"Someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away" suggests something to us today that would not have been understood in 1955.
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has given the world a further reason to be wary of atomic energy. The Trio's reference to "a mushroom-shaped cloud" is a testament to the period in which the song was written - a scant decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki - but since March 11 we have yet another way to think about nuclear disasters. Republicans hate the left Democrats hate the right and Tea Partiers? Well, they don't like anybody very much! I like to think of these lines as a general statement about politics, as applicable to U.S. Hatred among French, Germans, Italians, Yugoslavs and others is not news nor especially unique. War is now being waged in Libya as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan, of course. Governments have been overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt and major reforms extracted from governments from Morocco to Yemen. More than a dozen North African and Middle Eastern countries have seen popular uprisings in the last three months.
What nature doesn't do to us, will be done by our fellow man.Ĭonsider the prescience of Sheldon Harnick's little ditty. They're rioting in Africa, there's strife in Iran. Someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away. Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.īut we can be tranquil, and thankful, and proud,įor man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.Īnd we know for certain that some lovely day The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles. The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. There's hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain. They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain. In some ways it is dated, but in other ways it is as current as the headlines coming from North Africa, the Middle East and Japan. In fact, the Trio is scheduled to perform at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, ME, on May 21 (see for details).įans will remember the song. People of a certain age will remember the Kingston Trio, which is still touring, albeit without any of the group's original members. You can look it up if you want to see the group or hear the song performed. Several versions of the song can be found on YouTube, including one recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1981. See also JASCD 716 and JASCD 212.More than 50 years ago, three folk musicians working as the Kingston Trio recorded a ballad ironically called the "Merry Minuet," which was written by Sheldon Harnick in 1955.
#The kingston trio the merry minuet full#
This set includes full sleevenotes and chart history and is an essential for fans of the genre. The Kingston Trio transcended the negative idea of Folk music and gave major record labels the impetus to sign up many of the next wave of big Folk acts. Four original million selling LPs on 2 CDs by the trio who took Folk music out of the clubs and onto the university campuses and stages of America and defined Folk Music in the late '50s and early '60s.įeatures many of their hit singles such as: 'Tom Dooley' and their version 'Sloop John B' which was later revived by the Beach Boys.
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