American Folk Revival

The American Folk Revival was significant episode in American Music History. It saw the rise of Bob Dylan and lay the groundwork for the rock culture later. At the same time it's also significant among Chinese rock communities. Many rockers in underground China hold copies of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg's poems and pirated CDs of Dylan, their strength sometimes drawing from the spirit of the folk revival.

In that regard, I have posted 2 essays I wrote on the American Folk Revival for a class. They illustrate the interactions between Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music and the American society at the time.

You'll find them here:

American Folk and the Cold War era

American Folk, Materialism, and the Fringe

A Look at the American Folk Revival 2

This essay explores how Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Songs interact with the political climate of the day.

(Un-)American Folk Songs

War never ended. As soon as Japan signed its treaty of surrender, the Cold War was rolling on the way. Iron Curtain dropped overnight across the center of Europe, and a mist of Red Scare permeated across America. The House Un-American Activities Committee became a standing committee in 1945, and politicians such Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon used it as a platform to advance their careers. Utilizing the public fear of communists, McCarthy built a solid popular support and power in the government. Many authors and artists saw through the tactic and attacked the practice. But in order not to fall victim of the Red Scare, they had to hide their comments under a guise of normal literature. For example, Arthur Miller’s Crucible posed as a historical drama but in effect compared Communist accusations to superstitious Salem witch hunts. Similarly, “it was no accident that Anthology [of American Folk Music] was issued in 1952, at the height of [McCarthyism]” (Marcus, 92): in his selection of folk songs for the Anthology, Harry Smith laid a subtle criticism of the rampant McCarthyism in songs that allegorically expose its regime of fear.

The opening ballad “Henry Lee” immediately establishes a mood of doubt and anarchy. It tells a tale of “SCORNING OFFER OF COSTLY TRAPPINGS, BIRD REFUSES AID TO KNIGHT THROWN IN WELL BY LADY” (Smith, (1)). It started as a chivalric tale when the Knight refused to stay with a lady, saying “the girl I have in that merry green land/I love far better than thee.” Suddenly the parable turned awry. The girl leaned against a fence and “With a little pen knife held in her hand/She plugged him through and through.” Then rest of the song finished in a dark exchange between the girl and the bird who saw the entire murder, in which the former first goaded then threatened the latter with violence. The rhyming, simple structure of the verses, the light, repeating guitar line, and the easygoing, invariant voice contrasted with the grotesque happening produce a lawless feel to the song, as if murder and betrayal and breach of trust occurred every day. A casual listener would leave this conclusion in the medieval European setting; a careful listener would realize that this mood perversely surrounds the McCarthy America. In this America, threats were easier than warning of violence; the mere suggestion of name-calling sufficed. There was the mood of distrust among Americans, just as there was between the bird and the lady. Those who saw the corruption of McCarthyism could not speak out for the fear of being indicted by it. Thus begins the Anthology’s map to America: an overground path of a folk music collection and an underground path of allegories and metaphors criticizing the suspicion between people and McCarthyists’ taking advantage of them.

Some of Smith’s songs tell stories from individual viewpoints. In “Fishing Blues,” Henry Thomas sings about:

WENT ON HILL 12 O’CLOCK; GOT POLE. WENT TO HARDWARE; GOT HOOK, PUT LINE ON HOOK. LOOK DOWN RIVER, ONE O’CLOCK, SPIED CATFISH, GOT HUNGRY, GOING TO CATCH CATFISH. PUT ON SKILLET, LID, COOK SHORTNING BREAD. YOU BEEN FISHING ALL TIME, I’M GOING FISHING TOO. BET LIFE, LOVING WIFE, CATCH MORE THAN YOU. ANY FISH BITE, I’M GOING FISHING TOO. (Smith, (84))

The guitar tune immediately gives off a cheerful aura, which runs through the enthusiastic vocal and the whistling. Even the topic of fishing is so idyllic that at a first listen, this song only seems to radiate glee. Yet, fishing, as mentioned by Smith, is a rare topic of American folk music. He even noted that he doesn’t have any references for the “fishing” lines (Smith, (84)). That Harry Smith included such an unconventional piece in this Anthology is grounds to look for other interpretations. The buoyant tone suddenly turns twisted when we consider the song against the Red Scare background: it takes the perspective of an American Anti-Communist, “bet[ting] life, loving wife,” competing with another for capturing more spies. He “got hungry, [and was] going to catch catfish” as if whether a spy exists is irrelevant to whether he wants to catch one. Even more scarily, he asserts “Here’s a little somethin’ I would like to relate./ Any fish bite, [if] you’ve got good bait” (Smith, (84), record) --- no matter who it is, the Anti-Communists may set one up as a spy and destroy his or her life. This parallel seems to point at the controversy around Alger Hiss, and the prominent Red Spy Hunters like Richard Nixon and McCarthy at the time, who built their reputation and support through exploiting Communist fears and swinging names at their opponents. Such contrast between the lighthearted surface and this allegorical interpretation casts an extremely negative light upon the advocates of McCarthyism.

“Feather Bed” tells the other side of the hunt. This story is narrated from a black man’s perspective. The Civil War had made his living condition better, and he openly embraced his newfound freedom (“over the road I’m bound to go”). Yet as he tried to leave, he was first distracted when he heard “[his] baby cry.” Then a policeman “grab[bed]” him, accusing him of stealing a jacket. He ran loose to find the thief and caught him in Courtsquare. Yet nevertheless he was still indicted of “stealing first degree” (Smith, (72)). Even though the Civil War happened almost 80 years ago, the story seems naturally to apply to the 1950’s America. The World War II lifted the United States out of the miseries of the Depression and onto the center of the world stage as an economic and political superpower (just as the Civil War emancipated all slaves and recognized them as a legitimate social force, no long properties). Yet before the citizens had the time to enjoy relief and freedom, the Red Scare imposed an oppression of fear (just as even Civil War could not eradicate the racism that led, for example, the court to charge the protagonist with thievery). Many people were accused of Un-American activities or even spying for the Communists, but most of them were innocent as the Black man in the story. Being called in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee often meant being placed on a blacklist and denied employment by companies. They were used as stepping stones by the Anti-Communists such as Nixon and McCarthy on their rise to popularity. This song thus sings the opposite perspective of “Fishing Blues.”

