This song came out in 1965, and was quite frightening at the time. Vietnam was just ramping up, the early days of the ant-war movement were starting on college campuses, there was continuing conflict about civil rights, and my generation had grown up with fear of atomic war. This song dealt with all that.
The difference today is weak, corrupt leadership. As far as I can see it, we’re witnessing the fall of Rome in real time. I don’t know how we can recover from this.
In case no one has mentioned it, the voting age when this was released was 21, though you could be drafted into the armed services or volunteer at age 18, to explain the line that says "...you're old enough to kill, but not for votin'." It was 1965, the Viet Nam war was in full escalation, and at home the civil rights movement was being opposed with violence.
Also, of course, the draft still existed. Young men were fated to go to war unless very lucky (in the lottery style draw) or very gifted scholastically or very well endowed with a wealthy family.
This is Barry's one and only number 1 hit it happened in1965 and when the Mamas and Papas moved to LA they moved in with him and he had them meet his producer and more history was made.
"Eve of Destruction" is a protest song written by P. F. Sloan in mid-1965. Several artists have recorded it, but the most popular recording was by Barry McGuire. Love your reactions... thanks for bringing this. OBTW, Barry became a Christian and produced a number of Contemporary Christian albums in the 70s & 80s.
It's good when someone remembers the amazingly prolific writer of this masterpiece. I say that as someone who thinks Barry McGuire done an amazing job of singing it! for me it is THE greatest anti war/protest song of them all & there were some brilliant & sadly much forgotten efforts, many at the time banned from the air waves by various politicians, rather upset that their most potent tool of office (Patriotism) was being questioned.
Another great song like this is "I was only 19" by Redgum. It's a song about the typical Australian soldiers experience in Vietnam. From training, combat, ptsd, and after effects of exposure to Agent Orange
Legendary song that I loved since I was a kid when my dad first introduced it to me when I was 11. He was born in 1950 and this song made him enlist in the Coast Guard to avoid getting drafted to Vietnam where he had older friends dying. WILD that much of this song still applies to current events
I was also 11 when I first heard this. It was devastating to have the world come into focus like this at that age. It was at that age that I was starting to see that was going on in the world. My world was my neighborhood. Then the TV and radio ripped my world apart. I observed what war was, what discrimination meant, how hate changed everything.
Sadly this is just as revelant today as it was back in the 60s. One of the saddest lines " hate your next door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace ". I'm 70 and remember it all so well.
Back during the Viet Nam War(conflict) our boys were being drafted at 18 years old but the voting age was 21 years old.It wasn't changed until 1971. Barry was a folk singer who did solo work.He used to sing with a group called The new Christy Minstrels.His unique voice has made him very recognizable. This song hit a nerve with us all back in the day. Unfortunately, it is still relevant.
Dude, this was in the 1960's and early 70's. We were listening to this song and many other similar songs in college dorm rooms, waiting for our draft notices from Uncle Sam. They did not give us a choice of fighting or not fighting. They just involuntarily drafted your backside to fight their war. Many of us fled to Canada, many just left the country until the draft ended. I and two buddies joined the U.S. Air Force to avoid the automatic draft into the Army or Marines and then straight to the rice paddies of Viet Nam. Muhammed Ali the greatest boxer ever and toughest man in the world (to us teenage U.S. males), came out and Said that "He would not fight in an unjust war". That gave us the courage to tell our father's and the U.S. administration that "Hell No, we will not Fight". I took the easy way out, and joined the Air Force and repaired all the avionics in the FB-111 fighter -bomber, for the four years of my enlistment. I never left the U.S. in my enlistment and never had to fight. At least I did not get a deferrment and join the National Guard like rich boys, Presidents Clinton and Bush Jr. - The retired redneck accountant
Barry McGuire is like an Old testament prophet! Interesting dialogue on a song that was written in 19685! I met Barry McGuire, a cool dude, loved surfing and enjoying life but saw the world when he travelled! You mention the metrics on poverty but hey look at the Ukraine, and Gaza (Vietnam and still the ME, respectively). On the poverty issue, Human slavery has increased 10 fold since the 60s! People are still poor, women in Africa still have to walk on average 5kms to collect firewood so they can cook a meal. And I won't talk about safe drinking water and sanitation! This song is a prophetic utterance for us in 2024!
Crying because it is so true today. The line when will we ever learn. Sixty years later I don't having a whole lotta hope at the moment. 😥😥😥 All we have learn is more effective way of war.
1965 was the year my father went to war for the third time. As a child seeing the wounded and deceased on the news every night it felt like it could easily become the eve of our family’s destruction. Praise God he came home safe, but there were so many who lost their fathers.
This was not communist propaganda. It speaks to the fear we lived under during the Cold War / Vietnam War era when WW3 and nuclear war felt like it could’ve broken out at any minute. I was 8 years old and it scared the bejeezus out of me and still does.
This was one of the most influential songs of the 60s. This song became one of my all-time favorites the moment I heard it. And the song that Tour of Duty started with was The Rolling Stones's song Paint it Black. That was a great series.
