Howlin' Wolf on war:
“Somebody has been cashing checks and they’ve been bouncing back on us. And
these people, the poor class of Negroes and the poor class or white people,
they’re getting tired of it. And sooner or later it’s going to bring on a
disease on this country, a disease that’s going to spring from mid-air, and it’s
going to be bad. It’s like a spirit from some dark valley, something that sprung
up from the ocean—like Lucifer is on the earth telling people these obvious
things, causing a lot of the people to get irritated. But we can’t afford what’s
going to happen. A lot of innocent people is going to get killed unless they get
some kind of satisfaction...The black people fighting in Vietnam now, when they come back they ain’t
going to settle for these little offers and these back-door handouts like they
been doing. They ain’t going to take it ’cause they realize they been cheated.
We’re going to have to make a sacrifice to stop what’s going to come to this
country. Somebody has got to get up and try to drive this into people’s head.
They’re going to have to hand things out or we’re going to take ’em. They’ll
bring in some kind of persuader and get some kind of satisfaction.”
—Interviewed in 1968 at the Ash Grove, Los Angeles
We’re
always
looking for unpublished photos, unseen or unheard film, video, and sound
clips, and first-person stories of and about Howlin’ Wolf!
If you have any of these or know someone else who does, please contact
Mark Hoffman. Thanks!