)
Side two
“Gospel Plow” arr. Dylan
“Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” arr. Eric von Schmidt
“House of the Risin’ Sun” arr. Dave Van Ronk
“Freight Train Blues” (Roy Acuff)
“Song to Woody”
“See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” (Blind Lemon Jefferson)
That number would be two: Talkin’ New York and Song to Woody.
The All Music site sums it up well: Bob Dylan’s first album is a lot like the debut albums by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — a sterling effort, outclassing most, if not all, of what came before it in the genre, but similarly eclipsed by the artist’s own subsequent efforts.
Charlie Company had departed for Vietnam on December 1, 1967. The company was comprised of five platoons. Captain Ernest Medina had earned the nickname “Mad Dog” from his high expectations and his quick temper.
William L. Calley, Lieutenant of Charlie Company’s 1st Platoon, struggled with basic leadership and was often ridiculed and belittled by Medina, who called Calley “Sweetheart.”
On January 30, 1968 the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops had launched the Tet Offensive attacking a hundred cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. Charlie Company was not involved.
Charlie Company continued to have limited contact with the enemy, but while on routine patrols men are injured or killed by landmines. Frustration developed.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
Booby trap
On March 14, while on a patrol, a booby trap killed Sergeant George Cox. Two other GI’s were seriously injured. In one of the first documented instances of outright aggression, angry members of Charlie Company lashed out – while passing through a village troops shoot and killed a woman civilian working in a field.
On March 15, Captain Medina and the other commanders were briefed about increased intelligence that pointed to a small group of villages called My Lai as the haven for a Viet Cong battalion. This intelligence will later prove faulty.
The men were encouraged to be aggressive, that anyone they encounter will likely be the enemy as the residents of My Lai will be away at market.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
March 16, 1968
A partial account
The attack began. Troops did encounter some enemy. At…
7:50 AM
The two lead platoons moved through the village and shot fleeing Vietnamese or bayonet others. They throw hand grenades into houses and bunkers and destroy livestock and crops.
7:50 – 8:30 AM
The two platoons in the village rounded up approximately 20-50 civilians (mostly women, children and old men,) pushed them along trails to a dirt road south of the village, and placed them under guard. Another group of 70 civilians were moved to the east of the village.
Without pretext, soldiers begin bayoneting or shooting the civilians. One GI pushed a man down a well and threw a grenade in after him. Over a dozen women and children praying by a temple were shot in the head.
8:15 AM
Two soldiers come across a woman carrying an infant and walking with a toddler; they fire at her. An elderly woman is spotted running down a path with an unexploded M79 grenade lodged in her stomach. One soldier forces a woman around the age of 20 to perform oral sex on him while holding a gun to a four-year-old child’s head.
Massacre continues…
9:00 AM
Lieutenant Calley reached the drainage ditch into which the civilians had been herded and gave the order to start killing them. Within ten minutes, all were shot down by members of the 1st Platoon. Witnesses to the shooting reported anywhere between 75 and 150 Vietnamese were killed. None of the Vietnamese were armed.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson
Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot and part of the operation. Early on, he had radioed for medical help when he saw wounded civilians. When he flew over the same group later he realized that they were dead. At 9:40 AM the crew of Thompson’s observation helicopter watched as a small group of soldiers approached a young woman lying wounded on the ground. Thompson had previously marked this woman with smoke. A captain walked up to the woman, prodded her with his foot and shot her in the head. (This captain was later identified as Medina.)
Two days later Thompson was called in to report and he described what he saw as the unnecessary killing of civilians. After the meeting, Thompson was described as being furious at command’s lack of concern.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
My Lai Massacre
In an official report regarding the My Lai operation, a Lieutenant Colonel Barker concluded that the assault was successful: “This operation was well planned, well executed, and successful. Friendly casualties were light and the enemy suffered heavily. The infantry unit on the ground and helicopters were able to assist civilians in leaving the area in caring for and/or evacuating the wounded.”
