Racing Through Your Brain

In 1967, Jon Hendricks and The Grateful Dead composed music for the soundtrack of a Jerry Stoll documentary entitled, Sons and Daughters, in which students from the University of California at Berkeley march to the Oakland Army Terminal in 1966 to protest the Vietnam War.  The song ‘Fire In The City’ was written by Peter Krug, a San Francisco Bay Area singer/songwriter.  Country Joe & The Fish recorded this Peter Krug song first, but with very different lyrics.  In the movie, film footage from Vietnam shows the extent of the disturbing violence of the conflict, as thousands of students embarked on a two-day protest (October 15 and 16, 1965) of the war marching from the from Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus to the Oakland Army Terminal.  By 1965, Berkeley had already become a vortex for protests and a group of Berkeley students held “Vietnam Day”, which was a 35-hour demonstration against the war.  The Sons And Daughters movie, became a watershed moment in American political life, even though the protestors were turned away at the Oakland border by hundreds of police.

Virgil Gonsalves a baritone sax player who was in the final version of Electric Flag and also in the rock band Pacific Gas And Electric is also listed as a composer for this film, along with the distinguished jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks.  The Grateful Dead were recommended as the backing group for legendary jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks.  Soon after signing their contract with Warner Brothers, they spent some time in the studio working with singer Jon Hendricks on the soundtrack to a documentary movie called Sons And Daughters.  Hendricks was well-known as the leader of the groundbreaking vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (vocalizing Charlie Parker solos), and Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia in particular were honored to work with him.  The film is largely forgotten, although it has remained on the radar of Deadheads, because the Grateful Dead participated in the soundtrack.

The band spent a few days with Hendricks at Columbus Recorders, at 906 Kearny.  Columbus Recorders was a popular studio for commercial work and the like, but it too had a three-track recorder.  The Dead ended up backing Hendricks on two songs, ‘Fire In The City’ and ‘Your Sons And Daughters’, and both songs were released as a Jon Hendricks single on Verve.  Although the Dead enjoyed working with Hendricks, they were uncomfortable with the overt polemical political stance of the movie and asked that their name be removed from the soundtrack.

The Grateful Dead agreed to their contract with Warner Brothers in October of 1966, but they did not actually sign it until around December 1.  Hendricks and the Dead worked at Columbus Recorders at 906 Kearny Street for a few days (they would also mix Anthem Of The Sun there as well, in the Spring of ‘68).  The Grateful Dead became part of this project just prior to recording their first eponymous debut album by Warner Bros. Records which was recorded at RCA’s Studio A, in Los Angeles.  It was not a commercial success, as it failed to get into the Billboard top 100 album chart.  It was recorded in only four days out of material they had been doing onstage for quite a long time.  The band wanted to record the tracks in their hometown of San Francisco, but no recording studios in the area had modernized equipment at the time.

About two thirds of the way into Sons and Daughters, it takes a bit of a diversion to racial unrest around Hunters Point in the city.  There is a montage of African American guys scuffling with the police and this is when the song ‘Fire In The City’ is played.  This section is somewhat extraneous to the main thrust of the documentary.  The original press kit apparently lists the Grateful Dead’s drummer as Bill Sommers, seemingly because Bill Kreutzmann was using “Sommers” on a fake draft card that he had so he could be served alcohol in bars.  ‘Fire In The City’ was included on the Grateful Dead album The Golden Road (1965-1973), which was released in 2001.

Pause for a minute and ask yourself why
[There’s fire in the city]
The red glow of fire lights up the sky
[There’s fire in the city]
And the sound of the siren screams through the [black]
[There’s fire in the city]
And the streets re-echo with the rifle’s crack
[There’s fire in the city]

Oh what are the thoughts that go racing through your brain
And mess your mind up
At the sight of the city that’s gone completely insane
Where will it wind up

Come on with me let me take you down there
[There’s fire in the city]
To the hate-haunted canyon of human despair
[There’s fire in the city]
Over the dark invisible wall
[There’s fire in the city]
Through the sickening stench of the tenement hall
[There’s fire in the city]

Oh how can I tell in terms of black and white
Why there’s fire in the city tonight

Oh what are the thoughts that go racing through your brain
And mess your mind up
At the sight of the city that’s gone completely insane
Where will it wind up

I know by your face that you don’t know the sound
[There’s fire in the city]
Of a club that’s beaten a man to the ground
[There’s fire in the city]
Where your home is your prison, your skin a disgrace
[There’s fire in the city]
And the gates of your nation swing shut in your face
[There’s fire in the city]

Oh how can I tell you in terms of black and white
Why there’s fire in the city tonight

Oh what are the thoughts that go racing through your brain
And mess your mind up
At the sight of the city that’s gone completely insane
Where will it wind up

Oh pause for a minute and ask yourself why
[There’s fire in the city]
The red glow of fire lights up the sky
[There’s fire in the city]
And at the sound of the siren you really know
[There’s fire in the city]
That you truly do reap just what you sow
[There’s fire in the city]

Oh how can I tell you in terms of black and white
Why there’s fire in the city tonight
Oh how can I tell you in terms of black and white
Why there’s fire in the city tonight
Oh how can I tell you in terms of black and white
Why there’s fire in the city tonight

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is Mind, Think, Brain suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II.