Eugene McDaniels is hardly a household name. Even here amongst progressives (where he ought to be a legend), his passing may be considered only a footnote. I'd like to right that wrong today.
This is a diary I meant to write at some point while The Left McD (as he liked to call himself) was still alive. It always amazed me that his work wasn't better known here. This is a guy whose seminal 1971 album "Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse" reportedly caused vice president Spiro Agnew to call Atlantic Records personally in order to complain about lyrics such as these:
"Left wing and right wing
Political pawns in the master game
The player who controls the board Sees them all as the same
Basically cannon fodder
Nobody knows who the enemy is
Cause he never goes in hiding
He's slitting our throats Right in front of our eyes,
While we pull the casket he's riding
Better get it together, Better get it together,
And see what's happening To you and you and you"
Truth be told, the biggest reason I haven't diaried about McDaniels before is that his world view was far more in line with the mainstream of this community than my own. I tend to find the sort of sentiment expressed in his "Love Letter to America" to be more defeated than I am willing to to be:
"Hey America
You could of had it any way you wanted it
You could of been a real democracy
You could of been free
Hey America...
I could have loved you more
More than you will ever know
You are my homeland
Hey America
The only thing you can respect is violence now
You lost the gift of love don't ask me how
But you lost it now..."
But whether I agreed with him all of the time, I was glad he was there articulating how I felt at my most hopeless. There is comfort in hearing a voice that mourns the same things you mourn. I suspect that many here who discover his work today will take more comfort from him than even I can.
Anyhow - his music wasn't always political. He made his name first in the 60s with a string of pop songs including this minor hit:
But his career really got rolling with the Les McCann/Eddie Harris protest classic "Compared to What?":
He also enjoyed a lucrative career writing songs for the great Roberta Flack, including this stunner:
Then finally - his solo work. as the years go on the stature of these records continues to grow. A favorite source of samples for hip hop artists, his aforementioned "Headless Heroes of the Apocolypse" and "Outlaw" albums in particular have achieved legendary status amongst music collectors, but they deserve to be moree widely known in communities such as this for tracks like these:
Anyhow - we post threads to say our respects when a member of this community passes. The Left Rev McD may never have posted a word here, but he was one of us before this place was ever conceived. I just thought something ought to be said here today.