In another song, Ommie Wise, whose name the title bears, lured by the promise of “money and other fine things,” goes to Adams Spring with John Lewis. But he takes her in a boat and rows to the center of the spring, tells her about his lies, and drowns her (Smith, (13)). On the surface, the song, structured as a generic parable, seems to warn against greed. The “[archaic] combination of voice and violin” (Smith, (13)) further throws the song back in time, as if it’s a product of the 18^th century, even though the recording was made in 1927. Yet on a closer analysis, one sees that this story may just as well happen in 1950, for it mentions no fact that connects it to 18^th century. When applied against the background of the Red Scare, one can make it out as an allegory of America’s downfall. America, immersed in mass consumption of products and greedy advances in material comforts, resembles Ommie Wise. When promised a way out of the internal Communist threat by McCarthy, played by John Lewis in this song, America hanged on to him as they hanged on to their properties. But just as Ommie Wise is murdered by John Lewis, America may be drowned by the oppressive chaos imposed by McCarthyism. The obscure sense of time and the micro- and macro- perspectives on the different sides of allegory compares such a national problem to a personal parable, a contemporary issue to a historical tale. This effect gives confidence to a solution, as a personal problem is easier to solve than a national problem. It also begs them to think of the McCarthyist regime from a detached point of view one would use to view history, in order to separate themselves from the materialism and evaluate the situation objectively. Thus Smith’s selection of “Ommie Wise” signifies his warning of McCarthyism and materialism going out of control.

Finally, in “Drunkard’s Special,” a drunk man comes home and finds a new mule in his stable. He asks his wife about it, and she answers it’s a milk cow. He then wonders how does a milk cow have a saddle. The second night he comes home, he finds a coat on his coat rack. Again he asks his wife, and she answers it’s a bed quilt. He then wonders how can a bed quilt have pockets. The third night he comes home, he finds a “head on the pillow.” He asks his wife, and she answers it’s a cabbage head. He then wonders how can a cabbage head have hair (Smith, (4), record). The entire episode at first seems like a humorous jest at drunkards as it seems to describe the drunkard’s illusions. The wobbly, skeletal guitar playing and the dragging voice drench the scene in a drunken hallucination. The drunkard confuses mule with milk cow, coat with bed quilt, and head with cabbage, and even after his wife’s explanation he still cannot understand. Even the words of his wife are unreliable as they are told through his intoxicated mind. Thus the song paints a scene in which the drunkard bumbles through his home, misconstruing what he sees and hears, raising humorous questions and thoughts. But what if the drunkard is not as drunk as “he can be”? Then suddenly the narrative depicts a scheming wife who takes advantage of her husband’s drinking habit to have an affair right under his eyes. On the first night, he finds the mule of his wife’s lover in his stable; on the second, his coat; on the third, the lover himself in his bed. The evidences escalate in strength and suggestive quality: the mule only signifies the lover’s presence in the vicinity of the house; the coat suggests he’s in the house; finally the man himself is an undeniable proof that the drunkard’s wife has committed adultery. The entire song becomes an urgent warning when we interpret this as an allegory of the McCarthy America. Americans, drunk in a stupor of immense material wealth and communist fears, first found the government to establish the House Un-American Activities Committee and similar Senate committees. They raised the suspicion of them, but were retorted “to protect against Communist spies.” That was reason enough for the people to back off as they desperately held on to their material gains. Next, they found prominent people, like Charlie Chaplin and Pete Seeger, and ordinary men and women called before the HUAC, and many professional lives destroyed because nobody wanted to associate with a person whose loyalty was questioned. The populace started to more seriously question the validity of HUAC, but was again pacified by the slogan of anti-communism. Finally, they found men of the likes of McCarthy riding on the power of fear at the top of the government. The failure of the drunkard to recognize his wife’s trickery despite his suspicions does not show Smith’s pessimism at the people’s ability to dismantle the oppression. Rather, as the release of the Anthology coincides with the height of McCarthyism, it is more likely Smith’s warning that America may slip into a dictatorship of fear. On the other hand, the first interpretation of the story (a jest at drunkards) satirizes America’s inability to see through the materialism at the reality of the situation. Thoughts and actions became incoherent when Americans placed the unnecessary material comfort as an essentiality of their lives. Thus they could only see the anti-communism but not the infringement of their rights of speech in the government’s policies, just as the drunkard’s muddled consciousness sees a milk cow with a saddle, a bed quilt with pockets, and a cabbage head with hair. Hence the doublesided-ness of the story, depending on one’s interpretation of the drunkard’s sobriety, not only layers (and hides) Smith’s criticisms but also effectively amplifies them.

By laying these songs in the context of McCarthyism, one immediately sees the allegorical criticism toward it. Even though these songs were not written by Smith, his selection of them indicated his ill opinion of McCarthyism. On the other hand, the fact that these songs originated in early America or even medieval Europe gives a sense of history to the subject of McCarthyism. Contrary to what Marcus believes this device does, that “it would dispel the myth of history as progress” (102), I believe Smith expressed more hope in his countrymen, comparing the 1950s to the age-old folk tales to point out how far we have come from ancient history, and how far we can pull beyond the tyranny of McCarthyism. Thus his criticisms only exposed the ugly body of the regime of fear, but did not encourage a pessimism toward such an America. He wished that such disillusionment could promote Americans to look beyond the Red Scare and materialism to strive for a better American society.

