You Have To Be Taught To Hate And Fear
78This hub was inspired by a fellow Hubber and mutual Fan, The Bard of Ely, who recently posted the hub entitled, “Where have all the protest singers gone?”
Ever since reading his thought provoking hub, my favorite anti-war, anti-hate pro-love, pro-'anti-establishment' ballads of the 60’s and 70’s kept resurfacing. I was a child of the era - a big Bob Dillon fan; also Donovan, Cat Stevens and Mary Travers. OK, so I’m no longer a kid, but I live in the present and more importantly, I share the dreams of today's youth - that being, it's time for change. It's also time to resurrect some old tunes.
For me, Judy Collins was a big A+ when it came to love and peace ballads. Even today, her rendition of the controversial Rodgers and Hammerstein song from “South Pacific” – “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”, often pops to the forefront of my memory, keeping me focused on my childhood ideals. This poignant tune, less than a minute in length, created a political explosion in the early 1950’s when it was first introduced and continues to make a powerful, thought provoking statement in today’s somewhat misdirected world.
Two Unlikely Protest Composers
During the “cold war” epoch, the Broadway show-tune songwriters, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were accused of being “Communists” because the lyrics of "You've Got to Be Perfectly Taught" implied that the United States was acting inappropriately and with prejudice toward the people of the USSR. Actually the composers were promoting “tolerance and compassion” among people of different ethnicities and backgrounds.
The tune and lyric is timeless and worth presenting and promoting again and again until parents worldwide, get the message.
Here are Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics to "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught":
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
I couldn’t find Judy’s rendition, but brilliant actor/singer Mandy Patinkin does it justice indeed. Have a listen….
...And so, in the words of Crosby, Stills and Nash…”Teach your children well. “
© Copyright Green Lotus, 2011. All rights reserved.
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In case you're curious about the man behind the quote, Richard Farina.
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Thanks again dohn. I'm a big fan of R&H; even performed professionally around the U.S. in many of their musicals.
I don't mean to gush, but I was nominated again for this week's Hubnuggets! It's actually my personal favorite too. Please check out http://hubpages.com/hub/X-Marks-The-Spot-Fer-HubNu My Hub is "The Twelve Spiritual Laws of Groucho Marx". Thanks for your support :)
Uh oh - correction! The hubnuggets voting page is http://hubpages.com/hub/X-Marks-The-Spot-Fer-HubNu
BTW...what was your winning hub? I'd like to read it!
Ahh, I cut my teeth on Cat Stevens...I wasn't aware of the Rodgers and Hammerstein piece; thanks for this!
Ahh, I cut my teeth on Cat Stevens...I wasn't aware of the Rodgers and Hammerstein piece; thanks for this!
Hi Lorlie - "Morning Has Broken", one of my faves. You know, he's now called Yusuf Islam and he's become a great humanitarian and philanthropist.
This hub brings back memories having been a musician during that time. Congratulations for being a hubnugget wannabe again. What do they call you when you are a "double hubnugget"?
Great hub, thank you so much for sharing it. creativeone59
Hi GreenMathDr - Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the congrats. Not too sure about the "double hubnugget" title. I only recently heard of a hubnugget!
Creativeone - Much thanks for stopping and commenting :)
I just pulled up a video of Crosby, Stills & Nash's " Teach Your Children". Do you think there's a connection? With all that's happening in the world, you'd think there would be a resurgence of protest singers. Are we too much about Me and not about Us?
We are creating that connection right now by putting it all out there. Maybe that energy will inspire more of that kind of song writing. I sure hope so. What's out there right now is pretty lame.
Are we too much about Me? Right now, I think yes, but exponential globalization will help loads.
I agree with you Green Lotus, I grew up in the sixties listening to those great singers and composers. Thanks for sharing this with me.
In the early seventies, I saw Cinderella by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and that to me was the best Cinderella play, with her wicked stepsisters.Other than Walt Disney"s Cinderella.
You are welcome mjt. I love the 60's music too..almost made it to Woodstock, but Dad wouldn't let me go!.. and yes, I'd forgotten about Cinderella. It was their only musical especially written for television. Magical.
dohn121 Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago
What a great tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, Green Lotus. It's tough I think for anyone to not like their music as it's among the most memorable of all time and is the Hallmark of American entertainment.
Congrats again on your Hubnugget ;) I won one too within my first 2 months. You definitely deserve it!