I'm 77. Lived through this and see how it really never gets better. During the Vietnam War era I felt I would never have children to bring them into this terrible world. I finally relented and had a child at 43 and now have a 3 yr old grandchild and feel the world I am about to leave is as bad as I thought. Hope I'm wrong, good luck to the young.
Imagine growing up with this madness going on in the world daily. I was in elementary school in the 1960s. I can’t recall a time in my childhood when the evening news didn’t open with the casualty report from Vietnam.
When the Wall went down in Germany in 1989 (and Germany got reunited), and the USSR disintegrated and so to speak the Cold War ended, a while later I was in a small meeting with a guy from the german foreign ministry (I am german). He told us that the great threat of the Cold War had phased out all the other, smaller conflicts that are existing partly since centuries. He said that his department see the potential of 140 conflicts all over the world that now might come up again. Imagine how many conflicts we had since 1989...
The Cold War had one advantage: It was clear that if it ever broke out, when one side started it, it was guaranteed that BOTH sides would be annihilated. And so both sides knew they could not go too far.
One of my earliest memories is the mention on the news every night of the number of casualties in Viet Nam that day. So many memories of the protests, the fear of atomic war. I remember this song. I saw Barry McGuire at a church event sometime in the late 70's, about the time he released Cosmic Cowboy. He still had a lot to say about the threat of nuclear war at that time. He's recorded several updated versions of the song.
1965 during Vietnam The Jordan river is the border of Israel. It's the river they're talking about when they chant "from the river to the sea", and yes there are bodies floating. This song is just as timely today as it was sixty years go. Sad how little things have changed. This is the reality of what was going on in the world when we Boomers were kids and teens-it's impossible to explain the 60s to millennials but this song comes close. And we ALL knew the words, turns out I still do
Barry is still with us at 88 and he lives near me. He was a folk singer and lead of the New Christy Minstrels and the Mamas and Papas sang background for him on his second album. This song pops up every few years and everyone is amazed it is from the sixties because it seems so present. He also mentions China in the lyrics.
There were quite a few songs made in the 60's, protesting war, civil rights and such that are still relevant today. You won't find songs of today that will last the test of time like music from the 60's.
If you were going to illustrate to someone today the turbulence of the '60s by a song, this would be it. You had to be there. (You were dead right about the "denial" message.) BTW, I'm a member of the "Fly the friendly skies of Vietnam" club. Sitting behind an M-60 was my office for a year. Hueys in flight is a vibe.
This was a Vietnam War protest song. Remember it well. Didn't stop me. Ten days after I graduated from high school I was in Army basic training at the end of the Vietnam era in 1974.
It was indeed Tour of Duty, and the song was Paint it Black, by the Rolling Stones. There were several compilation albums released with music from the series, I have several, somewhere. Around the same time, IIRC as it's been a while, there was also China Beach. This was when "The Big Three' - The USA, China and the USSR (might still have been the CCCP?) were the three major nuclear powers, and each considered the others as a deadly threat to their very existence! This was just a couple of years after "the stand-off when it was discovered that the USSR has managed to land nuclear missiles on Cuba, as Castro was a (Soviet) Communist who was aided by them. It came within seconds of a full-on war breaking out, with nuclear weapons, and if one Soviet submarine commander had followed his mission orders, it would have, even after Khrushchev backed down. You should look up the meaning of the MAD acronym - Mutually Assured Destruction - and what it REALLY meant. I do recall, sometime in the late sixties/early seventies, very serious men estimating the probability of a MAD "nuclear war" within 10 years as being almost unavoidable. Perhaps you can do "In The Year 2525" next? And I STRONGLY recommend the movie "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" - it's a VERY black satire that cuts VERY close to the bone as far as attitudes were in the sixties (and before)!
Learning from history is critical. Keep digging in! I think he's saying that the world at that time (1960s) is a massive mess: war abroad, segregation and hate at home- sure we can go to the moon, but when we get back we still have the same problems. The Jordan river is important because Christ Himself was baptized there. And when this was written, there was war and violence in the middle east (1967 war with Syria etc) and there may well have been casualties floating in that water. The same problems are still killing us. This is a classic, but it makes me so sad that it is still relevant today.
Having grown up in the 50s and 60s, doing air raid drills in grade school, then the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK among others, once the Berlin wall came down I thought the world was finally going to be a better place. So naive of me. 😢
Barry and I first crossed paths in 1973 in Denver. I got to hang with him on a ten-day concert tour. I tell you what, Barry has a knack for tuning into what people are about. This song was huge back in the day (mid-60s) and its resilience over the years is testimony to its well-crafted lyrics and those monster vocals. Barry's performance history goes back past Mamas and Papas days. He's still kickin' it and even "updated" the lyrics of Eve about 2010: ua-cam.com/video/SDkcbipclDQ/v-deo.html (Barry was about 75 when he sang this. Same powerhouse vocals as ever.)
