The problem is uncivilized nations and people with funny names who continue to test the established international status quo. They invariably elicit the wrath of the “civilized nations” of the world.
In 1967, jazz great Louis Armstrong recorded a song “What A Wonderful World.”
Over the years that song has been featured in several movie soundtracks and TV programs, and has also been covered by various recording artists. Occasionally, it can be heard on radio.
It goes without saying that the lyrics of “What A Wonderful World” are not only beautiful, but also meaningful, making it easy on the ears. According to one article, “[…] It’s a great song, and great songs have longevity. Great songs are trans-generational… can be rendered by artists across the musical spectrum and each time seem fresh and new…”
All that is true, but the good vibes and sentimentality derived from reading the lyrics and hearing the song are fleeting; they have been that way since its release. The truth is, as the article continues, “since its release What A Wonderful World has been used in times of crisis… for respite from domestic and international tensions…”
Not much has changed. The current state of the world is all about brewing tension – more so in the usual parts people of this generation have come to know. It would be almost blasphemous then for any radio station to play that song. And Louis would probably take exception as he spins in his grave.
The discordant sounds of voices around the world – spewing political, nationalistic, tribal, ethnic, racist, ethnocentric, xenophobic, and other forms of anti – or other threatening rhetoric haven’t fallen on deaf ears. More than ever the world is rife with powerful perpetrators and [their] intended victims… Look around you, around the world, steeped in [their] respective threatening ideologies… there’s no shortage of victimizers and victims to keep Louis’ song off the airwaves. The only saving grace right now is that (sometimes) the proverbial cooler heads prevail.
No wonder I haven’t heard What A Wonderful World in years; it isn’t, and hasn’t been for decades. Generations of my people… many now deceased, others still living, biding our time, would, and can, attest to that.
In a strange kina way, it seems like that song should be in regular round-the-clock rotation on radio everyday, for the world we’re living… myself a few decades now has been in a bad way. Hearing that song these days would truly be an aberration.
Louis Armstrong’s sentiments then and now are well intentioned, about how the world could, should be. It would be about inspiring hope and other cherished intangibles, and expressed at another tumultuous period in the life of many [and the world]; sadly, since recording the song the world has not enjoyed any (extended period of) stability. Truth be told, it’s always in a bad way, instability, (crisis) of one kind or another. In recent time, not a day has passed without news of killings, the result of unbridled conflict somewhere…
From the 1960s until now the world has not enjoyed any period of sustained stability; it has been faced with multiple crises, primarily man-made: social, economic, political, military… Those are avoidable, but men have agendas. It’s a man, man’s world. Problem is men have, and continue to fuddle it up, just because “they” can.
And there are the unavoidable crises: recurring natural phenomena such as those currently ravaging parts of the world, including tens of thousands of desperate, starving people…
There can be and to all that. Solutions are possible, but the global power brokers continue to look askance, preoccupying themselves with more important political, financial and military matters…
It’s not a wonderful world. Something must give.
To be continued.
