We spent some time during our vacation watching some television news programs--admittedly not a very relaxing activity given what was going on abroad and at home this past week. But the news did bring to mind that old statement: the more things change, the more they remain the same.
The following was written in the early '60s and was a recording of the Kingston Trio--sound familiar? With perhaps only a few exceptions this could have been penned yesterday.
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.
1 comment:
To completely derail the topic: thanks for giving the full credit for this song. Far too often, I've seen it credited to the Kingston Trio or to Tom Lehrer (who apparently performed it in some of his concerts although he never recorded it).
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