Another cue for the era: shades of Bob Dylan "going" electric around 1965. Dead give aways: the harmonica licks, the groaning, off pitch, sing-talk delivery of the vocal, the witty, rhyming, heady poetry of the lyrics, all remind me of listening to Dylan singing "Rolling Stone" and this song on the jukebox while I played pinball in the burger shop across from the high school near our house.
74 years old. This tune just reinforced me to join the Navy, "SEABEES". Plus the Navy recruiters in our Union hall every meeting night. Got me. 1970 -- 1975. 6 months later. Coming back home in Oct. 1973. The war ended in February.
I'm an Army brat, just 30 years ahead of you. We were in Okinawa not too long after this came out. The local and only English radio station was Armed Forces Radio. This song was banned on that station because it was the height of the Viet Nam conflict. My dad did 2 tours in Viet Nam. Later I learned that my career Navy husband also did one tour in country, too. Most of the young men I dated were on their way to, or had just returned from, Viet Nam.
Since Vietnam (possibly even Korea) the U.S. economy has required conflict(s) somewhere in the world. The economy is literally based on war, which is incredibly profitable.
when this came out, I was in 4th grade. I remember atomic bomb drills. "Quick, quick kids get under your desks and cover your heads." Like that was going to help.
Brings back fond memories, I was 14, somebody had that record, we played it all the time. Try Zager and Evans In the year 2525., same period, similar message, still relevant and nice song.
When will we ever learn. In war it's the innocents that suffer the most. Why can't we learn to support and help eachother. We are still on the eve of destruction. The ones that could push the button are ok,they will make sure of that.the innocents suffer.
Interestingly, if the song hadn't ended up in the hands of Barry McGuire and, instead, had been recorded by the singer/songwriter who wrote it, it never would have been a hit and would never have become the classic it is today. The writer, P. F. Sloan, just didn't have the vocal power to grab your attention and make you stop and listen. He did record it (it's on youtube) but it came off more like a kumbaya folk song rather than a dire warning that somebody should have been preaching at the top of their voice from the rooftops.
From what I remember Barry spent a good amount of time in the studio trying to record this, but the sound just wasn't right. Story tells that he stayed out all night and went to the studio by himself in the early morning and he recorded Eve of Destruction. By himself he was free to express all the raw angst and sadness that the lyrics demanded.
Great reaction as always. I’ve loved this song since I was a kid in the 70s, when we still hadn’t quite shaken off the turbulence of the 60s and were still feeling the sentiments. The song absolutely is intended to be a wake up call to those denying that things are bad and getting worse all the time, but I also agree that’s a matter of perspective. Hope springs eternal, and I want to have hope. It’s just hard when there are people out there willing to commit atrocities in the name of God, country, or ideology. The media loves to keep it front and center so that we lose sight of the good things we do have in this life. It also doesn’t help when our elected officials continually fund the conflicts overseas with our taxes.
Truly a song for our times - and all times... "They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace." - Calgacus about the Roman Empire, AD 84.
BRO, Just recently hearing that a telephone company who sells service plans to customers, has in the fine print of the agreement or contract, that the company retains the right to pursue any customer who is guilty of "hate speech" and will terminate and legally prosecute said customer. In addition they are disclosing that all conversations will be monitored. THANK YOU! BTW: Love the song and both of your reactions! Barry McGuire is still around and still retains his ability to sing. He has a revised version to fit the times we live in.
@@korybeavers6528 I think that it's a "head's up" for ANY customer that has a mobile phone that will track you; identifies your location and listens to conversations. When I gave out a personal transaction number, why did my phone keep and store that?
Art does affect society -- in this one it was the line 'you're old enough to kill, but not for voting'. The voting age (and the drinking age) was soon lowered to the draft age.
During the 1960s, both Congress and the state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering the voting age. The slogan traced its roots to World War II, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the military draft age to 18. In 1963, the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation, in its report to President Johnson, encouraged lowering the voting age. Johnson proposed an immediate national grant of the right to vote to 18-year-olds on May 29, 1968.
Haven't heard this song in a long time. I was 7 when this came out and I still remember all of the words. Listening again made me smile and cry at the same time. If you haven't listened to Zager and Evan's 2525 and Country Joe McDonald (from Woodstock) Fish Cheer - give those a try.
Army daughter who grew up helping my diesel mechanic dad work on cars in the big wooen shop on two and a half acres. The guys who needed to work on a rig came to our place. I first heard this song really loud on someones 8 track during a barbecue. I have tought my son a lot of good old songs and what and why they said the story in music.
The Jorden river is in the Holy Land, it's mentioned in the bible over 185 times. That's why it's promonant in this song. It's about our behavior never changes & the end may be near. "The eastern world it is exploden".. It's true now as then. And centuries before that.
