Long Black Wall

Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs

The "Long Black Wall" by Richard Meyer, a contemporary folk artist, born in 1952, and died in New York, USA on 14 May 2012, was a long-term editor of Fast Folk - this was a music magazine and record album publisher from February 1982 to 1997, a songwriter / performer cooperative. It also published many political and social contemporary songs, playing a similar role to Broadside Magazine in the 1960s. This song was a cover, composed by Michael Jerling in 1982, and released in 1983 on the LP: CooP Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 2, No. 4) - Political Song, discussed above.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: A Green Beret came to talk to us, gave a slide show in the gym / Told about the communists and the punji sticks / Thought I'd like to be like him / Long black wall and nothing is undone / Long black wall, sleeping in the sun / Chicago summer, 1968, some high school kids out on a lark / Waved to the cameras on the evening news / And got teargassed in Lincoln Park / Long black wall and nothing is the same / Long black wall, shining in the rain / Everyone in college was against the war / We had long hair and Nixon stunk / Draft number high, draft number low / Stayed out all night and got real drunk / The vets came back on the G.I. Bill, in their field jackets and jeans / Drank black coffee and smoked cigarettes / And never spoke of what they'd seen / Long black wall and nothing left to say / Long black wall, so many miles away / The man on TV said ten years had gone / Today a monument was raised / And when they spoke each name one at a time, the roll of dead took four whole days / Long black wall, and nothing is the same / Long black wall, shining in the rain... / Nothing is undone..." Also featured in: • Vietnam War: Veterans Memorial Wall Songs

Notes

Fast Folk 1989 Volume 5 No. 3, recorded at The Bottom Line, 18 February 1989; side A track 4. Richard Meyer (guitar, vocals), Lisa Gutkin (viola, violin), backing vocals Lillie Palmer, John Gorka, Josh Joffen.

About the artist

Richard Meyer (born 1952; died 14 May 2012, New York), contemporary folk singer and long-term editor of Fast Folk Musical Magazine. [Rate Your Music]

Themes

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall · Chicago Seven · Demonstration · Green Beret · Lincoln Park · Draft · Counter-Culture & Hippies · Mistreatment of Vet · GI Bill · Communism

In collections

1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Draft Songs · Veterans Memorial Wall Songs