Persona

. . .

Reginal Marsh does Harlem...

This Reginald Marsh painting form the '30s--"High Yaller" (here from an eBay print sale) presents all the problems of working from a source that's not one's own. Compare William H. Johnson's Harlem girls, on Song&Places post--at once more innocent and more engaging. The spirit behind the Reginald Marsh paintings (and he remains one of our key "social realists"--the artists who worked with city themes in the 1930s) always seems to have an element of the voyeur. That is, he's looking in from the outside. This shows in particular in his treatment of women (black, white or otherwise). Something important to consider here: how can we enter into another world--someone else's world--with the right measure of honesty? Humility? Understanding? The question never goes away...

It's true in the music, too. (I think Fredrik did a good job with this in his Woodie Guthrie video...)

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot...

CHORUS:
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home

I looked over Jordan and what did I see
Coming for to carry me home
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home

* * * * *

Here are the verses from second Kings 2, 1-15. The key verse is 2:11,
but the others will give you a better sense of the setting. Is this where the song comes from? A vision of transcendence, certainly. "If you get to heaven before I do..." Also, consider the line from Amazing Grace: "He will my shield and portion be..."

1 And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
5 And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 8

Week 8: Thursday, March 8
Spirituals: HEAVEN & EARTH


"Negro boys and girls humming spiritual at UCPAPWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America) meeting, Bristow, Oklahoma. The union meeting has become a main social gathering in these sections and has taken on some of the spirit of the old time revival. Spirituals vie with the union songs for popularity." Russell Lee, FSA, 1940, Library of Congress

"AMAZING GRACE" (J&A Lomax 328/344)
S&P Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie (also on SGS) +++
SGS Horton Barker +++

AMAZING GRACE, on SGS: Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie, Buell Kazee, Horton Barker, Clarence Ashley (+). Check these individually.

Also on SGS: Paul Robeson’s version of Amazing Grace:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221316777/

MH Ollie Gilbert #1256
MH Rev. Harold Hunter #0261 (midi file only?)

Old Baptist Church, Mountain Music of Kentucky:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221315155/
Old Harp Singers:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221291732 /

"SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT" (in Johnson ANS; AFS 115)
Paul Robeson (from “The Power and the Glory”) +++

Additional versions on AAS:
Sister O.M. Terrell (On AAS). See where Sister Rosetta Tharp comes from…
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221336789/
Apollo Male Quarter:
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221334532/

Paul Robeson
SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT
Amazing Grace (see above)
Balm in Gilead
No More Auction Block for Me
No More Auction Block for Me (DYLAN, for comparison)

Ol’ Man River
Go Down Moses
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho (compare the Southernaires in AAS)
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221345627/

Marian Anderson
Let Us Break Bread Together ++
Deep River

AND DON'T MISS! The following two recordings are from an old Folkways record--very simply sung, quite beautiful. From southeastern Georgia:

Beverly Green, Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia (Folkways/SGS)
There Is a A Balm in Gilead
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221308928/

Mallard, Ruth, Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia (Folkways/SGS)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221308927/

Mississippi John Hurt
Beulah Land
Blessed Be the Name
Farther Along
Praying on the Old Campground

Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
John the Revelator

Thelonious Monk
This Is My Song, This Is My Story


Negro Religious Field recordings (AAS Archive): compare these FIELD RECORDINGS—quite different in character, with any of the above:

I’m Coming Home on the Morning Train
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221338725/
I’m Gonna Lift Up A Standard for My King
I’m Running for My Life (Rev. McGhee)
I’m A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord
Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (Silent Grove Baptist Church with Bozie Sturdivant)

Turner Junior Johnson selections (4 songs). See desciption of Turner Johnson in Alan Lomax: The Land Where The Blues Began. His voice and Harmonica. These available on AAS:
Meet Me In Jerusalem
When I Lay My Burden Down
In New Jerusalem
Steal Away

And a painting by Harlem Renaissance painter William H. Johnson (1901-1970):


YouTube:

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot:
Beyonce
Dolly Parton
Young solo singer

Mahalia Jackson / Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho
In a way, this is where many people started with Spirituals. You can sense that there’s a world underneath these songs—even if they’re arranged for mainstream television. Compare all the early recordings on AAS—as well as Max Hunter (for white Southern song tradition).

You’re Going to Need a Friend. Group harmony, old-style, in a black church. See Alan Lomax writing about this (handout)

Old Man River / The Temptations (1993)
Old Man River / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Put A Spell on You / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Stranger Than Paradise / Trailer in Japanese (Screamin’ Jay)

Aretha Franklin / Nessun Dorma (Pavarotti becasme ill-asked Aretha Franklin to stand in for him—and this is what followed. Thanks to C.!)

"Oh hard is the fortune of all womankind..."

Our discussion of "Barbara Allen" also, for me, harks back to a favorite song (more sympathetic perhaps to a "hard-hearted Barbara Allen"-like character) from the collection of that Berkeley bohemian of the late 1940s and 50s, Harry Smith, in his "Anthology of American Folk Music (Folkways 1952)," performed by Buell Kazee:















The Wagoner's Lad

Oh hard is the fortune of all womankind,
They're always controlled, they're always confined.
Controlled by their parents until they're a bride,
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives.

Oh I am a poor girl, my fortune is sad,
I have always been courted by the wagoner's lad.
He courted me daily by night and by day,
And now he is loaded and going away.

