Last week I wrote about the Bob Dylan song “Knocking on Heavens Door." Of the many versions out there, one stands out because:
In 1996 and with the consent of Bob Dylan, Scottish musician Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in memory of the schoolchildren and teacher killed in the Dunblane massacre. This has been, according to some sources, one of the very few times Dylan has officially authorized anybody to add or change the lyrics to one of his songs. This version of the song, including children from the village singing the chorus with guitarist and producer of Dylan's album Infidels (1983) Mark Knopfler, was released on December 9 in the UK and reached #1. The proceeds went to charities for children.
The song was featured on the compilation album Hits 97, where all royalties from the song were given to three separate charities.
The added verses:
Lord these guns have caused too much pain
This town will never be the same
So for the bairns of Dunblane
We ask please never again
The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green
He leadeth me
The quiet waters by
Lord put all these guns in the ground
We just can't shoot them anymore
It's time that we spread some love around
Before we're knockin' on heavens door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
I've been there too many times before
The power of song in response to tragedy can be just what the soul needs to cleanse the hate that rises up when faced with these unspeakable events such as Sandy Hook and the other senseless episodes of gun violence that has become too common of late.
In 2012, Norwegians demonstrated this power.
My Rainbow Race
is an American folk and children's song. Originally released by Pete Seeger on his album Rainbow Race in 1973 with the name "My Rainbow Race", it was translated to Norwegian in 1973 by Lillebjørn Nilsen as (Norwegian title Barn av regnbuen, which means in English Children of the Rainbow), who released the song the same year. It was the sixth-highest selling single in Norway that year.
Public mass performance during Norway terror trial
The song was performed by Nilsen and a crowd of more than 40,000 people in Youngstorget in Oslo and at squares across the country on April 26, 2012, as a protest against statements given in court by Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the July 22 attacks in 2011. The performance was inspired by Facebook reactions after Breivik claimed in his trial testimony that the song was an example of Marxist propaganda and that it was being used to "brainwash" Norwegian children. Organization was made at the level of Norwegian Minister of Culture, and other Ministers [of Culture] from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands were also present. The song was thus performed a few days later, in the midst of the ongoing trial. In Oslo the sing-along was followed by a march up to the site of the trial, where the crowd laid down flowers. The song was performed both in Norwegian and English, and Nilsen had personally contacted Seeger, who responded with the words: "Oh me, oh my. I wish you luck."
MY RAINBOW RACE
Chorus:
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
1. Some folks want to be like an ostrich,
Bury their heads in the sand.
Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands.
Some hope to take the easy way:
Poisons, bombs. They think we need 'em.
Don't you know you can't kill all the unbelievers?
There's no shortcut to freedom.
(Repeat chorus)
2. Go tell, go tell all the little children.
Tell all the mothers and fathers too.
Now's our last chance to learn to share
What's been given to me and you.
(Repeat chorus one and a half times)
Words and Music by Pete Seeger (1967)
(c) 1970 by Sanga Music Inc.
We would be wise to follow the words on Pete Seeger’s banjo and let our voices be the machine.
"This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces it to Surrender"