As The 100th Anniversary Of World War I Continues -The Anti-War Resistance Builds –The Russian Revolution Breaks The Logjam

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The events leading up to World War I (known as the Great War before the world got clogged up with expansive wars in need of other numbers and names and reflecting too in that period before World War II a certain sense of “pride” in having participated in such an epic adventure even if it did mow down the flower of European and in some cases colonial youth from all classes) from the massive military armament of almost all the capitalist and imperialist parties in Europe and elsewhere in order to stake their claims to their unimpeded share of the world’s resources had all the earmarks of a bloodbath early on once the industrial-sized carnage set in with the stalemated fronts (as foretold by the blood-letting in the American Civil War and the various “small” wars in Asia, Africa, and, uh, Europe in the mid to late 19^th century once war production on a mass scale followed in the train of other less lethal forms of  industrial production).

Also trampled underfoot in the opposing trenches, or rather thrown in the nearest trash bin of the their respective parliamentary buildings were the supposedly eternal pledges against war in defense of one’s own capitalist-imperialist  nation-state against the working masses and their allies of other countries by most of the Social-Democrats and other militant leftist formations (Anarchists, Syndicalists and their various off-shoots)representing the historic interest of the international working-class to stop those imperialist capitalist powers and their hangers-on in their tracks at the approach of war were decisive for 20^th century history. All those beautifully written statements and resolutions that clogged up the international conferences with feelings of solidarity were some much ill-fated wind once bullet one came out of gun one.

Other than isolated groups and individuals, mostly like Lenin and Trotsky in exile or jail, and mostly in the weaker lesser capitalistically developed countries of Europe the blood lust got the better of most of the working class and its allies as young men rushed to the recruiting stations to “do their duty” and prove their manhood. (When the first international conference of anti-war socialists occurred in Switzerland in 1915, the famous Zimmerwald conference, one wag pointed out that they could all fit in one tram [bus].) Almost all parties assuming that the damn thing would be over by Christmas and everyone could go back to the eternal expressions of international working-class solidarity after the smoke had settled (and the simple white-crossed graves dug in the vast bone-crushed cemeteries that marked the nearby battle fields too numerous to mention). You see, and the logic is beautiful on this one, that big mail-drop of a Socialist International, was built for peace-time but once the cannons roared then the “big tent” needed to be folded for the duration. Jesus.  

Decisive as well as we head down the slope to the first months of the second year of the war although shrouded in obscurity early in the war in exile was the soon to be towering figure of one Vladimir Lenin (a necessary nom de guerre in the hell broth days of the Czar’s Okhrana ready to send one and all to the Siberian frosts and that moniker business, that nom de guerre not a bad idea in today’s NSA-driven frenzy to know all, to peep at all), leader of the small Russian Bolshevik Party ( a Social-Democratic Party in name anyway adhering to the Second International under the sway of the powerful German party although not for long because “Long Live The Communist International,”  a new revolutionary international, would become the slogan and later order of the day in the not distant future), architect of the theory of the “vanguard party” building off of many revolutionary experiences in Russia and Europe in the 19^th century (including forbears Marx and Engels), and author of an important, important to the future communist world perspective, study on the monopolizing tendencies of world imperialism, the ending of the age of “progressive” capitalism (in the Marxist sense of the term progressive in a historical materialist sense that capitalism was progressive against feudalism and other older economic models which turned into its opposite at this dividing point in history), and the hard fact that it was a drag on the possibilities of human progress and needed to be replaced by the establishment of the socialist order. But that is the wave of the future as 1914 turned to 1915 in the sinkhole trenches of Europe that are already a death trap for the flower of the European youth.  

Lenin also has a "peace" plan, a peace plan of sorts, a way out of the stinking trench warfare stalemate eating up the youth of the Eurasian landmass. Do what should have been done from the beginning, do what all the proclamations from all the beautifully-worded socialist manifestos called on the international working-class to do. Not a simple task by any means especially in that first year when almost everybody on all sides thought a little blood-letting would be good for the soul, the individual national soul, and in any case the damn thing would be over by Christmas and everybody could start producing those beautifully worded-manifestos against war again. (That by Christmas peace “scare” turned out to be a minute “truce” from below by English and German soldiers hungry for the old certainties banning the barbed wire and stinking trenches for a short reprieve in the trench fronts in France and played soccer before returning to drawn guns-a story made into song and which is today used as an example of what the lower ranks could do-if they would only turn the guns around. Damn those English and German soldiers never did turn the damn things around until too late and with not enough resolve and the whole world has suffered from that lack of resolve ever since.)