Your parents don't like me because I am poor,
They say I'm not worthy of entering your door.
I work for my living, my money's my own,
And if they don't like me they can leave me alone.

Your horses are hungry, go feed them some hay,
Come sit down beside me as long as you may.
My horses ain't hungry, they won't eat your hay,
So fare thee well, darling, I'll be on my way.

Your wagon needs greasing, your whip's for to mend,
Come sit down here by me as long as you can.
My wagon is greasy, my whip's in my hand,
So fare thee well, darling, no longer to stand.

Digital Tradition link:
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiWAGONLAD;ttWAGONLAD.html

Down by the Salley Gardens

Down by the Salley Gardens

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs.
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

W.B.Yeats

Published in Crossways, 1889; the poet was 24.

Salley is an old word for willows...

I'm posting this because it's from an authoritative published version of the poem, not the hit-or-miss internet. Note the long lines--think about how they can be sung. Also, that "tree" is in the singular ("a man is like a tree", as from Psalms), and "I being young and foolish" (the word "being," as Anthony noted in class). Also, in line four, the "would" rather than "did," which was incorrect in the version I gave you. The differences are subtle--but important as to the meaning (they also show how songs can wander and change...) Finally, there's no "It was" at the very beginning--the song starts as above--which makes the first line of the initial verse parallel to the first line of the second. The simplicity here is water-clear--and hard-won...

I do like singing it with a repeat of the first verse...

triple trinity

photos from father urs, fredrik son, and the holy bello's triple trinity birthday bash..

when we reached the top the clouds parted like a crucifix. i'm not religious or anything (though my parents raised me as a catholic and i'd say i'm a spritual person), but it was an absolutely breathtaking moment. i hope others who participated in the journey up the hills noticed

Blowin' Down the Road

Love Henry

...

"Hush up, hush up, my parrot," she cried,
"And light on my right knee.
The doors to your cage shall be decked with gold
And hung on a willow tree."

"I won't fly down, I can't fly down
And light on your right knee.
A girl who would murder her own true love
Would kill a little bird like me."

from "Love Henry," Traditional

Child Ballads in Max Hunter Collection

CHILD BALLADS: Max Hunter Collection. Here are some of the individual recordings of the ballads we're listening to--all from Max Hunter. Note that the collection includes several variants of each. And, of course, there are all the many other Child Ballads as well.

Child No. 4 Lady Isabel And the Elf Knight_Hunter #47 Lovin' Polly_Hunter #160 Little Billy_Hunter #317 Willie Came Over the Main Wide Ocean_Hunter #398 Pretty Polly_Hunter #826 Pretty Polly

Child No. 10 The Twa Sisters_Hunter #166 The Miller's Daughter_Hunter #282 The Old Woman Lived on a Seashore_Hunter #361 Two Sisters_Hunter #903 Two Sisters

Child No. 84 Barbra Allen_Hunter #148 Barbra Allen_Hunter #492 Barbra Allen_Hunter #586 Barbra Allen_Hunter #688 Barbra Allen_Hunter #740 Barbry Allen_Hunter #796 Barbry Allen_Hunter #833 Barbry Allen_Hunter #835 Barbra Allen_Hunter #1176 Barbra Allen

Child No. 200 The Gypsie Laddie_Hunter #118 Black Jack Davey_Hunter #136 Black Jack Davy_Hunter #423 Gypsy Davy_Hunter #831 Black Jack Davy_Hunter #1000 Gypsy Davy_Hunter #1022 Black Jack Boy_Hunter #1463 Black Jack Davey

WEEK 7 / SONG SYLLABUS

Week 7: Thursday, March 1
Anglo-American Ballads: SOURCE

"Barbara Allen" (Alan Lomax 170/183)
S&P Jean Ritchie

"Down by the Sally Gardens" (W.B. Yeats; Silverman 144)
S&P Richard Dyer-Bennett

"Comin’ thro’ the Rye" (Scottish, traditional; Silverman 281, Song Session 112)

BALLADS. See Child Ballads. Concentrate on the following songs:

Barbara Allen (Child #84)
Omie Wise
Pretty Polly / Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight Omie Wise (Child #4)
The House Carpenter (Child #243, as Daemon Lover or James Harris)
Gypsy Davey (Child #200) (Supplement)

I'm providing the static urls this week, to see if it makes use of SGS easier for you all.


BARBARA ALLEN (Child # 84, Barbara Allen)

Barbara Allen / Jean Ritchie SGS
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221285367/

Free Little Bird / Clarence Ashley. FOR COMPARISON!
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221310977/

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 84, Barbara Allen (several versions)

OMIE WISE
Omie Wise / Doug Wallin (CA 1960-62)
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221321961/

Ommie Wise / G.B. Grayson (S&P Archive, AAFM 1952+++)

Omie wise / Roscoe Holcomb
http://ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147535547/

See also: Naomia Wise (in Max Hunter as Naomia Wise, #1494)

Refer to Anna Domino story here (handout?) in Wilentz/Marcus

THE HOUSE CARPENTER (Child #243, The House Carpenter)
The House Carpenter / Jean Ritchie
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221309031/

The House Carpenter / Doc Watson, The Watson Family
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221304845/

House Carpenter / Clarence Ashley (S&P Archive, AAFM)
See also: Max Hunter, Child # 243, The House Carpenter (several versions)

House Carpenter / Bob Dylan S&P Archive



PRETTY POLLY (Child # 4, LADY ISABEL & THE ELF KNIGHT)

