They sing
_ against war

By RAYMOND VIDAL

ONGS for peace, songs about peace, anti- —

war songs, songs against war in general
or against one particular war. . .
In. all conflicts, over all troubled ages,
’ gongs have been born. They were sometimes
spontaneous: the soldier with his kitbag, be-
ing sent off to the slaughter, puts to music,
often to.a tune of a popular song, words of
révolt prompted by his situation; the girl he
is engaged to; his wife, who fears for the life
of the man who has been torn away from
her, do so tod. Simple words, poignant with
anguish and suffering, give rise to songs
which for too long now have been described
es “folklore,” with a stupid perorative touch.

We shall not go back today over the cen-
teries seeking to find the first “anti-war”
song. Let us look to the United States where
the eggression in Vietnam is arousing strong
reaction among the young people who, gui-
tars in hand, are launching their attack
against the war.

As the. United States, weighed down by its
bombs and napalm, is trying to crush the
courageous Vietnamese people, around the
American universities, with guitars and ban-
jos, young singers began to be heard with
songs that come from the hearts of the peo-
ple, songs reflecting the revolt of those who
are against war. The U.S. ‘‘folk protest song,”
the fathers of which were Woodie Guthrie
and Pete Seeger, became a combat weapon
used by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and many
others. :

And these singers are not just satisfied
with singing, they even give press confer-
ences. Joan Baez, for instance, talking about
the war in Vietnam, said that the important
point is that when children are burned to
death you stop it by whatever means you
_ can. And another time she said that she was
part of the world movement for peace and
that music was a secondary thing for her.
She felt hurt if it was claimed that she was
onlv a sinecr ~

JOAN BAEZ

And here are their songs, the songs of
those whom the old reactionary politicians
in the United States call “Vietniks” without
realizing that this is the greatest compliment

- they could pay them.

‘The Eastern world it is. explodin’,
Violence flarin’, bulletin loadin’
You're old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s
that gun you’re totin’?
asks Barry McGuire in his great hit “Eve of
Destruction.”

And Malvina Reynolds sings:

Is our country so weak it can only survive

By bombing villages, burning babies
alive?

Peace isn’t treason, it’s reason

Peace on earth, He said,

And I still believe it.

Pete Seeger composed
Song,” with its explosive message:

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the
morning :

I’d hammer in the evening all over this
land;

I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out
a@ warning,

I'd hammer out a love between my
brothers and my sisters

‘All over this land.

Then Bob Dylan, parodying the “Dieu et
mon droit’ and the “Gott mit uns,” wrote
and sang “With God on Our Side.”

The second world war came to an end

We forgave the Germans and then we
were friends ;

Though they murdered six millions in
the ovens they fried

The Germans now too have God on their
side.

I’ve learned to hate the Russians all
through my whole life,

If another war comes, it’s them we must
fight

To hate them and fear them, to: run and
to hide

And accept it all bravely, with God on
my side.

But now we got weapons of chemical
dust

If fire them we're forced to, then fire
them we must =

One push of the button and they shoot
the world wide

And you never ask questions when
God’s on your side.

Through many a dark hour I’ve been
thinking about this

That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a
kiss,

But I can’t think for you, you'll have to
decide

Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his
side?

So now as I’m leaving I’m weary as hell

The confusion I’m feeling ain’t no
tongue can tell,

The words fail my head and fall to the.

floor,

That if God’s on our side

He'll stop the next war.

Is there any need to go on? The songs
speak for themselves. I could, of course,
have cited other texts, other writers, other
singers who cry out their hate for war and
their love for peace.

But here again let us listen to Bob Dylan,
with his veritably prophetic song “The times
they are achanging”: ;

. The line it is down, the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast,
As the present now will later be past.
The order is rapidly fadin’,
And the first one now will later be last,
For the times they are a-changin’.

“The Hammer :

cigarettes.”

| Huckleberry pie.

J. $. Wallace

Most of the world supposes
Bulgaria’s Valley of Roses

Where Beauty her breath discloses
Is far more precious than pearls,
But any research discloses

There is no Valley of Roses

In all their perfumes and poses
There isa Valley of Girls.

ACK in Sofia, after motoring all one day to Varna on
the shore of the Black Sea. There, stripped to my
shorts, I waded as far as I could into the breakers.

With trunks I'd have had a swim warmer than any we know
in August, though it was late October.

High-rise hotels by the score at both Golden and Sunny
Sands. But not high-rise rates: eight levas for a room, two
for a good meal. (One leva is worth 90 cents.)

Away from prices, on to people...

At the Globus Hotel, an untipped “bell-boy” carried
down my suitcases, then reached into the open car window,
shook my hand and wished me godspeed in halting English.
Here in Bulgaria, a bell-boy — a boy this time — walked —
up five flights where the elevator was stuck, brought it
down, took my luggage to my room, took my coat and —
jacket as I removed them, hung them up, and backed ou
with a smile and without expecting a tip, saying — the only
link he could find in a hurry — “Canada: Philip Morris

P.S.—Not a fence wherever I’ve passed farm Jands. N
fences, no fetters on nature or man.

a cS
FOR ALL MY CHILDREN |

Here is how I was taught to spell Huckleberry Pie:
H U Eckle, B U Eckle, H U Eckle I, H U Eckle, B U Eckle

SOFIA

—

Stratford player:
on national tout

Bernard Behrens, Leo Ciceri,
William Hutt and Tony van
Bridge are among the prominent
actors signed for the Stratford
Festival Company’s first coast-
to-coast tour it was announced
in Stratford last week. The tour,
sponsored by Festival Canada,
opens Feb. 15 in Calgary and
continues through six provinces.

William Hutt plays Khlesta-
kov and Tony Van Bridge the
mayor, two central characters
in Nikolai Gogol’s famed co-
medy, The Government Inspec-

tor (Inspector-General) which is

being staged by Michael Lang-
ham, artistic director of the
Stratford Festival. Leo Ciceri
plays Sir Toby Belch and Ber-
nard ‘ Behrens, Malvolio, — in
Shakespeare’s delightful
“Twelfth Night,” directed by
David William and a highlight
of the 1966 season at Stratford.

Hutt also will portray Feste,
the philosophic clown in the
Shakespeare production.. Ciceri
plays the role of Amos: Lapkin-
Tapkin, the judge, Behrens,
Osip, in the Gogol play, a favor-
ite of international companies
for more than a century.

The six-week tour takes the
company into Calgary, Victoria,
Vancouver, Winnipeg, Frederic-

December 16, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—

ton, Charlottetown, Halifax,
John’s, Nfld., and closes in
tawa March 23.

“Twelfth Night,” which ]
ed to near-capacity for the
week Festival season at
ford during the summer.
designed by Brian Jackson
original music. compose
original music compose
Louis Applebaum. The
British designer Leslie Hurry
created the costume and SC
designs for “The Gover
Inspector.”’ This production
made possible by a special £
from the Centennial Com?
sion.

PINK ELEVATORS?

The Lakehead Chambé
Commerce has asked own'
grain elevators to paint the”
pastel colors to brighten up
harbor. Instead of grey,
Structures may be _ pink,
blue, green or yellow. ;

One elevator has already
done in green and the ow?
of smaller elevators have ag!”
to go along with the idea. ©
less the larger elevators
painting, owners are a bit Ye!
tant. It costs about $225,000
paint a large one.