Chicago

Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs

Abbie Hoffman, born 30 November 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, died 12 April 1989 in New Hope, Pennsylvania, USA, an American political activist in the 1960s/70s, who helped found the Youth International Party (Yippies), took an active interest in the Vietnam War during the period. Hoffman faced trial in 1969 for inciting riots, as one of the eight people arrested outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August 1968 (The Chicago Eight) The album Wake Up, America (Big Toe Records # 1) contained several references to Vietnam, such as the tracks "Our National Anthem" and "Texas Tweezers" (which referenced My Lai). The song "The Drug Company" contained the line "we came to Chicago...there isn't a court in this country where we could have put Mayor Richard Daley, and LBJ". It also included the song "Chicago", a 7-minute spoken-word / comedy sketch, with elements of song, about the 1968 demonstration and subsequent trial.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: 10 miles away from Convention Hall / We came here to disrupt the convention / Ten miles of barb wire fence / 25,000 troops, cops and National Guard / They had tanks / Armored tanks on the streets of Chicago / National Guard with bayonets / They had helicopters with machine guns... / We couldn't find our way out of the park! [laughter].... / You should have seen that jury, that was some audience to play to... / I got 28 days for contempt for laughing / I got 14 for smiling / And I got 2 for throwing kisses at the jury... / So I get up on the witness stand...the guy says, you written any books / Well I wrote this book called 'Fuck the System'... / Their heads were shaking like windmills... / Our whole defense was geared around giving the judge a heart-attack / There was no way of beating the charge... / We bombed in Chicago...

Notes

Big Toe Records BIG TOE 1, stereo, pink labels, "Big Toe Records, Flat Edward, New York • Made in America", "Music by The Joint Chiefs of Staff". Side 1: Our Nat'l Anthem / Malachy's Bar & Grill / Texas Tweezers / The Drug Co. / Ave Maria / Jesus (total time 25:30); Side 2: Rubin / Flush Cool Water for Nixon / Chicago / Washington at Valley Forge / Religion of Sorts / Out of Doors / God Bless America / The Only Dope Worth Shooting (total time 25:04). The cover, "Abbie Hoffman sings on his friends The Joint Chiefs of Staff...", is a comic-strip drawing signed "p bramley": Hoffman in a stars-and-stripes shirt juggling a top-hatted baby, ringed by panels of a smog-choked city, an astronaut planting a flag on the moon, Uncle Sam with a hippie ("Lids?"), a haloed figure fleeing a boat ("Hey! Hippie!"), a fife-and-drum trio and the Statue of Liberty with a raised fist and a women's symbol.…

About the artist

Abbie Hoffman, born 30 November 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, died 12 April 1989 in New Hope, Pennsylvania, USA. Political and social activist of the 1960s/70s who helped found the Youth International Party (Yippies), and took an active interest in the Vietnam War. Hoffman faced trial in 1969 for inciting riots, as one of the eight people arrested outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August 1968 (The Chicago Eight), all high-profile activists - Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin from the hippie movement, the Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, political activists Rennie Davis…

Themes

Anti-War · Chicago Seven

In collections

1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]