Pete Seeger & Bernice Johnson Reagon
Backlash Blues
1968 · Columbia CS 9717 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Pete Seeger & Bernice Johnson Reagon
- Title
- Backlash Blues
- Release
- Pete Seeger Now
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Columbia # CS 9717
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Langston Hughes
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
The song "Backlash Blues" on the album Pete Seeger Now (Columbia Records # CS 9717) - a cover of Nina Simone & Langston Hughes song, originally on the 1967 album Nina Simone Sings the Blues. Seeger on banjo, and Bernice Johnson Reagon providing vocals. The first verse made a connection between the war and Civil Rights: "you... send my son to Vietnam, you give me second class houses and... schools, do you think that all colored people are just second class fools?".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: So, Mr. Backlash, Backlash / Who do you think I am? / You raise my taxes / Freeze my wages / Send my son to Vietnam / You give me second class houses / And second class schools / Do you think that all colored people are just second class fools?
Notes
Columbia Stereo CS 9717, "Pete Seeger Now with Bernice Reagon & The Reverend Fred Kirkpatrick"; produced by John Hammond, engineering Edward T. Graham and Frank Bruno; © 1968 Sanga Music, Inc.; cover photo John Berg, flag by Pete Seeger; manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS Inc., 51 W. 52 Street, New York. This copy is stamped "Demonstration Record – Not for Sale" in red. Side 1 includes Talking Ben Tre (2:20), Backlash Blues (3:55) and The Torn Flag (BMI, 3:23, with Bernice Reagon); He's Long John is "performed by Bernice Reagon". The front cover shows a hand rising from water holding a small psychedelic-striped American flag. The back carries photographs by Diana J. Davies and David Gahr of Seeger with Bernice Reagon and of a civil-rights gathering, a captioned lyric "The world is big and round and it's full of people just like me, who are black, beige, yellow and brown" (© 1967 by…
About the artist
Iconic American contemporary folk singer, Pete Seeger (born 3 May 1919 in Manhattan, New York, USA, died on 27 January 2014, same location) played a key role in the 1950s contemporary folk revival and the 1960s anti-war and Civil Rights movement. He often wrote political songs, protesting against war, segregation, and calling for environmental protection. His body of songs referencing the Vietnam War is significant in both themes and volume: "The Willing Conscript" on the album Broadside Ballads Volume 2 (1963); "Beans in My Ear", "King Henry", and "The Draft Dodger Rag" on Dangerous Songs!?…
Themes
From the release Pete Seeger Now
In collections
Civil Rights Songs · Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Pete Seeger Songs