I was somewhat shocked since I had come to know them very well. I had volunteered to help them in the 1980's when they were already getting on in years. I had been reading Broadside Magazine and learning my first songs from its pages many years before I met them. They liked that I had met Phil Ochs, put him up in my apartment, and interviewed him in May 1973 while living in Washington, DC and doing social work in the school system. They published my tribute to Phil titled "Broadside Balladeer", and several other songs. My brother Joe Sadot also had several song published in the pages of Broadside..
And the singers they liked sang about the Civil Rights movement, the war in Vietnam, labor and union struggles, Martin Luther King, Watergate, the dust bowl and depression era, poverty, farmers, blacklist, strikes, and environmental concerns. They were close to Moses "Moe" Asch, the owner of Folkways Records, and were able to release a number of LP's full of protest songs. There are many historic moments which have become somewhat obscure in the public memory, but they most certainly come alive in Red Dust and Broadsides. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves political songs and social justice movements.
From the hills of
Oklahoma like that “Dustbowl Balladeer”
To the heart of
New York City and the songs you helped us hear
When you founded
“Broadside” magazine, and you published certain songs
Of issues and of
struggles, of social rights and wrongs
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
Too many don’t
remember what they put our people through
When the “Great
Depression” hit so hard and the Dusbowl blizzards blew
All the heartbreak
and the hunger those poor people had to stand
Family farmers
became wanderers when bankers stole their land
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
Well, you sang
with Pete and Woody when the union movement rose
Did some time in
Detroit city where the factory whisle blows
You wrote and sang
and organized, and I guess that’s how it goes
Though you gave
all that you could, now nearly no one knows
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
On Civil Rights
and Vietnam the songs kept comin’ thru
On Women’s
Liberation, Third World revolution too
You kept a real
consistency of solidarity
And you set a fine
example for those who would be free
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, you always
stood for struggles that united black and white
Cause you knew
that ultimately it’s the same class conscious fight
Once your forum
featured Dylan, Ochs and Paxton too
And many more a
troubadour who wrote a ballad true
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
You put your faith
in working folks, not in some god above
And it’s clear
your motivation was that freedom song of love
Yet you had no use
for sentiment with no analysis
For the years of
vital relevance, thank you Gordon and Sis
So here’s to you,
you good ol’ comrades!
Yes, here’s to
you, you good ol’ comrades!
Copyright March
20, 1985 Vic Sadot, BMI, Orbian Love Music