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
April-May 1968
The army sent Thompson out in increasingly dangerous situations. Thompson was shot down five times, the last occurred during a mission from Da Nang to an airbase at Chu Lai, which broke his back.
During this time, G.I. Ron Ridenhour began to hear stories from members of Charlie Company and was curious. By November 1968 Ridenhour was no longer in the Army and had returned home to Phoenix.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
A year later…April 1969
Ron Ridenhour’s information and requests for an official investigation finally yielded results and on April 23, 1969 the Office of the Inspector General began a full inquiry.
On September 10, NBC Correspondent Robert Goralski reported that Lieutenant Calley “has been accused of premeditated murder of a number of South Vietnamese civilians. The murders are alleged to have been committed a year ago and the investigation is continuing.”
November 17, 1969. The New York Times ran a story that quoted survivors of the My Lai massacre, who claimed over 567 Vietnamese men, women, and children were killed by American soldiers.
December 5, 1969: photos of the massacre are published. On the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite issues a warning about the disturbing images for viewers before showing them. The horrific images immediately cause a country-wide uproar.
March 29, 1971: Calley (and only Calley) was found guilty of premeditated murder of 22 civilians and sentenced to life in prison. The sentence was controversial and generated public outcry. Draft board members resign, veterans turned in their medals, and the “Free Calley” movement was born. Georgian governor Jimmy Carter asked his constituency to drive for a week with their lights on in protest, and flags were flown at half-mast in the state of Indiana.
Vietnam My Lai Massacre
Fall 1971 & following
Fall 1971: Captain Medina was acquitted of all charges and Lieutenant Calley’s life sentence was reduced to 20 years.
March 6, 1998: Warrant Officer Thompson was recognized for his courage and honesty with the Soldier’s Medal. Thompson died on January 6, 2006.
August 20, 2009: for the first time Lieutenant Calley spoke publicly about My Lai. In front of the Kiwanis Club of Columbus, OH, he said, “There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai. I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry.”
On March 10, 1967, Aretha Franklin released her 11th album, but her first on Atlantic. She had had limited success while under contract with Columbia Records.
In January 1967 she had signed to Atlantic Records and under the aegis of Jerry Wexler she traveled to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record at Rick Hall‘s FAME Studios to record the song, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You).” Tom Dowd was the engineer and the musicians of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section [The Swampers] played.
Quite a backing!
King Curtis – tenor saxophone
Carolyn Franklin – background vocals
Erma Franklin – background vocals
Cissy Houston – background vocals
Willie Bridges – baritone saxophone
Charles Chalmers – tenor saxophone
Gene Chrisman, Roger Hawkins – drums
Tommy Cogbill – bass
Jimmy Johnson – guitar
Melvin Lastie – trumpet, cornet
Chips Moman – guitar
Dewey Oldham – keyboards
Aretha Franklin Never Loved
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Atlantic had released the single of I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You on February 10 and it wouldreach #1 on the R & B chart on March 25 and stayed there until May 12.
Atlantic released her next single, Respect, on April 29. It reached #1 on the R & B chart a week after I Never Loved a May the Way I Love You left. Respect stayed there until July 14.
The album itself eventually was certified a gold album.
Side one
“Respect” (Otis Redding) – 2:29
“Drown in My Own Tears” (Henry Glover) – 4:07
“I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (Ronnie Shannon) – 2:51
A year later In February 1968, Franklin earned a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
In June 1968, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
Aretha Franklin Never Loved
And in 2014 she sang at the White House. And 47 years later Aretha Franklin could still sing the socks off the song.
Aretha Franklin Never Loved
Reference: Paste magazine article: “50 Years the Queen: Aretha Franklin’s Seminal Album I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You Hits the Half-Century Mark”
Aretha died on August 6, 2018. In her obituary the Guardian wrote “…it was that quality of exaltation that raised her above a remarkable generation of church-trained soul divas. Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Candi Staton, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Tina Turner and many others… but Aretha Franklin was the greatest of them all
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