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I listen to music from many different genres while writing and editing. Every now and then I come across a song that make a great impact on me, I tend to write something based on songs like that. The song/poem Who Will Answer?, sung by Ed Ames is one those songs that made a huge impact on me, when I first heard it many years ago. Here are the lyrics to the song and the story behind its creation. A lot of the following is courtesy of WikipediA, The Free Encyclopedia©.
I firmly believe that the following Song/Poem or Poem/Song is one of the most powerful of its kind written and composed of this or any century. Ed Ames adds powerful emotions to his version of the song. What is truly amazing is the fact that Who Will Answer? Was first released in 1967, yet it is still very relevant today. The version recorded by Ed Ames is based upon a Poem/Song written by Luis Eduardo Aute as the Spanish Song Aleluya No. 1. The songwriter Sheila Davis wrote the English Lyrics that were recorded by Ed Ames, and produced by Jim Fogelsong, arranged and conducted by Perry Botkin Jr. (Who Will Answer? (Song) From The Wikipedia) A lot of what the song conveys is still happening today. I hope that my writing about it, will open a few eyes.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
From the canyons of the mind
We wander on and stumble blindly
Through the often tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days
While asking for some kind of clue
Or road to lead us to the truth
But who will answer?
Side by side two people stand
Together vowing, hand in hand
That love's imbedded in their hearts
But soon an empty feeling starts
To overwhelm their hollow lives
And when they seek the how's and why's
Who will answer?
On a strange and distant hill
A young man's lying very still
His arms will never hold his child
Because a bullet running wild
Has struck him down and now we cry
"Dear God, oh, why, oh, why?"
But who will answer?
High upon a lonely ledge
A figure teeters near the edge
And jeering crowds collect below
To egg him on with, "Go, man, go!"
But who will ask what led him
To his private day of doom
And who will answer?
If the soul is darkened
By a fear it cannot name
If the mind is baffled
When the rules don't fit the game
Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer?
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
In the rooms of dark and shades
The scent of sandalwood pervades
The colored thoughts in muddled heads
Relining in the rumpled beds
Of unmade dreams that can't come true
When we ask what we should do
Who, who will answer?
'Neath the spreading mushroom tree
The world revolves in apathy
As overhead, a row of specks
Roars on, drowned out by discotheques
And if a secret button's pressed
Because one man has been outguessed
Who will answer?
Is our hope in walnut shells
Worn 'round the neck with temple bells
Or deep within some cloistered walls
Where hooded figures pray in halls?
Or crumbled books on dusty shelves
Or in our stars, or in ourselves
Who will answer?
If the soul is darkened
By a fear it cannot name
If the mind is baffled
When the rules don't fit the game
Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer?
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Songwriters: L.E. Aute / Sheila Davis
Who Will Answer? lyrics © Sociedad General DE Autores DE Espana S G A E
This link is to a YouTube Video of the song with images that portray the song very well. Who Will Answer?.
I own neither the rights to the song or the video; I am only presenting them to portray their relevance to today's society. I am receiving no monetary recompense for the presentation of this material. However, I strongly believe in the saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" © George Santayana. I am constantly amazed and reminded that a lot of writing/songs, and poems of the past are still relevant even today. I also am finding that some things written for a particular event or reason, can also be applied to different events than those that they were originally written for. One of those items that quickly comes to my mind is my poem Why?, that was originally written because of the Clan Short Universe's All Hell Breaks Loose Story Arc. However, as I was told then it had meaning and relevance to what was going on in the Middle East and other places at that time. It still has relevance to the happenings in the Middle East now, as well as what is happening in Central America; and sad to say what is happening in the US today.
© The Story Lover 2008 ~ 2019
Why did I have to die?
I was just a kid,
Why did they hate me?
I didn't even know them!
Why did they hate me?
They didn't even know me!
I was just a kid,
I loved my family, and I loved life.
Why did I have to die?
God made me and God made them,
So why did they want to kill me?
I loved God and God loved me,
They loved God or so they said.
I was just a kid,
Why did I have to die?
I am continually reminded of another old saying, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." © Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr his original words are, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
That is all for now.
TSL
Comments, acclaim, and even criticisms are always welcome, The Story Lover.
I find it unreal that our world still has to deal with all these "major issues" that all stem from depriving one segment of society from being able to attain what the other segments of society already has achieved or is striving to achieve. Maybe the world needs to read or hear these words you've presented to us. If anyone needs further proof, just google the song, Bring Him Home, performed by numerous artists in recent years.
TSL: You've again placed words in front of us that need to be shared. Your social commentaries do need to be heard.
P.S. Do you think Mayor Pete has read Danger Runs in Our Family?
LY,
Art
When I first read 'Why' I shed a boatload of tears.
Then came Before Why Comes What. I shed a couple of oceans of tears. Both works were heartbreaking and meant much to those of us who read them.
I remember the Ed Ames song. I never knew what it was based on, and knowing its origins, gives it even more meaning.
I will add one more piece of info. Ed Ames was the lead singer of a vocal group who had quite a few hits in the mid to late 1950s. It was a family group known as the Ames Brothers.
TSL has a way of envisioning deep meaning from others, and amplify that meaning and pull his readers into most intimate details and bring it to the front and centre.
Thank You TSL for another inspirational epic.
Very powerful. I remember Ed Ames singing this (one of my early crushes). Should you write something similar-what does your heart tell you. There needs to be a voice reminding us of the past and giving hope for the future. I say keep writing. It will do a couple of things- remind us that there is work to be done and will also ease your soul by helping you express feelings you are holding in.
On a separate note-please let the guys/group how much I love the site and the stories. You are my first stop after email every morning.
Love and hugs,
Yvonne
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher