Barry McGuire has always said that "Eve of Destruction'' wasn't a protest song, and he wasn't angry at the world when he recorded it in 1965.That didn't stop the hate mail from coming in, or the FBI from establishing a file on the singer. Some radio stations banned the song for its negative lyrics. But "Eve'' still made it to No. 1 on the charts, becoming McGuire's one and only solo hit.
"To me 'Eve' was, and still is, nothing more than a societal mirror, reflecting back at the world the hypocrisy of this present age,'' McGuire wrote in his blog. "Political hypocrisy, Industrial hypocrisy, Social hypocrisy, Spiritual hypocrisy. The song offers no answers, it just asks the questions and hopefully the listener will wake up and look around.''
McGuire, today a born-again Christian, had come up with the New Christy Minstrels, a folk group gushing with positive spirit, and for whom he wrote "Green, Green.'' He left after four years because of the conservative confines of the group. But he was not, and is not, an angry American.
He does, however, believe "Eve'' rings true today even moreso than it did 44 years ago. And it's hard to dispute that.
You may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace
And tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction
No no, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction
On a happier note, Barry turns 74 today. Happy birthday, man. And now back to our regularly scheduled doomsday message:
Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy...
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