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From: SixtiesPopGold
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  • The same guy that sang "Donna the Primadonna!" That was not a bad song either.I guess I have nothing but good things to say about him.

  • Although JFK did less to free people than the other three, he eventually became an ally of the civil rights movement. The 1964 Civil Rights Act was more or less drafted by Kennedy.

  • magnificent. Was Dion wearing a toup back then? Or just had the weirdest hairstyle ever. Great talent. Bad hair.

  • just a reminder to where and how far we have come in this big world

  • Made me cry when it fist came out, still makes me cry.

  • Dion, one of the top ten of all time

    

  • I love this version and this song is one of the best to come out of the late 60's. And I have to (sort of) reply to below comment about relating JFK to freedom: American era of civil rights. Do your homework.

  • What does [John F. Kennedy] freed a lot of people mean?

  • I KNEW I saw this on the Smother's Brothers . The kids read the song as a poem in class and the teacher played a Smokey Robinson version. I was thinking "This is not it:' I thought it was on the S.B, very soon after Bobby was killed.

  • This is a timeless song

  • this was (and is) such a beautiful, sad and powerful tune. Dion wrote and released it as we were all still in shock over the assassinations in 1968.. We live in troubled times again but can sort of see the enemy (at home) now. We couldn't then, at least not at the time. It was just "Them". imho

  • @GuiitarBilly Dick Holler wrote it, but otherwise you're right.

  • @SixtiesPopGold thanks, didn't know. great song and performance

  • They were shot by folks who were representing some of the most evilest entities in the world. How the fuck can you live with such barbaric evilness embedded in society?

  • GOD BLESS AMERICA>>AND ALL NATIONS

  • Still breath-taking and stunning after all these years..... the song and the performance (the Full version, please note)

  • A note for today's young adults - I am baby boomder born in 1946. I was watching TV the night Bobby Kennedy died. In a split second the bright tomorrow most of us were sure was coming turned dark and cold and mostboomers gave up their ideals and became the cynical people that have prtoduced the world of today. Our father's fought world war 2 (The "Holocast") for a brighter tomorrow and we turned our back and walked away - it was not VietNam that messed up the future - the baby boomers did that!

  • @kenimisoncanada You don't think it's a tad more complicated than this? The baby boomers never acted en masse to save the world or to screw it up.

  • Awsome! They dont write them like that anymore. Seems no one really cares for meaningful music nowadays. Being a musician myself I find it pretty sad. The song was before my time but it moves me as if I were there.

  • great song....

  • To MrRonnieG and queensizebeauty44....

    God Bless You Both!!!!!!!

  • IIRC, there was a nationwide musicians strike when this show aired

  • Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, John F.Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Gandhi, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Nelson Mandela....they all freed alot of people.

  • So long, Bobby.

  • This makes me calm

  • As of this date, 2 people on here suck!

  • My dad took me to were bobby was shot and there was still the carpet on the floor and a stain that tried to clean away his blood. my dad said remember this because it is history and a great man wwas killed here. I was five crossing the street to school with my mom when a schoolgaurd told my mom that President Kenndy was just shot. it seem like the world stop that day my mom said. was in school when martin was shot. the good do die young doing the right thing. 49 years when do we see the report

  • I am 65 and I still cry over John and Bobby - they were the world's last best hope for a better tomorrow.

  • TheIrvinlopez: let me say you are appreciated for your service to the US back in the 60's 70's during the Vietnam war. Sorry to hear back then we did not recognize you guys for your hard work and dedication. Thank you.

  • A Vietnam ERA Veteran: Cam home alone no one at the airport. To this day I am alone this Christmas. Would I serve again? yes..

  • @TheIrvinlopez Seriously? Would you serve multiple tours like the soldiers of today? Would you go there to protect corporate interests? Would you put your body on the line so a contractor from Halliburton (who's making 10X your salary!) wouldn't get shot?

  • Should be an athem for baby boomers - I was 17 when John was killed and I was 21 going on 22 when Bobby died and the world seemed a much darker, colder place after he died.

  • @lemurianchick it appears to be The Smothers Brothers Show in 1969,

  • Can you please tell me the show this was on and the date? Context is everything, especially with the historical events surrounding the song. Thanks!

  • @lemurianchick Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, November 17, 1968.

  • @SixtiesPopGold that's one hell of a comedy show!