Barry was originally with the popular folk singers The New Christie Minstrels. We shared a hospital room in '63 when I broke my arm and he was in a car accident
@@carlmoore2220 You are correct, I was imprecise. I was referring to the Hot portion of the war before the cease fire/armisist. But the Vietnam war did not start in the 50's. It was still a different war. I was looking at a site that shows three proposed dates for the start of the war. The first was when the OSS sent in Deer Team to help against the JAPANESE on 16 MAY 1945. But that was the ending period of WW2. The second was 8 JUL 1959 when two advisors were killed by war was not declared then or before then. The third was 7 AUG 1964 when Congress signed a joint resolution empowering President Johnson to take any necessary measures to defend U.S. allies in S.E. Asia. That was the closest we came to a Declaration of War.
This was a huge hit when it came out in '65. History repeats itself, and we don't seem to change. I think it's in human nature and we will never stop war or violence because someone will always have something that others want, be it land, money and/or keep others from sharing in it.
In 1963, McGuire, along with Randy Sparks (founder of The New Christy Minstrels), co-wrote and sang lead vocal on the Christys' first and biggest hit single: "Green, Green". He left the Christys in January 1965, after recording the album Cowboys and Indians, although on the 1965 album Chim Chim Cher-ee, McGuire sang on the title cut. H went solo and did PF Sloan's song Eve of Destruction and it became a big hit, all the lyrics were relevant to what was happening in the world, pointing out the hypocrisies of our world back then. it is sad to know that nothing much has changed [I'm 67]...and this song is pretty much relevant today.
The one line when he says " when the button is pushed there's no running away" he's talking about all out nuclear world war. We all new there would be no winner, too many nuclear bombs on both sides, Fact. As a fourth grader when this came out we were practicing hiding under our desk in case there was a nuclear bomb coming near us. This song and the way he sings it scares the hell out of me.
There are two other songs that match this one... blow for fucking blow. Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be televised" Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On "
This song came out in 1965, and was quite frightening at the time. Vietnam was just ramping up, the early days of the ant-war movement were starting on college campuses, there was continuing conflict about civil rights, and my generation had grown up with fear of atomic war. This song dealt with all that.
Right On !✌
The tune was also blacklisted by many U.S. radio stations at the time...
Remember the drills at school when they had us kneel under our desks for atomic bomb drills, pretty comical now. I miss the 60's and 70's.
@@davidgross990 yes, I do.
With you there bro. I'm still alive, having lived thru those years 😢😢
The guy who wrote this song was 19 when he penned it. P. F. Sloan. He died 9 years ago.
I’m almost 70 and this song was from 1965 and I feel like nothing changed.😢
At 70, I was in the last draft lottery in 72, that was some fukkked up sh!t for a high school senior
Because nothing has ed, "When will they & we ever learn?"
I'm afraid it's more relevant today than ever.🤔
I’m 70 too. My 19 yr old cousin died there. He was a medic & he knew he was going to die. He lasted less than 2 weeks…😔💔
Oh, it has changed. It's gotten worse. And I'm older than you.
I was 12 years old when I first heard this. 58 years later here we still are. Beyond sad.
The difference today is weak, corrupt leadership.
As far as I can see it, we’re witnessing the fall of Rome in real time. I don’t know how we can recover from this.
Same here.
Born in 1953, I agree. Song is "Prophetic"!
I was a senior in highschool
In case no one has mentioned it, the voting age when this was released was 21, though you could be drafted into the armed services or volunteer at age 18, to explain the line that says "...you're old enough to kill, but not for votin'." It was 1965, the Viet Nam war was in full escalation, and at home the civil rights movement was being opposed with violence.
Plus, old enough to serve in the military, but not to buy a beer. They could be killed and kill, but no beer!
Also, of course, the draft still existed. Young men were fated to go to war unless very lucky (in the lottery style draw) or very gifted scholastically or very well endowed with a wealthy family.
Ah, yes! Our good old days were more often than not, not so good. Belief in the Catholic Christian God keeps me going.
@@dashasl2582 Ahh, like the orange crusted blatherskite who paid to have a doctor say that he had bone spurs.
Back then you could join at 17 which I did 1 month after I turned 17. Looking back I wasn’t very smart just poor.
This is Barry's one and only number 1 hit it happened in1965 and when the Mamas and Papas moved to LA they moved in with him and he had them meet his producer and more history was made.
He was also known as the singing bouncer.
"Eve of Destruction" is a protest song written by P. F. Sloan in mid-1965. Several artists have recorded it, but the most popular recording was by Barry McGuire. Love your reactions... thanks for bringing this. OBTW, Barry became a Christian and produced a number of Contemporary Christian albums in the 70s & 80s.
It's good when someone remembers the amazingly prolific writer of this masterpiece. I say that as someone who thinks Barry McGuire done an amazing job of singing it! for me it is THE greatest anti war/protest song of them all & there were some brilliant & sadly much forgotten efforts, many at the time banned from the air waves by various politicians, rather upset that their most potent tool of office (Patriotism) was being questioned.
Listen to The Universal Soldier by Donovan or. Buffy St Marie
😊
The only thing that will change us and I mean humans is an actual Alian world invasion as crazy as that soinds...
@@HunterFrederick-i8nAnd "Handsome Johnny" by Richie Havens, the greatest anti war song ever.
