"Eve Of Destruction" Barry McGuire Quiz

Answer: explodin'

Barry recorded this song in 1965. My 'hippy' friends played this song, burned incense and wore a lot of peace buttons. At first it had little meaning to me. I just liked it. They loved it. Remember those little incense cones you had to set afire to get them started?

Answer: loadin'

Barry recorded this song in one take. In 1965 I was too young and having too much fun to even think about Vietman. Heck, I didn't even know where Vietnam was. Every night, during the nightly news, Vietnam was always the center of attention. I remember looking it up on a map. It was too far away for me to even worry about.

Answer: votin'

Barry was born in 1937. One of my friends that played street baseball with me had an older brother that was in Vietnam. He only stayed a couple of months before he was sent home missing a leg. I found his stories about Vietnam very hard to believe. However, the nightly news confirmed a lot of what he had to say. It was pretty scary.

Answer: gun

Barry was born in Oaklahoma City. Years later my friend who played steet baseball also went to Vietman. Unlike his brother, he never came home. Rumor was that he stepped on a land mine. It was hard to imagine him 'totin' a gun instead of a baseball bat.

Answer: Jordan

Barry was the lead singer for The New Christy Minstrels. When my time came to register for the draft the war in Vietman was in full swing. I remember walking out of the draft office and seeing several 'hippies' being taken away by the police. One of my friends was one of the 'hippies' and I remember him yelling for me to go to Canada.

At the time I had no idea what he was talking about. Canada was too cold for me.

Answer: friend

Barry was the lead singer on the sound track "Green Green" by The New Christy Minstrels. The same day I registered for the draft I registered for college at the local university. I had no idea that students were deferred from combat duty. When I left the office there were several hundred students involved in a mini riot against Vietnam. I began to think Barry was right. Maybe we were on the "Eve Of Destruction" and I didn't know it.

Answer: believe

The Grass Roots were the back up group on "Eve". Vietnam was all the talk at that time. The older people said that it was our duty to go over there and fight. The people my age said "no way". People burned draft cards and protested in the streets. I still have my draft card from back then. It is getting hard to read with the passing of time.

Answer: to say

"Eve" is considered to be the first 'protest song'. A lot of my friends, that were not in college at that time, ended up in military camps all over the U.S. I still have some of their letters. The military even managed to get my crazy friend 'bald headed Lenny'. They must have been desperate.

Answer: fears

Barry left rock music behind after recording several albums that did not take off. My Sociology profesor was arrested for his part in a demonstration on campus. These seemed to be very little peace in my world at that time.

Answer: runnin'

Barry went on to record Christian music. It seemed that every club I went into was playing "Eve of Destruction". What would the world be like today if someone had pushed 'the button'.

Answer: in a grave

"Eve Of Destruction" made it to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Years later, when I was a Police Officer, I pulled over a car to find my old friend 'bald headed Lenny' driving. True to his 'crazy' nature he told me what happened to him in Vietanm.

Answer: boy

Barry was good friends with The Mamas and Papas. 'Bald headed Lenny' said that he had to do so much KP during basic training, for getting into trouble, that the Army made him a cook! Not only did they make him a cook but they also sent him to Vietman to cook for the men in the field. The Army must have really been hard up for cooks to trust Lenny to cook for real people.

Answer: scare

He is mentioned in the Mamas and Papas song "Creeque Alley". Lenny said that he was discharged after he was injured cutting some meat. He nearly cut off his hand. He laughed and said that he got a Purple Heart for all his troubles.

Answer: coagulatin'

I wonder if the writer was thinking about the assination of JFK when he wrote this song? Lenny said that he ran into another friend of ours over there. We called that guy 'Big Nose Al'. I let Lenny out of the ticket and haven't seen him since.

Answer: integration

"Eve Of destruction" was Barry's biggest hit. 'Big Nose Al' survived the war and now works for a chicken company.

Answer: disintegratin'

Since I was in Criminal Justice in college I tried to stay away from all the protests that were going on. Some students broke in the college President's office and help him captive for several hours. When Kent State occurred there was a tremendous and collective scream that when up by the students at my college. Barry's song of protest seemed to be coming true.

Answer: frustratin'

I don't think Barry likes the letter 'G'. I heard from a lot of guys that went to Vietnam that Barry's song was very popular over there. I still have a peace button I wore back then. It was my small way to protest without getting into trouble with the Police Department.

Answer: Selma, Alabama

Guys returning from Vietman were given 20 extra points on the test to become Police Officers in my city. A lot of officers did tours in Vietnam and the stories they told were awful. One guy I worked with did two tours over there. We called him 'Rotten Roy'."

Answer: place

'Rotten Roy' is the only person I ever met that liked being in Vietnam. I guess that was one of the reasons we gave him that nick name. Barry must have been thinking about people like 'Rotten Roy' when he wrote this protest song.

Answer: trace

I really like this song because it says so much about the feelings of people back in the mid 60's. I think Barry really hit the mark with this song. Even today, when I hear it played, I think about what was going on back then. The times, they were a changing.