Work Cited

Marcus, Greil. "The Old Weird America." The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. New York, NY: Picador, 2001. 87-126. Print.

Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music. NYC: Folkway Records, 1952. Print.

A Look at the American Folk Revival 1

This is something I wrote for a class on modern American sound/music movements. This piece concerns itself with Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, which started the whole Folk Revival in 1950s and 1960s.

I wrote another essay exploring how the anthology is related to the cold war sentiments of the time. You'll find it in the next post.

Anthology: A Conversation

The American generation of youth growing up during 1910s and 20s experienced the overwhelming richness and power of the United States, towering over the Old World and indeed every other country on the globe at the end of the exhaustive World War I. They were disillusioned with the excessive materialism of the newfound American culture, and many of them left US for France or Britain. They were known as the Lost Generation. The materialism they escaped from gave rise to commercialized, mass-produced records. When Ralph Peer at the end of WWI on accident discovered the “hillbilly” and “race” market, folk music for the first time appeared in history as a substantial identity. When Depression befell America, however, it also buried folk music. Only until 1952 did someone named Harry Smith recover this Lost Generation of songs in the form of the Anthology of American Folk Music. It sent shock waves through the postwar generation, who had again been enveloped in the all-consuming mainstream culture. The Anthology initiated a conversation between the “strange” culture of folk music and the mainstream, between self and society, and between self and true self, that led many to question again the lifestyle and morality of their age, as did the Lost Generation 40 years ago.

Perhaps because Folk Music had not been noticed enough before, or because this time they were presented in a centralized, collective format, Harry Smith caught the people of 1950s by surprise. The songs told bizarre mythologies of murders, cheatings, prayers, and punishments, and the singers sounded as old as these myths with their shaky voices and archaic dialects. The stories pieced together an “Old, Weird America” as Greil Marcus calls it, “a mystical body of the republic, a kind of public secret” (125). What did these singers want to tell us? From the depth of obscure, they seem to communicate to the 20^th century urbanites from the abyss of 17^th or 18^th; some even referred to them as “Elizabethan” (Marcus 115). Smith’s newspaper headline description mystically encapsulated the content of each song. The opening ballad “Henry Lee” tells a tale of “SCORNING OFFER OF COSTLY TRAPPINGS, BIRD REFUSES AID TO KNIGHT THROWN IN WELL BY LADY” (Smith, (1)). Tearing aside the shroud that seemed to cover this song, one found oneself in medieval Europe. It started as a chivalric tale when the Knight refused to stay with a lady, saying “the girl I have in that merry green land/I love far better than thee.” Suddenly the parable turned awry. The girl leaned against a fence and “With a little pen knife held in her hand/She plugged him through and through.” Then rest of the song finished in a dark exchange between the girl and the bird who saw the entire murder, in which the former first goaded then threatened the latter with violence. The rhyming, simple structure of the verses, the light, repeating guitar line, and the easygoing, invariant voice contrasted with the grotesque happening produce a lawless feel to it, as if murder and betrayal and breach of trust occurred every day. Indeed, the selections that followed illustrated how a woman lured and killed a child, how a baby drowned in a sinking ship, how a woman defeated a devil, how a father found his daughter’s body. The overwhelming amount of violence in this anthology juxtaposed with the lyrical singing style seemed not to describe medieval Europe, but the newborn America and the explorations of the West. These folk memes seemed to carry with them the reason why they survived the chaotic times of Colonial America and Western Exploration. That Smith noted under “Henry Lee” that the song came from Britain but probably hadn’t been sung there for over a hundred years, while it was current in many American countrysides, only makes this hypothesis more possible: Britain through its industrialization and invention of social institution such as the police force stabilized anarchic elements long ago, while Americans was just trekking through the jungles and deserts of the West in a lawless race to the finish. Thus what the folk musician’s “strange culture” conveyed to the mainstream was “the old free America” of Rexroth (Marcus, 89) --- not the Puritan idealistic “free[dom],” nor the transcendentalists’ romantic retelling of the Western “free[dom],” but the disillusioned lawless “free[dom]” of the frontiersmen inferred in the Anthology. The fringe began the conversation with the center by penetrating and tearing apart the self-righteousness that drew a glorious picture of its past and obligated itself to spread Democracy around the world. This Lost Generation of music, once revived, faced the drenching sense of materialism and national arrogance rather than fleeing from it, as the Lost Generation had done. Harry Smith had built a bridge of communication between these two cultures through Anthology, as “for the first time, people from isolated, scorned, forgotten, disdained communities and cultures had the chance to speak to each other and to the nation at large” (Marcus, 120). These are only the first words, the first notes, and the first songs of the conversation.