Lenin’s hard-headed proposition: turn the bloody world war among nations into a class war to drive out the war-mongers and bring some peace to the blood-soaked lands. But that advanced thinking is merely the wave of the future as the rat and rain-infested sinkhole trenches of Europe were already churning away in the first year as a death trap for the flower of the European youth.   

The ability to inflict industrial-sized slaughter and mayhem on a massive scale first portended toward the end of the American Civil War once the Northern industrial might tipped the scales their way as did the various German-induced wars attempting to create one nation-state out of various satraps almost could not be avoided in the early 20^th century once the armaments race got serious, and the technology seemed to grow exponentially with each new turn in the war machine. The land war, the war carried out by the “grunts,” by the “cannon fodder” of many nations was only the tip of the iceberg and probably except for the increased cannon-power and range and the increased rapidity of the machine-guns would be carried out by the norms of the last wars. However the race for naval supremacy, or the race to take a big kink out of British supremacy, went on unimpeded as Germany tried to break-out into the Atlantic world and even Japan, Jesus, Japan tried to gain a big hold in the Asia seas.

The deeply disturbing submarine warfare wreaking havoc on commerce on the seas, the use of armed aircraft and other such technological innovations of war only added to the frenzy. We can hundred years ahead, look back and see where talk of “stabs in the back” by the losers and ultimately an armistice rather than decisive victory on the blood-drenched fields of Europe would lead to more blood-letting but it was not clear, or nobody was talking about it much, or, better, doing much about calling a halt before they began the damn thing among all those “civilized” nations who went into the abyss in July of 1914. Sadly the list of those who would not do anything, anything concrete, besides paper manifestos issued at international conferences, included the great bulk of the official European labor movement which in theory was committed to stopping the madness.

A few voices, voices like Karl Liebknecht (who against the party majority bloc voting scheme finally voted against the Kaiser’s war budget, went to the streets to get rousing anti-war speeches listened to in the workers’ districts, lost his parliamentary immunity and wound up honorably in the Kaiser’s  prisons) and Rosa Luxemburg ( the rose of the revolution also honorably prison bound) in Germany, Lenin and Trotsky in Russia (both exiled at the outbreak of war and just in time as being on “the planet without a passport” was then as now, dangerous to the lives of left-wing revolutionaries and not just them), some anti-war anarchists like Monette in France and here in America “Big Bill” Haywood (who eventually would controversially flee to Russia to avoid jail for his opposition to American entry into war), many of his IWW (Industrial Workers Of the World) comrades and the stalwart Eugene V. Debs (who also went to jail, “Club Fed” for speaking the truth about American war aims in a famous Cleveland speech and, fittingly, ran for president in 1920 out of his Atlanta Penitentiary jail cell),  were raised and one hundred years later those voices have a place of honor in this space.

Those voices, many of them in exile, or in the deportations centers, were being clamped down as well when the various imperialist governments began closing their doors to political refugees when they were committed to clapping down on their own anti-war citizens. As we have seen in our own times, most recently in America in the period before the “shock and awe” of the decimation of Iraq in 2002 and early 2003 the government, most governments, are able to build a war frenzy out of whole cloth. Even my old anti-war amigo from my hometown who after I got out of the American Army during the Vietnam War marched with me in countless rallies and parades trying to stop the madness got caught in the bogus information madness and supported Bush’s “paper war” although not paper for the benighted Iraqi masses ever since (and plenty of other “wise” heads from our generation of ’68 made that sea-change turn with him).

At those times, and in my lifetime the period after 9/11 when we tried in vain to stop the Afghan war in its tracks is illustrative, to be a vocal anti-warrior is a dicey business. A time to keep your head down a little, to speak softly and wait for the fever to subside and to be ready to begin the anti-war fight another day. “Be ready to fight” the operative words.

So imagine in the hot summer of 1914 when every nationality in Europe felt its prerogatives threatened how the fevered masses, including the beguiled working-classes bred on peace talk without substance, would not listen to the calls against the slaughter. Yes, one hundred years later is not too long or too late to honor those ardent anti-war voices as the mass mobilizations began in the countdown to war, began four years of bloody trenches and death.                  

Over the next period as we continue the long night of the 100^th anniversary of World War I and beyond I will under this headline post various documents, manifestos and cultural expressions from that time in order to give a sense of what the lead up to that war looked like, the struggle against its outbreak before the first frenzied shots were fired, the forlorn struggle during and the massive struggles after it in places like Russia, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the hodge-podge colonies all over the world map, in order to create a newer world out of the shambles of the battlefields.    

