Better Days
1973 · Redwood RRS 3800 · Emeryville, California
- Artist
- Holly Near
- Title
- Better Days
- Release
- Hang in There
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- Redwood # RRS 3800
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Emeryville, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Holly Near
- Genre
- Singer Songwriter · Singer Songwriter
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Ellsberg & Pentagon Papers Songs
Holly Near, prominent 60s/70s political contemporary folksinger / singer-songwriter, born 6 June 1949 in Ukiah, California, USA, and founder of the record label Redwood Records. Near released dozens of protest songs, focusing on war, Civil Rights, women's equality, human rights, ecology, and other social and cultural issues. This album, Hang in There primarily focused on the Vietnam War. Holly Near had frequently taken part in anti-war demonstrations, and in 1971 joined the FTA Tour ("Free the Army"), an anti-Vietnam War roadshow. Organised by Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Fred Gardner, it was seen as a response to Bob Hope's USO tour (On the Road to Vietnam). The footage resulted in the 1972 film F.T.A. [Fuck the Army], as well as featuring in the 2005 documentary Sir! No Sir! (1) (2) (3) Also note that Near released the song "It Could Have Been Me" on the 1974 album "A Live Album" (Redwood Records # 3700), a response to the Kent State shooting. Also featured in: . The song "No More Genocide" (Redwood Records # RRS 3800) took a strong anti-war position, questioning the death in Vietnam, and the purpose behind the war: "why do we say North and South?". The narrator argued…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born Ukiah, California, USA (6 June 1949)