Pretty Polly / Doug Wallin, Jack Wallin
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221314101/

Pretty Polly / Doc Boggs
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221287352/

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 47, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight

See also MH: Loving Henry (#1400)—to the tune of Storms Are on the Ocean. Very dark…but beautifully sung by Fran Majors, Wichita Kansas, 1963

See also: Clarence Ashley, Free Little Bird (on SGS, Original Folways Recordings, 1960-62)
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221310977/


BLACK JACK DAVY (Child Ballad # 200, The Gypsie Laddie) / SUPPLEMENTAL

Black Jack Davy / The Carter Family (S&P Archive)

Gypsie Davy / Jean Ritchie
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221285358/

Gypsy Davy / Woody Guthrie (SGS) http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221319537/
Black Jack Davy / Bob Dylan (S&P Archive)

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 200, The Gypsie Laddie


ALSO:

CHARLIE FEATHERS, Pardon Me, Mister. Listen to the words on this one carefully. Does it fit in the ballad tradition? Compare with Barbara Allen—and Pretty Polly/Lady Isabel. Charlie Feathers—a great rock-a-billy singer/songwriter. Available only on S&P Archive, or iTunes


We could also be looking at the ballad tradition in the African-American world, where the form often resembles European ballads, but the words themselves come from more direct, everyday experience (sometimes a mythic past-as in John Henry). Of course, some of these ballads have been shared generally…


The Lowlands of Holland / Paddy Tunney (S&P Archive). For an example—very beautiful—of a traditional British ballad…

MacColl, Ewan and Peggy Seeger. MATCHING SONGS OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND AMERICA. RLP 12-637. Bill Grauer Prod., Inc., 235 W. 46th St., N.Y. 36, N.Y. (In this album the singers match American and British versions of five of the old ballads.)


YouTube & WildCards:

Roscoe Holcomb / John Hardy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zOI9pvq-tU

Barbara Allen (Emily Rossum/from the film Songcatchers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgH_0zxqQ

Omie Wise video (a contemporary dramatization):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOeTcgSJ3MA

House Carpenter (Pentangle) (folk-revival at it's most self-serious)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4jXfMEu1YY



SUPPLEMENTAL:

Jean Ritchie / Shady Grove (dulcimner)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8wR4GZGnZE

Jean Ritchie / Blue Diamond Mines (singing over film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oLGXmwMppE

Doc Watson /Salty Dog / Step Dancing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t6-NhuZc5E

Father & son / Down the Road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEoACxw_Gg

Charlie Feathers & Family video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIO4uK91Jck

Charlie Feathers rockabilly (Gotta Get Wicked)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piDedgdYsUg

Sing in response

And the song that motivated Guthrie to write This Land is Your Land:

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

God Bless America.
Land that I love
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies ,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home.

God Bless America,
Land that I love
Stand beside her,
And guide her,
Through the night
With the light from above,
From the mountains,
To the prairies,
To the ocean,
White with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
God bless America,
My home sweet home.

God Bless America by Irving Berlin

When the World's on Fire

Tracing the song's roots: The tune to Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land was originally recorded by the Carter Family in 1930 with A.P. Carter, actually, as the lead vocalist:

You can have a listen here: http://www.emusic.com/album/10666/10666901.html?fref=150051


Oh my loving mother, when the world's on fire,
Don't you want God's bosom to be your pillow?
Hide me over in the rock of ages,
Rock of ages, cleft for me.

I'm going to heaven when the world's on fire
And I want God's bosom to be my pillow.
Hide me over in the rock of ages,
Rock of ages, cleft for me.

Oh my loving brother, when the world's on fire,
Don't you want God's bosom to be your pillow?
Hide me over in the rock of ages,
Rock of ages, cleft for me.

Oh my loving sinner, when the world's on fire,
Don't you want God's bosom to be your pillow?
Hide me over in the rock of ages,
Rock of ages, cleft for me.

Don't you want to go to heaven when the world's on fire,
Don't you want God's bosom to be your pillow?
Hide me over in the rock of ages,
Rock of ages, cleft for me.

The North vs. the South

Pete about Woody

Anything worth discussing was worth a song to Woody.... I remember the night he wrote the song "Tom Joad." He said, "Pete, do you know where I can get a typewriter?"

I said, "I'm staying with someone who has one."

"Well, I got to write a ballad," he said. "I don't usually write ballads to order, but Victor wants me to do a whole album of Dust Bowl songs, and they say they want one about Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath."

I asked him if he had read the book and he said, "No, but I saw the movie. Good movie."

He went along to the place I was staying -- six flights walking up -- on East Fourth Street. The friend I was staying with (Jerry Oberwager) said, "Sure, you can use my typewriter."

Woody had a half-gallon jug of wine with him, sat down and started typing away. He would stand up every few seconds and test out a verse on his guitar and sit down and type some more. About one o'clock my friend and I got so sleepy we couldn't stay awake. In the morning we found Woody curled up on the floor under the table; the half gallon of wine was almost empty and the completed ballad was sitting near the typewriter.

And it is one of his masterpieces. It's a long song -- about six minutes -- and it compresses the whole novel into about twenty verses. It doesn't cover every detail, but it gets an awful lot of them.

Pete Seeger, The Incomplete Folksinger, New York, NY, 1972, p. 44.

Morning after...

