Folk Music

Paul Robeson – Wikipedia

Paul Robeson – Wikipedia

Paul Leroy Robeson (/ˈroʊbsΙ™n/ ROHB-sΙ™n;[2][3] April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, he was a star athlete in his youth. He also studied Swahili and phonetics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 1934. His political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students whom he met in Britain and continued with support for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and his opposition to fascism. In the United States he became active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice campaigns. His sympathies for the Soviet Union and for communism, and his criticism of the United States government and its foreign policies, caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

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A patriotic song by Paul Robertson to celebrate Washington’s Birthday …

In seventy-six the sky was red
thunder rumbling overhead
Bad King George couldn’t sleep in his bed
And on that stormy morn, Ol’ Uncle Sam was born.
Some birthday!
 
Nobody who was anybody believed it.
Ev’rybody who was anybody they doubted it.
Nobody had faith.
Nobody but Washington, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin,
Chaim Solomon, Crispus Attucks, Lafayette. Nobodies.
 
Our country’s strong, our country’s young,
And her greatest songs are still unsung.
From her plains and mountains we have sprung,
To keep the faith with those who went before.
 
We nobodies who are anybody believe it.
We anybodies who are everybody have no doubts.
 
Out of the cheating, out of the shouting.
Out of the murders and lynching,
Out of the windbags, the patriotic spouting,
Out of uncertainty and doubting,
Out of the carpetbag and the brass spittoon,
It will come again.
Our marching song will come again!
 
Simple as a hit tune,
Deep as our valleys,
High as our mountains,
Strong as the people who made it.
 
For I have always believed it,
And I believe it now.
And you know who I am.
 
Who are you? America! America!

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“And the victims learn to giggle, for at least they are not bored.”
~ Phil
Ochs

Peter, Paul and Mary – The Marvelous Toy

I used to listen to song a lot with my parents house on audio cassette tape as a kid, and somehow it felt really good on this wet winter night. It's 50 years old now, although when I listened to the song, it was only about 15 years old.