It is night in Grinnell. Silence and
deep shadows engulf the North Cam-
pus Loggia. But, as students move
further south, something strikes
their ears. It is the mournful sound
of a blues harmonica. A stereo on
too loud again??

No, In the cold night air. a lone figure is
iound hunched over the stairs, soitly blowing
the blues. He is just one of the many Grlnr
nellians who take a break trom long nights
oi studying by enjoying a few minutes of
their own music.

Signs of the new “music breaks” abound
throughout the campus. Norrisites are otten
treated to stairwell Concerts, as are residents
of Loose. The soft sounds of a folk guitar
often float across the campus on the still night
air. Jazz eminates from the Younker lounge,
while the Main “teen towners” get together
for a 50’s Hootenany. And, all over, friends
break from the books for fifteen minutes of
song.

0h, 1 wish 1 was in the land oi cotton
Old times there are not iorgotten

Look Away, look away, look away Dixieland
Oh, i wish I was in Dixie

Away . away.

in Dixieland I’ll make my stand

To live and die in Dixie.

Yes, even in Grinnell the songs oi the old
deep South live on. Norris residents wander»
log out oi their rooms one Friday night were
treated to a concert not by the stereo or
KDIC but just by a bunch ofpeople who wanted
some reliei irom “academic pressures".

The Main Hall approach was more organized
--ahd earlier. Their ”Bluegrass Hunte—
nanny” made Issue Number Five of the Stun
dent Coordinator’s Weekly Hall Activities
Report - the sure mark of Grinnell social
success.

About forty people gathered in Gardner
Lounge tor the event. it wasn’t really a party.
...just a bunch or people singing the old rock
and roll favorites (immortalized each Wed-

esday night by the R. Marshall Beer Fiasco
on KDIC. The songs are the oldies of pain
and suffering...“lt’s My Party and I‘ll Cry it

Want To", ”Teen Angel”, “My Eoyfriend’s
Back", “Yesterday". Perhaps, by singing
about the sorrows ol the past, the future will
become brighter.

Yesterday 2
Yesterday
All My troubles seemed so [ar away
Now i know they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

The early Sixties were a time otviolence.
which is unacceptable to most now, But, that
violence can come out trom within again in
the songs oi a decade ago.

My Boyfriend's Back
My hoytriend’s back.
Now you’re gonna be in trouble.
Hey la, hey la, my boyfriend’s back.
He’s coming now,
You’d better cut out on the double
Hey la, hey la, my boyiriend’sback.

Many prefer to express themselves in their
own way. Some Main residents‘declded to
take their message beyond the ivied walls.
Forming a onevperformance group Burgers,
Bagels, and Beer, they performed for twoand
one half hours on Main resident Ron Medvin's
KDIC Rock Garden. Moving from sad to happy
to love to nostalgia, they filled the airwaves
instead of the hallways.

But perhaps there is really no deeppsycho-
logical meaning in the song selections. The
“good old days of rock and roll” were also
the early teen years of today's Grinnellian.
To break the pressure, it is pleasant to revert
to the past, when lite was simpler and tests
weren’t imminent. So, the strainsof“Please,
Mr. Postman" and “My Diana" will continue
to float through the halls 01 Main.

Angel Baby
It's iust like heaven
Being with you Dear.
I can hardly breathe whenever you‘re near.
Because I love you, i love you, i do.
Angel baby, my angel baby.

Teen Angel
Teen angel, can you hear me?
Teen angel, can you hear me?
Are you somewhere up above,
And am I still your own true love?

supplement

December 7, 1971 Page ls l'

by John Wylie" a

art by Miriam Burstein
and Susan Turner

Uncle John’s Band 3
Well, the first days are the hardest days,
Don't you worry anymore.
’Cause when life looks like easy street
There is danger at your door.

Special songs, expressing the personal hopes,
fears. and aspirations oi their authors, are
also heard ﬂoating around the campus...like
the, haunting “Seasﬁ”:

Sea'Saw 4

The dances at my lite are empty without you
But their rhythms pound insideand call me to
come too.
I’ve lost the lovely melodies
, w’ljhatletme love the sea.

Take me from this world in which contusion
is my name '

I'm looking ior the answerbiititalways looks
the same

I Can’t see who I am, define where I stand

I‘m blinded by the land.

In the hollow halls of time I listen for your
call

But the echo of my rhyme bounces back
against the wall

That I am building with the land

That blocks the vision of my hand.

I can't break through the seal, uncover what
is real, believe what I feel.

I want to know the blue and the freedom of
the sky

That walks along with you and lies Within
your eye.

Yet I hurt you and call you back to hurt
you once again.

i am reaching for the sea
I am yearning to be free
To touch the you that’s me.

i wonder how you are in your world beside
the sea

I wonder who you are in a time without me

Cause I’m feelin’ kinds lonely

And I’ve lost the you that's me.

Others express themselves through orgar /

nized groups. a )azz group, which beganwith /
just a piano and trombone in the Younker
lounge, quickly grew as a medium oi ex-
pression ior musicians allover North Cam-
pus. The group's informal iam sessions
became practices, and eventually the group
began to play set at the Forum Coffee House
on weekends, This is just one example or
study breaks becoming organized groups. The
group has not been active lately, because at
the increased workload on the members, but
its parts still hold the music within them-
selves.

Soft folk sounds are often heard drifting
up the stairs in Norris and Loose. Acoustic
guitar is the rule, and setter sounds of
peace and brotherhood break from the real
world.

Get Together 5
Come on people, smile on your brother
Everybody get together, got to love one
another
Right now.

0i course, stereos still provide an escape
for the less musically inclined...or those
who just want to sing along instead oileading
a songiest, Although The War is no longer the
issue it was two years ago, themusicot pro-
test still dominates many record collections.
.,,and many sing alongs:

The GreotMandella 6

So i told him that he'd better

Shut his mouth and do his job like a man.
And he answered, “Listen, iather,

i will never kill another".

He thinks he's better than his brother that
died,

What the hell does he think he’s doing
To his iather that brought him up right.

Take your place on the Great Mandella
As it moves through your brief moment of
time.

Win or lose now, you must choose now
And it you lose, you're only losing your llie.

Some Grinnellians take their music very
seriously. Three girls on the first floor of
Cowles have moved a piano into their suite,
and gather friends around for song fests.
Both contemporary and classical strains
escape from the doors, serenading unwary

Cowles diners waiting in the interminable
lines.

Traditional

Yesterday, by Paul McCartney, is Copy-
right 1965 by Northern sons. Ltd, London.
North American rights controlled by Mac»
len Music, lnc., New York, New York/
Uncle John's Band, by Robert Hunter, is
Copyright mo by ice Nine publishing
Company and Warner Brothers Records,
lnc., New York, New York.

Sea Saw is written by a Grinnell student
who wishes to remain anonymous

Get Together by Chet Powers is copyright
1967 by lrving Music, lnc., New York, New
York.

The Great Mandeila by Peter Yarrow, is
Copyright 1968 by Pepamar Music, inc,
New York, New York.

 