  • @SixtiesPopGold I even recall watching this episode! Never missed Smothers Brothers! A very sad time for US citizens but for much different reasons than today.

  • @lemurianchick google Abe Lincoln . JFK , Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy... all assassinated.

  • @imamymay : Which comment of mine are you responding to? I know about the connection of these four men. The context remark was directed to the person posting the video because there might be young people who don't know why Dion wrote this.

  • @MrRonnieG~ Thank you for sharing your story, it sure brought back sad memories of that awful day back in '69. but mostly thank you for your service.

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  • @henryahartley ~ Although I respect your opinion on this matter, I must tell you that as easy as it is to make such a statement in the comfort & safety of your home with these times of no conscription, no fear of the draft ~ when young men, like myself, had to stare down a government hell bent on sending us into what was truly a living hell, with our only other choices, it seemed, Canada or prison, it was not so easy to make such a life changing decision. And this, I surely know, to be true.

  • much different than donna the prima donna but still soo good!

  • Sometimes the best way to serve your country is to refuse to go along with it, when it goes down the wrong path.

  • I saw a performance by Dion on the Smother's Show around this time and there were feint images of Abrahan, Martin and John flashed on the screen . I don't see them here. Perhaps he performed it more than once for the Smother's Brothers.

  • Anybody here seen my old friend Ron? Obviously CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX haven't.

  • Thank you Mr RonnieG. I was in high school and well remember as if it was only yesterday about RFK. We would have been a different country today. A better country if only......

  • god, where are the leaders like Bobby Kennedy today? The only one that reminded me of him at all, in recent years, was Paul Wellstone, and he, too, died young. Meanwhile, the no-nothing, hard-hearted charlatans live forever....

  • What a different place America and the world would be if we didn't murder our own heroes.

  • Please don't feel alone

  • I hope Citizens Worldwide Continue to Stand up and Speak Out ! It's Time

    WE HAVE BEEN QUITE TOO LONG !

  • Bob Marley said how long with we let them kill our prophets.

    They will do it again.

  • saw this when it was aired, wow 43 years ago!

  • I Love this Song, or should it be deemed a hymn?

    God Blessed us all -as God blesses everyone by our own presence- how can we make a difference?

    Begin with this song.."Abraham, Martin & John"

  • Wooooooooow! very rare movie ! Thanks posting

  • Dion keep singing this Song!

    Love,

    Michael T. McIver

    

  • Freedom?

    Abraham, Martin, John and Bobby- What could we ask for; especially three out of the four mentioned lived in the twentieth century.

    Dion! Keep Singing This Song- for all of us who remember & those that need to be educated that these Dear Men Lived FOR A REASON..........

    LOVE/ FREEDOM

  • I was 15 and a Bobby Kennedy fan, thinking for sure he would be our next President. Hearing daily news reports about Vietnam just like baseball scores..casualties and all..saw my mother cry when jfk died in 1963, how everything got crazy when mlk died..smelled tear gas for the first time walking home from school that day. Lincoln well he did great things too. This is a very powerful song that stands the test of time! This version is the best one! Classic!

  • The CIA killed all these great men. (except Lincoln, the Rothschild's had him killed) If you speak the truth or mess with the money...... YOU DIE!!! President or not. F#%K the New World Order.

  • @jaydog7575 so fuckin' true! watch what happens to occupy Wall street if it gets to big!

  • @luviananna you're absolutely right..... They're already trying to shut down rallies in Oakland and Baltimore.

  • There's only one version worth the candle - and that's Marvin's.

  • In the heart, it's in the heart.. tears too

  • I remember that Sad Day, i was 15 and what a great song this is.Peace Everyone.

  • This song will forever be a classic!

  • Dion, Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bon Jovi........ Italians do it right....

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  • Unfortunately, Wednesday, 5 June 1968 remains burned into my memory, with people in my school who carried around transistor radios. To this day, I still resent that Sirhan Sirhan still breathes.

    I also remember the first Kennedy assassination, although it is more vague, like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. The MLK assassination was even more vague, for I lived in a lily white area and went to a Catholic school. I had NO concept of what an African-American was!

  • we sang this music class!

  • what two people would dislike this

  • @peanutbutterfaceable The only reason to dislike this video is because of Dion's hair........ I mean Damn!!!

  • I think it was on The Smother's Brother's show, around 1968.

