Song picture
Running for the Gold
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social commentary
acoustic folk social commentary political satire western massachusetts oil coal climate change fracking incineration music for social change nuclear energy
Folk singer, social commentary, satire, people's stories, children's music
Hi Folks, The Bard Insurgent here. My comrade D.O. (the Poet Roofer) and I got that handle (The Bard Insurgents) from traveling town to town performing songs and poetry about people's lives. I've been performing since I was 3 years old, cutting my vocal chords on liturgical and classical music. I was a concert soloist as a child, when I wasn't herding cows, throwing hay and shoveling manure. During the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war, I began writing songs about social change. I left the country in 1970 and my dozen years in other countries, mostly in Africa & South America, have provided a global perspective to my music. My travels helped me realize that people all around the world are essentially the same in their basic life needs and their desires to live peacefully in their communities. These experiences have informed my commitment to working for international understanding as I organize at home. A powerful way to educate and inspire is with music. I tell people's stories, do social commentary with a touch of satire that I hope you enjoy and share with your friends, as well as sing together in the streets and in your living rooms. I also have children's music written for the children in my life with Jacob and Kayla as primary muses. Looking forward to seeing you on the road, Tom
Song Info
Genre
Country Americana
Charts
Peak #11
Peak in subgenre #1
Author
Tom Neilson
Rights
Tom Neilson
Uploaded
June 19, 2011
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.7 MB 128 kbps 4:02
Story behind the song
Tom was invited by the Southern Anti-Racism Network to perform at an anti-racism gathering in Durham as a response to a white supremacist organization organizing in NC. He wrote Running For The Gold for that event.
Lyrics
He was a sharecropper’s son. He was the midnight express. When he was young his mother took a kitchen knife & cut a tumor from his chest He Went to Columbus for the Buckeyes to run & study at their school Then punched his tix in 36 to run where Nazis rule Slavery Avery told the world Jesse shouldn’t go Better he should stay at home in service to Jim Crow But Jesse knew not to do everything he was told He tied the laces on his shoes and went running for the gold. Hitler said he’d never shake a Black man’s hand & FDR didn’t call or even send a telegram Well he could run with whites in Germany, But not in Alabam Could ride up front on a Berlin train, but not in Texarkan Could eat with whites in Picadilly, but not in Caroline, Go to a show with whites in Paris, but not below the line. Brown shirts, black guards, & grey green waves 7 military miles long Jesse said he ran with the strength of his feet & the courage in his lungs In the Summer of 36 he was the fastest we ever saw By December he was a sideshow racing Julio Macaw. Now Mac Robinson won silver, but when he came back home All they gave him was a broom that he could call his own. But he paved the way for Jackie, for Hank and Willie, too & all of us keep pavin that road for me & you. Slavery Avery told the world Jesse shouldn’t go Better he should stay at home in service to Jim Crow But Jesse knew not to do everything he was told He tied the laces on his shoes and went running for the gold.
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