Here are a couple of songs that serve as sort of a thematic follow-up to my recent post on the kidnapping of Peggy Ann Bradnick in Pennsylvania in 1966.
Al Cartwright - Patty (2:31)
Sue Lloyd & William O'Donnell - The Ballad Of Patty Hearst (Listen To Tania) (3:32)
Today's selections, however, concern a far more notorious kidnapping, that of Patty Hearst, granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst. On February 2, 1974 Hearst was abducted in Berkeley, California by several members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a group of revolutionary left-wing radicals. Members of the SLA would later be convicted of a wide variety of crimes in addition to kidnapping: first degree murder, second degree murder, possession of explosives with intent to murder and various passport crimes, among other offenses.
After Hearst participated in an SLA bank robbery on April 15, 1974 a warrant was issued for her arrest. Along with several other SLA members, she was arrested in a San Francisco apartment in September 1975. She was eventually tried and convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison, though she served less than 2 years of that time before President Carter commuted her sentence.
By the way, I should probably apologize for the second of the two MP3s above: not only is the record in horrifically mangled condition, the song is pretty damn irritating to boot! You've been warned.
Let's not forget Camper Van Beethoven's Tania from their Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart album (whose title also refers to the song.)
Posted by: just john | May 20, 2009 at 03:50 PM
...or Patti Smith's cover of Hey Joe.
Posted by: doug from dc | May 21, 2009 at 09:33 PM
...or the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo's "You Got Your Baby Back"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9H4ly3kcH4
Posted by: Brian Why | May 24, 2009 at 01:49 AM
Not only pretty damn irritating but very jovial for a 'ballad'...even more so for a ballad about Patty's time with the SLA.
Posted by: Jonathan Steinke | May 25, 2009 at 07:53 PM
More Pattyness here
http://greatgodpan.com/
Posted by: Arrak | May 27, 2009 at 01:52 AM
See also "Song For Patty" by Sammy Walker with Sis Cunningham from Broadside Ballads, Vol. 8 on Folkways and the Best Of Broadsides box set.
"Patty, dear, I know your sights are on the Milky Way / And the avaricious scorpion is beggin' you to stay / Please meet me at the holocaust valley / And you can tell us all about it someday."
Good ol' Sammy. Always hangin' in that no man's land between Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.
Posted by: the damaged ape | June 01, 2009 at 02:09 AM
Oingo Boingo did NOT record "You Got Your Baby Back". It was recorded by Big Daddy and was a huge hit on the Dr. Demento Show during it's heyday at KMET 94.7 Ls Angeles inn the early 1970's.
Posted by: Rory Murray | June 01, 2009 at 06:01 PM
You betcha "The ballad of Patty hearst" is mangled and the faceplate is defaced. And you find it irritating. It was on 60 minutes as an example of what was being written about Patty. I know, I produced it. Bruce L.
Posted by: bruce LLoyd | December 28, 2009 at 12:12 AM