24 February 2007, Friday. Blue blue all across the sky--the storm must be way east by now, out over the valley. Air rinsed clean, slight chill...ready to go... Last night, again until late--Woody Guthrie--his wiry vitality. Okemah, Oklahoma--the Indian Territories--a hole in America, tornados and oil. Then the drought. "Dust storms hit, they hit like thunder. Dusted us over and covered us under..." Churning clouds all along the horizon, out of nowhere... The West Texas plains--Pampa--his uncle Jeff, a few songs. Heading west, by whatever means. Everything stuffed and strapped into an old Ford--if you had one--and if you had gasoline--the Depression, too. "Shows the damn bankers men that broke us, and the dust that choked us..." Sing what you see--his guide light. Sing what you see...

Woody Guthrie basics...

Home town-- Okemah Oklahoma
Father did land sales...coming of oil...
Their house--lost in tornado (described in Bound for Glory!)
Mother--songs; later, her illness
Sister Clara--the FIRE

Pampa Texas--his uncle Jeff--his mentor
Woody the Musician

"While in Pampa, as a young man, Woody formed his first musical groups, including "The Corn Cob Trio," with Matt Jennings and Cluster Baker, as well as a duded-up combo, complete with white fur chaps and moustaches, who played for such prestigious gatherings as the Pampa Chamber of Commerce.
Woody's musical tutor was his Uncle Jeff Guthrie, who, with his wife Allene, played for many gatherings in the Pampa area. Jeff worked as a patrolman for the Pampa Police Department when he wasn't playing music or doing magic tricks. Woody would practice what he had learned from his uncle Jeff, sitting in that front window of the HARRIS DRUGS, picking away at the guitar.
Musical ability for any number of instruments came naturally for Woody, and he became reasonably skilled at harmonica, stand-up bass (it was taller than he was), mandolin and fiddle as well as guitar.
Making up songs also seemed to come naturally, and that interest brought on an unusual revelation one day to his best friend. He told Matt Jennings that he hoped he could someday write a song that everyone around the world would know and sing. What a prophecy! But because he dropped out of Pampa High School and did not graduate, his internationally-known "This Land is Your Land" has never been accepted as a tradition to sing at high school functions, even though Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," written about the same time, is frequently on the program. " (from a Pampa, Texas website)

Dust Bowl years, 1935. The Okies. On the road to California--just like in the songs. "I've got to be drifting along..." See Carrie McWilliams books, An Island on the Land (about Los Angeles in the '30s) and Factories in the Fields.
The Okies.
Old cars, all their belongings, nowhere to go
Reviled here in the Golden State
Dorothea Lange's photos show it all

Woody in LA
Left-wing connections
Lefty Lou (his singing partner)
Radio program, getting known
Topanga, Cisco Houston

New York
Records Dust Bowl Ballads for Victor (They wanted to see if there was a market)

Alan Lomax--friendship & sponsorship both
Moe Asch (Folkways)
Leadbelly
Pete Seeger--for whom Woody was "the real thing"
Incipient folk scene--see my e-mail list
Early recording sessions for Folkways Records--Moe Asch in his closet-sized recording booth. Very spontaneous all around. Whoever was there joined in. Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, leadbelly, Cisco Houston of course. 30 some records--but not many released for lack of funds; these are the bulk of SGS archive (plus later Folkways recordings). Incredible cross sections off all the songs they knew--a kind of social history--in music...

Radio program: "Where I Come From" -- it's popularity.

Bound for Glory. Woody's autobiography, through about 1940. Prolix, and a classic...

Woody's voice--casual, direct--engaged. People sensed this. He 'd LIVED IT ALL. "Write songs about what you've seen."

First marriage, three kids, they make a go of it in New York; Mary back to Pampa, Texas, finally. Photo with the four of them, including an unplayed piano. (This was in the fat years--Woody had never seen as much money).

Reverence for leadbelly--who was a generation older. His LANGUAGE in particular. The "down homiest"...

Also, the month in Oregon/Washington--Columbia River. Roll On Columbia, Grand Coulee Dam. All the other songs of that set. WPA period. Recorded in NY.

WWII years. Merchant Marine--with Cisco Houston. Music part of the whole deal. Singing for the troops in the hold of a freighter--5000 men; one torpedo, and they'd all be lost. Bit Woody (and Cisco and Jimmy) were down there singing, to keep spirits ups. Same kids then out onto the beach at Normandy--many didn't make it. Ship itself blown out of the water by an acoustic mine--but Woody and the others survived.

Second marriage--Marjory. Dancer with Martha Graham. Strong woman in her own right. Arlo's mother. "He's just like you." Live in in Coney Island. Mermaid Avenue.

Incipient illness- Huntington's Chorea--same that affected his mother. Decline--gradual, and sometimes very difficult. Family separates...too much to handle. Woody back on the road, LA again. Will Greer, Topanga. Anneke--a third marriage... Another fire, Woody hurt this time--his arm. On the edge of a Florida swamp, Anneke expecting, no prospects...

Back to New York, New Jersey--the Gray Stone Hospital. ("In a month called April, a county called Gray"--Woody's line from from So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh).

As always, so far from--and so close to--home...

* * *

Note: for a somewhat more skeptical interpretation , see David Hajdu's review of a new biography of Woody Guthrie, in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/040329crbo_books?040329crbo_books

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 6

"This Land Is Your Land"
S&P Woody Guthrie

"Going down the Road" (J&A Lomax 229/242) (aka Lonesome Road)
S&P Woody Guthrie

"Roll on Columbia" (Alan Lomax 430/443)
S&P Woody Guthrie

Woodie Guthrie in SGS (Asche/Folkways Recordings):
Do Re Mi
Hobo’s Lullaby
Vigilante Man
Philadelphia Lawyer
Sinking of the Rueben James
Lost John
Buffalo Gal (with Cisco Huston)
Billy the Kid
Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road
Red River Valley:

Folkways has over 400 recordings of Woody Guthrie—all there on SGS for the listening.

