Between the ongoing wars, various acts of genocide and terrorism, grand-scale corruption and mismanagement within government and major financial institutions apart from the unprecedented man-made environmental disasters, it would appear there's no shortage of songwriting fodder for any protest singers seeking to rally the masses with an truth-telling broadside or two.
Yet throughout the Katrina disaster, the global economic meltdown, the horrendous BP oil spill and the recent G8/G20 debacle, the most active finger-pointing participants in the topical song tradition of the past few decades have remained strangely silent.
But then, who really needs a running commentary from the sorely out-of-touch old guard who've found it's much more lucrative to shill for multi-national corporations than to chill with the great unwashed. As any historically-sussed singer/songwriter will tell you, there's already so many insightful protest tunes composed ages ago – a surprising number still have deep resonance today – that there's no need to wait around for inspiration to have the relevant songs necessary to galvanize the populace. All it takes is a little digging.
Perhaps the best of King's finds is the utterly magnificent Sounds Of Our Time by the late great Jim Ford best known for penning Aretha Franklin's Niki Hoeky, Bobby Womack's I'd Be Ahead (If I Could Quit While I'm Behind) and Harry Hippie and very likely Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe for which Ford was never properly credited.
Sounds Of Our Time by Jim Ford
The song Sounds Of Our Time (co-written with Womack who sings backing vocals on Ford's soulful original version) remained unissued and unheard at the time, hidden on a one of many tapes Ford kept in a plastic bag collecting dust in his California home until Germany's Bear Family label put it out in 2007 as part of the Sounds Of Our TIme CD compiling Ford's classic Harlan County album from 1969 along with singles tracks and previously unreleased tracks. King's poignant rendition of Ford's lost anthem, with Jeb Loy Nichols ably substituting for Womack on the backing vocals, is among the album's highlights but he also delivers rousing takes of Is There Anybody Here? and Cops Of The World by Phil Ochs but his own tunes In Time and Hey Ma, I'm Coming Home and In Spain The Dogs Are Too Tired To Bite You stand up well against updates of better known tunes by Roosevelt Sykes and ex-protest singer turned BMO pitch man Bob Dylan.
Since the releases of Germany's Valve Records aren't well distributed outside of Europe, it may be just as difficult to find a copy of King's I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier as his previous release for the label, Crawling Through The USA but hopefully he'll have a few copies of the new disc with him at the Dakota Tavern where the engaging showman be making a rare Toronto appearance playing an early show Wednesday (September 1) at 7 pm sharp. Who knows, maybe Bruce Cockburn will drop by and take some notes.
Hey Ma, I'm Coming Home by Michael Weston King
I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier
LINKS
Michael Weston King site http://www.michaelwestonking.com/
myspace http://www.myspace.com/michaelwestonking
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