Any one who was more than 5 years
old on this date fifty years ago, November 22, 1963, knows exactly where they were and what they were doing. I vividly remember where I was and the circumstances. I had an alarm-clock radio that would wake me up with gentle music in the mornings to go to work. It came on that morning not with music, as usual, but with a news bulletin announcing
the shooting of
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in
Dallas,
Texas. I remember the shock and horror of the news and the
surreal feeling I was still sleeping and I was having a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. I just couldn't believe it was true. But the horrible truth was, I was not sleeping and the nightmare was real. The bizarre thing is, almost five years later, on June 7, 1968, that same alarm-clock radio woke me up to the news of the
assassination of
Robert Francis Kennedy the night before. It was a
hideous déjà vu I never wanted repeated so I threw the alarm-clock radio away and used a regular alarm clock from then on.
Kennedy was a
hero to me as he was to many of us in those times. The date is marked in American history, and for the world, as one of the saddest days in modern times. The shock of the event can still be felt after 50 years.
This album is a recording of a broadcast of the
BBC weekly political satire program,
That Was the Week That Was; this night it was not a humorous or satirical show but a tribute to the life of
John Fitzgerald Kennedy with readings and musings by various famous people (tracklist below). It was broadcast the day after the
assassination, November 23, 1963. The usual humorous bantering was absent from it. It was a shortened 20-minute program with no satire, reflecting on the loss, including a contribution from
Dame Sybil Thorndike and the tribute song
In the Summer of His Years sung by
Millicent Martin with music by
David Lee and lyrics by
Herbert Kretzmer. This edition was screened on
NBC in the US the following day, and the soundtrack was released by
Decca Records – DL 9116. There must have been millions of copies of the album sold.
Mahalia Jackson sings a moving
a-capella version of
In the Summer of His Years with drums accompanying her vocal (link below).
A studio recording of
In the Summer of His Years, by
Millicent Martin, was issued in the US by
ABC-Paramount, other versions were recorded and released by
Toni Arden (a 7"
45 rpm single on
Decca),
Bobby Rydell,
Connie Francis (
MGM),
Mahalia Jackson (
Columbia),
Kate Smith (
RCA Victor),
Sarah Vaughan (
Vernon),
Hettie Palance and
The Chad Mitchell Trio (
Mercury); the Francis recording became a
Top 40 hit on the
Cash Box pop singles chart in January 1964 (links to music on
YouTube below).
photos by Lewis Morley Studios
photos by Lewis Morley Studios
photos by Lewis Morley Studios
Where were you?
Styrous ~ November 22, 2013
~