Many Woody Guthrie (for example, the Dust Bowl Ballads) are not in SGS; they were recorded for labels other than Folkways. They ARE available on iTunes, of course. Same for Roll on Columbia and other songs from that collection, also on iTunes.

The Dust Bowl Ballads include:
Talkin’ Dust Bowl Blues
Tom Joad
Dust Bowl Refugee
Dusty Old Dust (So Long It’s Been Good To Know Yuh)
Do Re Mi
and several others. They are considered one of his best collections.



Roll On Columbia, of course, is on our primary cd. Also listen to Grand Coulee Dam—from the same time, but very different in tone.

Also listen, for comparison, to the Bob Dylan version of This Land Is Your Land (soundtrack, No Direction Home)
Song for Woody / Bob Dylan
Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan
Plus his recordings of
No More Auction Block for Me
He Was A Friend of Mine

Rock Island Line: Lillooet, British Columbia

Found this video of the CN rail in action while I was searching Leadbelly, Rock Island Line. Looks like a Dutch tourist thought to take it to Canada!

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky

When giants unite

Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly...
how ironic that the picture is so tiny!

Don't be a fool...

Yesterday we went to the Sunday service at the Harmony Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland. It sure was an amazing experience, where we were welcomed with powerful gospel music, lots of hugs and some quite strong messages...
Look, we're all dressed up in our Sunday clothes!

River

"Moving On"

Quiet flow, now that's all over,
Wrapped in silk, you take me down --
Running slow, always a rover,
Like mother milk, until I drown ...


(Aare river, Switzerland, with the Jura mountains in the back.)

(Music: Church Choir of Morning Star Baptist Church with Sister Annie Pavageau,
"When the River Ceases to Flow," on "Music from the South", Folkways Records 1956)

Who wants to drown their beloved ones?

Someone told me ones, that the best way to die is to DROWN.

Imagine if there is light and your lover push you under, force you into it. TO the light.

..You'll love him anyway.

Leadbelly...

Who was Leadbelly? You can read the biography (Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell: The Life and Legend of Leadbelly, an excellent book) or see the film (Gordon Parks: Leadbelly, 1976, starring Roger Mosley)--one which never got the attention it deserved--or listen to his music--all of which (to my mind, at least) still leave us with the question: who WAS Leadbelly?




Here's an artist who's had an enormous influence on American culture (legend really is the right word.) And yet, in many ways, a very private man. How do we to work back from the songs, the written word, and the photographs (as above, gathered on-line) to the man himself?

St. John Coltrane

Did you know that there is a St. John Coltrane church ? check it out, it's VERY interesting, ...the mission is to reach god through sound, makes a whole lot of sense to me...!
Service every Sunday, where people are encouraged to bring their own instruments!
Sorry, if it´s a bit out of our genre...
http://www.coltranechurch.org/index.htm

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 5

WEEK 5: Thursday, February 15 DRAFT
Lead Belly: THE SOUTH



"Goodnight, Irene" (Alan Lomax 580/593. Good notes about Lead Belly)
S&P Lead Belly (2:32) ****
MH Ollie Gilbert #0952

"Rock Island Line" (Lead Belly Songbook)
S&P Lead Belly

Goodnight Irene & Rock Island Line are primary. Listen to the way Leadbelly sings them in the several versions available on SGS archive AND on AAS (which has the Library of Congress Recordings)

Additional Leadbelly tracks on SGS:
The Midnight Special
Black Girl (In the Pines)
Bring Me A Little Water, Sylvie
Linin’ Track
Cotton Fields
Stewball
Blind Lemon
Bourgeois Blues
Careless Love
Cowboy Song
Pigmeat
Salty Dog
Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Leadbelly on AAS:
Governor Pat Neff
Take A Whiff On Me
Where de Sun Gone Down
Whoa Back, Buck
Roberta
Alberta
Eagle Rock Rag (piano!)

Compare HENRY THOMAS (Songster tradition, for comparison) on AAS:
Fishing Blues
Red River Blues (compare with Leadbelly’s Where de Sun Gone Down)
Run, Mollie, Run

YouTube:
Leadbelly: March of Time Newsreel (with John Lomax)
Leadbelly—1945
Leadbelly—Bale O’ Cotton
Goodnight Irene—The Weavers
Goodnight Irene—Ernest Tubb & Red Foley

Goodnight Irene—Jerry Garcia in Golden Gate Park
Goodnight Irene—Van Morrison & Chieftans

YouTube Wildcards:
Leadbelly/Nirvana
Lonnie Donnegan: Jack o’ Diamonds
Hong Kong rooftop & a cappella in laundry
Irene: Fredrik Lundin Overdrive (Cobenhagen?)

Listen!

Kilby Snow playing Wildwood Flower on the autoharp. Wanted you all to be able to hear this, but we didn't get to it during the evening class...

Ada Ruth Habershon

Above are pictures of Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel. Ada wrote the original lyrics for Will the Circle be Unbroken and Charles but music to them. It was written in 1907.

