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Hey Sandy

Harvey Andrews
Language: English


Harvey Andrews

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"Hey Sandy on the album 'Writer of Songs' (1972) is another description of the senseless loss of a young life in conflict. It is based on the death of a female student, Sandra Scheuer, who was shot by the Ohio National Guard at the Kent State University in the U.S. anti Vietnam War demonstration of 1970, although, unlike the Sandy of Andrews' song, the real student was not directly involved in the demonstration. The album version of the song is an unusual, but powerful, arrangement, in which the first verse is sung to the accompaniment of a solo double bass, played by Danny Thompson. The recording was never issued in the USA until Kent State University's commemorative CD was released in 2005. It reached number 2 in the New Zealand chart in November 1972.

en.wikipedia


Writer of Songs

(B.B.)
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were 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?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

Well the sun was hot and the air was heavy as the marching men came by
And you ran to the door and you watched then pass and you asked the soldiers "Why?"
The sound of the steel and the black boot's heel were pounding in your head
And your freedom's past, they have come at last, with the blessings of the dead.

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were 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?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

In the college square they were standing there with flag and with the gun
And the whispered word as the young ones stirred was "Now at last they've come"
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 stench of fear.

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were 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?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

Through the air the shout as you all ran out was "Why are these things done?"
And you stood and you stared but no one cared for another campus bum
And your songs were dead and the hymns instead were to the burning pyre
And the words of youth, like love and truth, just ashes in the fire.

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were 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?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

Did you throw the stone at the men alone with their bayonets fixed for hire?
Did you doubt that they would, say no one could, did you scream when they opened fire?
As the square ran red and your bloodstain spread and the darkness round you grew
Through the fear and the pain did you call the name of the man you never knew?

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were 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?
Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

Contributed by Alessandro - 2008/11/4 - 23:19




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