Charles Mingus: Remember Rockefeller at Attica
From Changes One. The song was not originally written with this title. Mingus changed it, explaining to Nat Hentoff that "he ought to give titles to my music that makes people think." And specifically about this song -- "We ought to remember that here was a man who could have cut off the water supply and the food supply and ended the prisoners' rebellion that way. Instead he sent the army in and shot his own men as well as the prisoners. That's the part to remember--that Rockefeller is a very dangerous man."
It's interesting - the song title changes the impact of the song a good deal, and I'd like to know what it was originally titled. As it stands, it is so heavy with irony.
Read about the Attica prison riots here. And because it's the dog days, here's the 'Attica' scene from Dog Day Afternoon:
4 comments:
Guys, hats off to you, really enjoyed your last show on Viva, absolutely fantastic & probably the most reliable source of music on the net, thank you.
Can you re-post the 'twirling his cane made of peppermint' please, love that gingerbread man.
Hey I Spy, thanks so much for the comment! I don't usually do reposts but I'll honor this one b/c you listened to the Viva show! :) I lost the Mike Curb file in a hard drive crash, need to re-rip the record, give me a couple days.
P.S. For more Attica-related music see here.
Emmett your a star, thank you.
emmett, Archive post that Shepp song. Purty pleeze?
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