Another great song like this is "I was only 19" by Redgum. It's a song about the typical Australian soldiers experience in Vietnam. From training, combat, ptsd, and after effects of exposure to Agent Orange
Legendary song that I loved since I was a kid when my dad first introduced it to me when I was 11. He was born in 1950 and this song made him enlist in the Coast Guard to avoid getting drafted to Vietnam where he had older friends dying. WILD that much of this song still applies to current events
I was also 11 when I first heard this. It was devastating to have the world come into focus like this at that age. It was at that age that I was starting to see that was going on in the world. My world was my neighborhood. Then the TV and radio ripped my world apart. I observed what war was, what discrimination meant, how hate changed everything.
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
A lot of Coast Guard guys were sent to Vietnam.
Barry McGuire is a real person and this is a real protest song
Sadly this is just as revelant today as it was back in the 60s. One of the saddest lines " hate your next door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace ". I'm 70 and remember it all so well.
This was such a beautiful song… I’ve never heard it before! ❤ It’s sad to see it’s still so relevant today!
Even more so today…
very sad
60 years later, Israel is still a mess.
You never heard it before, WOW ,really? You must be a child!
Back during the Viet Nam War(conflict) our boys were being drafted at 18 years old but the voting age was 21 years old.It wasn't changed until 1971. Barry was a folk singer who did solo work.He used to sing with a group called The new Christy Minstrels.His unique voice has made him very recognizable. This song hit a nerve with us all back in the day. Unfortunately, it is still relevant.
I had albums by yhe New Christy Minstrels.
War is PROFITABLE....never forget that
Listen to Dylan’s “Masters of War”
without war, the US economy would tank... big-time.
That's the biggest problem. It's no worth doing if one can't make money at it.
Only politicians and wealthy make the money.
THIS IS THE MESSAGE!!! And they are naking more money EVERY DAY
Dude, this was in the 1960's and early 70's. We were listening to this song and many other similar songs in college dorm rooms, waiting for our draft notices from Uncle Sam.
They did not give us a choice of fighting or not fighting. They just involuntarily drafted your backside to fight their war.
Many of us fled to Canada, many just left the country until the draft ended. I and two buddies joined the U.S. Air Force to avoid the automatic draft into the Army or Marines and then straight to the rice paddies of Viet Nam.
Muhammed Ali the greatest boxer ever and toughest man in the world (to us teenage U.S. males), came out and Said that "He would not fight in an unjust war". That gave us the courage to tell our father's and the U.S. administration that "Hell No, we will not Fight". I took the easy way out, and joined the Air Force and repaired all the avionics in the FB-111 fighter -bomber, for the four years of my enlistment. I never left the U.S. in my enlistment and never had to fight.
At least I did not get a deferrment and join the National Guard like rich boys, Presidents Clinton and Bush Jr.
- The retired redneck accountant
If you notice, at first, Barry starts out, for lack of a better term, calm. Then as he progresses, he sounds angrier and angrier and more intense.
And so we should all be with human behaviour the way it is.
Barry McGuire is like an Old testament prophet! Interesting dialogue on a song that was written in 19685! I met Barry McGuire, a cool dude, loved surfing and enjoying life but saw the world when he travelled! You mention the metrics on poverty but hey look at the Ukraine, and Gaza (Vietnam and still the ME, respectively). On the poverty issue, Human slavery has increased 10 fold since the 60s! People are still poor, women in Africa still have to walk on average 5kms to collect firewood so they can cook a meal. And I won't talk about safe drinking water and sanitation! This song is a prophetic utterance for us in 2024!
Was pertinent in the 60's and is still pertinent today. Timeless song.
Most relevant line for today. "you can hate your neighbor, but don't forget to say grace".
This song is protesting the Vietnam war. My husband served two tours in Vietnam. He was fortunate to come home while over 58,000 did not.
true love
My dad did SIX TOURS in Vietnam!
thank you. I send my best juju vibes and prayers.
Crying because it is so true today. The line when will we ever learn. Sixty years later I don't having a whole lotta hope at the moment. 😥😥😥
All we have learn is more effective way of war.
1965 was the year my father went to war for the third time. As a child seeing the wounded and deceased on the news every night it felt like it could easily become the eve of our family’s destruction. Praise God he came home safe, but there were so many who lost their fathers.
This was not communist propaganda. It speaks to the fear we lived under during the Cold War / Vietnam War era when WW3 and nuclear war felt like it could’ve broken out at any minute. I was 8 years old and it scared the bejeezus out of me and still does.
This was one of the most influential songs of the 60s. This song became one of my all-time favorites the moment I heard it. And the song that Tour of Duty started with was The Rolling Stones's song Paint it Black. That was a great series.
I remember this from when it came out, and hadn't thought about it for years. The more things change - the more they stay the same :(
I'm 77. Lived through this and see how it really never gets better. During the Vietnam War era I felt I would never have children to bring them into this terrible world. I finally relented and had a child at 43 and now have a 3 yr old grandchild and feel the world I am about to leave is as bad as I thought. Hope I'm wrong, good luck to the young.
