“Eve of Destruction” (Barry McGuire)

Today’s classic song of the day is the classic protest song “Eve of Destruction,” by Barry McGuire. The song, released in July of 1965, shot all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit the top ten in countries around the world.

“Eve of Destruction” was written by prolific songwriter P.F. Sloan, and produced by Sloan and his Dunhill Records partner Steve Barri. The two of them were responsible for tons of hits in the 1960s and early 1970s, including yesterday’s Classic Song of the Day, “The Sh-Down Down Song” by the Ginger-Snaps, and the one the day before that, the Grass Roots’ “Let’s Live for Today.” Sloan and Barri were busy and successful composers and arrangers who got their start back in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound days.

Sloan wrote “Eve of Destruction” all by himself, a protest song in the Bob Dylan mold. The lyrics reference then-current events such as the draft, the Cold War, the Civil Rights marches in Selma and elsewhere, the “four days in space” of NASA’s Gemini 4 mission, and more. The song is powerful and still relevant today; you could pick up an acoustic guitar and sing the following lyrics and get people nodding their heads in agreement:

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’
I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

Sloan hoped that the Byrds would record the song, as they’d had success with several similar Dylan covers. They passed on it, however. Then the Turtles, known for picking up tunes the Byrds turned down, recorded it, but only as an album track, not a single. (Besides, the Turtles’ singer Howard Kaylan didn’t really bring the grit that the song demanded.) Finally, Barry McGuire recorded it, backed by Sloan himself on guitar and Wrecking crew members Larry Knechtel on bass and Hal Blaine on drums. That version was an instant hit, getting airplay in Los Angeles the day after it was released.

“Eve of Destruction” was such a phenomenon it generated several “answer songs” and parodies, but it was not without controversy. It was, not surprisingly, condemned by some right-wingers and banned by some radio stations in the U.S. and abroad. It was famously banned by both the BBC and Radio Scotland, even though it did get covered on one episode of BBC’s Top of the Pops TV program. Also not surprisingly, the song has been featured in numerous TV shows and movies, as the perfect mid-60s protest song.

The song’s singer, Barry McGuire, was a former New Christy Minstrel with a gravelly baritone; his is the deep voice you hear on that group’s 1963 Top Twenty hit, “Green Green.” He’s also known for recording, in 1966, the original version of friend John Phillips’ song, “California Dreamin’,” with The Mamas & The Papas singing backing vocals. That group later wiped McGuire’s lead vocals and overdubbed their own over the original backing track, resulting in their first Top Ten hit. McGuire didn’t have any other hits on his own, unfortunately, although he later became a successful Contemporary Christian artist. He’s still out there kicking today, aged 87.

The song’s composer, P.F. Sloan, went on to further success with his partner Steve Barri and on his own. He even had a song written about him, Jimmy Webb’s “P.F. Sloan,” which was a hit for the Association and one I’ll feature as a Classic Song of the day in just a few days. He passed away in 2015, aged 70.