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The Day America Died (Cf: American Pie)

by Zettel 

Posted: 12 March 2019
Word Count: 859
Summary: The original was about the death of Buddy Holly. I wanted my adaptation to capture something with the same tone


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Content Warning
This piece and/or subsequent comments may contain strong language.


The Day America Died

A long long time ago
I can still remember that young leader with the golden smile
and I know if I had my way
that I'd go back to yesterday
and maybe we'd trust someone once again
but Nixon's lies made us shiver
with every vote that we'd deliver
his abuse of office
Forever robbed us of trust
I do remember good men cried
when they first heard JFK had died
and something touched us deep inside
the day America died.

So bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died.
what a good day 'cos he died.

Did he write the book of love
we know he had faith in God above
if the bible tells you so
we do believe in rock and roll
that music saves our mortal soul.
but can you teach me how to weep real slow?
Well I know we were in love with him
Cos since he died all the world's gone dim.
We lost our faith that day
man our trust just bled right away
Now I'm a stupid adult voting schmuck
conned by politicians who don't give a fuck
but we know we need more than luck
cos true America died.
I started singin'……………

bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died
what a good day 'cos he died

Now for decades we've been on our own
our disbelief and our doubting grown
but that's not how it used to be
George the jester sings for corporate greed
ignorance that would make John's heart bleed
angry cries that come from you and me.
Oh and while the law was looking down
the jester stole the leader's crown
The courtroom was adjourned
no verdict was returned
and while Georgie read his comic books
Don and Dick played at being crooks
And we are angry being rooked
Since true America died.
We were singin…..

Bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died
what a good day 'cos he died 

Helter skelter in a desert shelter
we all dusted off our fall out shelters
Eight miles high the bombers flew
killing men they never knew.
Shock and Awe the evil branded name
with the jester hiding guilty from the game.
we have won the war he cried out loud
while weeping children formed a crowd
brave men and women fought hard
but they never had a chance
as invaders they were in the wrong.
these native sons won't sing our song 
and JFK knew right from wrong 
but then America died
We started singin'……….

bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died
what a good day 'cos he died

And there we are in the wrong place
a generation lost in space
and no heart left to start again.
So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
the jester is a venal prick
cos power is the devil's only friend
and as we watch him on the stage
our hands are clenched in fists of rage
no angel born in hell could break this Satan's spell
and as the flames climb high
in Baghdad's night to light the sacrificial rite
we see Satan laughing with delight
because America died
He is singin'…………

bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died.
what a good day 'cos he died.

I met a ghost who sang the blues
and I asked him for some happy news
but he just wept and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
where we'd heard the real truth years before 
but the ghost there said that old truth didn't play
and in the streets the children screamed.
the lovers cried but poets didnt dream
honest words were not spoken
the church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most
the Father Son and the Holy Ghost
they'd caught the last train for the coast
the day America died.
And they were singin'…….

So bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died.
what a good day 'cos he died.

They were singin'
bye bye, true America died
then we buried our illusions
under cold earth they lie
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
singin' what a good day 'cos he died.
what a good day 'cos he died.






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Comments by other Members



James Graham at 22:13 on 13 March 2019  Report this post
I’ve found the lyrics of ‘American Pie’, and as soon as I’ve time I’ll find the song and listen to it. (I don’t actually know it!) If later you post ‘Universal Trader’, it will be easier for me as I have it on my well-loved Buffy Sainte-Marie CD. Comment will follow.
 
James.
 

James Graham at 17:24 on 14 March 2019  Report this post
I see you've posted 'Universal Trader' and I'm already impressed. Enthusiastic comments soon - 'The Day America Died' first.

James.

James Graham at 22:33 on 14 March 2019  Report this post
Hello Zettel – Well, I’ve listened to ‘American Pie’, as sung by Bob Dylan. I listened with your lyrics on screen at the same time, and as far as I can tell not only do they fit the music but the feeling they express is very much in accord with the powerful feeling in the original. Your political references (e.g. ‘Nixon's lies made us shiver’ – didn’t they just!) are not at all out of place. Also ‘Don’ (Rumsfeld of the ‘unknown unknowns’, I assume) and ‘Dick’ (Cheney) who ‘played at being crooks’ – very apt. These are clever little barbs which illustrate how contemptible some later politicians were in comparison with Kennedy. I suppose part of your challenge was to introduce a political element which we don’t expect to find in the original, without losing touch with the spirit of the original. In that I think you’ve succeeded admirably. You maintain that simplicity which you yourself stressed as being an essential attribute of a good song – especially, for me, in the lines about the Iraq war:
 
Eight miles high the bombers flew
killing men they never knew.
Shock and Awe the evil branded name
with the jester hiding guilty from the game.
we have won the war he cried out loud
while weeping children formed a crowd
brave men and women fought hard
but they never had a chance
as invaders they were in the wrong.
 
This is all about the human cost of the war, both to Iraqis and to Americans. The language is simple and the message is clear. (At the same time there are satirical details – ‘Shock and Awe’ as a brand name is chilling.) But the overall impression is of simplicity and strong feeling.
 
