Bee brings us the Black Pumas, and a bit of commentary that begins, “One aspect of a peaceful existence is to consider our fellow humans as our family not our enemies.” Precisely!
My selection is this story, with The BeeGees performing Bob Dylan and then their own peace music. It’s an excellent story, and very good performances! Their own song is equal, at least, to Bob Dylan’s, but Barry Gibb discusses Bob Dylan’s influence on his music.
Barry Gibb recalls brave Bee Gees TV performance of Bob Dylan song to protest the Vietnam War
In 1962, the Australian Army began its formal military commitment to the U.S war in Vietnam. Two years later, young men were required to register for the National Service scheme and forced to fight in a bloody war that would enlist over 80,000 Australians. Over the next 11 years, 523 Australians died in battle and nearly 2400 were wounded before the country withdrew.
The fear of being sent to Vietnam to kill or be killed for the government struck fear into the hearts of many young Australians in 1963. That’s why three teenage boys, Barry (17), Robin (14), and Maurice (14) Gibb, The Bee Gees, took their big moment on Australian TV to speak truth to power by singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The Bee Gees were relative unknowns that night on Bandstand, but by the end of the decade, they would be among the biggest acts in the world.
The Bee Gees sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ on Australian TV in 1963
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” released earlier that year, asks fundamental questions about war, racial justice, and whether humanity will ever live in peace and equality. The song would become one of the most important anthems in the Civil Rights and peace movements of the ‘60s and beyond.
Barry Gibb, now 79, says that even as a teenager, he completely understood why Dylan’s song needed to be heard. “I was rapidly approaching the time when I would have to register for the draft,” he told Upworthy in an exclusive interview. “It’s hard to explain that period, except that everyone was very worried, very worried, and Bob Dylan was our hero.”
“The Vietnam War was such chaos to the Australian people that it shadowed everything. I wrote a song called ‘And the Children Laughing’ because of what Bob Dylan had written. It’s about life and dying, and the idea that you would die for your country or go and kill people you don’t know. And I don’t want to go kill people. It was not on the table for me. So everything he wrote touched me deeply,” Gibb continued.
Why don’t you get on your feet
It’s about time you got to think
Whatever happened to peace?
Well, open your eyes and you’ll see children laughing
Voices singin’, hearts a-beatin’ ah…
Barry Gibb has always believed in peace
(snip-there MORE; it’s not too long, but this is a long post with the music)
Scottie's Playtime 
Thank you, Tengrain, and Ten Bears!🎶
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Wow, how cute where they and how aware already. I didn’t realise Australia fought in Vietnam, too. It must have been such a scary time. Germany wasn’t allowed to send soldiers abroad unless it was peace keeping missions I think until the wall came down so the German boys got somehow away with it.
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I thought it was scary; similar and still different from now, as to the US. But scary elsewhere, too. So many countries were tired of the conflict in Korea, plus still recovering from WWII. But there it was; the spectre of communism, with China and then-USSR supporting it, so France then the US took up the banner of non-proliferation of communism, and fought a war with other countries’s participation.
A good still-living example of why war is wrong.
It’s been a while since the Wall fell, and I never thought about that making a difference during Vietnam. I was still in elementary school at the time, though, so I hope that covers me for being less aware. I mean, I was aware of the Wall, and East and West Berlin; I had some relatives on my mother’s side who ended up behind the Wall. It was a big deal, one year, when my maternal grandmother got to go through to see them, with my aunt, uncle, and 2 favorite cousins. They had so many stories when they came back!
Thanks, Bee! This has been a fine music challenge, and maybe it’s bringing more peace-minded people together!
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You are very welcome. It’s been uplifting and maybe it brings a bit more peace about.
I should have been more exact: West-German Military was not allowed to fight abroad. It was only there for self-defence. Despite having family on the other side of the wall I am not aware of how the Eastern German military was ruled.
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OK. Me, either; the relatives who got to go in and visit said the family was healthy, etc. They mostly talked about the visiting, though. Nana was happy to have seen them again in her lifetime! I wish I remembered more about the day or days that there was safe entry to and from.
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I wouldn’t have thought so. As the secret police in the East called Stasi, was literally everywhere no one would have touched sensitive topics like the army etc.
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