Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born 1936), known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer, poet and peace activist best known for his role at Woodstock, as well as for his hippie persona and countercultural beliefs. He has reported that his moniker was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. Romney has founded or co-founded several organizations, including the activist commune, the Hog Farm, and later, as Wavy Gravy, Camp Winnarainbow and the Seva Foundation. He founded the Phurst Church of Phun in the 1960s, a secret society of comics and clowns that aimed to support ending the Vietnam War through political theater, and has adopted a clown persona in support of his political activism, including as the official clown of the Grateful Dead. The documentary film based on his life, magnificent in its humor and conscience, is called Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie. [adapted from Wikipedia.
Running time: 5 minutes
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Basic Human Needs
And wouldn’t it be neat if the people that you meet had shoes upon their feet
And something to eat
And wouldn’t it be fine, now if all of human kind had shelter
.
Basic Human needs, basic human deeds, doing what comes naturally
Down in the garden, when no one is apart
Deep down in the garden, the garden of your heart
.
Wouldn’t it be grand if we all lend a hand so each one of us could stand on a free piece of land
And wouldn’t it be thrilling if folks stopped their killing and started in tilling the land
.
Basic Human Needs, basic human deeds, doing what comes naturally
Down in the garden, when no one is a apart
Deep down in the garden, the garden of your heart
.
Not just churches, not just steeples, give me peoples helping peoples
Help your self and work out till the stars begin to shout, thank god for something to do
.
Wouldn’t it be daring if folks started sharing, instead of comparing, what each other was wearing
And wouldn’t it be swell if people didn’t sell their mother earth
.
Basic Human needs, basic human deeds, doing what comes naturally
Down in the garden, when no one is apart
Deep down in the garden, the garden of your heart