V. I.   Lenin

The War and the Provisional Government

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Published: Pravda No. 31, April 13, 1917. Published according to the text in Pravda.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1964, Moscow, Volume 24, pages 112-114.
Translated: Isaacs Bernard
Transcription\Markup: B. Baggins and D. Walters
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive 1999 (2005). 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. • README

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“We have nevertheless compelled the Provisional Government to renounce annexations.”
—From a speech by Y. Steklov,
delivered at the Taurida Palace on April 4.

“Whatever our attitude towards the slogan ’peace without annexations’ may be, the principles accepted by all the Allies cannot be ignored.”
—From a speech by P. Milyukov (Rech, April 11).

Step by step the leaders of the Provisional Government are revealing the true nature of their policy in regard to the War. The notorious declaration of the Provisional Government contained, along with a verbal “renunciation” of annexations, a statement to the effect that “our” treaties with the British and the French governments remain valid. A couple of weeks later Rech, the organ of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Milyukov, prints the following:

MILYUKOV’S STATEMENT

While in Moscow, P. N, Milyukov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the following statement at a meeting of members of the people’s freedom party:

The declaration of the Provisional Government concerning the aims of the war contains not peace terms, but merely general principles which have already been repeatedly enunciated by various statesmen of our Allies. The peace terms can be worked out only with the consent of our Allies and in accordance with the London Convention. What ever our attitude towards the slogan “peace without annexations” may be, the principles accepted by all the Allies concerning the reunification   of Poland and Armenia. And the gratification of the national aspirations of the Austrian Slav’s, cannot be ignored. (Rech No. 83, April 11 (24), 1917.)

This statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Milyukov, will, without doubt, make the round of the whole foreign press and intensify the military spirit in Germany. Milyukov is helping the German imperialists to work up chauvinist feeling in Germany; Milyukov is helping Wilhelm II to go through with this predatory war “to the end”.
Let us examine Mr. Milyukov’s statement. The Provisional Government’s declaration concerning the aims of the war (the same declaration which Y. Steklov, by a deplorable misunderstanding, calls renunciation of annexations) contains, says Milyukov, not peace terms, but “merely general principles which have already been repeatedly enunciated by various statesmen of our Allies”. In plain language,this means that renunciation of annexations is merely a fine phrase, “general principles”, words, words, words, These words have also been repeated any number of times by “our” Allies. The actual “peace” terms, however, are a different matter entirely.
A statesman—Bismark, if I am not mistaken—once said that to accept a thing “in principle” means, in the language of diplomacy, to reject it in effect. The same with Milyukov. “In principle” he is against annexations, in effect he is for annexations. That is why he stands for war “to the end”.
Fine phrases are not yet peace terms, Mr. Milyukov tells us.
What, then, are his peace terms?
These terms are covered by the London Convention. Mr. Milyukov refers us to it.
But who concluded that Convention? Tsar Nicholas II concluded it with the British and French capitalists! That means that the treaties concluded by the tsarist clique still remain in force. That means we are fighting for the sake of these predatory treaties concluded by the tsarist clique and the “Allied” bankers.
Seizure of Polish, Armenian, and Austrian territories (this time Mr. Milyukov makes no mention of Constantinople)—this is what Mr. Milyukov’s peace programme amounts to.

What will the leaders of the majority of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies say regarding this latest statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Milyukov? All they will do is “reprove” Milyukov for this statement of his in the name of the “Contact” Commission.... What has become of the “Provisional Governments renunciation of annexations”, which Y. Steklov and N. Chkheidze claim to have obtained from it?
There is no dual power in Russia. The Soviet of Workers’ Deputies merely exercises a benevolent control over the Provisional Government. This, if we are to believe the newspaper reports, is what N. Chkheidze said at the military conference in Minsk.^[1]
This is what we have come to with this benevolent control! People who fan the flames of war are continuing to speak in the name of Russia. The workers and soldiers are being fed with platitudes about peace without annexations, while on the quiet a policy is being pursued which benefits only a small clique of millionaires who thrive on war.
Comrades, workers and soldiers! Read this statement of Milyukov and expose it at all your meetings! Make it understood that you do not wish to die for the sake of secret conventions concluded by Tsar Nicholas II, and which are still sacred to Milyukov!

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Notes 

Happy Birthday-*Tribute Album Potpourri- A Tip Of The Hat To Mississippi John Hurt- "Did You Hear John Hurt?"

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Mississippi John Hurt On Pete Seeger's Television Show "Rainbow Quest".

This Is Part Of A Four Artist Tribute Album Potpourri- A Tip Of The Hat To Hank Williams, Mississippi John Hurt, Bob Dylan and Greg Brown.

