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Interview for “A Song for the World” by
Frank McGee
Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is thrilled to be joined
by Frank McGee, who is here to promote his new book “A Song
for the World: The Amazing Story of the Colwell Brothers and Herb
Allen: Musical Diplomats.”
Frank McGee has built a distinguished career as a writer and journalist
over half a century. In the tumultuous 1960s he covered stories as
far afield as Brazil, Indonesia, and Viet Nam. As managing editor
of Pace magazine, a contemporary of Life, Look, and Holiday, he worked
with thought leaders from around the world.
During the 1970’s, McGee launched and edited New Worlds, the
signature magazine of California’s Orange Coast. The University
of California at Irvine tapped him to write the coffee table book
commemorating the school’s first twenty-five years. In the ‘80s
and ’90’s, he authored and edited books on a variety
of topics that were published in a dozen languages. Today, he lives
with his wife in Tucson, Arizona.
Tyler:
Thank you, Frank, for joining me. You’re here today
to tell us about your new book “A Song for the World” about
how the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen used music to bring peace
and diplomacy, particularly through the group, “Up with People.” To
begin, will you tell our readers a little bit about how it began?
Frank:
Glad to, Tyler. Up with People started in a way that surprised everyone
at the time. It was born during the 1960s to give a voice to youth
eager to have a say in building the future. There’s a chapter
in the book about that. The Up with People show was launched in embryo
in 1965 at a conference for young leadership on an island in the
Great Lakes. It evolved that summer in performances from a showboat
touring local harbors, and within weeks, literally, it was in orbit
around the world. No one expected that to happen, least of all the
Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen, who initially just wanted to provide
a platform for the idealism and creativity of the young people attending
the conference. You might say that Up with People was born through
a passion for change.
Domestic and global audiences came to know the Colwells and Allen
in the following decades through Up with People’s four Super
Bowl Halftime Shows. Multiple casts had toured on every continent
and across the U.S. and Canada. In America’s Bicentennial Year,
1976, they played in 771 U.S. cities to live audiences totaling 3.9
million. That year they literally invented the modern Super Bowl
halftime format when the NFL invited them to perform. The first chapter
of “A Song for the World” opens with that event. I have
to say (speaking modestly as the author!) that it’s a pretty
dramatic story. In 1980 I had the privilege of being a field photographer
during their performance at Super Bowl XIV in the Rose Bowl.
Tyler:
I understand you have been friends with the Colwells and
Allen for fifty years. Would you tell us a little bit about that
friendship and how it developed?
Frank:
That’s half a century, Tyler! I first met them in their teens.
I hadn’t advanced much beyond that myself. Allen was recognized
as a musical genius from his youth, a child prodigy. In his hometown
of Seattle he was famous as a wizard on the xylophone. He trained
under the best classical piano instructors in the Northwest and was
enrolled to enter the Oberlin School of Music, but his passion in
his teens was his dance band, Herbie Allen and his Orchestra. Herb
was a junior in high school when we met. I was then working with
Moral Re-Armament (MRA), an international volunteer group focused
on developing accountable leaders across a broad spectrum of society.
Herb instantly responded to the objective. More and more I’ve
come to realize the implications of the readiness of young artists
like Herb and the Colwells to engage in a purpose that gave relevance
and meaning to their talents.
The Colwell Brothers were already country music stars when our paths
crossed in Southern California. They were regulars on NBC’s
Tex Williams television show, broadcasting weekly from Orange County’s
Knott’s Berry Farm, which was America’s first theme park
(Disneyland opened later just up the road). The Brothers, aged 19,
17, and 15, were the youngest group under contract with a major label,
Columbia Records.
I was in the cast of a Western musical show then, and someone got
them tickets for the Hollywood premiere. Ironically, the show was
about brothers who were feuding over water rights. “A Song
for the World” tells the pretty amazing story of what happened
during the next few months; I say amazing because in little more
than a year they were giving their first performance in a language
other than their own. It was in Switzerland, when they sang in French
for Robert Schumann, the former foreign minister of France and a
founder of the European Union. During the next decades they would
write and sing in 37 languages and dialects, with help from the locals,
of course. They all speak Italian. Herb Allen, who worked for years
in Italy, speaks it like a native. There’s an incident in the
book about Allen finding a machine gun under his bed when he was
staying with the family of Bruno, a young communist he had come to
know: “What’s worrying you?’ Bruno asked Herb when
he “happened” to mention his discovery. “We all
have machine guns here. There’s one in every apartment in the
block.”
Tyler:
Frank, why did you decide to write “A Song for the World?”
Frank:
I don’t want to sound strange about this, but I think writing
the book was decided for me. In the spring of 2003 I was in a gathering
of long time associates who met from time to time to renew friendships
and talk about what was happening in our worlds. A probation attorney
from Oakland said that young people in her city were being confronted
with unimaginable situations every day, and desperately needed hope. “There
should to be a book about the Colwells and Herb,” she declared.