If we don't learn of our mistakes of the past we are bound to repeat our errors.
Imagine growing up with this madness going on in the world daily. I was in elementary school in the 1960s. I can’t recall a time in my childhood when the evening news didn’t open with the casualty report from Vietnam.
When the Wall went down in Germany in 1989 (and Germany got reunited), and the USSR disintegrated and so to speak the Cold War ended, a while later I was in a small meeting with a guy from the german foreign ministry (I am german).
He told us that the great threat of the Cold War had phased out all the other, smaller conflicts that are existing partly since centuries.
He said that his department see the potential of 140 conflicts all over the world that now might come up again.
Imagine how many conflicts we had since 1989...
The Cold War had one advantage: It was clear that if it ever broke out, when one side started it, it was guaranteed that BOTH sides would be annihilated. And so both sides knew they could not go too far.
You're right. (Grafenwohr Training Area) 1983-1987
My 84 year old mom has had this on repeat lately.
One of my earliest memories is the mention on the news every night of the number of casualties in Viet Nam that day. So many memories of the protests, the fear of atomic war. I remember this song. I saw Barry McGuire at a church event sometime in the late 70's, about the time he released Cosmic Cowboy. He still had a lot to say about the threat of nuclear war at that time. He's recorded several updated versions of the song.
So much truth in this song... "hate your neighbor, but don't forget to say grace".
1965 during Vietnam The Jordan river is the border of Israel. It's the river they're talking about when they chant "from the river to the sea", and yes there are bodies floating. This song is just as timely today as it was sixty years go. Sad how little things have changed. This is the reality of what was going on in the world when we Boomers were kids and teens-it's impossible to explain the 60s to millennials but this song comes close. And we ALL knew the words, turns out I still do
The Screaming Jets do an excellent cover of this...worth a listen
I remember as a child during the Viet-Nam war, crying when I heard this song. It truly hurt.
Barry is still with us at 88 and he lives near me. He was a folk singer and lead of the New Christy Minstrels and the Mamas and Papas sang background for him on his second album. This song pops up every few years and everyone is amazed it is from the sixties because it seems so present. He also mentions China in the lyrics.
There were quite a few songs made in the 60's, protesting war, civil rights and such that are still relevant today. You won't find songs of today that will last the test of time like music from the 60's.
The theme song to the tv show Tour of Duty was The Rolling Stones Paint It Black. That was a great show.
If you were going to illustrate to someone today the turbulence of the '60s by a song, this would be it. You had to be there. (You were dead right about the "denial" message.) BTW, I'm a member of the "Fly the friendly skies of Vietnam" club. Sitting behind an M-60 was my office for a year. Hueys in flight is a vibe.
This was a Vietnam War protest song. Remember it well. Didn't stop me. Ten days after I graduated from high school I was in Army basic training at the end of the Vietnam era in 1974.
This song has been making me cry for over 50 years 😭💔
I am a 68 year old year old. Same now, Today. Maybe 50 years from now too.
This song amazingly still applies today ! It’s just one of the greatest songs ever. I love it. !!
It was indeed Tour of Duty, and the song was Paint it Black, by the Rolling Stones. There were several compilation albums released with music from the series, I have several, somewhere.
Around the same time, IIRC as it's been a while, there was also China Beach.
This was when "The Big Three' - The USA, China and the USSR (might still have been the CCCP?) were the three major nuclear powers, and each considered the others as a deadly threat to their very existence!
This was just a couple of years after "the stand-off when it was discovered that the USSR has managed to land nuclear missiles on Cuba, as Castro was a (Soviet) Communist who was aided by them.
It came within seconds of a full-on war breaking out, with nuclear weapons, and if one Soviet submarine commander had followed his mission orders, it would have, even after Khrushchev backed down.
You should look up the meaning of the MAD acronym - Mutually Assured Destruction - and what it REALLY meant.
I do recall, sometime in the late sixties/early seventies, very serious men estimating the probability of a MAD "nuclear war" within 10 years as being almost unavoidable.
Perhaps you can do "In The Year 2525" next?
And I STRONGLY recommend the movie "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" - it's a VERY black satire that cuts VERY close to the bone as far as attitudes were in the sixties (and before)!
Thus was a favorite of mine in 65!
THIS SONG CREATED AN INTERNATIONAL SESATION. MCGUIRE LATER JOINED THE JESUS PEOPLE MOVEMENT. AND HAS BEEN A SINGING EVANGELIST EVER SINCE
Learning from history is critical. Keep digging in!
I think he's saying that the world at that time (1960s) is a massive mess: war abroad, segregation and hate at home- sure we can go to the moon, but when we get back we still have the same problems. The Jordan river is important because Christ Himself was baptized there. And when this was written, there was war and violence in the middle east (1967 war with Syria etc) and there may well have been casualties floating in that water. The same problems are still killing us.
This is a classic, but it makes me so sad that it is still relevant today.