The people reacted. All of a sudden, “where no [folk] scene had existed before, one came into being” (von Schmidt, Rooney). The Anthology had quickly sowed its seeds, which sprouted overnight. By word of mouth, it became the topic of conversation in colleges, and one thing led to another, someone started collecting folk CDs like Smith, others took up instrument and sang:

An uncle had given someone a ukulele; someone else heard a record somewhere; something came out of the radio one day and caught someone’s ear; an older brother brought some records home from college. Each incident led each person to want to find out a little bit more. Maybe get an instrument or some more records. Get together with a friend or two and find out where to hear some more music like that. Share new information with each other. Have you heard Pete Seeger? Do you know where I can get some “folk” records? I heard this guy named Hank Williams. It’s called hillbilly music. Wait ‘til you hear this! It’s the “San Francisco Bay Blue.” (von Schmidt)

The dialogue between cultures fractionalized into dialogues between individuals. Slowly, these dialogues submitted the mainstream to the raw revelatory power of the Anthology. A coffeehouse folk culture emerged, in which folk artists showcased their musical abilities like the jazz bands at the time or the rock bands of today, and they would trade tunes with other folk enthusiasts. A famous coffeehouse Tulla’s in Cambridge Square boasted the likes of Joan Baez and Eric von Schmidt, and another nearby, Club 47, transitioned from a jazz coffeehouse to a folk coffeehouse. These coffeehouses were the foundations upon which the folk music grew among the mainstream culture. Soon, musicians started developing their own tapes, to which the Anthology was “a backdrop…, [and] more deeply,… a version of them” (Marcus, 88). As Pete Seeger asserted:

We believe in the idea that the average man and woman can make his own music, in this machine age. It doesn’t all have to come out of a loudspeaker. You can make it yourself, whether you want to shout or croon, sing sweet or rough. And it can be your own music. And when I say your own – music of your own kind, whether it’s your family, or your town, or your region, your race, or your place, your religion, or whatever it is.

This declaration of self-sufficiency was exactly one of the themes of the Anthology, as the tales of anarchic killings signified that each one was responsible for their own living and death. Hence each folk artist took up an instrument for their own lives to sing the first words of their responses to society and to the Anthology. Though Smith had believed in the homogeneity of the people, the message of different artists were different, representing their “own kind.” In the introduction of the documentary Festival, the jug blower of Jug Band said, “If you see me, you may think I’m weird. When I start playing, you know I am weird!” Many were like that; they used folk music to accent themselves from everyone else. There was tension between the self and society, as each tried to pull and protect his or her unique cultural lineage and also to push away the pressures of a technological, materialistic society. Marcus explains that this was because Anthology was “not exactly made by folk people. It was made by willful, ornery, displaced, unsatisfied, ambitious individuals…: contingent individuals who were trying to use the resources of the communities to stand out from those communities or to escape them, even if they never left home” (123).

Yet this did not mean these people were fragmented. Instead, they were united by the common declaration of self-sufficiency. Bands such as the Butterfield Blues Band integrated Black and White players. In music festivals, Mississippi John Hurt received as much attention and popularity as Mike Bloomfield regardless of color. The roots of such equality in folk music could perhaps be traced to the Anthology, in which Harry Smith “never identified a performer by race. ‘It took years,’ Smith said happily in 1968, ‘before anybody discovered that Mississippi John Hurt wasn’t a Hillbilly’” (Marcus 104). Such display of nondiscrimination communicated the folk enthusiasts’ value of equality to society.

The sprout set by Anthology then grew and flowered. In 1959, George Wein, the founder of Newport Jazz Festival, also gave birth to the Newport Folk Festival. This gathering congregated hundreds of folk musicians to play for twenty thousands of audience. At the same time, it showcased society what the conversation between the fringe folk culture and the mainstream culture has taught the American people: not just the songs, but also the inspiration for each person to converse with their true selves. People came from “many different backgrounds and many different places --- places like Grand Island, Nebraska; Dedham, Massachussets; Akron, Ohio; Kerrville, Texas; Westport, Connecticut; Los Angeles, California; Concord, New Hampshire; Grant’s Pass, Oregon; New York, New York --- wherever we were in the late forties and early fifties, ‘growing up,’ as they said then, during that flat pink and charcoal stretch of boredom known as Eisenhower Years” (Schmidt, Roony, 1979). No longer did people cower behind the mask of manners and social norms, “the mask that, when worn too long, makes the face behind it shrivel up and rot away” (Marcus 122). Before, they heard the CDs of Anthology, the unwavering confidence and will the singers had over their voice; now, they themselves sang with mastery over their lives. When these people went to audition for record companies or sign up to perform in the festival, “one singer after another would recall himself … how could they keep hold of the pride, speak their piece as if they knew their neighbors would hear, but also as if they imagined the nation itself might actually acknowledge their existence” (Marcus 123). At those moments, each singer chose to reveal their true faces from under the mask of fear of rejection, of un-belonging. Harry Smith had penetrated “Democracy of manners” (Marcus 125).

This was only the beginning of the conversation between the folk and the mainstream culture, between the self and the society, and between self and true self. The freedom of “manners” that the Anthology gifted the people turned out everywhere. Many took voluntary poverty upon themselves, living a bohemian life among the Beat generation. Others took up causes, and joined in the efforts of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and civil rights movements. This generation spoke up, unlike their predecessor who expatriated themselves and allowed America to sink into its syrup of material self-gratification.

Work Cited

Marcus, Greil. "The Old Weird America." The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. New York, NY: Picador, 2001. 87-126. Print.

Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music. NYC: Folkway Records, 1952. Print.

The Anthology of June Fourth Songs

This is a project I did for a class on Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 last year. The topic is quite relevant to the discussion of society and music on this blog, and it shows how the two interact.

I researched 8 songs, many of which composed by Hong Kong pop stars as the hunger strike in Tiananmen Square went on, as a show of support. Though it's not surprising that my favorite among them is "Square" by the folk rock artist Lizhi, who evaluates the event more than a decade later with direct language.

I was planning on expanding the song selections, but I have shifted gears since then and will not extend this project in the near term.

Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy it!

