https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3VcFC9ZCV0
By Rick Robinson
NKyTribune columnist
On its Golden Anniversary, Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction may be more relevant now than ever.
And you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction
In the early sixties, McGuire grew tired of singing upbeat folk songs – like Green, Green – for the New Christie Minstrels. His quest to record something more meaningful led him to the doorstep of legendary music producer Lou Adler.
At the end of their first session, Adler determined two of the songs sounded way too much alike. So McGuire pulled a folded piece of paper with some hand written lyrics on it from his back pocket and smoothed it out on his music stand. Two quick practices later, Eve of Destruction was recorded in one take. It was playing on the radio four days later.
McGuire is anything but a one-hit wonder, but he is no longer bothered by being remembered for one song.
“What other people think of me in none of my business,” he said. “I’m not defined by what other people think of me. I know who I am.”
At age 79, he’s still singing the song that made him famous five decades ago but has changed the lyrics a bit to reflect his Christian spirituality.
I caught up with McGuire as he headed out to rehearsal for a show he is headlining with P.F. Sloan, the man who wrote Eve. A great composer, Sloan holds a special place in my heart for playing the jaunty guitar rift on Johnny Rivers’ Secret Agent Man, a song he also wrote.
But back to Eve.
The eastern world, it is exploding
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’
McGuire said he never expected the opening verse would still be current 50 years later. He was part of a generation of performers who believed they would change the world with music. When Eve shot to number one, he naively thought he was leading America to a renaissance of righteousness. Reality quickly set in a week later when Eve of Destruction was knocked out of the top slot by Hang on Sloopy.
Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Eve of Destruction as one of the “Top 5 Protests Songs of All Time.” Yet, McGuire considered it as a wakeup call rather than protest, calling it instead a “societal diagnostic of human hypocrisy worldwide.”
He went further: “I didn’t know the answer. I just knew something was wrong and we had to talk about it.”
Don’t you understand what I’m tryin’ to say
Can’t you feel the fears I’m feelin’ today?
If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away
There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you, boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy
McGuire bristles at the thought he missed his mark on the prediction of the demise of humanity. “You’re here and I’m here,” he said. “But just last year, how many people died violent deaths at the hands of others. For them the Eve of Destruction became a reality.”
For that reason alone McGuire believes the song is “just as valid today as ever.” He says we’ve moved from the “Eve of Destruction to the Dawn of Desolation.”
Yeah my blood’s so mad feels like coagulating
I’m sitting here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’
Following my interview with McGuire, current events caused the course of this column to radically change directions. I wanted to write about the history of Eve and McGuire’s rich musical background.
Then came the bloody attack on the French satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.
As I watched events unfold in France as Islamic terrorists went on a rampage in Paris, it became evident why McGuire’s song has unfortunately become timeless. The depravity of the human condition is more apparent when violence like this occurs and the need for a “societal diagnostic” never more evident. McGuire is unfortunately right when he argues for the validity of the song’s warning.
Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
You may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The pounding 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.
McGuire was on stage one night, when new words for the final verse of Eve came to him. I got a chill down my spine as he sang them to me over the phone: “Think of all the hate livin’ inside us; It’s never too late to let love guide us.”
Those words reflective of McGuire’s faith, change Eve of Destruction from an anthem to a hymn – a protest to a prayer.
A prayer for the families of Charlie Hebdo, who today find themselves on the dawn of desolation.
Je Suis Charlie.
Rick Robinson is a Northern Kentucky lawyer and author of political thrillers which can be purchased on Amazon and at book stores everywhere. His novel, Manifest Destiny, has won seven writing awards, including Best Fiction at the Paris Book Festival. His latest novel is Alligator Alley.