Having grown up in the 50s and 60s, doing air raid drills in grade school, then the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK among others, once the Berlin wall came down I thought the world was finally going to be a better place. So naive of me. 😢
Barry and I first crossed paths in 1973 in Denver. I got to hang with him on a ten-day concert tour. I tell you what, Barry has a knack for tuning into what people are about. This song was huge back in the day (mid-60s) and its resilience over the years is testimony to its well-crafted lyrics and those monster vocals.
Barry's performance history goes back past Mamas and Papas days.
He's still kickin' it and even "updated" the lyrics of Eve about 2010: ua-cam.com/video/SDkcbipclDQ/v-deo.html (Barry was about 75 when he sang this. Same powerhouse vocals as ever.)
Another cue for the era: shades of Bob Dylan "going" electric around 1965. Dead give aways: the harmonica licks, the groaning, off pitch, sing-talk delivery of the vocal, the witty, rhyming, heady poetry of the lyrics, all remind me of listening to Dylan singing "Rolling Stone" and this song on the jukebox while I played pinball in the burger shop across from the high school near our house.
Great song, brilliant analysis. Thank you for being transparent and open.
Mash was set during the Korean War.
I love this song - I’m loving you playing these old songs that I haven’t heard in ages 💜
74 years old. This tune just reinforced me to join the Navy, "SEABEES". Plus the Navy recruiters in our Union hall every meeting night.
Got me. 1970 -- 1975. 6 months later. Coming back home in Oct. 1973. The war ended in February.
The old yet very truthful written lines... " IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES" VERY FITTING TODAY.
I'm an Army brat, just 30 years ahead of you. We were in Okinawa not too long after this came out. The local and only English radio station was Armed Forces Radio. This song was banned on that station because it was the height of the Viet Nam conflict. My dad did 2 tours in Viet Nam. Later I learned that my career Navy husband also did one tour in country, too. Most of the young men I dated were on their way to, or had just returned from, Viet Nam.
Since Vietnam (possibly even Korea) the U.S. economy has required conflict(s) somewhere in the world. The economy is literally based on war, which is incredibly profitable.
Yeah this was one of the sounds of my childhood. I remember it well. The really sad thing about it is that nothing has changed.
Barry was a part of the New Christy Minstrels, a decidedly folk group of the early-to-mid 1960’s. The song came out in 1965.
But NOT by The Minstrels! He was solo by then. This song shook everybody up who heard it.
when this came out, I was in 4th grade. I remember atomic bomb drills. "Quick, quick kids get under your desks and cover your heads." Like that was going to help.
“When you see the flash, Duck and cover.” Since kindergarten now my grandchildren are drilling for shooters . 🥺
Ding ding ding ding ding!!!! You got it! The bells went off!
Yes...We were effing SERIOUS in that era!
LOL the world/time didn't begin at YOUR birth.
This is how REAL it was in rhe 60's. So many more layers of denial since then.
Brings back fond memories, I was 14, somebody had that record, we played it all the time.
Try Zager and Evans In the year 2525., same period, similar message, still relevant and nice song.
When will we ever learn. In war it's the innocents that suffer the most. Why can't we learn to support and help eachother. We are still on the eve of destruction. The ones that could push the button are ok,they will make sure of that.the innocents suffer.
Interestingly, if the song hadn't ended up in the hands of Barry McGuire and, instead, had been recorded by the singer/songwriter who wrote it, it never would have been a hit and would never have become the classic it is today. The writer, P. F. Sloan, just didn't have the vocal power to grab your attention and make you stop and listen. He did record it (it's on youtube) but it came off more like a kumbaya folk song rather than a dire warning that somebody should have been preaching at the top of their voice from the rooftops.
From what I remember Barry spent a good amount of time in the studio trying to record this, but the sound just wasn't right. Story tells that he stayed out all night and went to the studio by himself in the early morning and he recorded Eve of Destruction. By himself he was free to express all the raw angst and sadness that the lyrics demanded.
Great reaction as always. I’ve loved this song since I was a kid in the 70s, when we still hadn’t quite shaken off the turbulence of the 60s and were still feeling the sentiments. The song absolutely is intended to be a wake up call to those denying that things are bad and getting worse all the time, but I also agree that’s a matter of perspective. Hope springs eternal, and I want to have hope. It’s just hard when there are people out there willing to commit atrocities in the name of God, country, or ideology. The media loves to keep it front and center so that we lose sight of the good things we do have in this life. It also doesn’t help when our elected officials continually fund the conflicts overseas with our taxes.
This goes on and on. I am 73 and grew up during this time, but today is far worse. I worry for America.
He's saying,"Here we go again!!!
Truly a song for our times - and all times...
"They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace." - Calgacus about the Roman Empire, AD 84.
Just discovered this song! Relevant as ever
BRO, Just recently hearing that a telephone company who sells service plans to customers, has in the fine print of the agreement or contract, that the company retains the right to pursue any customer who is guilty of "hate speech" and will terminate and legally prosecute said customer.
