Hope and laughter. Amy goodman today, we pay tribute to yip harburg. The man who put the rainbow in the wizard of oz democracy now special. All that and more coming up. Now me to democracy i am amy goodman. Today, we pay tribute to yip harburg. His name may not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world, like jazz singer Abbey Lincoln and bing crosby sang it. Railroad, made a race against time. I built a railroad, now it is done amy goodman and tom waits. Judy collins, and dr. John from new orleans, peter yarrow,. They called meow al amy goodman thats al jolson, and our beloved odetta. Dime . An you spare a dime . Spare a amy goodman brother, can you spare a dime . May well be a new anthem for many americans. The lyrics to that classic american song were written by yip harburg. He was blacklisted during the mccarthy era. During his career as a lyricist, yip harburg used his wor to express antiracist, proworker messages. Hes best known for writing the lyric
[applause] gave me an m m thank you, i needed that. 2, 3, 4 [laughter] [applause] please welcome to the stage mr. Peter yarrow singersongwriter and political activist and the executive director of the Grammy Museum at l a live joining mr. Country joe mcdonald for our next panel. [applause] well, joe, on behalf of everyone here i want to thank you for exercising your freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Thank you very much. [applause] 50 years. And boy, for those of us who were alive back then and remember that song and remember those days, that was one song that could always get a response going and it did even here. Interesting, huh . Look, every generation has a sound track. Every historical era has a sound track. Every historical moment. Every movement. Music has played a vital part in americas history. Its been there from the revolutionary times and it goes right through our history even today. And almost always the music was creative, expressive, and sometimes controversia
Ladies and gentlemen, please songwriterger Country Joe Mcdonald. [applause] [background chatter] [indiscernible] Country Joe Mcdonald look out yonder in the skies what is that, i pray a bird, a plane, a man in the same it is lbj he is flying high way up in the sky ust like superman i got a little piece of kryptonite back toa bring him land come out linden with your hands held high reach for the sky got you surrounded and you aint got a chance, dennis and you back to texas, make you work on your ranch yeah mmm, yeah yeah superwoman andll super duck it shows him no good i found out why from a russian spy he ate ate nothing but a commie book. Land, have us the brandnew day what is more, i got the fantastic work and spiderman to help him on his way. Ly y, mouth come out ndon with your hands held high got you surrounded and you a got a chance gonna take you back to texas, take you work on your ranch oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah gonna make him an agricultural worker part of his own Property Pro
But believe me the people in Washington Square never went on the other side of sixth avenue. At 8 00 p. M. On the presidency every time i look at washington its unanimous. Unanimously commander in chief, unanimously president of the constitutional convention. Unanimously president of the united states, unanimously appointed as the Lieutenant General and commander in chief of all the armies raised or to be raised for the service in the united states. What a record. George washington scholar peter enreekz explores that even though washington was officially retired he continued to meet with political figures from the thu capitol and was often called upon to craft policy. For the complete American History tv weekend schedule, go to cspan. Org. Thursday a discussion on regulating ecigarettes. The American Enterprise institute looks at the legal, legislative and Public Health implications of the fdas plans to regulate the product. See it live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. President obamas
But i made the mental decision, im going to beat this thing. I dont know how long, but i will go home. So i live every day every day is a great day. If you think you have a bad day, let me tell you one day as a p. O. W. I say that humbly. But after we finished this and he asked me about some propaganda material about some battles that had i been in. And i said i have to disagree with you on this one particular battle. You guys didnt win. He looks leans forward and looks at me with all seriousness, oh, no, you have been misled by that Propaganda Machine we have in this country called the free press. Now im 25 and im kind of cocky but in no position to be cocky in that environment and i think to myself, you have got to be kidding me. And that is when it really sunk in. Because they reiterated it later on. Even if something is false, the doctrine, if you repeat it a thousand and one times, it becomes true. And i said to myself, wow. So as a mission before, fighting with them and living wi