Marrakesh Express

For some reason the song "Marrakesh Express" has been playing in my head all day.  This made me want to look up a live version on youtube.  I found one from BBC with Crosby and Nash playing acoustic guitar in all their long hair finery.  This led to me watching a beautiful video from Woodstock, with hippies riding horseback and building the stage.  Which led to a video of Neil Young's "Ohio".  Did you know he wrote the song to protest the killings at Kent State University?  I always just thought it was a beautiful song and didn't realize the meaning.  I guess I am still learning.

Every time I hear "Marrakesh Express" I think of a book I read several years ago, "The Drifters" by James Michener published in the early 1970's.  The book is about a group of young adults from very diverse backgrounds who meet in Spain during the late 1960's.  Hippies, war protest, draft dodging, travel, brutality by the man and vivid European/African scenery.  At one point they travel to Marrakesh, Morocco which brings me to the song.  I believe the book is on one of the top 100 books of all time list that I refer to when I need a good read.