*From HistoMat- "Winstanley"- A Guest Film Review

Click on title to link to HistoMat's review of the 1970s film on the trials and tribulations of the early (17th century) English communist Gerrard Winstanley (of St. George's Hill fame).See my review of that film and that man in this space.


Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Link

*A Socialist Before His Time –Gerrard Winstanley and the Digger Colonies in the English Revolution

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Billy Bragg (Known In This Space As Narrator Of "Woody Guthrie And His Guitar: The Machine Kills Fascists")Performing "The World Turned Upside Down".

DVD REVIEW

Winstanley, starring Miles Harriwell, directed by Kenneth Brownlow, 1975

The time of the English Revolution in the 1640's, Oliver Cromwell's time, as in all revolutionary times saw a profusion of ideas from all kinds of sources- religious, secular, the arcane, the fanciful and the merely misbegotten. A few of those ideas however, as here, bear study by modern militants. As the film under review amplifies, True Leveler Gerrard Winstanley's agrarian socialist utopian tracts from the 1640's, the notion of a socialist solution to the problems of humankind has a long, heroic and storied history. The solutions presented by Winstanley had and, in a limited sense, still do represent rudimentary ways to solve the problem of social and economic distribution of the social surplus produced by society. Without overextending the analogy Winstanley's tract represented for his time, the 1600's, what the Communist Manifesto represented for Marx's time-and ours-the first clarion call for the new more equitable world order. And those with property hated both men, with the same venom, in their respective times.

One of the great advances Marx had over Winstanley was that he did not place his reliance on an agrarian solution to the crisis of society as Winstanley, by the state of economic development of his times, was forced to do. Marx, moreover, unlike Winstanley, did not concentrate on the question of distribution but rather on who controlled the means of production a point that all previous theorists had either failed to account for, dismissed out of hand or did not know about. Thus, all pre-Marxist theory is bound up with a strategy of moral as well as political persuasion as a means of changing human lifestyles. Marx posed the question differently by centering on the creation of social surplus so that under conditions of plenty the struggle for daily survival would be taken off the human agenda and other more lofty goals put in its place. Still, with all the True Levelers' weaknesses of program and their improbabilities of success in the 1640's militants today still doff our hats to Winstanley's vision.

Notwithstanding the utopian nature of the experiment discussed above the filmmaker, Kenneth Brownlow, and his associates here have painstakingly, lovingly and with fidelity to the narrative and detail that are known from the researches of the likes of Christopher Hill and George Sabine, among others, that make for an excellent snapshot of what it might have been like up on Winstanley's St. George's Hill long ago. Two things add to that end.

First, the use of black and white highlights the bleak countryside (after all although the land was "common" it was waste that the landlord did not find it expedient to cultivate) and the pinched appearances of the "comrades" (especially the deeply-farrowed expressions of Miles Harriwell as Winstanley). Secondly, the director has used to the greatest extent possible Winstanley's own pamphlets that dealt with what was going on in Surrey and what his political purposes were (expressed as almost always in those days in religious terms- but taking land in common for use rather than profit is understanding in any language. I might add that the attempts to replicate the costumes of the period, the furnishings and the music round out a job well done.

Note: Part of this DVD contains a section on the hows and whys of the making of the film, including in-depth coverage of its making and commentary by Mr. Brownlow. You are getting this film for the Winstanley reenactment but this section is interesting if you are interested in filmmaking.


THE FOLLOWING IS A SONG BASED ON THE DIGGER EXPERIENCE IN 1650

If John Milton was the literary muse of the English Revolution then the Diggers and their leader, Gerrard Winstanley, were the political muses.