Contents

《血染的风采》”Bloodstained Demeanor”. 2

《历史的伤口》”Wound of History”. 4

《最后一枪》”The Last Bullet”. 5

《垃圾场》”Garbage Dump”. 7

《自由花》”Flower of Freedom”. 9

《为自由》“For Freedom”. 11

《妈妈我没有做错》“Mom I Didn’t Do Wrong”. 12

《广场》”Square”. 14

《血染的风采》”Bloodstained Demeanor”

《血染的风采》 作词：陈哲 作曲：苏越 也许我告别,将不再回来 你是否理解,你是否明白 也许我倒下,将不再起来 你是否还要永久的期待 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的旗帜上有我们血染的风采 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的旗帜上有我们血染的风采 也许我的眼睛,再不能睁开 你是否理解我沉默的情怀 也许我长眠,再不能醒来 你是否相信我化作了山脉 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的土壤里有我们付出的爱 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的土壤里有我们付出的爱 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的旗帜上有我们血染的风采 如果是这样,你不要悲哀 共和国的旗帜上有我们血染的风采 血染的风采

“Bloodstained Demeanor” Lyrics by Chen Zhe Music by Su Yue Perhaps I will say goodbye, never to come back, Would you sympathize? Would you understand? Perhaps I shall fall down, never to get up, Would you nevertheless wait eternally? If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. On the Republic's flag is our bloodstained demeanor. If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. On the Republic's flag is our bloodstained demeanor. Perhaps my eyes are never to open again, Would you sympathize with my silent emotions? Perhaps I will fall asleep, never to wake up, Would you believe that I have become the mountains? If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. In the Republic's soil is the love we gave. If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. In the Republic's soil is the love we gave. If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. On the Republic's flag is our bloodstained demeanor. If this is so, you don't need to feel sorrow. On the Republic's flag is our bloodstained demeanor. Bloodstained demeanor

Notes:

China and Vietnam went to war in 1979 over border issues and because Vietnam occupied Cambodia, the only ally of China in Indochina at the time. In one battle, an entire troop was wiped out except one soldier, 徐良Xu Liang. He still suffered severe leg injury, but survived to become a symbol of the Liberation Army’s sacrifice for the people. He appeared in a wheel chair with pop singer Mao Aming in the 1987 Chinese New Year Eve Celebration singing this song for the first time. Ever since then the song became a hit across China. The song is further popularized when famous Chinese pop singer Anita Mui and Cantonese pop band Beyond covered it (separately).

After 1989, expatriated supporters of the Democracy Movement imbued new meaning into the song, using it as a memorial for those students who died on June Fourth.

Source: http://iask.sina.com.cn/b/4338223.html

《历史的伤口》”Wound of History”

《历史的伤口》 作词 林秋离、梁弘志、陈乐融、童安格、郑华娟、刘虞瑞 作曲 小虫、沈光远、李宗盛、李寿全、梁弘志、陈美威、陈复明、童安格、张洪量、黄韵玲 蒙上眼睛，就以为看不见。 捂上耳朵，就以为听不到。 而真理在心中，创痛在胸口。 还要忍多久，还要沉默多久？！ 如果热泪可以洗净尘埃。 如果热血可以换来自由。 让明天能记得今天的怒吼。 让世界都看到历史的伤口！

Wound of History Lyrics by: Lin Qiuli, Liang Hongzhi, Chen Lerong, Tong Ange, Zheng Huajuan, Liu Yurui Music by: Xiao Chong, Shen Guangyun, Li Zongsheng, Li Shouquan, Liang Hongzhi, Chen Meiwei, Chen Fuming, Tong Ange, Zhang Hongliang, Huang Yunling You covered your eyes, and thought you were blind, You covered your ears, and thought you were deaf, Yet the truth is in your heart, the wound in your bosom, How much longer do you bear? How much longer do you keep quiet? If hot tear can wash away dust, If hot blood can be exchanged for freedom, Then let tomorrow remember today's roars, Then let the world see the wound of history!

Notes:

In response to the Tiananmen Protest, a group of Hong Kong songwriters (listed above) wrote and recorded this song over 2 days (May 26 to May 28), to support the students in Beijing.

《最后一枪》”The Last Bullet”

《最后一枪》 曲、词：崔健 一颗流弹打中我胸膛 刹那间往事涌在我心上 只有泪水　没有悲伤 如果这是最后的一枪 我愿接受这莫大的荣光 哦哦，最后一枪 哦哦，最后一枪 不知道有多少，多少话还没讲 不知道有多少，多少欢乐没享 不知道有多少，多少人和我一样 不知道有多少，多少个最后一枪 安睡在这温暖的土地上 朝露夕阳花木自芬芳 哦哦，只有一句话，留在世界上 不知道有多少，多少话还没讲 不知道有多少，多少欢乐没享 不知道有多少，多少人和我一样 不知道有多少，多少个最后一枪 一颗流弹打中我胸膛 刹那间往事涌在我心上 哦哦，最后一枪 哦哦，最后一枪

"The Last Bullet" Music and lyrics by Cui Jian A bullet penetrates my chest, Instantly the matters of the past inundate my heart. Only tears, no sadness If this is the last bullet, I am willing to accept this profound glory O, o, the last bullet O, o, the last bullet Don't know how many, how many things not told, Don't know how much, how much happiness not shared, Don't know how many, how many people like me, Don't know how many, how many "last bullets" Sleeping peacefully on this warm earth, Dews, twilight, flowers and woods naturally fragrant O, o, only this one sentence remain in the world Don't know how many, how many things not told, Don't know how much, how much happiness not shared, Don't know how many, how many people like me, Don't know how many, how many "last bullets" A bullet penetrates my chest, Instantly the matters of the past inundate my heart. O, o, the last bullet O, o, the last bullet

Notes:

This song is also inspired by the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War (as is the “Bloodstained Demeanor”). Cui Jian intended this as a peace song. It appeared for the first time in the 1987 compilation album《无名高地──中国红歌星金曲选第一集》Nameless High Ground –China Red Pop Hit Selection Volume 1.

