The Moody Blues The Best Way to Travel (1968)
Introductory remark: This text reflects a personal perspective shared by our Co-Editor-in-Chief, Arci Friede.
My father hid beneath a bench as Russian tanks rumbled into Prague, their warning shots echoing through the streets, ricocheting off buildings, injuring and killing civilians. Like many others, he had joined the crowds to resist the invasion. But the communist regime crushed the uprising. He fled to the West, where his girlfriend—my mother—was waiting in Munich, spending a season as an au pair learning German.
While researching today’s song, I suddenly found myself transported to that specific moment in time, 21 August, 1968. As Russia gradually took control of the key institutions of Czechoslovakia and suppressed freedom of assembly and movement, the British band The Moody Blues happened to be in Prague. At first, they intended to stay, but their manager convinced them to leave the country immediately. Later that same day, they were flown out by a plane operated by the Pakistan Red Crescent.
But how did The Moody Blues come to witness the revolution and its brutal suppression in the first place? Here’s what happened: On the eve of the Russian invasion, The Moody Blues performed a concert in Prague, promoting their second studio album, In Search of the Lost Chord. They were among the first Western bands to accept an invitation from Alexander Dubček, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, who was then leading a bold effort to democratize the country and open it to the West.
As we know, things took a different turn. Dubček was deposed by the Russians, and the country was sealed off. My parents managed to escape to the West, and once they had settled in and earned a living, they began traveling the world—with me in tow. For my grandmothers, aunts and cousins, however, travel remained a rare or impossible privilege. I often wonder whether they would agree with the line from today’s song: “Thinking is the best way to travel.”
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