Comments on: ‘Passing Through’ (1948): Song of Political Engagement

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:10:56 +0000

Of course it is! Thanks for correcting the typo.

By: Me

Me — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:06:34 +0000

It is Valley Forge not Valley Ford!

By: Sarah Blakeslee

Sarah Blakeslee — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, Richard Blakeslee is my Dad so of course I grew up with Passing Through and loved to watch its recording history. Just to set the record straight, the Abraham Lincoln verse was not written by my Dad, which may explain why it wasn’t on the Leonard Cohen version. Also, the version my Dad wrote had “Men will suffer men will fight, die for what they think is right”, not die for what is right. An important distinction and a change in the lyrics that bothered my Dad because of course it makes no sense to think there is always one “right” when it comes to war.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Sarah: I am very touched that you commented on my post. Thanks for doing so. As you know, your dad provided the world with a great gift when he wrote “Passing Through.”

One of the things I was most concerned of in writing this post was that I knew almost nothing about your father. Someone wrote me with the link to his obit in the UofC alumni mag. This provided some biolgraphical material. But if there’s anything else relevant to my post about your dad which you’d like me to add–or some place online that has such information–pls. let me know.

Do you know how the Lincoln verse came into existence? I like it, though it definitely has a different lyric character than the other verses he DID write..

Yes, that lyric change about what is “right” does make the verse quite different & I understand why your dad was so concerned about it (especially in light of the certitude our current pres. shows about all issues he views as “right”).