CD REVIEW

A musical performer knows that he or she has arrived when they have accumulated enough laurels and created enough songs to be worthy, at least in some record producer's eyes, of a tribute album. When they are also alive to accept the accolades as two out of the four of the artists under review are, which in these cases is only proper, that is all to the good. That said, not all tribute albums are created equally. Some are full of star-studded covers, others are filled with lesser lights who have been influenced by the artist that they are paying tribute to. As a general proposition though I find it a fairly rare occurrence, as I have noted in a review of the “Timeless” tribute album to Hank Williams, that the cover artist outdoes the work of the original recording artist. With that point in mind I will give my “skinny” on the cover artists here.


Did You, You Hear John Hurt?

Avalon Blues: A Tribute To The Music Of Mississippi John Hurt, various artists, Vanguard Records, 2001

If one were to ask virtually any fairly established folk music singer in, let’s say 1968, what country blues musician influenced them the most then the subject of this review would win hands down. The list would be long- Dave Van Ronk, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Phil Ochs, Chris Smithers, Joan Baez and on and on. Hell, Tom Paxton wrote a song about him-“Did You Hear John Hurt?” That song still gets airplay on the folk station around where I live.

So what gives? Why the praise? What gives is this- Mississippi John Hurt and his simple country blues were 'discovered' at a time when many young, mainly white urban musicians were looking for roots music. This search is not anything particularly new-John and Alan Lomax went on the hustings in the 1930’s and recorded many of the old country blues artists that were ‘discovered’ in the 1960’s. Hell, you can go back further to the 1920’s and the record companies themselves were sending out agents to scour the country looking for talent- they found the likes of the Carter Family and Blind Willie McTell along the way.

That is the tradition that the artists covering Brother Hurt’s songs are paying homage to in this CD. For the most part these are lesser known artists who, however, provide a sense of what old John was trying to convey in his slow, clear low-down style. Outstanding in that regard are Chris Smither’s interpretation of the super-classic 'man done wrong' story “Frankie and Johnnie”, Lucinda Williams’ sorrowful “Angels Lay Him Away”, Geoff Muldaur’s humorous “Chicken”, Taj Mahal’s eerily deep-throated “My Creole Belle” and Gillian Welch’s mournful “Beulah Land”. Listen on.

Did You Hear John Hurt?

Words and Music by Tom Paxton
It was a frosty night. It was beginning to snow,
And down the city streets, the wind began to blow.
We all came to the cellar. We all emptied the bar,
To hear a little fellow, play a shiny guitar.

[Cho:]
Did you hear John Hurt play the "Creole Bell,"
"Spanish Fandango" that he loved so well?
And did you love John Hurt? Did you shake his hand?
Did you hear him sing his "Candy Man?"

On a straight back chair, with his felt hat on,
He tickled our fancy with his "Avalon."
And everyone passing down on MacDougle Street,
Cocked their heads and listen to the tappin' feet.

[Cho:]

[Repeat first verse and Chorus]


Ain't no tellin

Don't you let my good girl catch you here.
Don't you let my good girl catch you here.
She might shoot you, may cut ya and starve you too.
Ain't no tellin, what, she might do.

I'm up the country where the col' sleet and snow.
I'm up the country where the col' sleet and snow.
Ain't no telling how much further I may go.

Eatin' my breakfast here, my dinner in Tennessee.
Eatin' my breakfast here, my dinner in Tennessee.
I tol' you I was comin', baby, won't you look for me.
Hey, hey, such lookin' the class.

The way I'm sleepin' my back and shoulders tired.
Way I'm sleepin' babe, my back and shoulders tired.
Gonna turn over, try it on the side.

Don't you let, my good girl catch you here.
She, might shoot you, may cut you and starve you too.
Ain't no tellin', what, she might do.
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Avalon Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Got to New York this mornin', just about half-past nine
Got to New York this mornin', just about half-past nine
Hollerin' one mornin' in
Avalon
, couldn't hardly keep from cryin'
Avalon is my hometown, always on my mind
Avalon is my hometown, always on my mind
Pretty mama's in Avalon want me there all the time
When the train left Avalon, throwin' kisses and wavin' at me
When the train left Avalon, throwin' kisses and wavin' at me
Says, "Come back, daddy, and stay right here with me"
Avalon's a small town, have no great big range
Avalon's a small town, have no great big range
Pretty mama's in Avalon, they sure will spend your change
New York's a good town, but it's not for mine
New York's a good town, but it's not for mine
Goin' back to Avalon, near where I have a pretty mama all the time
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Candy Man Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

