Love Train

With calls to England, Russia, China, Egypt, Israel and Africa, in 1973, with the Vietnam War getting increasingly uglier, the O’Jays carried on the theme of climbing aboard for unity and peace.
It’s a theme that never dies, especially married with a beat that that tempts the feet.
Playing for Change resurrected the tune in 2018, adding an even younger dimension and complete with appearances by big names in the music biz. It’s infectious.

Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board,
And let this train keep on riding, riding on through.

Please don’t miss this train at the station.
‘Cause if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you.

Excerpt: Running Orders

Three guesses what this excerpt references.

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha has captured the terror and the injustice of people caught in a horrible conflict.

The poet brings us into a no-win situation. It’s chilling.

They call us now to say
Run.
You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
Your house is next.
They think of it as some kind of
war-time courtesy.
It doesn’t matter that
there is nowhere to run to.

Throwing Stones

The imagery in this single by Grateful Dead is post-apocalyptic, as if the forces sung about conspire to wreck us all.

Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice.
Any way they fall, guess who gets to pay the price?
Money green, or proletarian gray,
Selling guns instead of food today.
So the kids they dance and shake their bones,
And the politicians throwing stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.