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Memorial Day

May 25, 2009

I had a pretty good Memorial Day blog all ready to upload then goddamn Windows crashed and I lost it. It was the second "serious error" crash today, after an uneventful month, so another Big Crash may be coming. The error messages were, as usual, contradictory: the first one said it was a hardware problem, the second one said it was RAM. Windows Memory Diagnostics, also as usual, turned up nothing amiss, so I've checked my backups and am hoping for the best.

Anyway, I wrote about my ambivalence about the day: love the smell of woodsmoke and barbecue, don't like the hard-eyed, pursed-mouth glare that some people give you when you wonder if everyone who died in battle really died for freedom, and maybe some of those who died for freedom didn't die in battle, like Elijah Lovejoy, and Albert Parsons, and Joe Hill, and James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. I'd like Memorial Day better if we set aside a day to honor them too -- on such a day we could each make a point to do something that upholds the Bill of Rights.

The World War II veterans, of whom my father was one, are dying off, and with every subsequent war the connection between the actions of the U.S. military and freedom becomes more and more tenuous. Which probably means that the eyes will get harder and the mouths more pursed, as generally happens when doubt slithers into the foundation. Memorial Day, and Veterans Day too, honor conformity as much as they honor freedom.

When Windows crashed I was making a list of songs to sing on Memorial Day. Here it is. It's not exhaustive, but if you know a song that should be here, send it in and I'll add it. I made an arbitrary decision to include only one song per songwriter, mainly because otherwise half the songs would be by Ochs or Dylan, but you'll notice Pete Seeger is in there twice. When you get to be 90, you're entitled, and besides, didn't I say I was being arbitrary?

"A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over."
     Joe Hill

Songs for Memorial Day

Universal Soldier (Buffy Ste. Marie)
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (Pete Seeger)
Dancing at Whitsun
Bonny Light Horseman
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
Barrett's Privateers (Stan Rogers)
Orphans (Anne Hills)
Sam Stone (John Prine)
Penny Evans (Steve Goodman)
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (Pete Seeger)
The Marines Have Landed on the Shores of Santo Domingo (Phil Ochs)
Patriot Game (Dominic Behan)
Masters of War (Bob Dylan)
Small Rebellion (James Keelaghan)
Two Good Arms (Charlie King)
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle)
Christmas in the Trenches (John McCutcheon)
Mothers, Daughters, Wives (Judy Small)
The Merry Minuet (They're Rioting in Africa) (Sheldon Harnick)
So Long, Mom (Tom Lehrer)

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