Chicago Seven
1970 · Warner Bros. 7500 · Burbank, California
- Artist
- Memphis Slim
- Title
- Chicago Seven
- Release
- Chicago Seven / Boogie Woogie 1-9-7-0
- Year
- 1970
- Label
- Warner Bros. # 7500
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Burbank, California, USA
- Genre
- Blues · Blues
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
The song "Chicago Seven" (Warner Bros. Records # 7500) by Memphis Slim (born Pete Chapman) - a highly regarded blues piano player from Memphis, Tennessee (1915-1988), who moved to Chicago in the late 1930s - dealt with political protest during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. It appeared on the 1971 album Blue Memphis (Warner Bros. Records # WS 1899). (1) The title referred to several people arrested outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 for inciting riots. Originally eight people stood trial, all high profile activists - Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin from the hippie movement, the Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, political activists Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Tom Hayden (married to Jane Fonda - together they released a documentary in 1973 about their visit to North Vietnam, called Introduction to the Enemy). The trial began on 24 September 1969, but soon after the Judge, Julius Hoffman, ordered Bobby Seale to be bound and gagged for contempt of court. He was tried separately, and thus the eight became seven (see the 1970 album Gagged and Chained: The Sentencing of Bobby Seale for Contempt). (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) The…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs
The song "Chicago Seven" (Warner Bros. Records # 7500) by Memphis Slim (born Pete Chapman) - a highly regarded blues piano player from Memphis, Tennessee (1915-1988), who moved to Chicago in the late 1930s - dealt with political protest during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. It appeared on the 1971 album Blue Memphis (Warner Bros. Records # WS 1899). (1) The lyrics suggested that large coverage of the Chicago Seven, as well as the "four dead in Ohio" - a reference to the Kent State shootings on 4 May 1970 - was because those involved were white: "nobody seems worried about all the black blood spilled". The song ended with a guitar solo and police siren sound-effects in the background. The guitar was played by Peter Green.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American blues pianist, born 3 September 1915 in Memphis, Tennessee; died 24 February 1988 in Paris, France. [Source: Wikipedia]
Themes
Anti-War · Kent State · Jackson State · Civil Rights · Chicago Seven · Demonstration
In collections
1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Blues songs · Civil Rights Songs · Kent / Jackson State Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs