Old Singers Won't Die!

By vickylass on January 6th.

What happended to all of them who sang for us songs of peace, love and hope?

On one of those days when I was walking in the city centre, I happened to hear a song that it had been one my favourite ones when I was a teenager. Crikey! After all these years, Joan Baez´s wonderful voice and guitar was heard in a bustling city centre.

My mind went back to those years when I had my collection of records and songs like “Banks Of The Ohio” or “We Shall Overcome” sounded endlessly in my bedroom.

I was overjoyed when I achieved to listen to her live during my first stay in London.

Back home, I logged on to watch few videos about her. She is now a mature woman with white hair. Her voice isn’t as it was when she was a young girl playing her guitar in front of a huge audience like herself eager to listen to songs of love and hope. As I watched on you-tube, I saw that she still keeps some of the charm of the past.

Raimon was one of the singers that kept many youngsters hopeful that things could be changed. Those were times of a harsh dictatorship when white had to be white, even though, one could see it was a black colour. Actually, he wasn’t a very good guitar player and his voice was rather coarse. Yet, it was sheer delight when one of his concerts was announced and we were lucky they weren’t banned before they started. They always ended in riots calling for freedom in the streets of the city centre. Tear gas and the water canon cars were used to disperse the rioters or trouble makers as they were called.

Bob Dylan sang in Dublin to a mixture of people -some of them were mature ones, but others were the young ones eager to listen live to whom had been a master for protest and revolt.

They aren’t dead, but although, they have become somewhat oldies, they are still up and doing. For these like myself, they are a sweet memory. For younger ones, they may become a light of hope amidst gloom.

It is what I say; the old singers will never go from us, even though, they are buried someday. We might need their songs, hoping that things can be changed for the better.

And it will be a bad sign if these singers and some of their songs become fashionable again.

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