LYR ADD: Hey Sandy (w/RA)

Subject: LYR ADD: Hey Sandy (w/RA)
From: Ezio
Date: 04 Sep 98 - 10:25 AM

CLICK TO LISTEN

------

HEY SANDY

(Harvey Andrews)

The sun was hot and the air was heavy and the marching men came by
You stood at the door and you watched then pass you asked the reason why
The sound of steel on their Jackboot heel came pounding through your head
Your reason is past, they've come at last, with the blessings of the dead.

Chorus: Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why are you the one?
All the years of growing up are wasted now and gone.
Did you see them turn did you feel the burn of the bullets as they flew?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

At the college square they were standing there with flag and with the gun
And the whispered words as the young ones stirred, why are these things done
And the air was still with the lonely thrill of now the hour is near
And the smell of sweat was better yet than the awful smell of fear.

Chorus

The awful shout as you all ran out, why are these things done
And you stood and stared yet no one cared for another campus bum
Your songs are dead and your hymns instead are to the funeral pyre
And the words of youth, like love and truth are just ashes on the fire.

Chorus

Did you throw the stone at the men alone with their bayonets fixed for hire?
Did you think that they would kill no one did you scream as they opened fire?

As the square ran red with your bloodstains spread and the darkness round you grew
Did you feel the pain did you call the name of the man that you never knew?

Chorus

Sung by Christie Moore on 'Live in Dublin'

------
submitted by: EB

---

I've collected most of the lyrics I've posted here during the past months.
These lyrics, along with the .RA audioclips, are available at
http://geocities.com/Nashville/Opry/7424
Ezio

---

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Hey Sandy (w/RA)
From:
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 03:32 AM

Ezio - thanks for posting the lyrics. I have a few scraps on the story behind this song:

[1972:] Here the theme is destruction of the innocent in America. How often I've heard "yes, but it could never happen here". (Notes Harvey Andrews, 'Writer of Songs')
[1979:] [A] lament for the death of Sandy Scheuer, accidentally killed in the Kent State University shootings in 1970. (Woods, Revival 114f.)
[1989:] On 1 May 1970, the day after Nixon had announced an escalation of the [Vietnam] war into Cambodia, young Americans at campuses all over the country held mass meetings and planned strikes. The anger even spread to northern Ohio, to Kent State University, where there was a series of angry demonstrations, and the National Guard were called out after a building had been set on fire. Demonstrations continued on 4 May, when students gathered at a field in the middle of the campus. The National Guard arrived, tear gas canisters were thrown and rocks lobbed back in exchange. Then the soldiers started firing into the students. Four were killed, one crippled for life, and many wounded. (Denselow, Music 108f)

Being German and quite young at the time, I had no idea what the song referred to. But it reminds me of a demonstration in Berlin in 1966 where a student was shot dead by police. His name, Benno Ohnesorg, is still well known in Germany, and his death is seen as the starting point for the student unrest of the years 1967-68. Is Sandy Scheuer still remembered in the States? Is there anything to be added to the story? I think Harvey's comment is still very relevant. - Susanne