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Singer/Songwriter
I'm a middle-aged white boy, a refugee from the suburbs of Long Island, NY, living in upstate NY since 1967. Primarily a song writer, most of the tunes I write are in the Blues genre. I write pop, swing, country, jazz, children's and political songs too.
Song Info
Genre
Charts
#6,469 today
Peak #136
#2,762 in subgenre
Peak #49
Author
John Witter
Rights
2005
Uploaded
March 12, 2005
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.2 MB • 128 kbps • 0:00
Story behind the song
Two things inspired me to write this song. In January of this year I got an email from Gaye Adegbalola. If you don’t know who Gaye is, she’s an incredible Singer, Musician, Songwriter, Teacher and member of Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women. She is one of my Sheroes, my Teacher, and Mentor. I suggest you check out her website: http://adegbalola.com/ and the Saffire site: http://www.uppityblueswomen.com/. If you have never heard them, you need to get to their website and purchase some of their CD’s post haste, or know that you are, as Sondheim wrote, “depraved on account of being deprived.” “Live and Uppity” is a great CD to start with.
Here is an excerpt from Gaye's email:
• A LOVE STORY -- in the Face of Hate
This film by my partner, Suzanne Moe was debuted before an SRO audience in December. It has received the hoped for response and it will be screened at Equality Virginia's Lobby Day. This story received a full page+ article in Sunday's paper. To get an understanding of the extent of the oppression of this law and its impact on Barbara & Tibby, please visit the site below. (Also, there's a mighty cute photo of Suzanne!)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/012005/01092005/1627908
Ok. If you have digested that, the other part is that the original idea also came from Suzanne. I was having dinner with Gaye & Suzanne during last summer’s 2004 Blues Week at Augusta Heritage. I was trying to induce them to come and visit us in New Paltz and said, half joking, that she and Gaye could get married while they were here, too. Suzanne said, “What good is a piece of paper if it doesn’t mean anything?” That, I said to myself, is a hook, and tucked it away. I later came up with “What good is the Constitution if it don’t apply to me.” I wrote a verse that included Suzanne, Gaye and George Bush, but scrapped it when I read about Suzanne’s film. The DVD has been released, and you can order it from Suzanne's website, http://www.sumoe.com . You can also see some her terriffic artwork as well. It is a wonderful, touching, heart felt video. See it.
Here are some footnotes for the curious:
Quatie ‘Betsy’ Ross, wife of John Ross, Chief of the Cherokee, died on the Trail of Tears outside of Little Rock, Arkansas in 1839.
On December 5, 1942, at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, a scuffle broke out between internees over the arrest of fellow internees. U.S. Military police fired shots into the crowd hitting nineteen year old American born, Jimmy Ito, in the back, killing him as he ran from the melee.
Elizabeth Eckford was one of the Little Rock Nine. She arrived at school first and alone, the only one to take the bus. Her family did not have a phone and so they did not get the message that all nine were to meet at the Bates home, and go together with an escort.
President Jackson defied the Federal Courts and sent troops to remove the Cherokee when the courts determined they had the right to live where they were because of U.S. treaty agreements. President Eisenhower, on the other hand (a Republican!), sent soldiers to Little Rock to protect the students.
Lyrics
IF IT DON'T APPLY TO ME
Long before the birth of Francis Scott Key,
There lived a free people in the land of the free.
But in 1838, President Jackson
Sent troops and marched the Cherokee from their homeland.
Thousands died from starvation, cold, and disease,
Including the Chief’s wife, a savage. Was she?
Quatie gave her only blanket to a freezing child,
Caught pneumonia and perished on the road to exile.
And the Cherokee cried,
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply, does not apply?
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply to me?
More than five thousand came from across the nation
On the eve of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.
As they marched passed the Capitol to make their plea,
They were spit on and beaten right in Washington D.C.
We arrested, jailed them, even force fed them.
Must have been brave men. No, they were all women.
Committed, outspoken, courageous and wise,
Our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, and wives.
And the Suffragettes cried,
How can we sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply, does not apply?
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply to me?
Was early ‘42 F.D.R. signed it,
Executive Order Nine-Zero-Six-Six.
We ‘removed’ Jimmy’s neighbors, and his family,
For the crime that their ancestors were Japanese.
One Hundred twenty thousand for ‘Relocation’,
Said it must be done for the safety of the nation.
Though his family and neighbors had always lived here,
There Manzanar Camp they all lived in fear.
And Jimmy Ito cried,
How can we sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply, does not apply?
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply to me?
Elizabeth Eckford will always remember
1957, the fourth of September.
She was trying to get into Little Rock High School,
When a mob of white folk began treating her cruel.
Called her names, ripped her clothes, and threatened to lynch her.
Said, “No nigger’s ever gonna live and go to school here.”
Her parents ran and held her when they heard her scream.
Said, “It’s all right, baby, just another bad dream.”
And Elizabeth cried,
How can we sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply, does not apply?
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply to me?
Forty years they went to church, paid taxes, raised a family.
Just wanted to grow old together in their community.
Now, you need to hear their “Love Story in the Face of Hate,”
And speak you heart, Virginia, before it’s too late.
Yes, eighty years we tried to stop the Suffragettes.
Some we tried to scare away with violence and threats.
Some left their homes at the point of a gun,
But for Barbara and Tibby, it was House Bill 751.
And I cry,
How can we sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply, does not apply?
How can you sing about the land of the free
If it does not apply to Barbara and Tibby?
Tell me, how can free apply to you
If it does not apply, does not apply?
Yes, how can free apply to you
If it don’t apply to me?
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