Don't Fear the Next 4 Years - Trouble is Nothing New.

Listen to the Dire Warnings of This Kingston Trio Hit from 1959.
Then think about all the things that have changed for the better since then.

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Jean-Baptiste Anphonse Karr 1849

By listening to a popular song from over 60 years ago, we can see that the problems we have in today’s world are nothing new. Our country and our world have had many ups and downs. It’s depressing to think that modern  humans haven’t move past causing problems for each other, but it puts our current world into perspective. The next US administration has everyone on the edge of their seats. 

Some people yearn for “the good ol’ days,” 

but those days weren't so great either.

The Kingston Trio (who inspired folk singers like Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary) sang this song in 1959 during a century that saw tremendous loss and violence and injustice. With the incoming administration, there is still a lot of work to be done and we must be vigilant to protect the personal freedoms and fight for the equality that has taken so many decades to put in place. 

The "Rioting in Africa" song has always stuck with me because it has always been current. But in many ways things are better than they were then and we have to be positive and proactive to keep them that way and to make things better.

As long as we stay informed, and active we can hope that someday this song will be as obsolete as a medieval ditty about the flat earth (yeah I know there are still a few hold-outs on that one…). 

The Kingston Trio's Merry Minuet

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8-BI89mb9A  

Merry Minuet

They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much!!

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away!!

They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't so to us
Will be done by our fellow man

Songwriter
SHELDON HARNICK

Published by
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC