"Birmingham Sunday" is a song written byRichard Fariña and performed by both Fariña and also by his sister-in-lawJoan Baez .[1][2][3] The subject matter is thebombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, by members of theKu Klux Klan that killed four girls and injured 22 others.[4][5] The girls were Addie Mae Collins (14), Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14).[4][5]The melody of the song comes from a traditional Scottish ballad namedI Once Loved a Lass.[1]
Fariña's version was released on the Elektra LPSinger Songwriter Project in 1965, while Baez's version was released on her 1964 Vanguard albumJoan Baez/5,[3] and was used as the theme song of the 1997Spike Lee documentary about the bombing,4 Little Girls.[6]
The song was covered byRhiannon Giddens on her 2017 albumFreedom Highway,[7] and by Tom Paxton and Anne Hills onUnder American Skies.
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