I’m not kidding when I say the thought hit me with an almost
electric jolt that I was meant to write it. My wife, Helen, who has
been my partner in creative ventures for half a century, felt the
same impulse. And so did my friend John Ruffin, who was moderating
our discussion that day. John’s company, Many Roads Publishing,
would eventually produce the book, with startup financial support
from more than a hundred people from across the world who believed
this story had to be told.
Tyler:
That’s a wonderful story, Frank. Obviously, musicians
have the power to be a big influence on young people, both positive
and negative. Do you think Up With People is able to reach young
people today and what is their message to youth?
Frank:
At the end of Up with People shows, there are always young people
in the audience who apply to travel with the cast. Sometimes they’re
too young to qualify, sometimes too old, but the element that reaches
people most, I think, is a purpose that’s important. Of course
the show alone is a big attraction, but in the setting of “Bringing
the World Together,” it seems to offer an answer to that ubiquitous
question, “What can one person do?”
Tyler:
I understand these artists traveled a great deal and witnessed history
in the making in several countries. Would you give us an example of one
of the most interesting events they witnessed or participated in?
Frank:
How about two? Seriously, there are many remarkable occasions described
in the book, for instance, being the first international musical
performers in China after the demise of the infamous “Gang
of Four;” or taking the first show to Russia after the Cold
War, even before the Berlin Wall came down. But here are two:
In 1957, Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was about to embark
on a grueling tour of Southeast Asia in which he would apologize
to Pacific nations for atrocities Japan had committed during World
War II. The Colwells and those they worked with, some of whom were
parliamentarians, had been dialoguing with Kishi for months, and
at his official residence on the night of the departure, they were
invited to present the entire send off program for the prime minister,
his cabinet ministers, and high government officials. Their friends
spoke and the Colwell’s sang, with special songs written in
Japanese for the occasion. The last sound Kishi heard that evening
as he left for the airport was the music of three young Americans,
in western costume, singing to him in his own language.
Two years later the Colwell Brothers were in the Congo, today called
Zaire, where they sang at the official celebration events when the
country gained it’s independence. The Congo is the size of
Western Europe! During an intense and turbulent year they remained
working in the country, living through rebellion, revolution, and
a re-invasion by troops of the Congo’s former Belgian occupiers,
and then U.N. intervention. President Lumumba was assassinated during
that year. With an international team the Colwells visited every
province in the country, meeting with tribal chiefs in the villages,
singing to crowds in stadiums, to Congolese military and peacekeeping
U.N. forces in open-air concerts, and performing for national leaders
from all parties in the country’s capital of Leopoldville.
In the rainy season they crossed swollen rivers with their van perched
atop ferries built of planks laid over dugout canoes fastened side
to side. The afternoon the army seized control of the country in
a coup, the Congo was entirely without phone or telegraph communication
with the outside world. An hour after midnight that night the brothers
led journalists to a remote village they had visited months earlier
on the Congo River, where the reporters could hire villagers and
noiselessly slip out into the current in dugout canoes to get the
news out to the world. During that year, with their international
teammates, the Colwells made more than 400 broadcasts on Radio Congo,
the country’s sole means of communication, programs the auxiliary
bishop of Leopoldville called “a voice of sanity to the nation.”
Tyler:
Wow, that is determination. What do you think really motivates the
Colwells and Herb Allen to take these kinds of risks?
Frank:
That’s hard to answer, for me at least, without seeming to
quote from a press release. I’ve seen the grit, sweat, and
sacrifice involved. They could have turned away a thousand times
from the path they’d chosen. But they believed something lasting
could be achieved, and that they were meant to give their time and
talents to it. I don’t think they had the slightest idea when
they set out on this journey where it would take them, or ask of
them.
Tyler:
Frank, when other groups like “The Beatles” and “The
Rolling Stones” were making huge hits and probably tons of
money in the 1960s and beyond, why did “Up with People” focus
instead on touring the globe and visiting countries in crisis?
Frank:
I think that boils down to “reason for being.” I’ve
little doubt that the 20,000 young people who’ve taken part
in Up with People during it’s first forty years would appreciate
tons of money! And I know Herb and the Brothers wouldn’t object!
But to get the answer to your question you have to look at the choices
they made more than a dozen years before Up with People was even
a gleam in anyone’s eye. Look at the back cover of the book,
which has some paragraphs under the heading, “The Power of
Music.” There’s a line there that says, “They literally
walked away from their childhoods, comfort, careers, and loved ones,
putting everything on the line for something they believed. They
believed they could change the world.”
Tyler:
Why do you think “Up with People” has been so
successful?
Frank:
Even more than the entertainment of the Up with People show, I think
it strikes a chord in the consciousness of people. We all want to
know there is hope for the future. We’d all like to participate
somehow in creating it. To see young people dedicating themselves
to that purpose is both a challenge and an inspiration. The show
itself is really a show window. What is inside the store is the encouragement,
the gentle persuasion, and possibly even a little provocation to
get involved in the life of your community, to volunteer with others
who work to make a difference.
Tyler:
For readers unfamiliar with the group, what are some of the
songs they might recognize?
