Currently Listening too......

Clueless, the message arose from the 50's and 60's folk era where the songs were protest 'doom and gloom' messages. There were many songs that were aimed at the threat of nuclear war and that song was implying that everyone died because of the war. Pete Seeger wrote that song after being inspired by some of the words in a famous book 'And Quiet Flows The Don'.

I enjoy forming links between songs and performers so here are a few (unfortunately I can't find some of the artists on the net).

Joan Baez recorded this song by Malvina Reynolds (whom I mentioned earlier on, as the writer of 'Little Boxes' - which was originally sung by Pete Seeger) and it was one of the many similar songs about the 'nuclear rain' that would destroy the world.


The saddest 'Rain' song was written by Tom Paxton and a superb version was sung by Bobby Darin (can't find his version on the net ). This version is quite a reasonable one by a talented amateur. Bobby's version had slightly different words and an enormous amount of pathos. Tom was another superb folk writer.


Peter, Paul and Mary did a very popular version of 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone'


Mary Travers (from Peter, Paul and Mary) did a superb version of 'I Wish Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free' - a protest song from that period. Her version was in Jazz/Ballad style and the original jazz instrumental version by the composer Billy Taylor was used as the theme music for the very long running BBC TV series 'Film ....'
You should recognise the tune from this Jazz version by Solomon Burke (can't find Mary's version on the net any more).