The World Turned Upside Down

We will not worship the God they serve, a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve.
In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's
will
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.
We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common and make the waste
ground grow

This earth divided we will make whole
So it may be a common treasury for all "**
The sin of property we do disdain
No man has any right to buy or sell the earth for private gain

By theft and murder they took the land
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
They make the laws to chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven, or they damn us into hell

We will not worship the God they serve,
a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve
We work and eat together, we need no swords
We will not bow to masters, nor pay rent to the lords

Still we are free, though we are poor
Ye Diggers all, stand up for glory, stand up now!
From the men of property the orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers'
claim

Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
They were dispersed - only the vision lingers on
Ye poor take courage, ye rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
All things in common, all people one
They came in peace - the order came to cut them down

WORDS AND MUSIC BY LEON ROSSELSON, 1981

Bob Feldman 68: Time For Some More Protest Folk Songs?

Check on my comment and Bob Feldman's reply in the comment section of this entry.

Here is something to work off of:


Masters of War Lyrics

Bob Dylan


Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just don't want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
While the death count gets higher
Then you hide in your mansion
While the young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

*From HistoMat-"Turn Imperialist War Into Civil War"- A Guest Commentary

Click on title to link to Histomat's blog entry. Some old slogans seem never to lose their vitality, although here the old Leninist slogan from World War I should have had to be put in the museum long ago. But such are the vicissitudes of the struggle that we need to raise the slogan today. Forward.


Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution
[a.k.a. The April Theses]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published: April 7, 1917 in Pravda No. 26. Signed: N. Lenin. Published according to the newspaper text.
Source: Lenin’s Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1964, Moscow, Volume 24, pp. 19-26.
Translated: Isaacs Bernard
Transcription: Zodiac
HTML Markup: B. Baggins
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2005), marx.org (1997), marxists.org (1999). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article contains Lenin’s famous April Theses read by him at two meetings of the All-Russia Conference of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, on April 4, 1917.

[Introduction]
I did not arrive in Petrograd until the night of April 3, and therefore at the meeting on April 4, I could, of course, deliver the report on the tasks of the revolutionary proletariat only on my own behalf, and with reservations as to insufficient preparation.

The only thing I could do to make things easier for myself—and for honest opponents—was to prepare the theses in writing. I read them out, and gave the text to Comrade Tsereteli. I read them twice very slowly: first at a meeting of Bolsheviks and then at a meeting of both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

I publish these personal theses of mine with only the briefest explanatory notes, which were developed in far greater detail in the report.

THESES
1) In our attitude towards the war, which under the new [provisional] government of Lvov and Co. unquestionably remains on Russia’s part a predatory imperialist war owing to the capitalist nature of that government, not the slightest concession to “revolutionary defencism” is permissible.

The class-conscious proletariat can give its consent to a revolutionary war, which would really justify revolutionary defencism, only on condition: (a) that the power pass to the proletariat and the poorest sections of the peasants aligned with the proletariat; (b) that all annexations be renounced in deed and not in word; (c) that a complete break be effected in actual fact with all capitalist interests.

In view of the undoubted honesty of those broad sections of the mass believers in revolutionary defencism who accept the war only as a necessity, and not as a means of conquest, in view of the fact that they are being deceived by the bourgeoisie, it is necessary with particular thoroughness, persistence and patience to explain their error to them, to explain the inseparable connection existing between capital and the imperialist war, and to prove that without overthrowing capital it is impossible to end the war by a truly democratic peace, a peace not imposed by violence.

The most widespread campaign for this view must be organised in the army at the front.

Fraternisation.

2) The specific feature of the present situation in Russia is that the country is passing from the first stage of the revolution—which, owing to the insufficient class-consciousness and organisation of the proletariat, placed power in the hands of the bourgeoisie—to its second stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest sections of the peasants.

This transition is characterised, on the one hand, by a maximum of legally recognised rights (Russia is now the freest of all the belligerent countries in the world); on the other, by the absence of violence towards the masses, and, finally, by their unreasoning trust in the government of capitalists, those worst enemies of peace and socialism.

This peculiar situation demands of us an ability to adapt ourselves to the special conditions of Party work among unprecedentedly large masses of proletarians who have just awakened to political life.

3) No support for the Provisional Government; the utter falsity of all its promises should be made clear, particularly of those relating to the renunciation of annexations. Exposure in place of the impermissible, illusion-breeding “demand” that this government, a government of capitalists, should cease to be an imperialist government.

