Saturday, March 01, 2008

Bruce Springsteen Comes Back Home- The Pete Seeger Sessions

DVD REVIEWS

Bruce Springsteen: The Pete Seeger Sessions, 2006


Frankly, I had never been a strong fan of Bruce Springsteen’s during his more raucous Rock & Roll career. I like Rock & Roll very much but most of his work seemed, to my ear, a little off kilter. However, with an acoustic recording in 2005 (and an earlier one from from 1996 that I will review separately) and now an American tradition folk recording of some works made famous by the legendary folksinger and ardent folk traditionalist Pete Seeger Springsteen has come back home. This session produced interesting versions of some common American songs like "Eire Canal", "John Henry", Mary Don't You Weep" and "Shenendoah" that are done with so much retexturing (Springsteen’s term) that Bruce has now created a niche for himself in the folk pantheon. Who would have thought?

This is a short documentary about the making of the sessions album but it gives real insight into the way Springsteen ‘feels’ the song, gears up, and then goes out and performs it in that gravelly voice that I like in male singers. For my money his version of "Shenandoah" is one of the most hauntingly moving I have ever heard (partially as a result of great back up on instruments and vocals, including a strong performance by Bruce's wife Patty). And I do not usually even like the song. All this, plus his gang of musicians were obviously having a good time. And it shows from start to finish. I am going out to buy the album, pronto. (There are some DVD/CD reverse side combinations available on this one).

Note: The reference to Bruce coming home is from the DVD. One of the back up musicians' father was a well-known folkie in the 1960's who taught Bruce his acoustic guitar back then. What goes around comes around.

3 comments:

  1. Lead Belly - The Bourgeois Blues Lyrics

    Lord, in a bourgeois town
    It's a bourgeois town
    I got the bourgeois blues
    Gonna spread the news all around

    Home of the brave, land of the free
    I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
    Lord, in a bourgeois town
    Uhm, the bourgeois town
    I got the bourgeois blues
    Gonna spread the news all around

    Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs
    We heard the white man say "I don't want no n----rs up there"
    Lord, in a bourgeois town
    Uhm, bourgeois town
    I got the bourgeois blues
    Gonna spread the news all around

    Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
    To call a colored man a n----r just to see him bow
    Lord, it's a bourgeois town
    Uhm, the bourgeois town
    I got the bourgeois blues
    Gonna spread the news all around

    I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
    Don't try to find you no home in Washington, DC
    `Cause it's a bourgeois town
    Uhm, the bourgeois town
    I got the bourgeois blues
    Gonna spread the news all around

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  2. Here are the lyrics to "Shenandoah"

    Oh, Shenandoah

    Traditional Lyrics

    Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
    Away, you rolling river
    Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
    Away, I'm bound away, cross the wide Missouri.

    Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter,
    Away, you rolling river
    Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter
    Away, I'm bound away, cross the wide Missouri.

    Oh, Shenandoah, I'm bound to leave you,
    Away, you rolling river
    Oh, Shenandoah, I'm bound to leave you
    Away, I'm bound away, cross the wide Missouri.

    Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you,
    Away, you rolling river
    Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you
    Away, I'm bound away, cross the wide Missouri.

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  3. Here are lyrics to "We Shall Overcome" made famous by Pete Seeger and others in the early 1960's part of the balck civil rights struggle.

    We Shall Overcome

    Lyrics derived from Charles Tindley's gospel song "I'll Overcome Some Day" (1900), and opening and closing melody from the 19th-century spiritual "No More Auction Block for Me" (a song that dates to before the Civil War). According to Professor Donnell King of Pellissippi State Technical Community College (in Knoxville, Tenn.), "We Shall Overcome" was adapted from these gospel songs by "Guy Carawan, Candy Carawan, and a couple of other people associated with the Highlander Research and Education Center, currently located near Knoxville, Tennessee. I have in my possession copies of the lyrics that include a brief history of the song, and a notation that royalties from the song go to support the Highlander Center."

    1.
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome some day

    CHORUS:
    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome some day

    2.
    We'll walk hand in hand
    We'll walk hand in hand
    We'll walk hand in hand some day

    CHORUS

    3.
    We shall all be free
    We shall all be free
    We shall all be free some day

    CHORUS

    4.
    We are not afraid
    We are not afraid
    We are not afraid some day

    CHORUS

    5.
    We are not alone
    We are not alone
    We are not alone some day

    CHORUS

    6.
    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around some day

    CHORUS

    7.
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome some day

    CHORUS
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SOURCES:
    Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History, Second Edition (Norton, 1971): 546-47, 159-60.

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