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...
All heard what sister Johnson said
She always takes a candy stick to bed
Don't stand close to the candy man
He'll leave a big candy stick in your hand
He sold some candy to sister Bad
The very next day she took all he had
If you try his candy, good friend of mine,
you sure will want it for a long long time
His stick candy don't melt away
It just gets better, so the ladies say
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Casey Jones

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Casey Jones was a brave engineer,
he told his fireman to not to fear
Says, "All I want, my water and my coal
Look out the window, see my drive wheel roll"
Early one mornin' came a shower of rain,
'round the curve I seen a passenger train
In the cabin was Casey Jones,
he's a noble engineer man but he's dead and gone
"Children, children, get your hat"
Mama, mama, what you mean by that?"
"Get your hat , put it on your head,
go down in town, see if your daddy's dead"
"Mama, mama, how can it be?
My daddy got killed on the old I.C.
"Hush your mouth and hold your breath,
you're gonna draw a pension after your daddy's dead"
Casey's wife, she got the news,
she was sittin' on the bedside,
she was lacin' up her shoes
I said, "Go away, children, and hold your breath,
you're gonna draw a pension after your daddy's dead"
Casey said, before he died,
fixed the
blinds so the boys can't ride
If they ride, let 'em ride the rod,
trust they lives in the hands of God"
Casey said again, before he died,
one more road that he wanted to ride
People wondered what road could that be?
The Gulf Colorado and the Santa Fe
Casey Jones was a brave engineer,
he told his fireman to not to fear
Says, "All I want, my water and my coal
Look out the window, see my drive wheel roll"
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Coffee Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

(spoken:
This is the "Coffee Blues", I likes a certain brand
- Maxwell's House - it's good till the last drop,
just like it says on the can. I used to have a girl
cookin' a good Maxwell House. She moved away.
Some said to
Memphis
and some said to Leland,
but I found her. I wanted her to cook me some
good Maxwell's House. You understand,
if I can get me just a spoonful of Maxwell's House,
do me much good as two or three cups this other coffee)
I've got to go to Memphis, bring her back to
Leland
I wanna see my baby 'bout a lovin'
spoonful
, my lovin' spoonful
Well, I'm just got to have my lovin'
(spoken: I found her)
Good mornin', baby, how you do this mornin'?
Well, please, ma'am, just a lovin' spoon,
just a lovin' spoonful
I declare, I got to have my lovin' spoonful
My baby packed her suitcase and she went away
I couldn't let her stay for my lovin',
my lovin' spoonful
Well, I'm just got to have my lovin'
Good mornin', baby, how you do this mornin'?
Well, please, ma'am, just a lovin' spoon,
just a lovin' spoonful
I declare, I got to have my lovin' spoonful
Well, the preacher in the pulpit, jumpin' up and down
He laid his bible down for his lovin'
(spoken: Ain't Maxwell House all right?)
Well, I'm just got to have my lovin'


Corrina, Corrina

traditional

Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Come in this morning, clothes ain't fittin' you right
I left Corrina, way across the sea
I left Corrina, way across the sea
She wouldn't write me no letter, she don't care for me
Oh Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
Oh Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
She wouldn't write me no letter, she don't care for me
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Come in this morning, clothes ain't fittin' you right



Got The Blues, Can't Be Satisfied

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Got the blues, can't be satisfied
Got the blues, can't be satisfied
Keep the blues, I'll catch that train and ride
Yes, whiskey straight will drive the blues away
Yes, whiskey straight will drive the blues away
That be the case, I wants a quart today
I bought my baby a great big diamond ring
I bought my baby a great big diamond ring
Come right back home and caught her
shaking that thing
I said, "Babe, what make you do me this a-way?"
I said, "Babe, what make you do me this a-way?"
Well, that I bought, now you give it away
I took my gun and broke the barrel down
I took my gun and broke the barrel down
I put that joker six feet in the ground
You got the blues, and I still ain't satisfied
You got the blues, and I still ain't satisfied
Well, some old day, gonna catch that train and ride

I'm satisfied

I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.
I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.

First in the country, then in town. I'm a total old shaker from my navel on down.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.
I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.

I pull my dress to my knees, I give my total all to who please.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.
I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.

I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.
I'm satisfied, tickled, too. Old enough to marry you.
I'm satisfied it's going to bring you back.
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Louis Collins

Mrs Collins weeped, Mrs. Collins moaned
To see her son Louis leavin' home.
The angels laid him away.

The angels laid him away,
They laid him six feet under the clay.
The angels laid him away.

Oh kind friends, oh ain't it hard?
To see poor Louis in a new graveyard.
The angels laid him away.

Oh Bob shot once and Louis shot, too [two]
Shot pOor Collins, shot him through and through.
The angels laid him away.

