Lyr ADD: Tomorrow (Peggy Seeger)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tomorrow (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Neill
Date: 19 May 20 - 03:13 PM

https://youtu.be/c8A9HfPLskA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tomorrow (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Maxina Ventura
Date: 05 Aug 12 - 02:56 AM

Hi Joe,

Thanks for sharing Peggy's words. I suppose had I grown up with the Internet I might have thought to have searched for her own words about it.

I hadn't realized she had written it to sing in court but in fact, when Susan Crane and I were on trial for our Hiroshima action at the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Labs, in 1993, I sang this at my sentencing statement as there was nothing I could think to say which would express my feelings but Peggy had captured my thoughts and feelings most perfectly.

Apparently it hit the judge hard as by the 4th verse, You know where your pleasures lie, Will you have time to use them...., he was literally foaming at the mouth as he tore through the pages of the sentencing guidelines book. His statement to me, in response, was,
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions... 2 months!"

Of course, had my intention been to avoid further jailtime at all costs, surely I would not have sung that song, but the courtroom was the next part of our action to expose the reality of a government wedded to nuclear weaponry. 67 years later, here we are now with a nuclear disaster of such magnitude most people cannot even imagine the truth of what we face. Here in CA where so many have been affected since March of 2011, when all three of my children and I lost a lot of hair, my then-9 year old losing a patch of hair 1 inch wide by 3-1/2 inches long, today I heard two women in a store talking about nodes on their thyroids. Will we learn?

Max

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tomorrow (Peggy Seeger)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 03:50 AM

Hi, Maxina-
I hadn't noticed it before, but The Peggy Seeger Songbook has a date on each page which is usually much earlier than the copyright date. For "Tomorrow," the date is 1984. Here are Peggy's notes:

I've only been arrested once, and that was when I was involved during the 1980s predominantly with feminist and nuclear issues, which were merged by the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. In 1983, Cruise missiles were due to arrive at Greenham from the U.S.A. and an enormous demonstration assembled at the Houses of Parliament on November 15. Then came the news that the missiles had actually arrived several days earlier, and were now ensconced at the base. The demo reacted accordingly. Thousands of us just sat down at rush hour in Parliament Square. I was right at the gates and was arrested with several hundred other people. The details of the arrest and of the next twelve hours is another story. So many people were rounded up that night that criminals had a field day as all the police and police stations in London were taken up with nuclear demonstrators (see "Villains' Chorus"). My trial was held in February 1984. I wrote this song to sing in court as part of my defence, the substance of which was that my action had been carried out because I was in fear of my life. Before I got through one verse I was sent out for contempt of court and taken down to the cells by the very policeman who had originally arrested me. It wasn't as dramatic as it sounds—but I got fined more than the two fellows who bravely climbed Big Ben to put antinuclear slogans across his clock-face.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tomorrow (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Maxina Ventura
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 03:09 AM

This amazing song was written earlier. I was singing it by 1987, and was taught it by and English singer and a German singer who had heard it sung in Germany. They said that it was written by Peggy after she'd spent time at Greenham Common, reflecting on why some of us have done what can seem so extreme, of taking time from the rest of our lives to be part of a vigil or occupation such as these women's.

When I was recording a (yet unreleased) album, back in 1990 I contacted Pete after having sung this song for years, not having any idea who had written it, but asking it every time I sang it in public (frequently)... before the internet in most of our lives. Finally, someone said,"I think that may have been written by Peggy Seeger." So when Pete heard I was singing it about and was recording it, he was thrilled. He said that there are many young activist singers out singing satirical political songs, and that that has a place, but that he didn't see many young activist singers singing songs of such depth. He was touched to know I was singing her song.

I guess I no longer qualify as "young" but I continue to share that song which could be written by me, had I Peggy's talent, awhile back singing in introduction to Dr. Helen Caldicott presenting; recently before a professor from a Japanese University gave a true update on Fukushima; and this weekend I shall sing it as part of a UU service entitled Hiroshima to Fukushima". This song has become part of the fabric of my life, without doubt. Thank you, Peggy!



Maxina Ventura

Subject: ADD: TOMORROW (Peggy Seeger)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 00 - 10:47 PM

TOMORROW
(©1992, Peggy Seeger)

I know where my pleasures lie, for pleasures I have many,
Hopes and dreams that carry me through daily care and worry;
But every pleasure's touched with grief, every hope blighted with sorrow,
Nightmare overtakes the dream—I fear I've lost tomorrow.

There it is, deep in my mind when I wake in the morning—
I'm waiting, trembling, listening for the dread Four-Minute Warning.
When I watch the children play and only see annihilation,
Then I know fear has now become a normal part of living.

Nature trains us to survive, protect our children's children;
We break the first of human laws preparing now to kill them.
Peace is what they say we have—it feels more like a poisoned arrow
Pointing at our deepest dream—the promise of tomorrow.

You know where your pleasures lie. Will you have time to use them?
Hopes and dreams are empty joys if we're prepared to lose them.
You who stand and shake your head and judge us that we act in error,
Ask yourself, deep in your heart: Do you, too, live in terror?

My spirit's dying day by day, murdered by warmongers;
That is why I'm here, for I can't bear it any longer.
I'm not here to waste my time, I'm not here to beg or borrow,
I'm here to demand what's mine. I've come to claim tomorrow.

JRO (also sent by e-mail)

Subject: RE: Lyrics Req Peggy Seeger Song
From: mactheturk
Date: 26 May 00 - 11:15 PM

You might try "The Peggy Seeger Songbook, Warts and All" published in 1997 or the web site..www.pegseeger.com

Good Luck,

Mac

Subject: Lyrics Req Peggy Seeger Song
From:
Date: 26 May 00 - 10:21 PM

Help! We're looking for the lyrics to a Peggy Seeger song that begins "I know where my pleasures lie". Anyone have any ideas? - S and V