Jim Collier and Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrick (b. 1945) and (1933-1987)
Jimmy Collier is a civil rights organizer originally from Ft. Smith, Arkansas. As an activist, he was involved with the "End the Slums" movement in Chicago. There, he started writing songs, some of which appeared in Broadside during the 1960s. Collier was also involved in the Hudson River Clearwater project and the Poor People's March on Washington.
Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrick was a strong presence and a physically imposing man who was very active in the Civil Rights Movement. Growing up in Louisiana the son of a sharecropper and a minister, he went to Grambling University, where he played quarterback on their legendary football team. While there, he was also involved in the deacon's movement and worked for racial equality. He was a constant presence at rallies and concerts, and he frequently performed with Jimmy Collier. The two released an album entitled Everybody's Got a Right to Live. Kirkpatrick acted as cultural director for the Poor People's Campaign for Jobs and Income in Washington, as well as director for various other human rights organizations.
Jim Collier and Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrick. Photo by Diana Davies.
The Best of Broadside: 74. "Burn, Baby, Burn"
Collier remembered, "There was a feeling that equality for African-Americans also needed to include economic equality. As long as blacks were on the lowest rung economically things would not change. There was a lot of anger." Collier wrote "Burn, Baby, Burn" shortly after the Watts riots in 1968. Sparked by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, the fires from these riots destroyed many inner-city neighborhoods. "Burn, baby, burn" was then a popular street slogan. "...I was searching for ways to express what these fellows in Watts were trying to say by burning the town down," said Collier.
The Best of Broadside: 75. "The Cities are Burning"
"The Cities are Burning" is Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrick's take on the Watts riots of 1968. His style rests more in the country blues that he grew up listening to. He actually borrows the sound of Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins for this song, while expressing the frustration in African-American communities about the lack of visible change through the Civil Rights Movement. However, the song still stresses a non-violent approach.
The Best of Broadside: 76. "Nothing But His Blood"
Kirkpatrick wrote another Black Power song, "Nothing But His Blood," borrowing the melody from Lead Belly's "They Hung Him from the Cross (He Never Said a Mumbling Word)."
The Best of Broadside: 77. "You're Just a Laughing Fool"
"You're Just Another Fool" was another song from the repertoire that Collier and Kirkpatrick prepared for the Poor People's Campaign. They discovered that using the sound and beat of rhythm and blues was effective with their inner-city audiences.
Text extracted from the notes by Jeff Place accompanying The Best of Broadside.
Smithsonian Folkways recordings featuring Jimmy Collier and/or the Reverend Frederick Douglass Kirkpartrick:
Jimmy Collier and F.D. Kirkpatrick: Everybody's Got a Right to Live (FW05308)
Malvina Reynolds: We Won't Move: Songs of the Tenants' Movement (FW05287)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 5: Time is Running Out (FW05312)
Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966 (SFW40084)
Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick: Ballads of Black America (FW07751)
Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick: Ballads of Black America (FW07623)