The angels laid him away,
They laid him six feet under the clay.
The angels laid him away.

Mrs. Collins weeped, Mrs. Collins moaned
To see her son Louis leavin' home.
The angels laid him away.

The angels laid him away.
They laid him six feet under the clay.
The angels laid him away.

Oh, when they heard that Louis was dead,
All the people, they dressed in red.
The angels laid him away.

The angels laid him away,
They laid him six feet under the clay.
The angels laid him away.
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Make me down a pallet on your floor


Make me down a pallet on your floor.
Make me down...
Make me down a pallet down, soft and low
Make me a pallet on your floor.

Up the country, 20 miles or more.
I'm going up the country where the cold, sleet and snow.
I'm going up the country, where the cold, sleet and snow.
No tellin' how much further I may go.

Just make me down ...
Make me down...
Make me a pallet, down, soft and low.
Make me a pallet on your floor.

Way I'm sleeping, my back and shoulders tired.
Way I'm sleeping, my back and shoulders tired.
The way I'm sleeping, my back and shoulders tired.
Goin' to turn over and try it on the side.

Repeat first verse.

Don't you let my good girl catch you here.
Don't let my good girl catch you here.
Oh she, might shoot you, liable to cut and starve you too.
No tellin' what she might do.

Repeat first verse.

Make it baby, close behind your door.
Make it baby, close behind the door.
Make me a pallet, close behind the door.
Make it where your good man will never go.

Repeat first verse.
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Monday morning blues

I woke up this morning... I woke up this morning...
Woke up this morning, with the monday morning blues.

I couldn't hardly find... I couldn't hardly find...
I couldn't hardly find, my monday morning shoes.

Monday morning blues... Monday morning blues...
Monday morning blues, searched all through my bones.

Monday morning blues... Monday morning blues...
Monday morning blues, made me leave my home.

I've been laying in jail... I've been laying in jail...
I've been laying in jail, six long weeks today.

Lord, tomorrow morning... Lord, tomorrow morning...
Lord, tomorrow morning, gonna be my trial day.

Lord, I asked the judge... Well, I asked the judge...
Well, I asked the judge, what might be my crime.

Get a pick and shoveL.. Get a pick and shovel...
Get a pick and shovel, let's go down in the mine.

That's the only time... That's the only time...
That's the only time, I ever felt like cryin'.

Well, my heart struck sorrow... Well, my heart struck sorrow...
Well, my heart struck sorrow, tears come rolling down.

I woke up this morning... I woke up this morning...
Woke up this morning, with the monday morning blues.
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My Creole Belle

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

My Creole Belle, I love her well,
my darlin' baby, my Creole Belle
When the stars shine I'll call her mine,
my darlin' baby, my Creole Belle
My Creole Belle, I love her well,
I love her more anyone can tell
My Creole Belle, I love her well,
my darlin' baby, my Creole Belle
When the stars shine I'll call her mine,
my darlin' baby, my Creole Belle
My Creole Belle, I love her well,
my darlin' baby, my Creole Belle
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Oh Mary don't you weep

Oh, Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

If I could, I surely would,
Stand on the rock where Moses stood.
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

Mary weep, Martha moaned,
All around God's holy strong.
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

Well, God told Noah about the rainbow sound.
No more water but the God makes...
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

Repeat first verse.

Sinners don't come by the ...
No need to come when the train done gone.
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

Repeat first verse.
One of these days about 12 o'clock,
This 0l' world gonna reel and rock.
Pharoah's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.

Repeat first verse.

Richland's Woman Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Gimme red lipstick and a bright purple rouge
A shingle bob haircut
and a shot of good boo'
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' your horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
Come along young man, everything settin' right
My husbands goin' away till next Saturday night
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
Now, I'm raring to go, got red shoes on my feet
My mind is sittin' right for a Tin Lizzie
seat
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
The red rooster said, "Cockle-doodle-do-do"
The Richard's' woman said, "Any dude will do"
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
With rosy red garters, pink hose on my feet
Turkey red bloomer, with a rumble seat
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
Every Sunday mornin', church people watch me go
My wings sprouted out, and the preacher told me so
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
Dress skirt cut high, then they cut low
Don't think I'm a sport, keep on watchin' me go
Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin' you horn
If you come too late, sweet mama will be gone
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Salty Dog