Ada Ruth Habershon was born on Jan­u­a­ry 8, 1861, in Rotherham, Yorkshire, Eng­land. She died Feb­ru­a­ry 1, 1918. Ada was the young­est daugh­ter of Dr. Samuel Osborne Ha­ber­shon. She was brought up in a Christ­ian home by be­liev­ing, pray­ing par­ents, and her whole life was de­vot­ed to God’s ser­vice. In 1901, she be­gan writ­ing po­e­try while ill and wrote “Apart with Him.” She met Dwight Moo­dy and Ira Sank­ey when they vis­it­ed Lon­don in 1884 and, vis­it­ed Amer­i­ca at their in­vi­ta­tion to de­liv­er lec­tures on the Old Test­a­ment, which were lat­er pub­lished. Dur­ing the 1905 Tor­rey-Al­ex­an­der Mis­sion, Charles Al­ex­an­der asked her to write some Gos­pel songs; with­in a year, she sup­plied him with 200.

These are her original lyrics to the hymn:

There are loved ones in the glory,
Whose dear forms you often miss;
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?

In the joyous days of childhood,
Oft they told of wondrous love,
Pointed to the dying Savior
Now they dwell with Him above.

You remember songs of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice,
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?

You can picture happy gatherings
Round the fireside long ago,
And you think of tearful partings,
When they left you here below:

One by one their seats were emptied,
One by one they went away;
Here the circle has been broken—
Will it be complete one day?

Will the... tetrakaidecahedron be unbroken

I don't know if it's the right thing to introduce yet another on-line music source, but I think this is a really fun site. It is basically a "cratedigger" site (for record nerds obsessed by private pressed acetates found in some barn under three feet of scrap metal.) But they do have both a "Folk" section and a "Folkways" section. Most of the time there is a full length mp3 file to download along with info on the album.

There is a lot of knowledge around, and often people tend to track down the history of the recordings. There is also a whole lot of extremely weird records, in every genre imaginable. You wouldn't want to miss out on a bonafide classic like "Starlight Children’s Chorus – E.T., I Love You & Other Extra-Terrestrial Songs For Children".

Might be a bit off topic, but no one with the slightest interest in music should pass on this one. Lots of great music.

Go to waxidermy.com!

When a circle broke...

(Sara Carter, about 12 years old.)

Here's the story about Sara Carter's divorce from A.P., according to the PBS Documentary:

Narrator: By 1933, Sara Carter (July 21, 1898 - Jan. 8, 1979) reached a breaking point in her marriage [They got married on Friday, June 18, 1915 -- you can find a wedding picture in my earlier posting, below]. A.P.'s overwhelming ambitions left her own in shambles.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film:Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me I say? Are you sorry we drifted apart?

Mark Zwonitzer, author of "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music": She basically fell for a fellow in the Valley named Coy Bays, who was a cousin of A.P.'s and they started what became, you know, a quiet but relatively public love affair and it was you know you can imagine it tore the family up. Coy's parents hatched a plan with A.P.'s parents that they would get Coy out of the valley and so as a family, Coy and his parents and his siblings picked up and headed west to California to make a new life.

Narrator:When Coy left, so did Sara.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film: Sad was the day when you went away.
You broke my heart in the month of May. That little ring I gave to you was to show you dear, my love was true.

Joe Carter: My mother left, went back to her people. We knew it was bad, but there wasn't nothing we could do about it to make it any better.

Janette Carter: she would come back to the valley. Why she would usually go up at Maybelle's, but if one of us was sick, she'd come to the house and stay until we got better.

Narrator: Sara never discussed her reasons for leaving, even with her own children. But she later testified that A.P.'s temper left her little choice.

Joe Carter: I reckon it just got to where they couldn't bear it the way it was, and they had to have relief somewhere, and it hurt my dad, I know it did bad, but he done what he thought he was supposed to, and we had to suffer along with him.

Mark Zwonitzer: It was an awful decision that Sara had to make to leave and to leave behind her children and she did not do it lightly, but it was really an untenable situation in the house and she understood that, um, the entire support system for those kids was in Maces Springs and in Poor Valley.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film:You denied your love but you proved it so. You came to see me when the sun was low. You broke my heart but you were kind. When you said oh dear you'll never be mine.

Bill Clifton: A.P. was a very lonely man. He became very lonely. I would even say lovesick.

Narrator: Soon after Sara left, Peer summoned The Carter Family to record again. From the other side of Clinch Mountain, Sara said she'd pass.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film: Oh let me tell you what love will do. If you love a boy that don't love you. They'll break your heart, they'll leave you alone, they'll roam the west so far from home...

Narrator: For the first time, A.P.'s will and drive was not enough to keep the Carter Family together. The fate of the trio now lay in Sara's hands.

Mark Zwonitzer: I think the argument that really got traction with Sara was that there was still money to be made. If Sara could do nothing else for the kids she could still make sure they had money in the bank.

Narrator: Sara eventually agreed to the awkward proposition of making music with her estranged husband. Through weeks of rehearsal and days of recording, the couple rarely talked of their divided relationship.

Sara Carter singing, Archival Film: Now I know what it means to be lonesome and I know what it means to be blue.

Rita Forrester: And the things that maybe they couldn't say, that they couldn't express, they could do that in music, and it was ok. And maybe it didn't hurt quite so much if they did it in music.

A.P. Carter Singing, Archival Film: Caused I've sighed and I've cried since we parted. There is no one knows what I've gone through, I'd give all that I own, just to have you back home, cause I'm lonesome, lonesome for you...

