Tag Archives: January Music et al

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Sunday Bloody Sunday music

Ironically, there are too many Never Forget events to remember.

The more history changes…

Most of my posts deal with events that occurred in the United States. Of course as we see and hear continuously today, when the United States sneezes, the world catches a cold. Or at least it tries to duck.

Sometimes an international event is too meaningful and close to home to not include. Such was the tragedy in Derry, Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Derry, Northern Ireland

The sectarian crisis in Northern Ireland escalated in 1969 when the British government sent troops to Northern Ireland to suppress the Irish Republican Army’s nationalist activity and to quell religious violence between Protestants and Catholics.

The Catholic nationalist community in town of Derry had initially welcomed the troops as a preferable alternative to what they saw as the discrimination of the local Northern Ireland security forces, but continued opposition to policies such as detention of terrorist suspects without trial and the alleged gerrymandering of electoral districts to favor Protestant voters  had inspired a civil rights movement across Northern Ireland. With support for the demands of the civil rights movement so strong among local people, Derry was an obvious choice for a mass demonstration.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

30 January 1972

The protesters, all Catholics, marched  in spite of the banning of such marches.  British authorities  sent troops to confront the demonstrators when it went ahead.

About ten thousand people gathered. The army set up barricades to prevent the march reaching its intended destination  of Guildhall Square in the heart of the city. Paratroopers moved in to make arrests. During this operation, they opened fire on the crowd, killing thirteen (five of whom were shot in the back), and wounding 13 others.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

The dead were all male, aged between seventeen and forty-one. Another man, aged fifty-nine, died some months later from injuries sustained on that day. The wounded included a fifteen-year-old boy and a woman.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Exoneration

British Army said it had responded after coming under fire. The British government announced it would conduct an official inquiry.

The report of British Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery exonerated the army and cast suspicion on many of the victims, suggesting they had been handling bombs and guns.

The families of the victims and others campaigned for a new public inquiry, which was finally granted by then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998.

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry took 12 years and finally reported in 2010. It established the innocence of the victims and laid responsibility for what happened on the army.

Prime Minister David Cameron called the killings “unjustified and unjustifiable”.  (BBC article on Sayville Inquiry)

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Legacy

Musicians wrote song after song inspired by the event and its initial cover up. 

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Paul McCartney/Linda Eastman

While it would  be a stretch to describe Paul McCartney as a protest song writer, his and wife Linda’s “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” certainly falls within that genre. They recorded the song only two days after the shootings and released it with their band Wings in late February.  The BBC banned the song. It was the first time that Henry McCullough played with Wings.

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

John Lennon

John Lennon–partially Irish–had already written and performed “Luck of the Irish” before January 30,  but the song became associated with that Sunday afterwards.

If you had the luck of the Irish
You’d be sorry and wish you were dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you’d wish you was English instead!

In response to the actual event, Lennon also wrote “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” 

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

Others…

  • Roy Harper “All Ireland” in 1973.

  • Of course, U2’s most famous “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in 1983. 

  • Christy Moore “Minds Locked Shut” in 1996 

  • “Bloody Sunday” by Cruachan in 2004. 

  • The Wolfe Tones “Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sunday Bloody Sunday Music

January 30 Music et al

January 30 Music et al

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

January 30 – February 12, 1961: “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles #1 Billboard Hot 100. Carole King and Jerry Goffin’s first #1 hit. Also, the first song to reach #1 by an all-girl group.

And did you know that Bertell Dache, a demo singer for the Brill Building songwriters, recorded an answer song entitled “Not just Tomorrow, But Always.”

The Satintones also recorded an answer song

January 30 Music et al

White Light/White Heat

January 30, 1968: Velvet Underground released White Light/White Heat album.  One of the album’s songs, “Sister Ray,” concerns drug use, violence, homosexuality and transvestism. Reed said of the lyrics: “‘Sister Ray’ was done as a joke—no, not as a joke—but it has eight characters in it and this guy gets killed and nobody does anything. It was built around this story that I wrote about this scene of total debauchery and decay. I like to think of ‘Sister Ray’ as a transvestite smack dealer. The situation is a bunch of drag queens taking some sailors home with them, shooting up on smack and having this orgy when the police appear.

The recording engineer is famously rumored to have walked out while recording the song. Lou Reed recalled: “The engineer said, ‘I don’t have to listen to this. I’ll put it in Record, and then I’m leaving. When you’re done, come get me.‘”

Duck and Sally inside
They’re cooking for the down five
Who’re staring at Miss Rayon
Who’s busy licking up her pig pen
I’m searching for my mainline
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh, just like Sister Ray said
Live it onRosey and Miss Rayon
They’re busy waiting for her booster
Who just got back from Carolina
She said she didn’t like the weather
They’re busy waiting for her sailor
Who says he’s just as big as ever
He says he’s from Alabama
He wants to know a way to earn a dollar
I’m searching for my mainline
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
I couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh, just like Sister Ray said
Play onCecil’s got his new piece
He cocks and shoots between three and four
He aims it at the sailor
Shoots him down dead on the floor
Oh, you shouldn’t do that
Don’t you know, you’ll stain the carpet?
Now don’t you know you’ll stain the carpet
And by the way, have you got a dollar
Oh, no, man, I haven’t got the time time
 Too busy sucking on a ding-dong
She’s busy sucking on my ding-dong
Oh, she does just like Sister Ray said
I’m searching for my mainline
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh, couldn’t, couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh it, it just, just all over the floor, the floor

