What about Me?

the revolution must be mighty close at hand

Jan 27, 2024

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for today’s song from 1970, “What about Me?”, by Quicksilver Messenger Service. If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics (written in italics). Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

(861 words)

Rachel Carson and the Ecology Movement

Biologist Rachel Carson wrote a very important book in 1962. It was called Silent Spring. It reported that insecticides, chemicals that kill insects, caused the death of many birds. Carson faced opposition, but she succeeded in getting the insecticide DDT banned in the U.S. The book led to environmental awareness. Carson warned us about many environmental problems, but they still continue, with chemicals harming oceans and land. Despite Carson's impact, the environment has worsened. Many governments around the world have not listened to Carson's message. As we deal with climate change, Carson's work reminds us of the continuing struggle to protect nature.

In 1969, an Ecology Flag was created. It became the symbol for the Ecology movement. Ron Cobb made the symbol by taking the letters "e" and "o" from the words "environment" and "organism", and putting them over each other. This made a shape that looks like the Greek letter theta, θ (Wikipedia link below).

The Ecology Flag. Photo by Kristen Shepherd Hampton (WikiCommons)

The song begins by describing the destruction of the environment:

You poisoned my sweet water, you cut down my green trees

The food you fed my children was the cause of their disease

This means that there were (and are) harmful chemicals in the food we eat. This is especially true of junk food.

My world is slowly falling down, and the air's not good to breathe

And those of us who care enough, we have to do something...

Oh... oh What you gonna do about me?

The media puts you on

The song continues, criticizing the media:

Your newspapers, they just put you on (lie to you)

They never tell you the whole story

They just put your young ideas down

I was wondering, could this be the end of their pride and glory?

Pride and glory refers to the kinds of articles or TV news broadcasts in the 1960s that showed the U.S. making wonderful achievements and how life in the U.S. was a source of deep satisfaction and honor. The singer is being ironic because there were many serious social problems that the country was experiencing.

At the time, there were thousands of students who were against the war in Vietnam. Young people also worked to support their families. While many young people were drafted into the military and went to fight in Vietnam, others tried to evade the draft. Some of them were arrested and jailed.

I work in your factory, I study in your schools

I fill your penitentiaries and your military, too

And I feel the future trembling as the word is passed around

The word is passed around is similar to a rumor or information that is passed from person to person.

Vietnam War protestors at the March on the Pentagon (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

If you stand up for what you do believe, be prepared to be shot down

Standing up for what you believe means not going along with what society (parents, teachers, company bosses, or government leaders, for example) tell you that you should do. Be prepared to be shot down could refer to the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 in which 4 students were killed when the National Guard opened fire on university students who were protesting the war.

And I feel like a stranger in the land where I was born

And I live just like an outlaw, and I'm always on the run

Getting busted

And I'm always getting busted, and I got to take a stand

I believe the revolution must be mighty (very) close at hand

One example of “getting busted” (arrested) was the arrests of students who were peacefully walking on the streets of Hollywood in 1967. There are many other examples of police setting up situations in which they could arrest protesters or people of color such as members of the Black Panther Party.

Image courtesy of the Online Archive of California, UCLA Special Collections (Wikimedia Commons)

I smoke marijuana, but I can't get behind your wars

And most of what I do believe is against most of your laws

At the time, marijuana use was illegal in all states. However, many young people smoked it anyway. They often wondered how something that was not very dangerous could be illegal while at the same time, the government was carrying on a war that was killing millions of people.

I'm a fugitive from injustice,

The usual phrase in English is “fugitive from justice”, and it means that someone has done something illegal and is trying to run away to escape being caught by the police. Here, the singer is saying that people are often arrested for crimes they did not do. In other words, these are unjust or unfair arrests. Therefore, he is trying to escape being arrested for something he didn’t do.

but I'm goin' to be free

'Cause your rules and regulations

they don't do the thing for me, meaning “the rules do not support my sense of values”.

And though you may be stronger now, my time will come around

You keep adding to my numbers as you shoot my people down

Here, the singer is saying the those in power may be stronger, but because they are using violence toward the youth of the country and not listening to them, eventually, the youth will outnumber those in power.

Question:

Do you have an ecology movement in your country? What kinds of things do people do to protect the environment?

VOCABULARY

chemical 化学薬品

struggle 闘争

organism 生命体

evade the draft 兵役忌避

penitentiary 刑務所

trembling 震え

protest 抗議運動

outlaw 無法者

on the run 逃走中

revolution 革命

fugitive 逃亡者

justice 正義

unjust 不当な

regulations 規則

outnumber 数が多い

Grammar point:

-cide means to kill. It comes from the Latin word, caedere. When you add this ending to other prefixes (part of a word that comes at the beginning), it refers to killing or destruction of that thing. For example:

pesticide = killing insects ([Latin] pestis, plague)

homicide = killing a man/person ([Latin] homo, man )

suicide = killing oneself ([Latin] sui, self)

genocide = killing a large number of people from a particular ethnic group ([Greek] genos = race)

Here’s another magnificent version of the song, sung by Richie Havens. Enjoy!