Frank:
People may know “Where the Roads Come Together,” by
Paul Colwell. It’s a poignant and moving ballad about who we
are:
None of us is born the same,
We don’t know why
It’s the way we came,
Every heart beats a little differently,
Each soul is free to find its way,
Like a river that winds it way to the sea.
There are many roads to go,
And they go by many names,
They don’t all go the same way,
But they get there all the same.
And I have a feelin’
That we’ll meet some day
Where the roads come together
Up the way.
If you lived in the Congo, you’d doubtless be familiar with
the Colwell Brothers’ “Vive le Congo,” which became
something like a second national anthem and was played on Radio Congo
for years.
And of course, “Up with People” is a song known around
the world. CDs of the Words and Music of Paul Colwell will soon be
available at www.asongfortheworld.com.
Tyler:
Would you tell us a little bit about the song-writing aspect of
the group? Who writes the music and who writes the lyrics? Where
do they get
their ideas, and how does it all come together so the music can be performed?
Frank:
Paul Colwell, as I mentioned, wrote many of the songs performed
in early shows. He often had collaborators, frequently Herb Allen,
who was listed as coauthor. There’s a chapter in the book titled, “Birth
of a Phenomenon,” about the songwriters, arrangers, and producers
from several countries who have worked with Up with People either
long term or on specific events.
Several Up with People albums have been produced in Britain, with
top technicians and arrangers brought together by David Mackay, a
long time collaborator. Mackay has an impressive collection of gold
and platinum albums to his credit, including production of the New
Seekers’ international hit, “I’d Like to Teach
the World to Sing.” One writer Mackay brought in was John Parr,
co-writer of “St. Elmo’s Fire, and also David Mallory,
one of France’s most successful pop/rock songwriters who created
most of the hits of megastar Johnny Hallyday, sometimes called the
French Elvis Presley.
Tyler:
You mentioned that the Colwells have written many songs in
different languages and dialects? How do they go about providing
this kind of international taste to their music?
Frank:
When they’ve written songs in other languages it’s almost
always been with people from the area. There are a number of stories
in the book about this. For instance, once they were traveling with
Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, to the south of
India to join in the land reform efforts of Vinoba Bhave, Gandhi’s
disciple and the man regarded as his spiritual successor. At a train
station in Bombay they chanced to meet a senator friend of Rajmohan
who helped them write a song in Marathi, the mother tongue of Maharashtra
state where they were heading the next day. After a dusty 12-hour
road trip in 117-degree heat in a 20-year old seven-passenger Plymouth
they had mastered the song. Arriving to meet Vinoba Bhave, they hauled
Ralph’s acoustic bass and their other instruments out of the
old car, and performed in the Marathi language for the saint and
thousands of his followers. Vinoba Bhave used the words of their
song as the theme of his address to the crowd.
Tyler:
Musically, what do you feel makes “Up With People” stand
out from other groups?
Frank:
I think it’s been the content of the songs, plus their intent.
They talk of taking down walls of misunderstanding, of excelling,
of moving toward new frontiers. The songs are drawn from life. One, “The
Last Embrace,” was inspired by a PBS special about a bridge
that spanned the no man’s land between war zones in Kosovo,
and a Christian boy and Moslem girl who had fallen in love, and died
from gunfire on the bridge trying to cross it together. Many songs
have been written for special occasions, for special people. A reflection
by Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, that
he had looked back at the earth and seen “a world without borders,” inspired
the visionary lyrics of “MoonRider.” Paul Colwell and
Herb Allen’s “Song for China” opened hearts and
doors in China when an Up with People cast went there in 1978 before
diplomatic relations were established between China and the U.S.
Tyler:
Frank, what do you feel is Herb Allen and the Colwell Brothers’ greatest
contribution?
Frank:
May I answer that in two parts? The first would be a personal response.
These four have enriched the lives of many. They are fun to be with,
never take themselves too seriously, and never, never get carried
away with the PR about them. They’re quick to deflect credit
and give it to others, and I have never heard them claim to have
caused positive things to happen because of their work. Of course
I know otherwise, but they would hit the “delete” button
on any “spin” I might have tried to slip into the book.
Okay, now to part two:
To me their greatest contribution would be the demonstration of
the power of music to generate change. They typically wrote and performed
not just any music, but music that touched lives, was drawn from
what was important to people, and from what they saw around them.
They never set out to tell others what they should think or do. On
the contrary, they went everywhere to listen, to learn, and to understand.
As a result, doors and hearts seemed to open to them everywhere.
You might say that Up with People is their legacy. I think to them
it is much more than a show or organization; it is proof to young
and old of what the great English educator Edward Thring declared
150 years ago, that music “sooner or later is the great world
bond.”
Tyler:
Thank you, Frank, for joining me today. Before we go, would
you tell our readers your website where they can buy a copy of
the book and also what other kind of information they might find
there
about “A Song for the World?”
Frank:
Go to www.asongfortheworld.com. You can order the book there, read
reviews, learn which cities are scheduled to be visited for concerts
and book signings, and see many of the photos from the book. Thanks
very much for having me today, Tyler.
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