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

(spoken: "
Salty Dog
")
Hey-hey, you salty dog
Hey-hey-hey, you salty dog
Said, the little fish, big fish swimmin' in the water
Come back, man, and gimme my quarter
Hey-hey-hey, you salty dog
Said, the scaredest I ever was in my life
Uncle Bud like to caught me kissin' his wife
Hey-hey, you salty dog
Says, God made woman, made 'em mighty funny
The lips 'round her mouth, just as sweet as any honey
Hey-hey, you salty dog
Hey-hey, you salty dog
Hey-hey-hey, you salty dog
(spoken: Well!)
Well, little fish, big fish swimmin' in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my quarter
Hey-hey-hey, you salty dog
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See See Rider

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

You see, see, rider, you see what you have done?
You made me love you
Made me love you, now your man done come
You made me love you, now your man have come
Ain't no more potatoes, the frost have killed the vine
Well, the blues ain't nothin' but a good woman on your mind
The blues ain't nothin' but a good woman on your mind
The blues ain't nothin' but a good woman on your mind
You see, see, rider, you see what you done?
You done made me love you
You made me love you
I've told you, baby and your mama told you, too
"You're three times seven, you know what you wanna do,
three times seven, you know what you wanna do,
you're three times seven, you know what you wanna do"
If I had-a listened to my second mind,
Lord, I wouldn't -a been sittin' here and wringin' my hands and cryin'
I wouldn't been sittin' here, wringin' my hands and cryin'
I wouldn't been sittin' here, wringin' my hands and cryin'
You see, see, rider, you see what you have done?
You done made me love you
You made me love you
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Spike Driver Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Take this hammer and carry it to my captain, tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone
Take this hammer and carry it to my captain, tell him I'm gone, just tell him I'm gone, I'm sure is gone
This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me, but it won't kill me, but it won't kill me
This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me, but it won't kill me, ain't gonna kill me
It a long ways from East Colarado, honey to my home, honey to my home, honey to my home
It a long ways to East Colarado, honey to my home, honey to my home, that where I'm going
John Henry he left his hammer, layin' side the road, layin' side the road, layin' side the road
John Henry he left his hammer, all over in red, all over in red, thats why I'm gone
John Henry was a steel driving man, but he went down, but he went down, but he went down
John Henry was a steel driving man, but he went down, but he went down, that's why I'm gone
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Stack O'Lee Blues

written by: Mississippi John Hurt

Police officer, how can it be?
You can 'rest everybody but cruel Stack O' Lee
That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O' Lee
Billy de Lyon told Stack O' Lee, "Please don't take my life,
I got two little babies, and a darlin' lovin' wife"
That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O' Lee
"What I care about you little babies, your darlin' lovin' wife?
You done stole my Stetson
hat, I'm bound to take your life"
That bad man, cruel Stack O' Lee
...with the forty-four
When I spied Billy de Lyon, he was lyin' down on the floor
That bad man, oh cruel Stack O' Lee
"Gentleman's of the jury, what do you think of that?
Stack O' Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat"
That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O' Lee
And all they gathered, hands way up high,
at twelve o'clock they killed him, they's all glad to see him die
That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O' Lee

Happy Birthday Eric Andersen -Folk Music For Aging Children- The Music Of Judy Collins And Friends

Happy Birthday Eric Andersen -Folk Music For Aging Children- The Music Of Judy Collins And Friends

CD Review

Wildflower Festival, Judy Collins, Eric Andersen, Tom Rush, Arlo Guthrie, Wildflower Records, 2003

Okay, just when you thought there could not possibly be any more country folk, urban folk, suburban folk, folk rock, rock folk, semi-folk, or quasi-folk music from the folk revival of the early 1960 to review here I am again reviewing some of the stars of that time-in their dotage. Well, maybe not dotage, but we are all, including Judy Collins, Eric Andersen, Tom Rush, and Arlo Guthrie, getting a little long in the tooth, and no one can dispute that hard fact. The real question is whether the artists in this compilation still have it, at least for those of us in that dwindling, graying, arthritic, prescription-needing folk audience that fills the small church basement “coffee houses” on this planet. And they do. Still have it, I mean.

That said, this little Wildflower Festival setting in 2003 provided Judy and her guests with a chance to show their stuff, new and old. Now, for those who have heard Judy Collins sing back in the day the question is why she did not challenge Joan Baez for the “queen” of folk title. She had the voice, the style, and the looks (ya, that WAS important, even then) to do so. I have been running a “Not Joan Baez” series and will deal with that question there at some other time but her work here is pretty good, especially her well-known cover of Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon”. Eric Andersen, who I have already looked at in a “Not Bob Dylan” series hold forth on his “Blue River”. Tom Rush, ditto, on “The Remember Song”. Finally, Arlo, whom I have covered in relation to his father’s, Woody Guthrie, music “steals” the show here with his storytelling, notably the kids’ story, “Mooses Came Walking”.