 

Now, who’s that knocking
Who’s that knocking on my chamber door
Now could it be the police
They come to take me for a ride ride
Oh, but I haven’t got the time time
Hey, hey, hey she’s busy sucking on my ding-dong
She’s too busy sucking on my ding-dong
Oh, now, just like Sister Ray said
I’m searching for my mainline
I couldn’t hit it sideways
I couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh, just like
And, just like
And, just like, yea, Sister Ray said, do it!

Duck and Sally inside
They’re cooking for the down five
Who’re staring at Miss Rayon
Who’s busy licking up her pig pen
I’m searching for my mainline
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
I said I couldn’t hit it sideways
Oh, just like
Now, just like
I said oh, just like
Am-ph-ph-ph-ph-ph-ph-phetamines!

January 30 Music et al

More!

As if those 17 minutes aren’t enough amazing rock and roll for you, here’s a 37-minute live version for you. More than twice as amazing. Really!

January 30 Music et al

The Beatles

January 30 Music et al

January 30, 1969: The Beatles (w Billy Preston) gave their final live performance atop the Apple building at 3 Savile Row, London, in what became the climax of their Let It Be film.  George Harrison later said, “We went on the roof in order to resolve the live concert idea, because it was much simpler than going anywhere else; also nobody had ever done that, so it would be interesting to see what happened when we started playing up there. It was a nice little social study. We set up a camera in the Apple reception area, behind a window so nobody could see it, and we filmed people coming in. The police and everybody came in saying, ‘You can’t do that! You’ve got to stop.’

It was a cold day, and a bitter wind was blowing on the rooftop by midday. To cope with the weather, John Lennon borrowed Yoko Ono’s fur coat, and Ringo Starr wore his wife Maureen Starkey’s red mac. The 42-minute show was recorded onto two eight-track machines in the basement of Apple, by George Martin, engineer Glyn Johns and tape operator Alan Parsons.

From a Rolling Stone magazine articleHere are little-known facts about the Beatles’ famed 1969 rooftop concert,

January 30 Music et al

January 28 Music et al

January 28 Music et al

Fear of Rock

January 28 Music et al

January 28, 1944: 500 teenagers at a public forum mocked the idea that boogie-woogie music caused delinquency. Symphony conductor Artur Rodzinsky had warned about the bad influence of boogie-woogie. The forum was one of a series of planned forums organized by The New York Times. The teenagers also discussed delinquency, mixed marriages and war work. (full NYT article)

January 28 Music et al

Roots of Rock

January 28 Music et al

January 28, 1956: Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television on “The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show” on CBS.

Winter Festival for Peace

January 28 Music et al

January 28, 1970…the Madison Square Garden hosted the Winter Festival for Peace. Among the artists were: Blood Sweat and Tears, Peter Paul and Mary, Jimi Hendrix & His Band of Gypsys…

…Richie Havens, Harry Belefonte, Voices of East Harlem, the Rascals, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Judy Collins, cast of Hair. The show ended at 4 AM. Richie Havens commented, “Since man has been on earth, peace has never really been here. If we can do it now, it’ll be a first.”

January 28 Music et al

We Are the World

Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” charity project (Songfacts article) in the UK inspired Harry Belafonte to do the same.

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote the song, Michael Omartian arranged it, and Quincy Jones produced it and on January 28, 1985 the song was recorded.

It had sales in excess of 20 million copies.

In order of appearance, the singers were:
  • Lionel Richie
  • Stevie Wonder
  • Paul Simon
  • Kenny Rogers
  • James Ingram
  • Tina Turner
  • Billy Joel
  • Michael Jackson
  • Diana Ross
  • Dionne Warwick
  • Willie Nelson
  • Al Jarreau
  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Kenny Loggins
  • Steve Perry
  • Daryl Hall
  • Huey Lewis
  • Cyndi Lauper
  • Kim Carnes
  • Bob Dylan
  • Ray Charles
The chorus was (alphabetically):
  • Dan Aykroyd
  • Harry Belafonte
  • Lindsey Buckingham
  • Mario Cipollina
  • Johnny Colla
  • Sheila E
  • Bob Geldof
  • Bill Gibson
  • Chris Hayes
  • Sean Hoper
  • Jackie Jackson
  • La Toya Jackson
  • Marlon Jackson
  • Randy Jackson
  • Tito Jackson
  • Waylon Jennings
  • Bette Midler
  • John Oates
  • Jeffrey Osborne
  • The Pointer Sisters
  • Smokey Robinson
The band members were:
  • David Paich (synthesizer)
  • Michael Boddicker (synthesizer)
  • Paulinho da Costa (percussion)
  • Louis Johnson (synth bass)
  • Michael Omartian (keyboards)
  • Greg Phillinganes (keyboards)
  • John Robinson (drums)
January 28 Music et al