The original version was featured in the original soundtrack of the 1990 movie《火烧岛》Burning Island. Around the same time it was published in Cui Jian’s Album《解决》Solution. However, the lyrics of album version were significantly reduced in order to pass the inspection; all that was left were the last 4 verses (Starting with “A bullet” to the end).

After June Fourth, Cui Jian was banned from major venues until 1990, when the government realized the potential of his tours to raise money for The Asian Games. In the Chengdu stop he performed “The Last Bullet” and at the end asked,

“Do you guys know what that song was?”

“’The Last Bullet’!”

“Yes! Then let us hope that the gun shots we heard last year was the last ones!”

This behavior forced the government to stop the tour immediately and also to ban the song. Not until the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008 did Cui Jian perform this piece again, but only the instrumental.

Source: http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2009/06/02/a302208.html

《垃圾场》”Garbage Dump”

《垃圾场》 作词、曲：何勇 我们生活的世界 就象一个垃圾场 人们就象虫子一样 在这里边你争我抢 吃的都是良心 拉的全是思想 你能看到你不知道 你能看到你不知道你不知道 我们生活的世界 就象一个垃圾场 只要你活着 你就不能停止幻想 有人减肥有人饿死没粮 饿死没粮饿死没粮 饿死没粮饿死没粮 有没有希望 有没有希望 有没有希望 有没有希望

Garbage Dump Lyrics and music by He Yong The world that we live in Is like a garbage dump. People are like bugs, Fight and rob inside this dump. What we eat is conscience, What we shit is ideology. You can see, you don't know. You can see, you don't know, you don’t know The world that we live in Is like a garbage dump. As long as you live, You cannot stop hallucinating. Some people diet, some people die of hunger. Die of hunger, Die of hunger, Die of hunger, Die of hunger. Is there hope? Is there hope? Is there hope? Is there hope?

Notes:

He Yong was one of the most influential rock artists of late 1980s and early 1990s, and also one of the most controversial because of the radical attitude of this song. “Garbage Dump” was written amidst the Tiananmen Protest, and was performed by He Yong for the students (on the same stage as Cui Jian).

Analysis:

The song starts with a highly distorted howl from the guitar, then a chromatic bass rhythm, a driving drum pattern, and then a chromatic piano run, opening with a highly dissonant, repellant sound. After a brief guitar solo, He Yong echoes the guitar howl at the beginning with his own. Then he yells “The world that we live in/ Is like a garbage dump.” The words screech against his throat but also seem to writhe out of his mouth. They are echoed by a synthesizer to amplify the hallucinogenic effect generated so far by the disharmony that is acknowledged by the later lyrics “As long as you live/ You cannot stop hallucinating.” All the while the piano gawks in dissonant cords every verse in dot-and-quarter note patterns. Under this musical backdrop, the lyrics paint an extreme dystopia that is the “garbage dump.” The verses “What we eat is conscience/ What we shit is ideology” are probably the most famous of the song. They described immoral practices imposed by the Chinese Communist’s ideology. The next verse “You can see, you don't know” is ambiguous on purpose. Is it “you can see” but “you don’t know”? Then He Yong laments the inability of senses to bring about revelations. Or “you can see” that “you don’t know”? Then he cries out against the willful ignorance of people. Or “you don’t know” whether “you can see”? Then he describes the people’s nascent disillusionment. The ambiguity hence obscures He Yong’s true message beyond such a dystopian song.

In the next stanza, He Yong mentions the wide disparity between the rich and poor, the former “diet” while the latter “die of hunger.” Then he begins screaming “die of hunger” faster and faster as the band accelerates, until he breaks down into random screeches. On top of his lungs, he proceeds to passionately cry “Is there hope?” again and again until the band rolls to a stop and he dissolves into heavy breathing. Again, does He Yong “hope” for better? Or are these screaming only hopeless grieves?

The entire song boasts of an extremely modern punk musicality that dangerously juxtaposes with the pop songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and even the old Communist songs that now have been imbued a new June Fourth meaning. It has a sharp, misanthropic edge that cuts against the people of 1989. Possibly because of this radical attitude it has never achieved such an anthem status as Cui Jian’s “Nothing to My Name” has done.

《自由花》”Flower of Freedom”

自由花 曲：郑智化 词：周礼茂 忘不了的，年月也不会蚕蚀 心中深处始终也记忆那年那夕 曾经痛惜，年月里转化为力 一点真理，一个理想永远地寻觅 悠悠长长继续前航不懂去惊怕 荆荆棘棘通通斩去不必多看它 浮浮沉沉昨日人群虽不说一话 不想清楚分析太多真心抑意假 但有一个梦，不会死，记着吧 无论雨怎么打，自由仍是会开花 但有一个梦，不会死，记着吧 来自你我的心，记着吧 忘不了的，留下了不死意识 深深相信始终会变真某年某夕 如此讯息，仍赖你跟我全力 加一把劲，将这理想继续在寻觅 悠悠长长继续前航不懂去惊怕 荆荆棘棘通通斩去不必多看它 浮浮沉沉昨日人群虽不说一话 不想清楚分析太多真心抑意假 但有一个梦，不会死，记着吧 无论雨怎么打，自由仍是会开花 但有一个梦，不会死，记着吧 来自你我的心，记着吧