  • I remember when Robert Kennedy died. we were still in school having to make up snow days. TV's in the classroom were something of a novelty then. Everybody was so restless; I believe it was the last day of school. The teacher turned on the TV and let us watch all the news shows about Bobby's death. I suppose she really wasn't supposed to do that, but she didn't want to be making up snow days any more than we did. That was my last memory of junior high school.

  • I graduated in 1968 usually a happy occasion but it was not it was the 5th of June 1968 Bobby Kennedy died that day.

  • i dig Dion

  • In 1968 I was a volunteer campaign worker for Bobbie Kennedy during the California primary. I was 20 and believed that Bobbie was our only hope for getting out of Vietnam. I stood outside the Ambassador Hotel in June, just after we had WON. Bobbie was coming outside, shortly, to thank us for our help when all hell broke out. By February '69 I was drafted and on 19 June I was in Vietnam. Bobbie was the 4th man mentioned in this song, it's been 43 years and I still cry...........

  • @MrRonnieG

    I just read your comment regarding the Abraham, Martin, and John song by Dion. Your story really touched my heart. You were just merely a boy when you were sent to Vietnam. You had to have been terrified. I'm so sorry your country let you and all of the other boys down. We should have never been there in the first place. Thank you for serving your country, and thank God you came back to us alive.

  • @MrRonnieG I remember when all 3 died and like you I still cry and will until I die. Had I been alive in 1865 I would have cried then.

  • @karengreen83 I am from Canada and I was born in 1979. I wasn't around when these men were alive, but when I heard this song, I cried too!

  • @karengreen83 There are several videos, docudramas of the time of the Linclon assassination. The most vivid depiction is of the funeral train that carried the President's coffin back to Illinois from Washington. People stood along the tracks almost the entire way to watch the train roll on by. We may not have had instant communications, but the word spread very fast indeed. Consider, wiithout Lincoln, we might not have had a country into the 20th Century.

  • @WMJCPA I am not the karengreen83 who posted that comment. I am not from Canada and I was born way before 1979. i do however cry whenever I hear thae song.

  • @MrRonnieG ........ "it's been 43 years and I still cry...."

    You are not alone..... it still brings a tear to eyes.

  • @MrRonnieG Uh, you volunteered for BOBBY Kennedy and you can't spell his name right?

  • @jcwbluedevil - and what have you done to serve your country - aside from correcting spelling errors?

  • @nbe1951 You're deluded and a fool if you think that waging war on countries that did nothing to your country is th right thing to do.

    Remember, Vietnam was about Commies and the evil, Chinese blah, blah. NOW they're still Communist and NOW you buy all that neat stuff from them real cheap and your own country loses jobs and produces very little.

    War is a racket, according to General S. Butler. Look it up.

    Also check out whatreallyhappened(*)com for the truth of today's events.

  • @hopeso Who ever said that waging war was the right thing to do? I protested the Vietnam War by marching on Washington, DC, way back when. People actually got involved in those days - rather than just calling other people (that they know NOTHING about) by nasty names. I know a little more about all of these things than you do.

  • @nbe1951 I stand corrected and I apologize. I took your comment out of context.. I was 13 when JFK was murdered. Even at that young age, the whole thing didn't add up for me. My dad said now way Oswald could have made the shots claimed. He fought in the war with the Polish underground. He knew his guns and how to use them.

    Look up WTC7

    and

    The USS Liberty

  • @MrRonnieG thank you for serving your country in so many ways. We are indebted to you.

  • @MrRonnieG I was 11 years old when Bobby Kennedy was killed. I cried then though somewhat uncertain why as I was so young. I know all too well why now. Thank you for your service to our country.

  • @MrRonnieG

    Thank you for your testimony, and thank you for your service. I've lived long enough to know that everything has a purpose. Moreover, I do not believe, that it is within our human capabilities to conclusively comprehend the macro-purpose of such tragedies. Know this though, the glorious day of our grasping the answers to life's perplexing questions, (will) be fulfilled.

  • Still gives me goosebumps after all these years.

  • @sybercom11 Just thinking that. Haunting song.

  • BTW, as I'm sure has been pointed out - all the TV musicians were on strike that week - therefore all they could use were those backing vocals

  • @controversyking intimidation, disenfranchisement--lasted well into the 20th century and still happens a lot today. Correction: it wasn't you, but another poster who said they were Mexican. My mistake.

