Ballad of Birmingham

Dudley Randall wrote a very moving ballad on the bombing of a church in Birmingham,Alabama in 1963.

Our mum often got us to help prepare a slide for her teaching. It was always fun having a hand at the table, helping her out when we could. In moments like this, we caught on her commitment to work. And she would pass us some tips on teaching, and about her subjects.

She used this poem to teach her students about sensitivities. This poem also helped us understand why mothers are so scared to let go of their kids in the streets. A bomb or anything may just explode.

And she also passed to us her understanding of the bigger world. And the world of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The period of helping a mother who is a teacher is gone. She has since retired and we have all moved on to another level of life. But what she teaches remains in our hearts.

Ballad of Birmingham

"Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"

"No, baby,no you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce andwild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child."

"But mother, I won't be alone
Other children will go with me,
And march the strets of Birmingham
To make our country free."

"No,baby, no you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir."

She has combed and
brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on
her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know
that he child
Was in thesacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
to come upon her face

For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe,
"O,here's the shoe my baby wore,
But baby, where are you?"

Scarlet Ribbons

When we were young, mum and dad had to stretch our ringgit a little. But it was good. It was just part of growing up in a small family when dad and mum both had to work to bring back the proverbial bacon. And it was already good that we did not have highwaymen to rob us.

But it was fun making ends meet. We were not poor but we had to make do without certain luxury goods. But we were happy doing things that children were allowed to do. Perhaps we did miss out something. Sometimes we do wonder if things were a little different.

One song that we used to sing was Scarlet Ribbons. there were so many songs that we sang. We could sing most of the songs from musicals like Mary Poppins, The Soundof Music, Fiddler onthe Roof, and others. My second sister was the best of the singers. She could sing and dance and she was just so pretty as a child. But she was a fierce leader and we had to toe the line.

It is strange that now we have the songs in all sorts of forms : we d0 not have to depend on the radio, we can get a Video CD and sing along in a Karaoke lounge of at the privacy of our own home. And parents and their children don't sing their hearts out anymore, in the car, or at home. When the family arrives home, they individually go to their work station...and then silence.....In about 15 years so many social norms have changed.

We enjoyed singalong when driving. The best time of our singing days was when we we young and going to primary school very early in the morning. We could sing our hearts out. And I remember mum singing us all the lullabies.

Here's the lyrics of Scarlet Ribbons. And we wish Happy Father's Day to all fathers.



Scarlet Ribbons
Words & Music by Words & Music by Jack Segal & Evelyn Danzig
Recorded by Harry Belafonte, 1956


G Am7 D7 G
I peeked in to say good night,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
And I heard my child in prayer.

G Am7 D7 G
"And for me, some scarlet ribbons,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
Scarlet ribbons for my hair."


G Am7 D7 G
All our town was closed and shuttered,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
All the streets were dark and bare;

G Am7 D7 G
In our town, no scarlet ribbons,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
Scarlet ribbons for her hair.


Bridge 1:

G Am7 G7 C
Through the night my heart was aching;

Em B+ Em6 Am7 D7
Just before the dawn was break-ing,


G Am7 D7 G
I peeked in, and on her pillow,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
In gay profusion lying there,

G Am7 D7 G
I saw ribbons, scarlet ribbons,

Am7 D7 Am7 G
Scarlet ribbons for her hair.


Bridge 2:

G Am7 G7 C Am7
If I live to be a hun-dred

Em B+ Em6 Am7 D7
I will never know from where


G Am7 D7 G
Came those ribbons, scarlet ribbons,

Am7 D7 Am7 D9 G
Scarlet ribbons for her hair.




The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.