Flower of Freedom Music by Zheng Zhihua Lyrics by Zhou Limao That which can’t be forgotten, time won’t erode. The depth of my heart still remembers that time. The mourning once has been turned by time into motivation. A truth, an ideal you are always searching for. Despite the length of the journey, you still sail on, ignorant of fear, Cut away all the thistles and thorns; no need to look at them. Though after ups and downs the people of yesterday stay silent, Unclear thinking, overanalysis, true heart will suppress false beliefs. But there’s a dream that will not die, remember it! No matter how the rain pours, freedom will still bloom! But there’s a dream that will not die, remember it! It comes from our heart, remember it! The unforgettable left immortal revelations, Still believing that someday they will be realized. Such message still depends on you and me giving our all. Push a little more, continue to find this ideal. Despite the length of the journey, you still sail on, ignorant of fear, Cut away all the thistles and thorns; no need to look at them. Though after ups and downs the people of yesterday stay silent, Unclear thinking, overanalysis, true heart will suppress false beliefs. But there’s a dream that will not die, remember it! No matter how the rain pours, freedom will still bloom! But there’s a dream that will not die, remember it! It comes from our heart, remember it!

Notes:

The original music is from Taiwanese singer Zheng Zhihua’s song “Sailor.” When democratic dissident Wang Shizhe was released in 1993, he was heard humming “Sailor.” The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China then asked Zhou Limao to rewrite the lyrics to the song, the end product being the above verses. Soon after, Hong Kong’s Victoria Park June Fourth Candlelight Gathering adopted this song.

The word “Flower of Freedom” actually originated from the Communist Party itself, specifically from one of senior party member Chen Yi’s poems before 1949. In addition, when the Chinese Nationalist Party was still in power, those communists who were executed by them also cried out “Let my blood nurture the flower of freedom!” Hence the phrase has an inherent connotation of subversion against tyranny.

Sources: http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/自由花

《为自由》“For Freedom”

为自由 作词：唐书琛 作曲：卢冠廷 腾腾昂怀存大志，凛凛正气满心间， 奋勇创出新领域，拼命踏前路。 茫茫长途凭浩气，你我永远两手牵， 奋勇创出新领域，溅热汗，却未累，溅热血，却未惧。 爱自由，为自由，你我齐奋斗进取，手牵手。 挥不去，挡不了，壮志澎湃满世间，绕千山。 腾腾昂怀存大志，凛凛正气满心间， 奋勇创出新领域，拼命踏前路。 茫茫长途凭浩气，你我永远两手牵， 去向纵荆棘满路，溅热汗，却未累，溅热血，却未惧。 爱自由，为自由，你我齐奋斗进取，手牵手。 挥不去，挡不了，壮志澎湃满世间，绕千山 爱自由，为自由，你我齐奋斗进取，手牵手。 挥不去，挡不了，壮志澎湃满世间，绕千山。

“For Freedom” Lyrics by Tang Shushen Music by Lowell Lu (Lu Guanyan) There’s ambition in lofty hearts, full of a sense of justice. Bravely pioneer new fields, fiercely walk out new roads. Endless journey rely on noble spirits, your hand always in mine. Bravely pioneer new fields, splash hot sweat, but not tired, splash hot blood, but not afraid. Love freedom, for freedom, you and me together push forward, hand in hand. Can’t be waved away, can’t be blocked away, ambitions fill this world, surround a thousand mountains. There’s ambition in lofty hearts, full of a sense of justice. Bravely pioneer new fields, fiercely march out new roads. Endless journey rely on noble spirits, your hand always in mine. We journey up, the road full of thorns, splash hot sweat, but not tired, splash hot blood, but not afraid. Love freedom, for freedom, you and me together push forward, hand in hand. Can’t be waved away, can’t be blocked away, ambitions fill this world, surround a thousand mountains. Love freedom, for freedom, you and me together push forward, hand in hand. Can’t be waved away, can’t be blocked away, ambitions fill this world, surround a thousand mountains.

Notes:

Lowell Lu gathered almost all of Hong Kong’s pop singers of 1989 to sing this song in support of the Tiananmen students.

《妈妈我没有做错》“Mom I Didn’t Do Wrong”

《妈妈我没有做错》 词: 刘卓辉 曲: 林慕德 不要谁来订制对不对 不要谁在乱判我的罪 不想太阳再升起再升起再次软禁真理 不要无奈地悄悄低诉不要麻木地慨叹风暴 不可放下那伤悲那伤悲再次冷却不理 妈妈让我听听你的心里话 多少噩梦你不想 你不敢 去怒骂 妈妈若我远去你将我忘记吧 风吹雨下我不想 我不想 再懦弱 妈妈我没有过错，妈妈我没有过错， 一起继续我与你 不死的勇气 妈妈让我听听你的心里话 多少噩梦你不想 你不敢 去怒骂 妈妈若我远去你将我忘记吧 风吹雨下我不想 我不想 再懦弱 妈妈我没有过错，妈妈我没有过错， 一起继续我与你 不死的勇气 妈妈我没有过错，妈妈我没有过错， 一起继续我与你 不死的勇气 (重复一遍) 风时仍弥漫冷冷空气 春雨仍流泪遍布土地 多么盼望有一天有一天世界永远优美

“Mom I Didn’t Do Wrong” Lyrics by Liu Zhuohui Music by Lin Mude Don’t want anyone to dictate morals, don’t want anyone to arbitrarily arbitrate my crime, Don’t want the sun to rise again, rise again, put the truth in house arrest again. Don’t want to futilely whisper, don’t want to numbly sigh at storms with regret. Can’t put down that sorrow, that sorrow, can’t neglect it and look the other way again. Mom, let me hear the words in your heart, How many nightmares you don’t want, don’t dare to rant against. Mom, if I leave here, please forget me, Storm or rain, I no longer, no longer want to be weak. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Let’s continue your and my immortal courage. Mom, let me hear the words in your heart, How many nightmares you don’t want, don’t dare to rant against. Mom, if I leave here, please forget me, Storm or rain, I no longer, no longer want to be weak. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Let’s continue your and my immortal courage. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Mom, I didn’t do wrong. Let’s continue your and my immortal courage. (repeat once) Wind still permeates the chilly air, Spring still sheds its tears on earth. How much do I long for one day, one day the world will always be beautiful.