Just briefly, I’d like to single out your neat adaptation of the good old boys ‘drinking whiskey and rye’:
 
them good 'ole boys were smilin' guns by their side
 
And still no serious attempt to bring in civilised gun laws!
 
Regarding JFK, it can be said there are two sides to everything, and everyone. Involved as I am in Amnesty International, I’ve read the history of human rights, and one episode – the infamous Cuban Missiles Crisis – doesn’t reflect too well on him. Kennedy organised a fleet of gunboats, crewed by US sailors and Cuban exiles, which made very destructive attacks on the Cuban coast, killing thousands. Khruschchev’s decision to put missiles on Cuba wasn’t unprovoked. Then, after negotiations, Khruschchev agreed to withdraw the missiles on condition that the US stop attacking Cuba. But within three or four days the attacks began again. Bad faith, JFK! However, Kennedy did an enormous amount of good – in welfare and social security, civil rights for African Americans, and much more – in such a short time. Your song is still true. I imagine liberal Americans (not benighted Trump voters) would agree that the history of White House politics since JFK has often been a sorry tale.
 
I look forward to hearing ‘Universal Soldier’ again, with your ‘Trader’ before me as I listen!
 
James.

Zettel at 03:09 on 16 March 2019  Report this post
Thanks for the comments James.

On Kennedy: the Bay of Pigs debacle was soon acknowledged by all, including Kennedy, as misconceived. It happened early in Kennedy's Presidency and I suspect as a young President the immensely powerful Military establishment lay behind the exercise.  One might reasonably speculate that Kennedy learned from this and when the more acute Cuban Missile crisis hit Kennedy was much more sceptical about his military advice.  There are very instructive actual tapes of some of the discussions about options in that crisis that were shown in the excellent if chilling documentary film The Fog Of War about Robert Macnamara. Here one sees that JFK was under constant pressure from his military advisors to take an implacably belligerent attitude to Kruschev. Advised and supported by brother Robert, the two formed a strong alliance to resist the gung ho attitudes of the Pentagon and depite constant pressure from them stuck to a patient strategy of diplomacy. In a key moment. the US military, frustrated by the Kennedy brothers' resistance to beliigerence provoked a response from the Russians/Cubans by flying into their airspace and eliciting a military response.  As the tapes fascinatingly show JFK constantly refused to be bumped into a knee jerk military response and as history shows, thank goodness, diplomacy averted the crisis in the end. So paradoxically the disaster of the Bay of Pigs may well have strengthened Kennedy's resolve not to allow the Pentagon paranoia to hi-jack foreign policy. It is almost certain that Kennedy knew that the military 'advisors' in Vietnam were being dragged into mission creep and were much more actively involved in the conflict there than was in their brief. But it is a tantalising thought that with his well-founded scepticism of the military lobby, had he survived Kennedy might have prevented the disastrous, military led expansion of the Vietnam War.

Generous? Perhaps. But in a world where it is hard to imagine trusting any politician to at least try to do the 'right thing' for its own sake, it is tempting to believe that a man of JFK's intellectual stature, political maturity and proven willingness to take the rational, diplomatic path instead of knee-jerk military belligerence might have produced a better outcome than the more simplistic LBJ (whatever LBJ's great strengths in getting important Civil Rights legislation through Congress). Mere intelligence and maturity givens one some confidence that Kennedy wouldn't have gone anywhere near the utterly dispreputable, manufactured conflictin Iraq. (On this I highly recommend the recent film VICE about the unspeakable Dick Cheney)

 

James Graham at 22:34 on 16 March 2019  Report this post
Thank you for your reply. Mea culpa, I set the political debate going. It’s interesting, though. The following is based on the gospel according to Noam Chomsky, who is partisan to say the least, but he makes these points:
 
1. Early in JFK’s administration the US set up nuclear missile bases in Turkey – as close to the USSR as Cuba was to the US. As you say, but Chomsky doesn’t, this may have been the initiative of Cold War ‘hawks’ in the Pentagon, not JFK himself.
 
2. There was a detailed plan – Operation Mongoose – for an invasion of Cuba on a much larger scale than that which led to the Bay of Pigs. Castro believed it was imminent and requested Soviet support. Chomsky admits that Krushchev’s action was unforgivably irresponsible, but argues it was not unprovoked. Again, this provocation may attributable not to JFK, but to the military.
 
3. Soon after the Soviet missiles were withdrawn – with JFK’s agreement that attacks on Cuba would end – a Cuban factory was bombed, killing 400.
 
Nevertheless Kennedy may emerge from all this in a reasonable light. It may well be that the more ‘hawkish’ military, knowing his predilection towards peaceful resolution of issues, and not trusting him, decided to escalate the Cold War in defiance of him. It takes time even for a strong President to get control of such a situation. Such democratic ‘checks and balances’ would not be understood by Krushchev.
 
Enough – from me, at any rate. I hope my comment on your song lyrics was satisfactory, and I will return to my proper Write Words duties with ‘Universal Trader’ very soon. (I don’t mean by that that the political discussion is at an end, so please reply if you wish.)
 
James.


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