What About Me
1971 · Capitol 3046 · Los Angeles, California
- Artist
- Quicksilver Messenger Service
- Title
- What About Me
- Release
- What About Me / Good Old Rock and Roll
- Year
- 1971
- Label
- Capitol # 3046
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Jesse Oris Farrow
- Genre
- Rock · Psychedelic Rock
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Written by Dino Valente, aka Jesse Oris Farrow, the track "What About Me" (Capitol Records # 3046), released as a single in February 1971, dealt with wider political and social issues, and included a reference to violence at demonstrations. It featured on the album What About Me (Capitol Records # ST-630) - released in December 1970, it charted at # 26 in Billboard magazine. (1) The psychedelic rock group, based in San Francisco, California, formed in 1965, and had a revolving membership throughout its history. In 1970, for this album, the line-up featured Dino Valente (vocals, guitar), Gary Duncan (vocals, guitar), John Cipollina (guitar), David Freiberg (bass), Greg Elmore (drums), and Nicky Hopkins (piano). The lyrics criticised media coverage: "your newspapers...never tell the whole story", and the treatment of youth culture: "put your young ideas down...fill your penitentiaries and your military too". It contained several anti-war messages, such as "I smoke marijuana, but I cant get behind your wars" and the line "if you stand up...be prepared to be shot down" - largely interpreted as a reference to the Kent and Jackson state killings.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American psychedelic rock band formed 1965 in San Francisco, California. [Source: Wikipedia]
Themes
In collections
Kent / Jackson State Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs