The 6th Of January (Yasgur's Farm)-Amy Grant
Here’s a beautifully-sad yet haunting new song about some of those of the Woodstock generation who morphed into MAGA.
It's an Amy Grant recording titled "The 6th Of January
(Yasgur's Farm)" which gently asks of this once idealistic crowd...
"What the hell has happened to you?!"
Grant's new single opens with nostalgia for the hopeful
spirit of the late 1960s -- referencing Marvin Gaye, the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr., John Lennon, Woodstock -- and goes on to suggest the events of
"the 6th of January" marked a symbolic break from the peace-and-love spirit
of the '60s counterculture.
The song’s title referrers to that iconic music festival held on Max Yasgur's farmland near Woodstock, New York and
January 6, 2021 when Donald Trump supporters staged a riot at the United States
Capitol in an attempted self-coup.
In her single, Amy sings, "Where's the road to Yasgur′s
Farm?"
But the reply is disappointing...
"He stares at me with pity and alarm/Says, 'That crowd left here long ago/Scattered all to Hell and Harpers Ferry/On the 6th of January'..."
"The 6th Of January (Yasgur's Farm)" was written by
Sandy Emory Lawrence who is the mother-in-law of Jenny Gill, the daughter of
Amy Grant’s husband and country music star Vince Gill. (Did you get all that?)
My favorite lyrical metaphor in Sandy’s song is the
reference to hearing Muzak playing in a supermarket where she only hears the melody
but not the important words to Lennon’s “Imagine.”
As the ballad closes, Amy sums-up today’s political climate with
the words, “I look ahead and realize/We’ve lost out way…”