Narrator: Sara's absence forced A.P. to remain home and rely on his own songwriting skills, his broken heart provided ample inspiration.

Sara Carter singing, Archival Film: My darling...Did you mean those words you said. That has made me your forever, since the way we were wed.

Narrator: Approaching forty, Sara Carter was more alone than ever. She lived a day's journey from her children and after three years of trying to reconcile with her husband, she finally gave up.

Mark Zwonitzer: A.P. was not very forgiving and a stubborn man and hurt, and so he was not anxious to remake the marriage. But, he was shocked at the same time when they served the divorce papers he never thought that this was really the end.

Narrator: Sara divorced A.P. in the fall of 1936, but the trio continued to record.

[In an other interview, Zwonitzer states: "And in some ways... those difficulties really added something to the music... ." Pain and sorrow, indispensible ingredients for good music...?!]

(Sara Carter around age 40, on the porch of her childhood home)

Appalachia Photo 1940's

Here's a wild card for you...

Mrs. Ollie Gilbert.

Here she is! Playing at the first Arkansas Folk Festival (ca. 1963) at the Stone County Courthouse in Mountain View, Arkansas. She's just wonderful...

Rivers & Hills

On the high country/low country theme--Lomax (Alan) writes that the poorer Scots-Irish immigrants arriving on these shores (early-1700s onward) were soon in conflict with the established (and slave-owning and generally wealthier) planter society of Virginia and the Carolinas. To escape this situation, they headed west, into the Appalachians, and through the Cumberland gap into Kentucky. Union-supporters during the Civil War (another great difference with the Confederate planters), and living a hardscrabble existence on their hill country farms, their music reflected all the difficulties of their existence. (It also preserved in its sources Anglo-Irish ballads from a hundred years before). After the Civil War, and the end of slavery, the planters began moved west as well--but into the lowlands, river valleys--town and city life... Eventually they became the cattle-barrons in Texas and the west...

Another note: the planters were Anglican (here, Episcopalian)--the Scots-Irish Protestant and most often Presbyterian...

Maybelle & Sara Carter: Cannonball Blues

And, below. Maybelle and Sara Carter, probably in the mid-'60s. Maybelle Carter had been appearing in some of the folk revival festivals, and asked Sara, long in retirement from music, to rejoin her. Seems just like always... Cannonball Blues...



Very clear with Maybelle's guitar playing--and Sara Carter's voice--plus their combination of autoharp and guitar.

Clarence Ashley: The Coo Coo

Here's the master himself--I'd forgotten I had it on you tube--we listened to the cd recording in class. This song is a classic.

Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson, redux

The top photo here is one of the best--somehow I missed it on Thursday evening. The two of them from around the time of Ralph Rinzler's Folkway's recordings.



The second photo--the Ashley family--was taken at a festival--don't know which one, as they became known through the original recording sessions. Not a formal group--just people who had sung these songs together all their lives. Note in particular the postures of Doc Watson and the other men. Says a lot about "where they were coming from." Compare with Joe Maphis/Merle Travis YouTube video we watched--the high-speed double-neck rendition of Wildwood Flower... Whatever happened to Larry X....?

Iris DeMent

7 February 2007. Layers of gray cloud packed in like sturgeon sidings--trunks and gullies. Silver light hovering too. Three sea gulls--tiny against distant sky, heading inland before the rain. One or two drops--a herald... Last night: Iris DeMent's story again--her family's farm, a generation back, on the St. Francis River in northeastern Arkansas. Cypress trees, black locust, tupelo and floating willow--Dawidoff knows all their names--nearby the Cherokee Trail of Tears... A small hand-made barge, ferrying long sacks of cotton to the far shore, then by wagon to the gin... "What she heard her mother sing moved her in ways she wasn't prepared to explain... 'I know about these songs. It's music where people are sitting and writing about life, the things they're struggling with and the hard times. They're about tryin' to get through life and hope for the future... I'm so wrapped up in these sounds,' she says. 'It's more than music to me. It's a kind of place.'"

The book is by Nicholas Dawidoff, In the Country of Country. The singer/songwriter is Iris DeMent. I had forgotten just how close her words were to our theme... Maybe they are our theme...

More at http://www.irisdement.com/

Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson

This is your bible for the week: Clarence ashley & Doc Watson--The Original Folkways Recordings, 1960-62--together with early Carter Family recordings (these you can find on iTunes or equivalent; they're not in the Smithsonian Folkways Archive SGS)

Here the URL for liner notes: http://media.smithsonianglobalsound.org/liner_notes/smithsonian_folkways/SFW40029.pdf

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 4

WEEK 4: Thursday, February 8
Appalachia: RIVERS & HILLS



"BANKS OF THE OHIO"
S&P Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, 1960-62 (Smithsonian CD) **** Listen to this version several times; compare with all the others.

SGS Bascomb Lamar Lunsford *** Also very good / traditional version
MH Ollie Gilbert #1105

YouTube There’s a Doc Watson version (with Ricky skaggs and Allison Krauss) but it’s late—and very “stage performed”—including the diction. What do you think of this? Compare with Clarence Ashley.


"WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN"
S&P Carter Family (Not in SGS—this is on the S&P cd set ****)
S&P Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, 1960-62 Smithsonian CD

SGS The Movement Singers (‘60s civil rights ear) 3:10
SGS Michael Holmes / mandolin part 0:45

MH Henry Crawford, Jr. #1459 With banjo, string band 1972
MH Sam Osterlow #1511 Melodious 1975

AAS Rev. J.C. Burnett (1927-45) 3:22
Silver Leaf Quartette (1928-31) 3:40 Gospel-quartette style
Alphabetical Four (1938-43) 3:04 Gospel-quartette style

SGS Frank Profitt, “Cindy” (for comparison—southern Mountain voices)
SGS New Lost Ramblers (for comparison—folk revival version, 1960s?)

S&P archive: Carter Family, “Wildwood Flower”
S&P Archive: Kirby Snow, “Wildwood Flower” ****

Supplements:
Additional tracks from Doc Watson/Clarence Ashley THESE RECORDINGS ARE CRUCIAL!!! Ralph Rinzler made them in 1961, with Clarence Ashley, Clint Howard and a young Doc Watson, who showed up at the front-porch session with electric guitar in hand; Rinzler convinced him to use an acoustic, and the rest is history. Doc Watson chapter in In The Country Of Country is particularly good on this story. “The Coo Coo Bird,” and “Looking Toward Heaven” especially.

Carter Family (Wildwood Flower) ALSO CRUCIAL!!! Listen to more Carter Family songs; best ones are the earlier ones—late 1920’s.
Bascomb Lamar Lunsford: Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground, on the
Harry Smith Anthology (Selected tracks—discuss this collection in class!)

Wildcards:
Wildwood Flower: Maybelle Carter and daughters
Wildwood Flower: Chet Atkins
Wildwood Flower, Merle Travis et al.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken, with Iris DeMent
Banks of the Ohio: Doc Watson, Ricky Scaggs, Iris Allison Krauss
Numerous other YouTube versions available

Will the Circle...

Don't want to jump ahead too much, but I just couldn't get the song out of my mind when listening to Bello's wonderful CD on the morning drive. So I did some research...can't wait to learn more!

There's an entire PBS program dedicated to the Carter Family...with much information about their lives, and a nice photo gallery.

(The Carter sisters with their husbands, at Sara's wedding - note their wonderful smiles!)

MJH - Since I've Laid My Burden Down

The gentle spirit of Mississippi John Hurt; and the shack under the moon. Listening to the way he says the word BURDEN. "Burden down, Lord. Burden down, Lord. Since I've laid my Burden down..."


(Also: you should all check out another version of the song by The Elders McIntorsh And Edwards' Sanctified Singers, available on Smithsonian. It GLOWS-- listen for yourself. Think COGIC, Memphis, Tennessee, 1920s.)

Hallelujah?!

"Glory glory hallelujah" everyone..!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF4TWG9OIbs

On the Rock Island Line...

(Hootenanny Hoot movie promotional picture: Dick Foley, Mike Kirkland, Johnny Cash, Pam Austin, Bob Flick, John Paine)

...and suddenly, we're on this train that takes us places! Wonderful, exploring the past, contrasting it to the present, wondering about the future...



Yes, Brothers Four, I know, this is YOUR land. But someone, tell me, please, will it ever be mine? Bob -- do you have the answer...?


"Reality is a fabrication," says Guillermo del Torro, director of "Pan's Labyrinth." Places don't really exist. It's all in our heads. It's in our heads that we're at home...

Spirituals & Worksongs

SPIRITUALS. "The very first negro spirituals were inspired by African music even if the tunes were not far from those of hymns. Some of them, which were called “shouts” were accompanied with typical dancing including hand clapping and foot tapping. Some African American religious singing at this time was referred as a “moan” (or a “groan”). Moaning (or groaning) does not imply pain. It is a kind of blissful rendition of a song, often mixed with humming and spontaneous melodic variation." (From: negrospirituals.com This site has some interesting discussion of particular song lyrics, and the history of the form.)

SHOUTS. "After regular a worship service, congregations used to stay for a “ring shout”. It was a survival of primitive African dance. So, educated ministers and members placed a ban on it. The men and women arranged themselves in a ring. The music started, perhaps with a Spiritual, and the ring began to move, at first slowly, then with quickening pace. The same musical phrase was repeated over and over for hours. This produced an ecstatic state. Women screamed and fell. Men, exhausted, dropped out of the ring." (From: negrospirituals.com)

Examples of Spirituals:

Do Lord
When I Lay My Burden Down
There Is A Balm in Gilead
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Deep River
Go Down Moses
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Had
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Roll, Jordan, Roll
Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho
Steal Away
The Lonesome Valley


He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
We Shall Overcome
This Little Light of Mine



FIELD HOLLERS & WORK SONGS represent a parallel tradition, whose origins are also in African music, but which grew out of the conditions of slavery here in the New World. Hammer songs, axe songs, work songs in general--the form being call and response, in which the leader sings a line, and the followers answer in unison. (Long John, for example). Shenandoah, Lowlands and other sea chanties reflect this tradition as well.

As we saw (heard) with "Look Down That Long, Lonesome Road," the John and Allan Lomax recording, from State (Reid) Farm in Boykin, South Carolina, 1934. Why recorded in a penitentiary? As Lomax explains in the notes, that was the setting in which this kind of hand labor (by groups of convicts) was still practiced. Outside, it had been replaced (in large part) by machines. Their interest in the earlier song traditions lead them to the prisons...

Note that the song line that comes out of "Look Down That Long, Lonesome Road" represents a very deep vein in American folk music... We'll return to it again and again... A longing for home, at many different levels.

Also, our word for the week--OVERCOME--reflects both of these streams--worksongs and spirituals--and how the two are interrelated.