4) Recognition of the fact that in most of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies our Party is in a minority, so far a small minority, as against a bloc of all the petty-bourgeois opportunist elements, from the Popular Socialists and the Socialist-Revolutionaries down to the Organising Committee (Chkheidze, Tsereteli, etc.), Steklov, etc., etc., who have yielded to the influence of the bourgeoisie and spread that influence among the proletariat.

The masses must be made to see that the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government, and that therefore our task is, as long as this government yields to the influence of the bourgeoisie, to present a patient, systematic, and persistent explanation of the errors of their tactics, an explanation especially adapted to the practical needs of the masses.

As long as we are in the minority we carry on the work of criticising and exposing errors and at the same time we preach the necessity of transferring the entire state power to the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies, so that the people may overcome their mistakes by experience.

5) Not a parliamentary republic—to return to a parliamentary republic from the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies would be a retrograde step—but a republic of Soviets of Workers’, Agricultural Labourers’ and Peasants’ Deputies throughout the country, from top to bottom.

Abolition of the police, the army and the bureaucracy.[1]

The salaries of all officials, all of whom are elective and displaceable at any time, not to exceed the average wage of a competent worker.

6) The weight of emphasis in the agrarian programme to be shifted to the Soviets of Agricultural Labourers’ Deputies.

Confiscation of all landed estates.

Nationalisation of all lands in the country, the land to be disposed of by the local Soviets of Agricultural Labourers’ and Peasants’ Deputies. The organisation of separate Soviets of Deputies of Poor Peasants. The setting up of a model farm on each of the large estates (ranging in size from 100 to 300 dessiatines, according to local and other conditions, and to the decisions of the local bodies) under the control of the Soviets of Agricultural Labourers’ Deputies and for the public account.

7) The immediate union of all banks in the country into a single national bank, and the institution of control over it by the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.

8) It is not our immediate task to “introduce” socialism, but only to bring social production and the distribution of products at once under the control of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies.

9) Party tasks:

(a) Immediate convocation of a Party congress;

(b) Alteration of the Party Programme, mainly:

(1) On the question of imperialism and the imperialist war,

(2) On our attitude towards the state and our demand for a “commune state”[2];

(3) Amendment of our out-of-date minimum programme;

(c) Change of the Party’s name.[3]

10. A new International.

We must take the initiative in creating a revolutionary International, an International against the social-chauvinists and against the “Centre”.[4]

In order that the reader may understand why I had especially to emphasise as a rare exception the “case” of honest opponents, I invite him to compare the above theses with the following objection by Mr. Goldenberg: Lenin, he said, “has planted the banner of civil war in the midst of revolutionary democracy” (quoted in No. 5 of Mr. Plekhanov’s Yedinstvo).

Isn’t it a gem?

I write, announce and elaborately explain: “In view of the undoubted honesty of those broad sections of the mass believers in revolutionary defencism ... in view of the fact that they are being deceived by the bourgeoisie, it is necessary with particular thoroughness, persistence and patience to explain their error to them....”

Yet the bourgeois gentlemen who call themselves Social-Democrats, who do not belong either to the broad sections or to the mass believers in defencism, with serene brow present my views thus: “The banner[!] of civil war” (of which there is not a word in the theses and not a word in my speech!) has been planted(!) “in the midst [!!] of revolutionary democracy...”.

What does this mean? In what way does this differ from riot-inciting agitation, from Russkaya Volya?

I write, announce and elaborately explain: “The Soviets of Workers’ Deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government, and therefore our task is to present a patient, systematic, and persistent explanation of the errors of their tactics, an explanation especially adapted to the practical needs of the masses.”

Yet opponents of a certain brand present my views as a call to “civil war in the midst of revolutionary democracy”!

I attacked the Provisional Government for not having appointed an early date or any date at all, for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, and for confining itself to promises. I argued that without the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies the convocation of the Constituent Assembly is not guaranteed and its success is impossible.

