Politics

Having been found guilty of murder, labour activist Joe Hill is executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. It was widely believed that Hill's conviction was wrong and in the years that followed, he became the subject of many songs by Phil Ochs, Josh Joplin, Frank Tovey, Chumbawamba and others. Perhaps the most famous is I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night [aka Joe Hill], which was written as a poem around 1930 by Alfred Hayes, and then turned into a song by in 1936 by Earl Robinson. This song has been sung and recorded by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, The Dubliners and many others.

The Music Trades magazine runs an item about the popular song Roses Of Picardy, pointing out that, "Fred Weatherly, composer of the words, struck a chord in every heart when he penned the lines of a song that spoke of the roses that shine in Picardy, just at a time when the fiercest battle the world has ever known was being fought on the plains of Picardy. It was indeed a wholesome thought that despite the greatest congregation of artillery, together with shells and all the terrific paraphernalia of war, the Roses would again bloom in Picardy. The sublime faith bound up in the simple strains of a ballad naturally took hold of the people of England, and as our own brave boys came back from the battle-torn plains of Picardy, they too will enjoy with special significance the simple expression of so sublime a thought in song."

Benny Goodman And His Orchestra begin the second month of a seven-month long residency in The Joseph Urban Room of the The Congress Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, USA. In the course of the residency, Goodman will establish a popular new style of big-band music - swing.

In a letter to author Ray M. Lawless, Pete Seeger states that he is "not a folksinger in the musicological or anthropological sense of the term". Seeger also denies that he is "authentic", arguing that the term is "so debated as to be almost meaningless without elaborate definition". (Lawless is compiling a book entitled Folksingers And Folksongs in America)

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars record They Say I Look Like God, The Real Ambassadors and other tracks in New York City, USA, for Columbia Records. Piano player on the session is Dave Brubeck, and vocalist is Annie Ross.

Singer-songwriter and civil rights activist Oscar C. Brown is playing at The Gate Of Horn, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Grant Rogers, Jackie Washington, Judy Collins, Obray Ramsey, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs, Skip James, The Chad Mitchell Trio and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band play on the second day of the Philadelphia Folk Festival in Wilson Farm, Paoli, Pennsylvania, USA.

Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds peaks at No3 in the Singles Chart in Canada. The song was composed in the late 1950s by Pete Seeger.

The Fugs play the last of three nights at The Astor Place Playhouse, 434 Lafayette Street, Manhattan, New York City, USA.

Phil Ochs plays at The Riverboat, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The musical Hallelujah Baby!, starring Leslie Uggams, is presented at The Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 293 performances.

Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, The Fugs and The Nice play at the Konserthallen, Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden, Europe.

Elvis Presley's powerfully emotional response to the previous night's assassination of Robert Kennedy inspires producer Steve Binder to ask Earl Brown to write a song expressing those emotions. Brown will write If I Can Dream.

Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Sam And Dave, Joe Tex, Sonny And Cher and The Rascals play in the NATRA (National Association Of Television And Radio Announcers) Benefit Show for the Martin Luther King Foundation at Randall's Island, New York State, USA.

Anti-war campaigner Country Joe McDonald and two members of his backing band The Fish are attacked by three over-zealously patriotic Vietnam Veterans, in a lift at the Democratic Party National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

John Lennon of The Beatles and Yoko Ono take part in a media event with British Black Power leader Malcolm X in Holloway, London, England, UK, Europe.

Stevie Wonder makes a speech supporting the Martin Luther King Holiday bill, in Washington DC, USA. Wonder also uses the occasion to premiere his new song, Happy Birthday, written in honour of Dr Kng.

Argentine forces invade and occupy the British-owned Falkland Islands and South Georgia, setting in train a series of events which will lead to The Falklands War, during which the British government will send a naval task force to retake the islands. The 1983 song Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello, best-remembered in a version by Robert Wyatt, is about the wider implications of this war. Other songs dealing with the Falklands War and its implications include Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits, Another Man's Cause by The Levellers, Island Of No Return by Billy Bragg and Southampton Dock by Pink Floyd.

Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and Jerry Hall attend an Independence Day party aboard the yacht of multi-millionaire Malcolm Forbes, as it sails round Manhattan, New York City, USA.

The Red Wedge tour plays at St. David's Hall, Cardiff, Wales, UK, Europe, featuring The Style Council, Billy Bragg, Junior Giscombe and The Communards.

Ray Charles testifies in Congress on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, USA, on behalf of increased funding for hearing research. "My eyes are my handicap," he tells the politicians, "but my ears are my opportunity."

