Repost: Time To Do The Right Thing
UPDATE: The Time is coming … time to pick a president. We’re not going to tell you how to vote. We are going to remind you it’s really important, though. This appeared around the Fourth of July and we think it ought to go up again. Listen to the tunes, do some research and make your choice.
Sometimes it’s tough to figure out the world. Why does everything cost so much, while human life seems so cheap? Can we resolve our differences with other cultures without having to pick up a gun, or is it too late? What is going to happen to us, to our children, and to their children?
If there were real answers, it’s possible that someone a lot smarter than me would have figured them out by now. The best we can do is hope for the best – and try to make a small difference in our own world. In America, one way you can do that is to make sure you have registered to vote.
Maybe our current leaders don’t really have our best interests in mind. Maybe the choice we have to make on who our new leaders should be isn’t that great. Maybe we shouldn’t follow leaders anyway.
Nothing will change if we don’t care enough to at least try. Think about your family, think about your friends and neighbors – some of whom may be overseas defending our freedom – and register to vote. It’s your power, it’s your privilege. Use it.
Our songs today come from another time, as a reminder that some things do not change. Arlo Guthrie was appealing to young voters back in 1972, as were Neil Young and Graham Nash. John Denver is heard with his one-time cohorts on a 1968 single, and Steve Goodman weighs in with piano and backing vocals provided by one Robert Milkwood Thomas, a.k.a. Bob Dylan. Country Joe McDonald (from the 1960s) and the KBC Band (from the 1980s) give us their respective takes on the world in their time. And finally Tower of Power and Bruce Springsteen both warn of the folly of believing our own b.s.
Tomorrow is an important day for this country. And it’s an important year for everyone. When the time comes, we plan to show up. Hope to see you there.
MP3: “Voter Registration Rag” by Arlo Guthrie
MP3: “The ’68 Nixon” by Denver, Boise & Johnson
MP3: “The War Song” by Neil Young & Graham Nash
MP3: “Election Day Rag” by Steve Goodman
MP3: “Kiss My Ass” by Country Joe McDonald
MP3: “America” by the KBC Band
30 Days Out 
July 3, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Good to see your post about “Election Year Rag” by Steve Goodman. He often doesn’t get his due. You might be interested in my 800-page biography, “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.” The book delves deeply into “Election Year Rag,” the “Somebody Else’s Troubles” LP and the times that Goodman crossed paths with Dylan.
You can find out more at my Internet site (below). Amazingly, the book’s first printing sold out in just eight months, all 5,000 copies, and a second printing of 5,000 is available now. The second printing includes hundreds of little updates and additions, including 30 more photos for a total of 575. It just won a 2008 IPPY (Independent Publishers Association) silver medal for biography: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1231. To order a second-printing copy, see the “online store” page of my site. Just trying to spread word about the book. Feel free to do the same!
Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958
(206) 935-7515
(206) 484-8008
ceals@comcast.net
http://www.clayeals.com
July 4, 2008 at 8:39 am
Thanks, Clay! Your book may be well worth checking out, because Steve Goodman was (is) an artist who never really received the acclaim he is due. Goodman, author of such classics as “City Of New Orleans” and “You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” worked with artists such as John Prine and did some really good work before his death. Look for a post on him in the near future.
Denny