The only Vietnam War protest to hit number one was recorded in a single take
The 1960s were a time of peace and love, free spirits, and being high on life. But the uncomfortable undercurrent is that all of this was borne out of violence, and particularly the Vietnam War.
While Western civilisation was dancing in the streets and getting all psychedelic in the name of supposed solidarity, there were men fighting in the trenches and being killed on the frontline, which was the furthest cry from the festival of colour and revolution that was being painted in some quarters.
As time wore on, the illusion naturally began to grow thin, and the uprising voice of real protest music started to move to the fore. Although some were enamoured by the happy-clappy messages of songs like ‘All You Need is Love’, the true grit and gravity of the situation could only be conveyed by someone with a particularly striking way with words.
That was where PF Sloan stepped in during mid-1965 to pen the iconic words of ‘Eve of Destruction’, lambasting everything from the futility of the Vietnam War to the striking strength and power of the civil rights movement. To sing it, he passed the mantle to Barry McGuire – but although he still reaped the rewards, he wasn’t exactly prolific.
Despite the searing message of the song, McGuire wasn’t overly captivated by ‘Eve of Destruction’. He only recorded it because he had spare time while he was searching for other songs of Sloan’s to commit his voice to, so it was a rush job captured in one take. So how on Earth did it end up being the only Vietnam protest song to go to number one?
Why was ‘Eve of Destruction’ recorded in one take?
Essentially, without wanting to sound too negative about the whole thing, it was all one big mistake. To be fair, the version of the song that ended up being released into the world was not meant to be the final cut, with McGuire recording it in one take and reading the lyrics for the very first time as he was singing them, from a crumpled sheet of paper, no less.
But less than a week later, the story goes that the song had somehow been leaked to a DJ, and the first McGuire knew of it was through a phone call from his record label to tell him to turn on the radio, as the track was playing. Thus began the ascension of ‘Eve of Destruction’, first entering the chart at number 103 before climbing all the way to the top.
It was a little ironic that this song, which he didn’t particularly enjoy and had so clearly recorded just on a whim, became so successful for McGuire. Of course, it symbolised something far greater than the sum of its parts in the message it conveyed, but in terms of the man himself, it marked the only time he would ever enter the top 40.
‘Eve of Destruction’ was both a blessing and a curse in this regard, but all that really mattered was that the true horrors of Vietnam and a plethora of other world injustices had finally been given a realistic voice. There isn’t a price you can pay on that, but McGuire was certainly lucky to grab the unsuspecting opportunity.
