Hugh Masekela: Grazing in the Grass

In 1961, Hugh Masekela fled his native South Africa's apartheid to graze in America's greener grass. By the summer of 1968, he was leading the hit parade. Is this a great country or what? Replete with 4-alarm cowbell, "Grazing in the Grass" pastured 13 weeks among the Top 100, chewing its way to #1. Contentedly masticating an endlessly regurgitated 2-chord vamp, "Grazing" made the perfect party music for urban cliff-dwellers who wouldn't know a cow pie from a Big Mac. As approving teenagers liked to tell Dick Clark on American Bandstand, "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it."