And the view is attributed to me that I am opposed to the speedy convocation of the Constituent Assembly!

I would call this “raving”, had not decades of political struggle taught me to regard honesty in opponents as a rare exception.

Mr. Plekhanov in his paper called my speech “raving”. Very good, Mr. Plekhanov! But look how awkward, uncouth and slow-witted you are in your polemics. If I delivered a raving speech for two hours, how is it that an audience of hundreds tolerated this “raving”? Further, why does your paper devote a whole column to an account of the “raving”? Inconsistent, highly inconsistent!

It is, of course, much easier to shout, abuse, and howl than to attempt to relate, to explain, to recall what Marx and Engels said in 1871, 1872 and 1875 about the experience of the Paris Commune and about the kind of state the proletariat needs. [See: The Civil War in France and Critique of the Gotha Programme]

Ex-Marxist Mr. Plekhanov evidently does not care to recall Marxism.

I quoted the words of Rosa Luxemburg, who on August 4, 1914, called German Social-Democracy a “stinking corpse”. And the Plekhanovs, Goldenbergs and Co. feel “offended”. On whose behalf? On behalf of the German chauvinists, because they were called chauvinists!

They have got themselves in a mess, these poor Russian social-chauvinists—socialists in word and chauvinists in deed.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
[1] i.e. the standing army to be replaced by the arming of the whole people.—Lenin

[2] i.e., a state of which the Paris Commune was the prototype.—Lenin

[3] Instead of “Social-Democracy”, whose official leaders throughout the world have betrayed socialism and deserted to the bourgeoisie (the “defencists” and the vacillating “Kautskyites”), we must call ourselves the Communist Party.—Lenin

[4] The “Centre” in the international Social-Democratic movement is the trend which vacillates between the chauvinists (=“defencists”) and internationalists, i.e., Kautsky and Co. in Germany, Longuet and Co. in France, Chkheidze and Co. in Russia, Turati and Co. in Italy, MacDonald and Co. in Britain, etc.—Lenin

*From Steve Lendmen's Blog-"Growing Poverty And Despair In America"

Click on title to link to Steve Lendmen's blog entry "Growing Despair and Poverty In America".

Markin comment:

We all knew, or sensed, that the divide between rich in poor in America (and internationally) was growing but it is nice to have some hard statistics to back up our arguments. Steve Lendmen's blog is usually very good for this kind of information and a good resource for hard data in general. Take the information and then-"Don't Mourn-Organize!"

*From The Histomat Blog: The Rise And Fall Of The Comintern

Click on title to link to the Histomat blog for information about the rise and fall of the Communist International, an important institution to study in order to understand the rise of Stalinism, the problems of the transition to socialism, the problems with formulating an international revolutionary strategy (or strategies)and the need to fight internationally to counter the increased globalization of international capitalism. And if that doesn't perk your interest then the photograph of Tatlin's plan for a Communist International headquarters building should.

*On The Rewriting of History- From The Pen Of A Guest "Unrepentant Communist"

Click on title to read an article from the "An Unrepentant Communist" blog, with an nice poster of a soldier from the World War II Soviet period.

*A Slice Of British Labor History- "The Battle Of Cable Street"- A Guest Commentary From Histomat

Click on title to link to a commentary on the "Battle Of Cable Street" about the struggle against the British home grown fascists in the 1930s. The political points made there seem pertinent in today's struggles against the rise of the BNP of late, in 'respectable' parliamentary disguise or not.

* Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story"- A Guest Review

Click on title to link to Renegade Eye's posting of review in "Socialist Appeal" of the Michael Moore film, "Capitalism: A Love Story".

Markin comment:

Thanks for saving me from having to review this work. While we can all appreciate the work of Michael Moore in tweaking the right I would feel much better about his work, his person and his politics if he didn't have that front row seat safely ensconced in the midst of the Democratic Party. Michael- Break with the Democrats! Enough said.

*From Steve Lendmen's Blog- Obama's 'Peace' Prize

Click on title to link to Steve Lendmen's entry on the selection of Barack Obama as the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Brother Lendmen says it all, or at least all that needs to be said on the subject while we get back to the real task of opposing Obama's bloody imperial wars.

