Looking for a Change

"It's no time to wait to be madly in love with a candidate, but to look coldly at the alternative to four more years of Richard, oops, I mean, Ronald Reagan."

Quite a Freudian slip, but not entirely unexpected from someone who strongly and publicly opposed Richard M. Nixon's presidency more than a decade ago. Yes, Mary Travers did all that, but don't let the slip fool you. She's survived those turbulent times, idealism and political activism intact, with a new agenda for the 80s.

Despite a massive drop in popularity, the threesome has kept on singing, writing new songs for new issues and altering their usual mix of folk, fun, and political songs to keep up with a three-generational audience. The particulars are a little different, but the big issues of peace around the world and justice at home still preoccupy the three, who met in 1960 while serving coffee in Greenwich Village. Besides doing about 50 concerts yearly with her partners, Travers, now in her late forties, does about, 35 on her own.

What's startling is that Travers has maintained a consistent, still idealistic philosophy for social things while so many of her musician/activist colleagues have switched allegiances, flip-flops from credo to credo, or simply given up. Travers compares fighting for social change to the struggle of a folk song's hero or heroine. The message is "you can push for change now, but look for evidence later, often much later. There's this concept of 'paying your dues,' which everyone must go through. The same is true for social change; there's no painless solution and you've got to pay your dues."

INDEED, if there is an identifiable malaise plaguing our generation, it should be this kind of realistic and idealistic conception of change. Maybe we've been disillusioned or maybe we're just too used to getting everything we desire, but we've been drained of what's supposed to be youthful idealism and creative approaches to problems. Traver's evolution as an artist and activist provides a rare role model.

Any Peter Paul and Mary album will present an effective mix of sad and allegorical folk songs, angry political songs, and just plain fun songs (like "Puff the Magic Dragon"). The songs, together, inspire the highest human virtues--compassion, justice, tolerance, and, something sorely needed in today's music, hope.

Yes, but these are different times and different musical approaches are needed. Perhaps, but a survey of contemporary pop music hardly inspires the kind of change and activistnecessary for a world warring in every hemisphere. Travers says today's popular music commercially defined by the 13-25 age group, "articulates for that segment of society, a social angst--a haunting anxiety about the future." Whereas the popular music of the 1960s took on heavy topics with an eye towards change and hope, today's music is fraught with frustration, alienation and egoism.

ALMOST every current top 40 song fits part of all of Travers' description. A few, however, are worth particular mention, partly because their accompanying MTV videos have further confirmed today's angst. Both the literal and visual interpretations of, for instance. Laura Brannigan's "You Take My Self Control," radiate a preoccupation with instant and continuous self-satisfaction. The haunting flip-side of that egoism is a disturbing loneliness, even more evident in the video. A similar anxiety--coupled with alienation--from lovers, parents, friends, and self--characterizes Cindy Lauper's "Time After Time."

These and so many more hot-selling pop songs reflect our generation's disillusionment and pessimism. That pop artists have turned their themes inward only mirrors the larger societal decision to turn their backs on problems, which only seem to get worse and grow in number. And, even as we turn inward, it is not to celebrate the individual, but to confirm the complementary social and personal alienation. Such pessimism is a natural reaction to a pretty gloomy future says Travers, pointing to the economic situation and nuclear arms race. Although no panacea exists, there are small changes to be won. For this folk singer, such a victory could be won in November with Reagan's defeat. No, she says everything will not change. And, no, Mondale does not have all the answers. There is, however, a choice here.

"I'm not looking for someone who's charismatic--we've got someone like that in the White House now," says Travers. A bit more parent-like, she warns, 'I realize that young people are not turned on [by Mondale], but this is no time to play apathetic."

Every artist has a favorite tune, and for Travers it is "Blowing in the Wind"--because the song "applies to so many different situations."

Yes it does, and we would be good to heed its warning before November.