Vietnam series by Burns and Novick
brought this song to mind. I sing it often whenever I watch the Donald or GOP "winning".
Country Joe McDonald..."Fixin to Die Rag"
"Give Me an F..."
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That song was a mainstay at many parties in the 60s and 70s. Since I was one of the few who knew all the lyrics, I'd lead everyone on the "Fish Cheer". 
To paraphrase Dickens, "Those were the best of times, those were the worst of times". The world seemed to be changing so quickly, after pretty much stagnating since the end of WWII.
I lost two lifelong friends in Vietnam (our lifetime being only 23 years at the time), and another (who was quite an accomplished musician) lost his left hand to a VC booby-trap. There isn't a week that goes by when I don't think of them, and what could have been were they still here. I used to think of them every day, but time passes and the mind takes a small break from horrific events we've encountered. I still visit their graves on their birthdays, and on the day's they were KIA. I still cry my eyes out each time I visit them. What a waste, and for what?
I saw Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on MSNBC today and they were saying that they think what happened during the war does relate directly to where we are now in our current politics. They were referring to questioning the government, grassroots efforts to successfully change or see various positions on different issues, etc. The only good thing I can see as a result from Vietnam and the disastrous policies by Dems and Repubs throughout the war is some great music!
I think it has inspired me to try my best to make my voice heard through civil disobedience in many areas of my work and my life. When I go to rallies and protests now it is not like a "fun/party" to me. I take it seriously and it is work, it serves a purpose. My health sucks but I am going to resist and continue to do so until I no longer physically can.
As long as you think about your friends they will be "alive" in your memories. Thank you for remembering them and now others will think of them just by posting it here....
in San Francisco in 1968. I was about 5 rows from the stage (the "stage" being a flatbed truck) in Golden Gate Park, and he sang that verse with a little different twist. Instead of the "man, this is war au-go-go" he sang "why man this war is solid gold". I think they mixed it up every now and then, depending on how much acid Joe had dropped. 
That was one freaky summer, and a time I'll never forget. Haight-Ashbury......it seemed like the center of the universe back then, but looking back now with different eyes.....it seems like everyone was trying too hard to be "cool". The area was filled with reporters looking to file stories on "the summer of love", and "be-ins", "sit-ins" "love-ins", every sort of "in". It grew to be a farce. Some of them would pay some people to stage whatever type of story they were looking for. Like I said, looking back now......it was a sell out much of the time. 
Everyone tried too hard, and it wasn't organic like it was earlier in the "movement". That was a time when San Francisco had peaked, and the wave of consciousness had already broken and started it's journey back out to sea.
Damn, the things that are inside my head. 
I've had one heck-of-a life, and it's not over yet.
wayward, totally lost kids. There were so many kids coming in non-stop. No place to live, no money.....just lost. It was really sad. They all came expecting the world to open up to them, but what they found were a bunch of people waiting to prey upon them. "Hipsters" getting the girls into porn, or worse. Heck, they didn't differentiate, boys were preyed upon by sexual predators as well. Drugs.....bad drugs everywhere. If you didn't know the people you were buying from, chances are you were going to get burned.
It wasn't all bad, but there were just too many kids streaming in all at once. A few more months of that and I escaped back to New York, which had it's own problems, but that's another story.
