![]() ![]() ![]() Young volunteers who faithfully “worked within the system” for Kennedy and McCarthy were outraged that the party machine nominated the uninspiring Hubert Humphrey and rejected the peace plank - ignoring the fact that 80 percent of primary voters had voted for an antiwar candidate. The only viable peace candidate was assassinated. Related: “The Top 10 Protest Songs of the 1960s” Oblivious to the seething anger felt by young men who couldn’t vote but were forced to be cannon fodder in an unjust and unwinnable war, the establishment dismissed protestors as naïve, spoiled, and rude. How did it come to this?”Īccording to activist Tom Hayden, founder of Students for a Democratic Society, there was a realization in late 1967 that “the establishment does not listen to public opinion” and that “available channels have been tried and discovered meaningless.” The body count was escalating along with the war. It made me uneasy to see real violence like that.” Nobody understood how this could be happening in our country. A young female fan, age twelve at the time, recalls, “My parents were watching it, saying how awful it was. The violence on the streets outside the Democratic convention was a sharp contrast to the “love” vibe of the previous summer. Radicalized older fans and other observers on the left found the song simplistic and naive, especially in light of growing opposition to the Vietnam war falling on deaf ears, and the excessive use of force just used against protestors on the streets of Chicago. Though no “real solutions” were offered, this trusted and beloved commentator told them it’s going to be “all right.” A female fan, fourteen at the time, liked “Revolution” because “it was the first Beatle record in a long time that you could dance to.”įans just a few years older heard a Beatle song that juxtaposed words from social studies class with the admonition to “free your mind.” Teenagers tried to find meaning in Lennon’s musings, just as they tried to understand the events of 1968. ![]() Preteens and young teenagers heard a good rock and roll song and didn’t think about the lyrics. Lennon had been watching the violent events of 1968 from the banks of the Ganges, and now it was time to say something. But “Revolution” was the band’s first song that directly responded to world events. When asked by a reporter in 1966 if the Beatles were going to do any antiwar songs, John flippantly said all Beatle songs were antiwar songs - and certainly that case could be made given the recurring themes of love and reason in their music. Click here to purchase your very own copy of Leonard’s Beatleness. This particular passage looks at how fans and critics alike responded to the Beatles song “Revolution” - which was released at the same time as antiwar protestors were gathering at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. It’s often been said, “The Beatles changed everything,” but Leonard’s Beatleness, based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews, examines how they did. ![]() The following excerpt is from Candy Leonard’s Beatleness: How the Beatles and Their Fans Remade the World, a sociological book on how the Fab Four phenomenon impacted the decade of the 1960s. ![]()
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