Voices in Humanism

A few days after George Floyd’s murder on 5/25/2020 gripped our nation, I refreshed the lyrics to Barry McGuire’s classic 1965 anti-Vietnam War protest anthem. It usually takes me a long time to complete a song, but the words to Eve of Destruction (Election of Destruction) flowed onto the computer screen very quickly. It was Friday night, the end of the typically busy work week and I needed to express feelings of outrage from that most tragic event, in the context of a COVID-19 pandemic and against the wider lens of societal disintegration we have experienced over these past four years. I shared this with a circle of fellow lovers of folk music who regularly meet on Saturday mornings (previously in-person at the Worthington Farmer’s Market and at the time of this writing, virtually on Zoom) and received their positive feedback. I initially envisioned turning this into a film incorporating video and still images taken from current events. I reached out to a music production team to record the song. As things turned out, the film portion never took off (so if anyone has interest in creating a film, please let’s collaborate). One of the music producers asked me what I was going to do with it. I thought about it and came around to the idea of a YouTube video to encourage people to vote on Election Day, 2020. A friend pointed out that the lyrics leave the listener wanting for an answer. That led to the idea of adding words addressed to the listener of this lyric video during instrumental break, the outro and finale, “GO VOTE!!!” as a solution. With Election Day now behind us, it’s an almost cathartic ending to the song.

In the spirit of Folk Music, please feel free to sing and play along – chord changes and words are matched and syllables bolded “on the beat” for ease of “jamming”.

Hear the song by visiting: https://youtu.be/u0-gNwDAcz4

 

Steven W. Ing, MD, MSCE
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Lyricist, Singer