Notes:

This is sung by 夏韶声 (Danny Summer), who is hailed as the “Father of Hong Kong Rock.”

《广场》”Square”

《广场》 词、曲：李志 （白：还没有熟的一个果子，然后一些人就很饿，饥不择食，然后忽然发现一个果子以后扑­上去把它摘下来吃了，一口吃下去，甚至于连嚼都没嚼就咽下去，咽下去以后发现肚子痛，­然后又苦又涩的感觉，你说他应该不应该吃，你要说不应该吃他饿，你要说他应该吃他吃的­是个涩的是个不可以吃的东西） 你的踏板车要滑向哪里 你在滑行里快乐旋转着 有人看着你为你祝福 我曾经和你有一样的脸庞 如今这个广场是我的坟墓 这个歌声将来是你的挽歌 你会被教育成一个坏人 见死不救吃喝拉撒的动物 (背景：救护车，快，救护车！！众人：畜牲！畜牲！畜牲！） 请你不要相信她的爱情 你看黎明还没有来临 请你不要相信他的关心 他的手枪正瞄准你的胸膛 如今这个广场是我的坟墓 这个歌声将来是你的挽歌 你会被教育成一个坏人 见死不救吃喝拉撒的动物 啦啦啦啦啦 （背景：一片嘈杂，枪声） （一直预感着有一场灾难要来的，可来的太快，而且扎扎实实的就落在我头上，是我最怕生事的人的头上，它夺去了我最心爱的儿子）

“Square” Lyrics and music by Li Zhi (monologue: There’s a premature fruit, and someone is so hungry that he will eat anything. He then found this fruit and jumped to it and ate it in a single bite, without even chewing it. When he swallowed it his stomach started to hurt, and then he tasted bitterness. Would you say he should or should not have eaten the fruit? If you say no, he’s still hungry; if you say yes, what he ate was still bitter, inedible.) Where is your motorcycle heading to? You spin happily as you ride, Some people watch you and wish you happiness, I once had the same face as yours. *Yet today this square is my grave, And tomorrow this song will be your elegy. You will be educated into an immoral person, An animal that lets those in danger die, who only eat, drink, shit, and piss. (background: ambulance, hurry, ambulance! Crowd: You monsters! Monsters! Monsters!) Please do not believe her love, You see the twilight has not come. Please do not believe his care, His gun is aimed at your chest. Yet today this square is my grave, This song will be your elegy. You will be educated into an immoral person, An animal that lets those in danger die, who only eat, drink, shit, and piss. **La la la,... (background: chaos; gunshots) (end monologue: I had the ominous feeling that a disaster would come, but it came too fast, and fell right on me, the person who’s afraid of troubles the most. It took away my most beloved son.)

Notes:

Both monologues were pulled from the documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace, with the beginning one spoken by Han Dongfang韩东方, and the ending one spoken by Ding Zilin 丁子霖.

The song is in Li Zhi’s second album 《梵高先生》 (Mr. Van Gogh) but was not featured in the album’s 2007 official release in China for the obvious reasons.

Analysis:

The song starts with a triplet dance tune. The slow tempo renders an idyllic, joyful feel. Yet soon Han starts describing his metaphor of June Fourth, sharply contrasting the established mood. With this setup Li Zhi begins singing in his signature folkish rough voice, reminiscent of the Northwest Wind style of late 1980s. The mood thus becomes more melancholic.

The entire song is phrased as advices given to the modern Chinese teenagers by the teenagers of ‘89. The first verse addresses a youngster riding his motorcycle, which symbolizes the new wealth Chinese citizens find themselves with in the 21^st century. Li Zhi acknowledges that most other Chinese people would only “wish […] happiness,” but he’s warns “I once had the same face as yours/ Yet today this square is my grave/ And tomorrow this song will be your elegy.” Indeed in 1989, those patriotic college students had other citizens of Beijing bestow their best “wish[es]” on them and were looking forward to real changes. But in June Fourth many perished in that square as those wishes were crushed. Instead of sacrificing for freedom, the teenagers of today “will be educated into immoral person[s]/ […] animals that [let] those in danger die, who only eat, drink, shit, and piss.” These statements echo the older generation’s complaints of “spiritual dilution.” Moreover, it carries a subtle reference to He Yong’s “Garbage Dump”: “What we eat is conscience/ What we shit is ideology.”

The drums come in as Li Zhi utters “today this square is my grave,” as if to mimic the gunshots that penetrated the tense air on the night of June 3^rd. Light hi-hat and short drum rolls create brief senses of chaos. They are joined by a real recording of the pandemonium of June Fourth at the end of the second stanza. The rhythmic triplet guitar strumming continues to contrast the arrhythmic screaming and yelling in the background.

In the third stanza Li Zhi pleads the audience not to believe the government’s “love” or the army’s “care,” for they come with a gun “at your chest” as it was in 1989.

As Li Zhi finishes the 4^th stanza, the drums begin to play more syncopated rhythms, with accents falling on the 3^rd triplet subdivision of some beats. This adds more complexity and chaos, and eventually the song dissolves in to Ding Zilin’s sobs. Hence it starts simple and ends simple, but what at the beginning feels idyllic at the end becomes tragic.