More To The Sixties Than Hippies

there was more to the sixties than hippies
do tell, I remember it well

there was war in a country over-seas
war in the streets and the universities
tear gas mixed with the morning dew
sirens wailin’ and the people too
a paradigm shattered like a house of glass
a population reaching critical mass
days of brilliance, days of rage
a decade burned into history’s page

these city streets went up in flames
the day that Martin Luther King was slain
with bullets from the FBI
how many more would have to die
there was Fred Hampton and Malcolm X
seemed like anybody could be next
where to run to, where to hide
there was danger on every side

music was a soundtrack played
for almost every move we made
festival city in the pouring rain
two-hundred and fifty thousand people came
to re-align our state of mind
assault upon the power lines
if a life worth living is worth a try
you need a song to sing it by

there were flood gates of chemistries
brainstorms of LSDs
a little poison in the brew
and you never knew who was who
some under cover hired thugs
supplying everybody’s drugs
and considering the damage done
I think I know where it was coming from

there were women who threw away their chains
freed their bodies, unleashed their brains
and faced up to the counter-attack
of a culture that would hold them back
sisters, daughters, girls next door
soldiers in another kind of civil war
all those battles lost and won
and still the struggle carries on

there were veterans of Viet Nam
who threw their medals on the White House lawn
who peace marching side by side
got their heads split open wide
who cried their disbelieving tears
and woke up every night to nightmares
who shot at shadows, cracked and ran
and now they’re living out of garbage cans

there was a glimmer and a window then
and I say there will be again my friend
and by whatever means necessarily tried
we have to push that window open wide
for we all know there are those
who would stop at nothing to keep it closed
and through history and circumstance
we may never get another chance