Paula Abdul testifies to the California Senate Business and Professions Committee, Los Angeles, California, USA, that she will lobby for legislation to establish safety standards for manicure and pedicure equipment, and also re-write state regulations requiring that nail salons follow sanitary practices. Her testimony follows a year of treatment for a fungal infection she claims to have picked up in a nail salon.

The Live8 Concert in The Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, features Will Smith (host), Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, P Diddy, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, The Dave Matthews Band, Sarah McLachlan, Rob Thomas, Keith Urban, 50 Cent and The Kaiser Chiefs. The audience turnout is one and a half million.

Sam Duckworth, better known as Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly., hits out at the British Nationalist Party (BNP) in an interview in UK trade magazine Music Week. He criticises the BNP for their "vile and disgusting" views and for their "Islamophobic stance and their homophobic stance", and encourages musicians and music lovers to unite and speak out against them.

The government of France, Europe, passes legislation that would allow internet service providers to cut the internet connections of customers who download copyright-protected music and video files illegally after "three strikes".

Bob Dylan sings his classic protest song The Times they Are A-Changin' at The White House, Washington DC, USA, during a concert of music from the Civil Rights movement. Other performers appearing in the presence of President Obama, include Joan Baez, Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson and The Blind Boys of Alabama.

Broadcaster Glenn Beck in the USA labels the My Chemical Romance song "Sing" as "propaganda" after a cover version was featured on the musical drama TV series Glee. Beck misquotes the song's lyric and, soon after, MCR's frontman Gerard Way responds to the accusation stating, "I think the word Glenn Beck was looking for was 'subversion' not 'propaganda', because I don't know what it would be considered propaganda for — truth? Sentiment?" He also said that he was, "shocked that no actual fact-checking was done on the lyrics"

It is reported that The 100 Club, London, UK, has been rejected by the British Government for Historic Building status.

Feminist punk band Pussy Riot, are publicly condemned by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill I, during a liturgy in Moscow's Deposition of the Robe Church on March 21. The band's actions at their recent protest gig against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Moscow's Christ The Savior Cathedral, are described as "blasphemous".

Feminist punk band Pussy Riot, being held in jail in Moscow, Russia, Europe because of their recent protest gig against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Moscow's Christ The Savior Cathedral are presented with formal charges on an indictment 2,800 pages long.

Russian punk rockers Pussy Riot lose an appeal against an internet ban on their music videos, including one featuring a protest song for which three of the bands members were jailed. The Moscow City Court upholds the ban, meaning that the group's videos cannot be shown on the internet.

At a reception in the Kensington Roof Gardens, London, UK, marking the 30th anniversary of music industry body the BPI, British Prime Minister David Cameron states, "We should be extremely proud of how our world-leading music industry continues to go from strength to strength, with a record share of the global market and with British acts having the world

Record producer/composer Quincy Jones and British musician Jerry Dammers, co-founder of The Specials, are presented by President Jacob Zuma of South Africa with the prestigious Order of the Companions of OR Tambo.

Billy Bragg plays at Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK, supported by Seth Lakeman.

John Legend and Colombian rocker Juanes perform outside the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, USA, as part of their campaign to reform America's immigration and incarceration procedures.

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd auctions 127 guitars from his collection at Christie's, New York City, USA, raising a total of $21,490,750, which the guitarist donates to ClientEarth, a global climate crisis organization. The auction sets several world records for sales of guitars. His famed Black Strat alone realised $3.975 m, said to be the highest price paid for a guitar at an auction. The Black Strat was played by Gilmour on every Pink Floyd album from The Dark Side of the Moon until The Final Cut.

Speaking about US President Donald Trump, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones declares, "America has to get rid of him. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."

K-pop fans are credited with having been a significant factor in the low turnout of attendees at US President Donald Trump's recent comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. They claim to have been booking large number of tickets to the rally online with no intention of attending. Their plan, which appears to have been successful, was to reduce attendance at the rally.

American presidential candidate Kanye West on Friday photoshopped his face onto Mount Rushmore — then Tweets an image showing his face photoshopped alongside revered former US Presidents on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, USA, with the caption '2020.'

Wearing a bulletproof vest and with '2020' shaved into his head, Kanye West launches his campaign for the American presidential election at an event in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. He delivers a rambling address which touches on theology, homelessness, corporate power and abortion. He becomes tearful while telling the crowd that his father had wanted to have him aborted. West also suggests that women should be given $1m when they have a baby.