Age Of Corruption

Annotation — European Songs

UK-based contemporary folk artist, Alan Klein, born 29 June 1940 in Clerkenwell, London, also a member of The New Vaudeville Band, released the novelty song "Age of Corruption", a response to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", sung to the same melody, which mocked protest singers for releasing political records, suggesting it was for commercial gain: "make it controversial so the DJ's will spin it, tell the world what's wrong with it in less than three minutes". As well as McGuire, it also called out Bob Dylan, Donovan, and Joni Mitchell: "now let's all bow down and pray to Bob Dylan, and Donovan, and Joni". On the issue of Civil Rights, he sarcastically sung "we gotta' bring in segregation, well, I ain't sure what that means, 'cause I ain't had no education", and on the Vietnam War: "we'll denounce all wars as just senseless killings". Note that Billboard reported on 4 December 1965 that "Dunhill Records... prevented release by EMI of singer-songwriter Alan Klein's recoding of 'Age of Corruption' because it used the tune of P.F. Sloan's 'Eve of Destruction'".1Sources1Billboard, 4 December 1965↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Civil Rights Songs

UK-based contemporary folk artist, Alan Klein, born 29 June 1940 in Clerkenwell, London, also a member of The New Vaudeville Band, released the novelty song "Age of Corruption", a response to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", sung to the same melody, which mocked protest singers for releasing political records, suggesting it was for commercial gain: "make it controversial so the DJ's will spin it, tell the world what's wrong with it in less than three minutes". As well as McGuire, it also called out Bob Dylan, Donovan, and Joni Mitchell: "now let's all bow down and pray to Bob Dylan, and Donovan, and Joni". On the issue of Civil Rights, he sarcastically sung "we gotta' bring in segregation, well, I ain't sure what that means, 'cause I ain't had no education", and on the Vietnam War: "we'll denounce all wars as just senseless killings".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Released Nov 12, 1965. A promo copy (release 5129432) also exists. Reissued on 'Well At Least Its British' (2008 CD) and the box set 'Gathered From Coincidence: The British Folk-Pop Sound Of 1965-66' (2018). Pop / Folk / Vocal. parody/answer to Barry McGuire's 'Eve of Destruction'; protest-song satire rather than directly about Vietnam A novelty response to Barry McGuire's 'Eve of Destruction' sung to the same melody, mocking protest singers as commercial opportunists; Dunhill Records blocked EMI's release in 1965 because it used P.F. Sloan's tune.

About the artist

Alan Klein, born 29 June 1940 in Clerkenwell, London, is a UK contemporary folk artist and a member of The New Vaudeville Band.

Themes

Anti-Protest · Satire · Answer to Eve of Destruction · Answer Record · Bob Dylan · Civil Rights · Demonstration · Novelty

In collections

McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" & Answer Songs · Civil Rights Songs · European Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]