DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 04:36 PM

Well, that does surprise me Joe.
So....old Barry was a Right wing liberal then.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 03:28 PM

Yep, probably Barry Goldwater. The song was written in 1961, and I think that by then, Goldwater was the darling of the extreme right. He took the Republican nomination for President in 1964, and lost by a landslide. He was always on the extreme side of conservatism, but he was quite philosophical and also a man of extreme integrity. He was one of the first to support admitting gays into the U.S. armed forces.

-Joe-

Little-known fact: 16-year-old Joe Offer worked as a volunteer for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 campaign. Joe thought LBJ was slimy.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 12:38 PM

Who was the "Barry" referred to in the song......Goldwater?

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 02:44 AM

Ah...so the references were satirical? Pete was certainly a "Commie", though I am not sure if he was actually a Party Member.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 04:42 PM

Nope. Milton and Dwight Eisenhower, and CIA Director Allen Dulles. An unlikely lot of Commies, I'd say.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 04:24 PM

Re your queries, Just three guesses
Allan Ginsberg, Milton Friedman, Dwight MacDonald?

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 04:12 PM

I've got this album Joe, bought it way back but haven't played it for years....Pete was one of my heros in my CP days. Apparently it was a play on the John Birch Society, which was a right wing political organisation, back in the days when we actually had left and right wings.......ah the good old days!

Subject: RE: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 09:32 PM

Robert Welch, founder and chief factotum (read
"Fuehrer") of the John Birch Society, believes that
American life is dominated by Communists. He is
supposed to have called former President Eisenhower
a card-carrying Communist, although there seems
to be some dispute about whether he actually said
"card-carrying . " He has also accused Allen Dulles,
formed head of CIA and Milton Eisenhower of being
members of the Communist Underground.
A radio commentator suggested recently that "Jack Ash" might
be a more suitable title for the John Birch Society.

THE JACK ASH SOCIETY
(Mary Brooks)

A bunch of Jack-Ashites from Bella, Mt. Mass. have suffered a terrible fright
They looked under their beds and discovered such Reds as Allen and Milton and Dwight
If more you would know of this Jack-Ash credo see the blue book, the black book, the white,
If you do you will find we're all Reds of some kind, like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Joe McCarthy is dead so Jack Ash instead leads the anti-Communist fight
U.S. Reds he has found swarming all around (170 million so far) including Allen and Milton and Dwight.
If you believe in more hospitals housing and schools new highways and civil rights
The Ashites will add you to the un-American list along with Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Social Security's a Bolshevik plot cooked up by some shrewd Moscovite
So go naked you must or be security-risk like Allen and Milton and Dwight.
Beware of good pay and the minimum wage, it's part of the Socialist blight
Created by conspirators bold like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Unemployment insurance is another Red trick that slipped by in the dark of the night
So send back your checks lest you share their fate of Allen and Milton and Dwight.
These Jack-Ashes are drawing the lunatic fringe assembling on the right
Barry's their man he has no pinkish tan like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

There's a man sitting on the Un-American Committee, he's a Jack-Ash Society-ite
I wonder what day he will send a subpoena to Allen and Milton and Dwight.
The Jack-Ashes say that in World War II we should have joined with the 3rd Reich
Adolph can pass their loyalty test, but not Allen and Milton and Dwight.

They want to prepare for a nuclear war, kill everything human in sight,
And if you'd rather live, you're a Communist dupe, like Allen and Milton and Dwight.
So all the Jack-Ashes should take some advice, wake up and start seeing the light,
Their Fuhrer may find they are Red agents too, like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Now a candy bar's sweet, milk chocolate's a treat but ponder before you bite,
The worms hiding inside may shrivel your insides like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

(c) 1961 by stormking Music Inc.


From the notes from the Pete Seeger Folkways album, Gazette, Vol. 2.

Subject: DTStudy: The Jack Ash Society
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 08:56 PM

This is an edited DTStudy thread, and all messages posted here are subject to editing and deletion.
This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.

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Search for other DTStudy threads

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Here are the lyrics from the Digital Tradition. Who was Mary Brooks? Who were Allen and Milton (Eisenhower?) and Dwight (Eisenhower?) Blue, black, and white books?

JACK ASH SOCIETY
(Mary Brooks)

A bunch of jack* ashes at large in this land
Have suffered a terrible fright
They looked under their beds and discovered such reds
As Allen and Milton and Dwight

If more you would know of this Jack-Ash credo
See the blue book, the black book, the white
If you do you will find we're all Reds of some kind,
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Joe McCarthy is dead, so Jack Ash instead
Leads the anti-Communist fight;
U. S. Reds he has found swarming all around.
(179 million so far)
Including Allen and Milton and Dwight.

If you believe in more hospitals, housing, and schools,
New highways and civil rights,
The Ashites will add you to the un-American list,
Along with Allen and Milton and Dwight

Social security's a Bolshevik plot
Cooked up by some shrewd Muscovite.
So go naked you must or be security risk
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Beware of good pay and the minimum wage,
It's part of the Socialist blight;
Created by conspirators bold,
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Unemployment insurance is another Red trick
That slipped by in the dark of the night.
So send back your checks lest you share the fate,
Of Allen and Milton and Dwight.

These Jack-Ashes are drawing the lunatic fringe
Assembling on the right;
Barry's their man, he has no pinkish tan
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

There's a man sitting on the Un-American Committee.
He's a Jack-Ash Society-ite;
I wonder what day he will send a subpoena
To Allen and Milton and Dwight.

The Jack-Ashes say that in World War II
We should have joined with the Third Reich;
Adolph can pass their loyalty test,
But not Allen and Milton and Dwight.

They want us to prepare for a nuclear war,
Kill everything human in sight;
And if you'd rather live, You're a Communist dupe,
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight

So all the Jack-Ashes should take some advice,
Wake up and start seeing the light
Their fuhrer may find they are Red agents too,
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

Now a candy bar's sweet, milk chocolate's a treat,
But ponder before you bite;
The worms hiding inside may shrivel your insides
Like Allen and Milton and Dwight.

@political
Printed in Sing Out Reprints, Vol 4
filename[ JACKASH
TUNE FILE: ABDULBUL
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF

*The DT lyrics are from Sing Out Reprints. The pink reprints book (page 226) has "sack ashes," but that must be wrong (and corrected in the DT).

Notes from Sing Out! An astute radio commentator suggested recently that the John Birch Society." Mary Brooks immediately obliged with the piece below. The tune is the well-known "Abdul Abul Bul Ameer."
©1961 by Stormking Music, Inc. As performed by Pete Seeger in Gazette, Vol. 2,, Folkways No. FN2502.

Here's the Pete Seeger recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xX3IfQEH_E

Why does this song sound so apropos today?