How did we get from there to here?

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2024

IN RE What's goin' on: Within the past month or so, we've suggested that we the Americans may have reached the end of the modern political era.

The era began in 1960, with the iconic Kennedy-Nixon election. It seems to be grinding to a halt in this, the age where it's no longer clear that we the people even retain the capacity to conduct an election.

We expect to return to The Making of the President 1960 for a day or two at the start of next week. For today, let's use a different cultural touchstone to ask ourselves a basic question:

How in the world—how on earth—did we get from there to here?

We'll jump ahead to 1972, twelve years into the era. As our cultural touchstone, we'll consider Rick Nelson's hit song from that year:

Once again, here it is: "Garden Party."

The "Garden" in question was the same hall which featured Candidate Trump's latest furious rally. To recall one of the vibes from that earlier time, you can immerse yourself in the mellow tone of Nelson and his group, the Stone Canyon Band.

What was the background of the Rick Nelson song? The song in question is so famous that it has its own Wikipedia page! Here's part of what the leading authority tells us:

Garden Party (Rick Nelson song)

"Garden Party" is a 1972 song written by Rick Nelson and recorded by him and the Stone Canyon Band for the album Garden Party. The song tells the story of Nelson being booed at a concert at Madison Square Garden. It was Nelson's last top 40 hit, reaching No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart.

On October 15, 1971, Richard Nader's Rock 'n Roll Spectacular Volume VII concert was given at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The playbill included many greats of the early rock era, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell, with Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band listed in advertisements as a "special added attraction."

Nelson came on stage dressed in the then-current fashion, wearing bell-bottoms and a purple velvet shirt, with his hair hanging down to his shoulders. He started playing his older songs like "Hello Mary Lou," but then he played the Rolling Stones' "Country Honk" (a country version of their hit song "Honky Tonk Women") and the crowd began to boo. While some reports say that the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson thought it was directed at him. Nevertheless, he sang another song but then left the building and did not appear onstage for the finale.

The authority moves on to explain some of the lyrics in the song Nelson wrote about this experience. Example:

"Garden Party" tells of various people who were present, frequently in an oblique manner ("Yoko brought her Walrus", referring to Yoko Ono and John Lennon)...

One more reference in the lyrics pertains to a particularly mysterious and legendary audience member: "Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes, wearing his disguise." The Mr. Hughes in question was ex-Beatle George Harrison, who was a next-door neighbor and good friend of Nelson. Harrison used "Hughes" as his traveling alias, and "hid in Dylan's shoes" most likely refers to an album of Bob Dylan covers that Harrison was planning but never recorded.

Stuff like that!

Was Nelson booed when he and his band tried to move past the bubblegum hits he'd recorded as a teenager? We have no idea. 

But he responded in mellow fashion, one of the basic tones of the era. The lesson he took from his perceived rejection was summarized in the chorus to the song:

But it's all right now
I've learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you've got to please yourself.

That was the ethos of one part of the nation during that earlier era. Elsewhere, experiences were substantially different—but in the same year of that Garden concert, Marvin Gaye recorded this enduring anthem:

What's Goin' On 

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yeah

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, oh 

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What's going on...

Talk to me / So you can see / What's going on? We've always been in awe of Gaye for having the confidence to assign himself that role in the healing he dreamed about.

There was a lot of anger back then too. That said, in certain ways, the society was easier to contemplate and negotiate at that time. 

In certain very basic ways, the society was much less complicated and complex. That said, how did we ever get to this? 

Also, will those of us in Blue America ever be willing to ask the key question? Will we ever be willing to examine the way our own behaviors, in Blue America, may have helped place us where we all are?

We never don't think of [NAME WITHHELD] when we hear Gaye's moral anthem. "Naaaahhh—non-violent," he said to us one day, almost surely in 1971 or 1972.

At the time, he was the greatest high school basketball player Baltimore had ever produced. (There were quite a few others to come.) We clearly remember his statement today—but how did we get to this place?

For the authority's report on What's Goin' On, you can just click this.