*From The Marx Archives-"In Defense Of Theory- Or Ignorance Never Yet Helped Anyone"- A Guest Commentary

Click on title to link to Renegade Eye's posting of an entry by Alan Wood concerning-"In Defense Of Theory- Or Ignorance Never Yet Helped Anyone". True enough. Read on.

*"The Baader-Meinhof Complex"- A Guest Film Review From Renegade Eye

Click on title to link to Renegade Eye's film review of the movie, "The Baader-Meinhof Complex", about a German revolutionary terrorist group back in the early 1970s, similar to but better organized and certainly more seriously into direct action, than the American group, The Weathermen (Weatherpeople). I have this film on reserve and will review it myself when I have viewed it but Renegade has the main points about right that need to be taken from the film by today's radicals and revolutionaries.

*From The Archives Of The 1960s Student Left- Harlem vs. Columbia University- A Book Review

Click on title to link to Bob Feldman's blog for a book review of an important student/black/leftist struggle in the late 1960s. Some of the conditions and Columbia University administration attitudes (and plans)seem from back then very, very familiar today.

*From Steve Lendmen's Blog- "Police Raids Against Immigrants"- Obama, Not Bush Style

Click on title to link to Steve Lendmen's blog entry, "Police Raids Against Immigrants". Some stories despite changes in presidential administrations, unfortunately, simply need a xerox to be updated.

Markin comment:

Now is a good time to raise that old slogan- Full Citizenship rights for all who get here. As always, those of us already here best not have our forbears' credentials checked to closely, no matter how far back we go in this country.

*Yes, The Max Daddy Of Be-Bop- The Life of Thelonious Monk- A Guest Review

Click on title to link to a "The Boston Globe", Sunday October 25, 2009, book review of the life and hard times of one of the max daddies of be-bop (Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie being the two others)pianist Thelonious Monk.

Markin comment:

I am not a hard-core jazz man by any stretch of the imagination but anytime the Monk played in Boston I tried to get to see him at the old Jazz Workshop, Pall's Mall or some other venue. If you know "Round Midnight" you know Brother Monk.

*"The Washington Post"- Afghan Public Opinion Poll- A Guest Commentary- My Question:"Where Have All The Protesters Gone?

Click on title to link a "The Washington Post" article, dated October 21, 2009, analyzing the results of a poll conducted on the Obama Afghan War policy.

Markin comment:

If the results of this poll represent some kind of true sense of where American citizens are on the question of a possible Afghan troop escalation and those divisions, pro and con, are, as indicated, strongly held then I want to know where the Bush era protesters are. They certainly weren't out at recent anti-war rallies. I guess they are cell-phoning, text-messaging or blogging their opposition in. Meanwhile we have our work cut out for us. Obama-No to troop escalation! Troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq!

*Up Close And Person From The Top On Obama Afghanistan War Policy- "The House Of Cards"

Click on title to link to an October 27, 2009 "The Washington Post" article (via the United For Justice With Peace website) concerning the resignation of a middle level foreign service officer who knows Afghanistan well.

Markin comment:

It is at this level, the middle level on the ground, that when the resignations start you know something is desperately wrong with bourgeois war policy thinking. Expect more. I also note, going back to that damn Vietnam experience of my youth, that when earlier liberal icons, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.Johnson, got bogged down in that war with their continual troop escalations that it was a very long time before this middle level went public and proclaimed the "house of cards" nature of imperial war policy. So some people have learned something since then. Bravo.

Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Three- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Taj Mahal

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Taj Mahal performing John Hurt's "Candy Man". John would be proud.

