East & West of the Wall

Few people can look at Berlin's ugly Wall without wanting to tear it down. Last week someone finally tried. At four isolated spots, mysterious explosions blew gaping holes through the barrier, but East German Volkspolizei quickly sealed each one off before any East Berliners could flee to freedom. The Reds blamed the West for the blasts; Western observers, however, said the explosions seemed to come from the east side of the Wall, hinted at an organized anti-Communist resistance ring.

Whatever the cause of the blasts, they found echoes in the U.S. In its unique way, Tin Pan Alley was joining in the protest against the Wall. Listed by Billboard as one of the "Hot 100" was a rock 'n' roll ditty titled West of the Wall (Big-top Records). Sample lyrics:

West of the wall I'll wait for you

West of the wall our dreams can all come true.

Though we're apart a little while

My heart will wait until we both can smile.

That wall built of our sorrow we know must have an end

Till this dream of tomorrow when we meet again.

West of the wall where hearts are free

West of the wall your heart can come to me.

And in my arms that hold you tight

You can forget the darkness of the night . . .

So mawkishly does the cornball song, with its vaguely Kurt Weillish tune, exploit the pathos of divided Berlin that the Voice of America has refused to play it, and West German record firms are "apprehensive" about releasing it. Hollywood Songwriter Wayne Shanklin maintains that the record was inspired by a news picture of Bobby Kennedy looking at the barrier. ''The Wall offends the dignity of the human being," he straightfaces. "I want to shape the world a little. I can't fight with a gun, so I have to use the only weapons at my command."

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