  • @controversyking "There's plenty of blacks I met that hate whites and teach their kids to hate whites and think we owe them something because of what some whites did hundreds of years ago."

    I, respectfully, call bullshit on that one. You're obviously pulling BS out of your ass for talking points. Anyway, if you knew anything about American history (you say you're Mexican, but if you live in the USA, you need to learn American history) you would know that cruel treatment of blacks--lynching...

  • Dion just hits it out of the ball park with this song of his...what more can I say

  • @controversyking i wont call you that! death and blood bad in any color! many whites died helping blacks down in the south during the civil rights movement! so i know.

  • @controversyking Wrong!! The civil rights movement is way over! Most of these people never had to struggle or fight for their rights like we did ( I am Mexican) and I don't think anyone Owes me a Living Or owes Them a living , That was another generation going back 50 years! Most of those are lazy people who don't want to work and are on Welfare and I find that disgusting. Don't let them put you on a Guilt Trip ! We dont' Owe Them Crapp! let them work for a living like the rest of us !!

  • it's one of the top 5 songs ever wrote! there was a lot of blood spilled in 68! when he wrote this!

  • If they ever upload the original studio version of this song, it would be the most popular video on You Tube. The song is so hard to find :)

  • I was raised on this song, and to this day it still makes me cry. Not only for how gorgeous it is, and it is nerve tingling gorgeous, but because of who it's about. This song remains one of my all time favorites, and always will.

  • kinda hard to believe, this is the same guy who was the wanderer who kept away from runaway sue! this song was great, but it killed dions career...

  • my son Dion, will be watching this one day I hope.

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  • This song makes me cry...very few songs can do that to me. Not sure what it is about this song that does it.

  • HAPPY 72ND BIRTHDAY TO DION!!!

  • That opening sounds very mournful.

  • Bullets did change the promise of America. God help us.

  • My late father Gene Schwartz was the produce of AM&J and owned the record label; Laurie Records. The writer of AM&J was Dick Holler. This was my fave song of all the hits my father produced. To this day, this song touches me on many levels.

  • It's been 40 years and I still can't listen to this song without breaking down. I've never gotten over Bobby's death. That was such a horrible time. Instead of Bobby we got Nixon. It was one blow after another and in the end the war went on and on, and more people died for nothing.

  • Sad,

    I am a John Lennon fan so every time he say ''anybody here seen my old friend John''

    I can't help thinking about John Lennon!!! Just think Dion was the only one to not get on the plane that crashed and killed Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

  • one f my favorite songs it will live forever

  • nwo hit list

  • It just reminded me to be more tolerant. Thanks for the posting.

  • In my personal opinion, our country took a turn for the worst after Bobby was killed, and we still haven't recovered

    Rest in Peace - Robert F. Kennedy

    1925-1968

  • @SecretService80 It went to hell when the Military Industrial Complex, and the CIA murdered JFK. They took out RFK too, for fear that when he became president (and he would have), that he'd re-open the investigation and expose them. We haven't had a legitimate democracy since 1963.

  • @phatcracker2007 I agree!

  • It is very fitting to see this video on 6/6/2011 as I think about RFK and this day in 1966.

  • @dukevw I remember watching the news that day when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated i was in 7th grade -when Bobby died a part of all of us died too-It was in 1968 not 1966-----June 1968

  • a very gifted performer

  • Wonderful. Gitl

  • Of course there was a 4th man mentioned in these lyrics. The story goes, Dion began writing this song shortly after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April. Just after he had completed the song Bobbie Kennedy was murdered in early June so Dion decided to add the line "anybody here seen my old friend Bobbie, can you tell me where he's gone, you know I thought I saw him walking up over the hill with Abraham, Martin and John. I first heard this song in 1968 and I still cry, 43 years later.

  • @MrRonnieG Nice story but Dion didn't write this song. It was written by Dick Holler

  • too made they can't give us the original version! this isn't bad ,but not near as good as the studio version.FK youtube and fk EMI

  • Is this the same Dion from the group "Dion and the Belmonts"?

    

  • @bsteinagel yep

  • @bsteinagel yes,same guy

  • @bsteinagel

    Yes it is.

  • God Bless Dion all the days of his life...Dan O'Niallain

  • His voice is so pretty. I used to have a record of Mahalia Jackson singing this. I would give anything to hear that record again.