CD Review

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Revival Boom, 1950-1970, various artists, 3CD set, Rhino Records, 2001

Except for the reference to the origins of the talent brought to the city the same comments apply for this CD.Rather than repeat information that is readily available in the booklet and on the discs I’ll finish up here with some recommendations of songs that I believe that you should be sure to listen to:


Disc Three: Phil Ochs on “I Ain’t Marching Anymore”, Richard &Mimi Farina on “Pack Up Your Sorrows”, John Hammond on “Drop Down Mama”, Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band on “Rag Mama”, John Denver on “Bells Of Rhymney”, Gordon Lightfoot on "Early Morning Rain”, Eric Andersen on “Thirsty Boots”, Tim Hardin on “Reason To Believe”, Richie Havens on “Just Like A Woman”, Judy Collins on “Suzanne”, Tim Buckley on “Once I Was”, Tom Rush on “The Circle Game”, Taj Mahal on “Candy Man”, Loudon Wainwright III on “School Days”and Arlo Guthrie on “The Motorcycle Song”

Taj Mahal on “Candy Man”. Taj covering old John Hurt’s salacious tune. That’s the ticket. Taj will be getting a more extensive review later when I look at his work in greater depth. Enough here to say this man knows the roots of his music, the blues, and expands and contracts his work from that perspective.


"Mississippi John Hurt Candy Man lyrics"

Well all you ladies gather 'round
That good sweet candy man's in town
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

He likes a stick of candy just nine inch long
He sells as fast a hog can chew his corn
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

All heard what sister Johnson said
She always takes a candy stick to bed
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

Don't stand close to the candy man
He'll leave a big candy stick in your hand
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

He sold some candy to sister Bad
The very next day she took all he had
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

If you try his candy, good friend of mine,
you sure will want it for a long long time
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

His stick candy don't melt away
It just gets better, so the ladies say
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

***Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Three- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Richie Haven

Click on to title to link to YouTubes' film clip of Richie Havens performing Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman"

CD Review

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Revival Boom, 1950-1970, various artists, 3CD set, Rhino Records, 2001

Except for the reference to the origins of the talent brought to the city the same comments apply for this CD.Rather than repeat information that is readily available in the booklet and on the discs I’ll finish up here with some recommendations of songs that I believe that you should be sure to listen to:


Disc Three: Phil Ochs on “I Ain’t Marching Anymore”, Richard &Mimi Farina on “Pack Up Your Sorrows”, John Hammond on “Drop Down Mama”, Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band on “Rag Mama”, John Denver on “Bells Of Rhymney”, Gordon Lightfoot on "Early Morning Rain”, Eric Andersen on “Thirsty Boots”, Tim Hardin on “Reason To Believe”, Richie Havens on “Just Like A Woman”, Judy Collins on “Suzanne”, Tim Buckley on “Once I Was”, Tom Rush on “The Circle Game”, Taj Mahal on “Candy Man”, Loudon Wainwright III on “School Days”and Arlo Guthrie on “The Motorcycle Song”

Richie Havens on “Just Like A Woman”. I have mentioned earlier that good Pete Seeger covers are hard to find. That is definitely not the case with Brother Dylan. While he has placed his signature on many of his songs there have been so many that other singers had a chance to make their mark covering his work. That is the case here. Haven’s version of this song is the definite one for timing, sense of the song, phrasing, hell, everything. He is also one of the few, Taj Mahal being another, black folk artists who came out of that 1960s folk revival. Strange in a way, because without the ‘discovery’ of old black 1920s country blues singers, like Son House, Skip James and John Hurt, and other black sources of the revival it would have lost quite a lot of it authentic flavor.

Just Like A Woman

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That Baby's got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

Queen Mary, she's my friend
Yes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that--

I just can't fit
Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.

Copyright ©1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music

Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Three- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Gordon Lightfoot

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Gordon Lightfoot performing his "Early Morning Rain".

