I very rarely go back in this way to a theme I have used before for Tuesday Tunes, my mini-series aside, but it just feels so right in current circumstances to remind ourselves that we should be living in a peaceful world. At present it is anything but that: there are genocidal maniacs in Israel and Russia destroying Gaza and Ukraine, a moron in the White House egging them on whilst declaring war on the people he is supposed to be governing, and on Sunday we received a warning from one of those ‘experts’ that we could be engaged in all out war in Europe within three or four years. Never has the need for the wisdom of songwriters been more needed to show the better way.

All of today’s songs have been played before – I have posted selections for peace three times previously – but their message still needs to be heard, so please forgive the repeats.

I have started with this first one before, and that seems like a good idea for today:

As I have often said, Cat Stevens/Yusuf has always been a big favourite of mine, going right back to his early days of pop hits and then into his singer-songwriter career with Mona Bone Jakon and all his brilliant albums. Peace Train was the closing track on his fifth album, Teaser And The Firecat, which was released in October 1971 and peaked at #2 in both the US and the UK. It was also released as a single, reaching #7 in the US but for some reason it didn’t make the UK chart. Its lyrics are still as relevant as ever, and it is a good starter for this week’s theme. As the man himself has said, “Peace Train is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions. There is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again.” I think we can all agree with that.

My second offering for today is another of my favourites, which I have also played several times previously:

Peace In Our Time was the title track of Big Country’s fourth album, which was released in September 1988, getting to #9 in the UK but only #160 in the US. It was at that point their worst-performing album, but I bought it and loved it. This song was released as a single in January 1989, making #39 in the UK. Stuart Adamson, the band’s lead singer, wrote the song and later said that he felt this was a little naive, rather like a Sixties protest song, but he went ahead with it anyway! The band had a string of hit albums and singles here in the mid to late Eighties, and I really liked them. Stuart later suffered alcohol problems, and committed suicide by hanging himself in December 2001, at the age of just 43, under the influence of very large quantities of booze. A sad end.

This next one is a bit of an outlier, as it takes the concept of peace on a much smaller scale: within a family, rather than globally. It is a beautiful song, though, and I feel it very worthy of a repeat airing:

As the video shows, this is a song from the movie Wild Rose: the movie was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and then got a cinema release, along with its soundtrack album, in April 2019. In the movie Jessie Buckley, an Irish actress and singer, plays the character of Rose-Lynn Harlan, an aspiring country singer from Glasgow, who has just been released from prison. It is one of those ‘star is born’ movies but don’t let that put you off: it is a lovely film that won eight awards and Jessie proved herself both a fine actor and singer. Peace In This House wasn’t one of the three tracks from it to be released as a single, but I think it is a beautiful song nevertheless. The album reached #76 in the main UK Albums chart, and #1 in the UK Country Albums listing.

Today’s two closing tracks are both by ex-Beatles. You didn’t expect me to leave them out, did you? Firstly, this one:

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) is the opening track on George Harrison’s fourth solo album, Living in the Material World, which was released in May 1973: it topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia, and reached #2 in the UK. This track was released earlier that month as the lead single, and got to #7 in the UK. It did better in the US, though, where it became George’s second #1 single (yes, the first was THAT one!). In doing so it knocked Paul McCartney and Wings off the top, still the only time that two former Beatles have occupied the top two positions in the US charts. The whole album is full of lyrics reflecting George’s attempt to blend his growing spiritual interest with his rock star fame; I still see it as a classic album.

And where else could I close a selection of peace songs than with this:

I have only played that one once before, just four months ago, but I really couldn’t leave it out today. In case you hadn’t noticed, that was John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band with Give Peace A Chance. As far as I can tell that June appearance was its first airing, which felt very strange, but it didn’t show up in a search of previous posts. It is, as you may have noticed, an anti-war song, and was written by John Lennon and recorded with the help of Yoko Ono and a small group of friends in a hotel room in Montreal, Canada. Released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band it was the first solo single by Lennon, while he was still a member of the Beatles, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at  #14 in the US and at #2 in the UK. Its high point was probably when it was sung by half a million demonstrators in Washington, D.C., on Vietnam Moratorium Day, 15 November 1969. They were led by Pete Seeger, who interspersed phrases like, “Are you listening, Nixon?” and “Are you listening, Agnew?” between the choruses of protesters singing, “All we are saying … is give peace a chance”. A simple but very effective chorus of protest, but it seems that those in power were deaf to it – and still are.

As I said at the outset, I am making no apologies for a set of repeats, as I think the theme is vitally important – probably more so than ever. Trump has bullied Israel and Hamas into a ‘peace deal’ that is showing several signs of unravelling – oops, there goes the Nobel – and vacillates on whether to support Ukraine or just believe everything Putin tells him, thereby leaving them at his mercy. Neither of these is likely to provide a good outcome for the world as a whole, and I fear for our future. I have three granddaughters – a 7 year old, one of nearly 4, and one at 3 months – and I would like them to be able to grow up in a safe environment, and that is even before we consider how we are destroying the planet!

I should perhaps close here, before this develops into a full scale rant – maybe I’ll do that another time! Enjoy your week, try and stay away from the news if it depresses you, and I’ll see you again soon. Take care 😊