  • did he also do run around sue

  • @dudeigotthemunchies Yes. he had many hits with Dion & The Belmonts in the late 50's and as a solo act.

  • @whyyeseyec still 1000 better than the Bush crime family could ever hope to be!

  • @nicenonya3 : Oh re-he-he-heally? Could you be more specific? Which Bush murdered a woman in his car? Which Bush raped a college girl? Which Bush cheated on his wife?

  • @whyyeseyec Laura Bush was the one who murdered an ex boyfriend with her car so perfect she married into that family. Obviously you know shit about JFK's term in office or you would know that the douchebags who had him killed also have control of the media in this country. Ever hear of Operation Mockingbird? Keep drinking the Kool Aid or you could educate yourself. Just a thought.

  • @larry1369 : Yes, Laura Bush did kill someone with a car she was driving but I fail to see what that has to do with my comment. Please focus and pay attention. I know it`s difficult for you with ADD and all but give it a shot anyway. As for the Kennedy`s, I forgot to add that brother Teddy did in fact murder a woman by leaving her trapped in a submerged vehicle while he ran looking for a lawyer.

    I gave up drinking kool aid years ago. Bad for the teeth.....

  • @larry1369 : By the way, you need to see a psychiatrist. Your channel reads like a paranoid psychotic liberal nightmare from hell. How`s Barack`s economy doing for ya`? Are you enjoying spending your days standing in the unemployment line or are you one of Barack`s favorite welfare recipients feeding yourself off taxpayer money?

  • @whyyeseyec Obama's such a failure, but in my country no journalist dare to write that, because people are gonna call him or her a racist. Obama said he was gonna reduce your national dept (or whatever you call it) 50 percent. Now it's like some 200 percent higher than before. I wonder when the US goes bankrupt.

  • @SixtiesPopGold : Hey, I like your home page. Lot`s of great oldies! Songs I grew up with...

  • @whyyeseyec Yeah, it's Obama's economy, it's a hell of a lot better than when he took office. And you're dead right, a whopping 7.5 cents on the dollar goes to Welfare. I can handle giving all my money to rich people who will turn around and rip me off, but to give money to poor people so they don't starve to death is just too much.

  • @elgrovez13 The economy is not better at all. In fact we are on the brink of collapse. Poor people should be helped,but there are millions of people taking welfare because we have made it so easy.

    A famous philosopher said in the late 1700s. "A democracy only lasts until the people realize they can vote themselves everything" There are plenty of greedy rich people but taxing them 100 percent on the money they

    make would not even put a dent in the deficit.

  • @jtm0071 and that has WHAT to do with this beautiful song?

  • Why? Why the hell can't music today have any meaning like this?

  • 1968....the year I went to Vietnam

  • @Greenhornet270 that mustve been one horrible war to fight in huh?

  • One racist dislikes it.

  • what an epic song

  • This is my fab version of this song but check out the ray Charles version it's really good

  • Fantastic song!!!!!!!

  • This song kicks me right in the ass !!

  • I bet all 3 now would be ashamed of American hating liberal socialists today.

  • Wow. The Smothers Brothers were and are an American treasure, and it's absurd that they haven't been recognized as such. Mr. President, rectify this omission.

  • Hard to believe only 22K hits on this song. If the music of the sixties ever morphs into a religion in a thousand years this will be one of the hymns.

  • Hi

    This song was playing in the mess hall at Ft. Bragg North Carolina when I arrived for basic training at 3:30 one morning in the fall of 1968. I'll never forget it and thank you for posting.

    J. Lynn

  • I love this so much I have watched it many times. Now I am 53 it just rips my heart out thinking what might have been if these men had been allowed to live. My soul aches because America has gone so far astray.

  • This song always made me think of Vietnam and all the boys who didnt come home.

  • Beautiful when my Dad hears this song he cries. I can understand why. The work that Dion does with guitar is beautiful absolutely amazing.

  • I will bet your father cries not for the Music, but for what this song means. The murders of the Righteous Men, by those who were evil.

  • @MysteriousNerds He also cries over the Memories of those great men who loved this country and did all they could to make it better ! children are born colorblind , it is adults that teach them to hate others because of the color of their skin and that has to stop. it is an ongoing fight that we must win against the dark forces in this world !

  • What is this performance from? Stunning.

  • @jstraw4 It's from Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

  • @SixtiesPopGold lets not forget that Dion wrote this song.......