Back in my youth the Kingston Trio recorded the following song that was awfully popular back then. Just change a few words and this anthem would be appropriate to the frum communities today. Riots? Think Israel. Finger pointing, back stabbing, disdain, anger, discontent, snobbishness, distrust, sinah, kinah,economic distress, bankruptcy? All present. We may not be obsessed with an atom bomb exploding any minute, but whole sections of Klal are "going nuclear" and there is going to be an explosion (or implosion) and the fallout is liable to be nasty.
They're Rioting in Africa (The Merry Minuet)
(Sheldon Harnick)
Intro:
There are days in my life when everything is dreary
I grow pessimistic, sad and world weary.
But when I'm tearful and fearfully upset
I always sing this merry little minuet:
They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much
But we can be grateful
And thankful and proud
That man's been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud
And we know for certain
That some happy day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away
They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.-----------------------------------------------------------------Alley Music Corp. and Trio Music co., Inc.
1 comment:
I think we must be about the same age: our backgrounds are dissimilar (ie, I am not Jewish), but your take on situations and ideas often coincides with mine. And a good 60s song can usually illuminate a situation, if you can find the right one.
Keep on writing, I really enjoy reading your essays.
Jenny
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