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David Rovics is one musician who remains decidedly socially oriented. |
What would a good protest be without a good protest song? In the 1960s there were folks singers like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan who helped write the soundtrack for an era of social conflict. And who can forget the 1969 Woodstock performance of Country Joe and the Fish’s “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die” in which they rail against the Vietnam War singing:
Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
But the art of the protest song is not lost on the latest generation of protesters, and one musician in specific has penned a tune that touchingly pays tribute to the people of Palestine and more specifically, the people of the city of Jenin who, in 2002, endured the savage onslaught of the Israeli military.
David Rovics is something of a model musician. Instead of creating vapid senseless music that has a flash-in-the-pan type of longevity, he has spent the majority of his career writing songs that comment on the social situation of the world around him. As such, he has become a regular feature on the protest circuit where he often shares the stage with other legendary protest musicians.
One of his more recent musical social commentaries is entitled “Jenin”. As the title suggests, it deals with the awful tragedy that befell the Palestinians of that town in April 2002 when the Israeli Defence Forces invaded the city killing over 50 civilians and demolishing countless homes and businesses.
Unsettled by this act of aggression, Rovics wrote the following words:
Oh, child, what will you remember
When you recall your sixteenth year
The horrid sound of helicopter gunships
The rumble of the tanks as they drew near
As the world went about it's business
And I burned another tank of gasoline
The Dow Jones lost a couple points that day
While you were crying in the City of Jenin
Did they even give your parents warning
Before they blew the windows out with shells
While you hid inside the high school basement
Amidst the ringing of church bells
As you watched your teacher crumble by the doorway
And in England they were toasting to the Queen
You were so far from the thoughts of so many
Huddled in the City of Jenin
Were you thinking of the taunting of the soldiers
Or of the shit they smeared upon the walls
Were you thinking of your cousin after torture
Or Tel Aviv and it's glittering shopping malls
When the fat men in their mansions say that you don't want peace
Did you wonder what they mean
As you sat amidst the stench inside the darkness
In the shattered City of Jenin
What went through your mind on that day
At the site of your mother's vacant eyes
As she lay still among the rubble
Beneath the blue Middle Eastern skies
As you stood upon this bulldozed building
Beside the settlements and their hills so green
As your tears gave way to grim determination
Among the ruins of the City of Jenin
And why should anybody wonder
As you stepped on board
The crowded bus across the Green Line
And you reached inside your jacket for the cord
Were you thinking of your neighbors buried bodies
As you made the stage for this scene
As you set off the explosives that were strapped around your waist
Were you thinking of the City of Jenin
Jenin isn’t the only place on Rovics mind. He’s also penned songs about the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, Chile and other places where injustice has been the order of the day.
Rovics’ most recent CD, Hang a Flag in the Window (September 2002), deals with the world post-9/11. He also continues to tour and play at protests and rallies.
While he welcomes the purchase of his music, Rovics says on his website that “the main thing is to get the music out there. You are hereby encouraged not only to buy CDs, but to COPY THEM in part or whole, download and distribute MP3's, sing the songs, photocopy part or all of the songbooks, etc. If you know a radio programmer or other such person who you'd like to give a CD to, just ask and I'll send you one, or feel free to copy one you have and give it to them. Have I made my point clear...?”
Rovics’ music can be sampled at his website, www.davidrovics.com; and the song ‘Jenin’ can be heard by clicking here . |
