Imagine a young boy of sixteen, working in a factory in Germany, listening to a song on the radio, a song he had heard before, but not sung by a young woman. She had a beautiful, slightly smokey, but strong voice. “Who is this?” he asks another young worker. The answer comes quickly and briefly, “Melanie.”

The song is Ruby Tuesday, originally released by the Rolling Stones. The year was 1970, and the young man was yours truly. Since that time I am a relentless Melanie Safka fan. I have most of her albums, first as vinyl records, then CDs, and nowadays stored on my computer and my iPhone.

Years later I found that Melanie didn’t care how the producers had arranged Ruby Tuesday, and consequently she wrote another of her signature songs, Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma. For many, many years I was convinced she was wrong. I still love the song as it is, but, thanks to modern technology in form of YouTube.com, I was able to hear the version she had intended, and, as a matter of fact, her version is better.

Just yesterday, while raking the endless supply of oak leaves on our property, I listened to her album Stoneground Words, released in 1972. At the time when the album was released I didn’t enjoy most of the songs, because, according to my assessment at the time, they were a little too “jazzy”. Well, Jazz for me is an acquired taste, and now I do enjoy the mixture of folk and slight elements of Jazz. Through the years you learn that an artist like Melanie Safka cannot remain what she was. Only change brings progress.

One song in particular, My Rainbow Race, caught my attention, and today, after some research on Melanie Safka I found that the song was actually written by Pete Seeger in 1967. I guess, through all those years I didn’t care to look for that information. I simply enjoyed the music and the lyrics, and, after all, an amazing voice.

What is striking about the song is that, even after more than forty years, it has not lost an iota of its meaning.

My Rainbow Race
by Pete Seeger

One blue sky above us,
One ocean, lapping all our shores.
One earth so green and round,
Who could ask for more?

And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon to die.

Some folks want to be like an ostrich;
Bury their heads in the sand
Some hope for plastic dreams
To unclench all those greedy hands.

Some want to take the easy way:
Poisons, bombs! They think we need ‘em.
Don’t they know you can’t kill all the unbelievers.
There’s no shortcut to freedom

One blue sky above us,
One ocean, lapping all our shores.
One earth so green and round,
Who could ask for more?

And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try.
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon to die.

Go tell, go tell all the little children!
Go tell mothers and fathers, too:
Now’s our last chance to learn to share
What’s been given to me and you

One blue sky above us,
One ocean, lapping all our shores.
One earth so green and round,
Who could ask for more?