CD Review

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Revival Boom, 1950-1970, various artists, 3CD set, Rhino Records, 2001

Except for the reference to the origins of the talent brought to the city the same comments apply for this CD. Rather than repeat information that is readily available in the booklet and on the discs I’ll finish up here with some recommendations of songs that I believe that you should be sure to listen to:

Disc Three: Phil Ochs on “I Ain’t Marching Anymore”, Richard &Mimi Farina on “Pack Up Your Sorrows”, John Hammond on “Drop Down Mama”, Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band on “Rag Mama”, John Denver on “Bells Of Rhymney”, Gordon Lightfoot on "Early Morning Rain”, Eric Andersen on “Thirsty Boots”, Tim Hardin on “Reason To Believe”, Richie Havens on “Just Like A Woman”, Judy Collins on “Suzanne”, Tim Buckley on “Once I Was”, Tom Rush on “The Circle Game”, Taj Mahal on “Candy Man”, Loudon Wainwright III on “School Days”and Arlo Guthrie on “The Motorcycle Song”

Gordon Lightfoot on "Early Morning Rain”. This is another classic of the modern American folk songbook. It reflects the shift in technology by the way. Those old time songs didn’t have to contend with airplanes and other modern frills when speaking of love, longing and lost in that most human of endeavors.

"Early Mornin’ Rain"

In the early morning rain
With a dollar in my hand
With an achin in my heart
And my pockets full of sand
Im a long way from home
And I miss my loved ones so
In the early morning rain
With no place to go
Out on runway number nine
Big seven-o-seven set to go
But Im stuck here in the grass
Where the cold wind blows
Now the liquor tasted good
And the women all were fast
Well there she goes my friend
Well shes rollin down at last

Hear the mighty engines roar
See the silver bird on high
Shes away and westward bound
Far above the clouds shell fly
Where the mornin rain dont fall
And the sun always shines
Shell be flyin oer my home
In about three hours time

This old airports got me down
Its no earthly good to me
cause Im stuck here on the ground
As cold and drunk as I can be
You cant jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So Id best be on my way
In the early morning rain
You cant jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So Id best be on my way
In the early morning rain

Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Three- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-John Hammond

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of "Sleepy" John Estes performing "Drop Down Mama".

CD Review

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Revival Boom, 1950-1970, various artists, 3CD set, Rhino Records, 2001

Except for the reference to the origins of the talent brought to the city the same comments apply for this CD.Rather than repeat information that is readily available in the booklet and on the discs I’ll finish up here with some recommendations of songs that I believe that you should be sure to listen to:


Disc Three: Phil Ochs on “I Ain’t Marching Anymore”, Richard &Mimi Farina on “Pack Up Your Sorrows”, John Hammond on “Drop Down Mama”, Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band on “Rag Mama”, John Denver on “Bells Of Rhymney”, Gordon Lightfoot on "Early Morning Rain”, Eric Andersen on “Thirsty Boots”, Tim Hardin on “Reason To Believe”, Richie Havens on “Just Like A Woman”, Judy Collins on “Suzanne”, Tim Buckley on “Once I Was”, Tom Rush on “The Circle Game”, Taj Mahal on “Candy Man”, Loudon Wainwright III on “School Days”and Arlo Guthrie on “The Motorcycle Song”


John Hammond on “Drop Down Mama”. Be aware we are not talking here about the John Hammond who “discovered” Billie Holiday and a million other great singers but his “folkie” son, John. Also be aware that even with such bloodlines it is not a sure thing that the talent for discovering great singers can be transmitted to the next generation. The real reason that I have included this track for your inspection is that it was written (or a version of it, at least) by Sleepy John Estes, one of those old time country blues artists who were themselves ‘discovered’ by the 1960s folk revivalists. Moreover, I have been somewhat remiss in not having mentioned old Sleepy previously. Needless to say the future holds one in store. As for young Hammond that is about it.

Drop Down Mama
Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Drop down mama
Let your daddy see
You got something goin' down
That keeps on worryin' me

Chorus
But my mama don't allow me
To fool around
She's sayin' "Son you're too young now
Some woman might put you down"

Go away from my window
Stop scratchin' round my screen
You're so evil woman
And I know what you mean

[chorus]

I got three women livin'
On the same damn road
One does my cookin', one does my washin'
One pays my room and board

[chorus]

Drop down mama
Let your daddy see
You got something goin' down
That keeps worryin' me

[chorus]

Son you're too young now
Some woman might put you down