In addition they are disclosing that all conversations will be monitored.
THANK YOU!
BTW: Love the song and both of your reactions! Barry McGuire is still around and still retains his ability to sing. He has a revised version to fit the times we live in.
So you want to send hate speech?
@@korybeavers6528 I think that it's a "head's up" for ANY customer that has a mobile phone that will track you; identifies your location and listens to conversations.
When I gave out a personal transaction number, why did my phone keep and store that?
It's a warning from history. Sadly, "the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history".
Art does affect society -- in this one it was the line 'you're old enough to kill, but not for voting'. The voting age (and the drinking age) was soon lowered to the draft age.
M.A.S.H. was the Korean War. This song was about the Vietnam war.
Why do you think our generation went to “peace love and dope”.
Check out Country Joe at Woodstock The Vietnam Song
This song and video made me CRY!!! Human beings must put an END to WAR or WAR will put an END to MANKIND!!!
During the 1960s, both Congress and the state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering the voting age. The slogan traced its roots to World War II, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the military draft age to 18.
In 1963, the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation, in its report to President Johnson, encouraged lowering the voting age. Johnson proposed an immediate national grant of the right to vote to 18-year-olds on May 29, 1968.
Seminal protest song, rock music and Vietnam, civil rights. Famous song.
I was a kid when this came out in the 60's and I went on peace marches with my parents.
And still we deal with this scenario repeatedly. What is wrong with us? Hope for a bettter future always. Love Mr P and Don 💚💚💚💚
Barry McGuire used to be in a folk group called the New Christy Minstrels. This is what he did after leaving that group.
Haven't heard this song in a long time. I was 7 when this came out and I still remember all of the words. Listening again made me smile and cry at the same time. If you haven't listened to Zager and Evan's 2525 and Country Joe McDonald (from Woodstock) Fish Cheer - give those a try.
the opening was the middle east, heading to Viet Nam
Army daughter who grew up helping my diesel mechanic dad work on cars in the big wooen shop on two and a half acres. The guys who needed to work on a rig came to our place. I first heard this song really loud on someones 8 track during a barbecue. I have tought my son a lot of good old songs and what and why they said the story in music.
Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to save Grace. Fast forward 60 years later and nothing changes. We never learn from our mistakes.
As a veteran of that war we related to the content I met Barry in 88 we had a great conversation about the war and the songs impact ❤ what you do
MASH took place during the Korean War not Vietnam.
A great protest song from back in the day.😎
History repeats itself.
The Jorden river is in the Holy Land, it's mentioned in the bible over 185 times. That's why it's promonant in this song. It's about our behavior never changes & the end may be near.
"The eastern world it is exploden".. It's true now as then. And centuries before that.
Barry was originally with the popular folk singers The New Christie Minstrels. We shared a hospital room in '63 when I broke my arm and he was in a car accident
Tour Of duty song you're referring to is the Rolling stones-Paint It Black.
Vietnam era had some awesome songs. Humans dont change😢
Vietnam war ended in 1975, i was 14 draft age was 18.the war had been going since 1955
The war in the 50's was the Korean War. Totally different war in the same region.
@@Glittersword Vietnam war November 1 1955 till April 30 1975, Korean war June 25 1950 to now Still technically going.
@@carlmoore2220 You are correct, I was imprecise. I was referring to the Hot portion of the war before the cease fire/armisist.
But the Vietnam war did not start in the 50's. It was still a different war.
I was looking at a site that shows three proposed dates for the start of the war. The first was when the OSS sent in Deer Team to help against the JAPANESE on 16 MAY 1945. But that was the ending period of WW2. The second was 8 JUL 1959 when two advisors were killed by war was not declared then or before then. The third was 7 AUG 1964 when Congress signed a joint resolution empowering President Johnson to take any necessary measures to defend U.S. allies in S.E. Asia. That was the closest we came to a Declaration of War.
This was a huge hit when it came out in '65. History repeats itself, and we don't seem to change. I think it's in human nature and we will never stop war or violence because someone will always have something that others want, be it land, money and/or keep others from sharing in it.
In 1963, McGuire, along with Randy Sparks (founder of The New Christy Minstrels), co-wrote and sang lead vocal on the Christys' first and biggest hit single: "Green, Green". He left the Christys in January 1965, after recording the album Cowboys and Indians, although on the 1965 album Chim Chim Cher-ee, McGuire sang on the title cut. H went solo and did PF Sloan's song Eve of Destruction and it became a big hit, all the lyrics were relevant to what was happening in the world, pointing out the hypocrisies of our world back then. it is sad to know that nothing much has changed [I'm 67]...and this song is pretty much relevant today.
The one line when he says " when the button is pushed there's no running away" he's talking about all out nuclear world war. We all new there would be no winner, too many nuclear bombs on both sides, Fact. As a fourth grader when this came out we were practicing hiding under our desk in case there was a nuclear bomb coming near us. This song and the way he sings it scares the hell out of me.
There are two other songs that match this one... blow for fucking blow.
Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be televised"
Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On
"