Jennifer_SFBA
06/08/06, 11:42 pm
The civil rights event that led Richard Farina, husband of Mimi Farina who was the sister of Joan Baez, to write the folk song, "Birmingham Sunday" in memorium of four young girls who were murdered September 15, 1963 at 10:22 AM by a bomb blast at the 16TH Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, is told in detail in the story that is found at the link below:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave their eulogy found at
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/Eulogy_for_the_martyred_children.html
The song, "Birmingham Sunday" was made popular by Joan Baez who sang that song for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the American people in that great struggle for Black civil rights and dignity that ultimately prevailed and culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established the basis in law used to address discrimination against disabled Americans, though the struggle for GLBT American's civil rights continues in America today.
Birmingham Sunday
(Richard Farina)
Come round by my side and I'll sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
On Birmingham Sunday, the blood ran like wine
And the choir kept singing of freedom
That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun
And Addie Mae Collins, her number was one
At an old Baptist church, there was no need to run
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The clouds they were gray and the autumn winds blew
And Denise McNair brought the number to two
The falcon of Death was a creature they knew
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The church it was crowded but no one could see
That Cynthia Wesley's dark number was three
Her prayers and her feelings would shame you and me
And the choir kept singing of freedom
Young Carol Robertson entered the door
And the number her killers had given was four
She asked for a blessing, but asked for no more
And the choir kept singing of freedom
On Birmingham Sunday the noise shook the ground
And people all over the earth turned around
For no one recalled a more cowardly sounds
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The men in the forest, they asked it of me
How many blackberries grew in the blue sea
And I asked them right with a tear in my eye
How many dark ships in the forest
The Sunday has come and the Sunday has gone
And I can't do much more than to sing you this song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
And the choirs keep singing of freedom
Note: in 1963 four girls were killed when a bomb exploded
in a Negro church in Birmingham, Alabama.
recorded Baez /5
SH
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave their eulogy found at
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/Eulogy_for_the_martyred_children.html
The song, "Birmingham Sunday" was made popular by Joan Baez who sang that song for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the American people in that great struggle for Black civil rights and dignity that ultimately prevailed and culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established the basis in law used to address discrimination against disabled Americans, though the struggle for GLBT American's civil rights continues in America today.
Birmingham Sunday
(Richard Farina)
Come round by my side and I'll sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
On Birmingham Sunday, the blood ran like wine
And the choir kept singing of freedom
That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun
And Addie Mae Collins, her number was one
At an old Baptist church, there was no need to run
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The clouds they were gray and the autumn winds blew
And Denise McNair brought the number to two
The falcon of Death was a creature they knew
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The church it was crowded but no one could see
That Cynthia Wesley's dark number was three
Her prayers and her feelings would shame you and me
And the choir kept singing of freedom
Young Carol Robertson entered the door
And the number her killers had given was four
She asked for a blessing, but asked for no more
And the choir kept singing of freedom
On Birmingham Sunday the noise shook the ground
And people all over the earth turned around
For no one recalled a more cowardly sounds
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The men in the forest, they asked it of me
How many blackberries grew in the blue sea
And I asked them right with a tear in my eye
How many dark ships in the forest
The Sunday has come and the Sunday has gone
And I can't do much more than to sing you this song
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong
And the choirs keep singing of freedom
Note: in 1963 four girls were killed when a bomb exploded
in a Negro church in Birmingham, Alabama.
recorded Baez /5
SH