Show Us the Way
1965 · Karate 45-518 · USA
- Artist
- Chico Holiday
- Title
- Show Us the Way
- Release
- Show Us the Way / She Gave Me Love
- Year
- 1965
- Label
- Karate # 45-518
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- Chico Holiday
- Genre
- Rock · Rock & Roll
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation — McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" & Answer Songs
The song "Show Us the Way" (Karate Records # 45-518) by Chico Holiday, born on 24 August 1934 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA (birth name: Ralph Vergolino) answered McGuire's "Eve of Destruction": "these people singing songs, telling how the world's all wrong... the world is ending today... practice what you preach". It took a strong anti-protest position, criticising the anti-war movement, and referencing nuclear / atomic weaponry: "they carry signs... ban the bomb, get out of Vietnam... I can't stand it".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: All these people singing songs, telling how the world's all wrong / Putting everything down, they say we got to pay a dues / Yet their trying to fill the shoes, of some other lost clown / Why don't they stand up and say, 'This is the way' / Hey hey, show us one little ray of light, set the whole world right / They carry signs all over town, standing in and sitting down / And what do they say? Ban the bomb, get out of Vietnam / Stay in school, pray for peace, the world is ending today... / I can't stand it... / Practice what you preach
Notes
Karate Records 45-518-S, "A Product of Audio Fidelity Records, Inc", label with a karate-gi figure; "Show Us the Way" (Chico Holiday), Matador Music BMI, 2:10. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Chico Holiday (Ralph Joseph Vergolino, born 24 August 1934 in Waukesha, Wisconsin) is a pop, folk and gospel singer who recorded for RCA Victor, Coral and Karate from the late 1950s. He wrote 'Show Us the Way' himself; it was issued b/w 'She Gave Me Love' on Karate 45-518 in 1965, with Argentine pressings and a 1966 Italian reissue on Audio Fidelity. He later left secular entertainment for Christian ministry. [Source: Discogs; chicoholiday.com]
Themes
Soldier's Perspective · Demonstration · Answer to Eve of Destruction
In collections
McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" & Answer Songs · Garage Rock Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]