"In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights
Movement" was a soul stirring reminder of how music can help change the world. And that we need new anthems and new energy because of the endless conflict the U.S. is
immersed in, both internally and around the globe.
The best moments were truly transcendent, and even the hasty editing (the concert was taped the night before) couldn't botch that. Why only sixty minutes alloted to something this important? There were a lot more music and performers who were left out of the Thursday night broadcast (Seal, Queen Latifah).
But what a show it was. Thankfully, one of the speakers (it might have been Bernice Johnson Reagon, before her song) reminded the audience--and President Obama--that Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke tirelessly against the Vietnam war, not only on race relations strife in the U.S. Smokey Robinson, who turns 70 in a few days, sang a sobering "Abraham, Martin and John." Joan Baez brought everyone together with "We Shall Overcome." John Mellencamp remembered his early band with a black vocalist ("they loved him--when he was onstage, that is") and did a rocking version of "Eyes On the Prize."
So many memorable artists packed into 60 minutes--the Blind Boys of Alabama,
Jennifer Hudson, Bob Dylan (a rough but beautiful trio version of "The Times They
Are A-Changin' "), and yes, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" made its appearance. I questioned why "How Great Thou Art" was performed (a fabulous hymn nevertheless) but my wife Gina reminded me, "Where do you think the strength of the movement comes from?"
Here's the weird editing part: Before Yolanda Adams' "A Change Is Gonna Come,"
Obama told the audience that the first verse was inspired by Dylan's "Blowin' In the Wind" while the third verse was based on the hatred author Sam Cooke felt when he attempted to check into a hotel in the U.S. South. But no third verse was shown on TV,
the powerful "I go to the movie/and I go downtown/somebody keep telling me,
'don't hang around' "--a really serious omission, courtesy of the editors.
Reminds me a little of a former KAOS broadcaster who would occasionally air various tracks from a live album by Roger McGuinn, who spoke about the songs after he performed them, meaning that the listener would be hearing McGuinn reminisce about tunes that weren't even getting airplay on that show.
Well, that's minor and this flub is substantially bigger; they'd better get it right (and include all the other goodies we missed) if a DVD of "A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" becomes available.