Chico Holiday

Show Us the Way

1965 · Karate 45-518 · USA

Show Us the Way – Chico Holiday (A-side label)

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
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

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

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