Someday Soon
Ian Tyson

There's a young man that I know whose age is twenty-one

Comes from down in southern Colorado

Just out of the service, he's lookin' for his fun

Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

My parents can not stand him 'cause he rides the rodeo

My father says that he will leave me cryin'

I would follow him right down the roughest road I know

Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

But when he comes to call, my pa ain't got a good word to say

Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old Blue Northern, blow my love to me

He's ridin' in tonight from California

He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me

Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

When he comes to call, my pa ain't got a word to say

Guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me

He's ridin' in tonight from California

He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me

Someday soon, goin' with him someday soon

Someday soon, goin' with him

© 1991

Happy Birthday John Hurt- From Beulah Land- Mississippi John Hurt

Happy Birthday John Hurt-  From Beulah Land- Mississippi John Hurt

CD REVIEW

Last Sessions, Mississippi John Hurt, Vanguard Records, 1972

If one were to ask virtually any fairly established folk music singer in, let’s say 1968, what country blues musician influenced them the most then the subject of this review would win hands down. The list would be long- Dave Van Ronk, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Phil Ochs, Chris Smithers, Joan Baez and on and on. Hell, Tom Paxton wrote a song about him-Did You Hear John Hurt? That song still gets airplay on the folk station around where I live.

So what gives? Why the praise? What gives is this- Mississippi John Hurt and his simple country blues were 'discovered' at a time when many young, mainly white urban musicians were looking for roots music. This search is not anything particularly new-John and Alan Lomax went on the hustings in the 1930’s and recorded many of the old country blues artists that were ‘discovered’ in the 1960’s. Hell, you can go back further to the 1920’s and the record companies themselves were sending out agents to scour the country looking for talent- they found the likes of the Carter Family and Blind Willie McTell along the way.

And what made John Hurt so special? Well, for one, very clean, very simple picking on the old guitar. For another that little raspy voice that you had to perk up your ear to if you wanted to hear him. But the big deal really is that he sang songs in a simple country way that reflected the hard life of the Mississippi delta, the hard work of picking cotton, the hard fact of being black in the Jim Crow South and the hard fact of needing some musical entertainment on a hot Saturday night after a hard week in the fields. The flow changed when the blues headed north to Chicago and got electrified but if you want to hear a master at work when the sound was simpler then hear John Hurt, hear him playing Creole Belle. And Joe Turner Blues, Spanish Fandango, Beulah Land and the rest.

Happy Birthday Mississippi John Hurt-When Women Play Rock 'N' Roll For Keeps-On The Road With Bonnie Raitt

Happy Birthday Mississippi John Hurt-When Women Play Rock 'N' Roll For Keeps-On The Road With Bonnie Raitt 

DVD Review

Bonnie Raitt-Road Tested, Bonnie Raitt and various artists, Capitol Records, 1997

Let us take a trip down memory lane to the Boston Common in the summer of that fateful year, 1968. A bunch of us were sitting (on the ground, no less) fairly far back in that locale and then suddenly a woman’s voice came booming through the air. Moreover, she was playing not the female de rigueur acoustic guitar but an electric one. Just like the guys! That, my friends was my introduction to Bonnie Raitt and she has been rockin’, bluesin’ and folkin’ ever since. This San Francisco concert from 1995 brings all those trends together. For Bonnie Raitt fans, or just the casual blues/folk/rock fan this is a treat. When I occasionally call back memories of the 1960’s and say that that was a time when men (and women) played Rock ‘n’ Roll for keeps it is Bonnie that I have in mind as one of the women.

Honestly, after that early introduction to Bonnie on that long ago summer day I did not follow her career that closely for a time although I knew she learned here craft later at the feet of Mississippi Fred McDowell and would catch her at various Cambridge night spots. However, this concert brings all that back. Not only that but the added attractions of Jackson Browne and the legendary blues singer Ruth Brown (a favorite of mine from way back) round out a very nice concert. What’s good here: John Prine’s "Angel From Montgomery"; "Never Make Your Move Too Soon" (with Brown); Chris Smither’s "Love Me Like A Man" and Rock Steady. Nice stuff, well performed with her band and guest artists.

Lyrics to I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again :

There ain't no use in me trying to tell you how I feel
'Cause what I feel ain't what you're feeling
I don't know what we did wrong
I just know if you come home
I ain't gonna let you break my heart again

There ain't no use in me trying to find out where you've been
Where you've been ain't where I'm going
'Cause if I ask you where you've been
The hurting starts and it don't end
So I ain't gonna let you break my heart again , no
I ain't gonna let you break my heart again , no o

Tears don't become me
Pain ain't my friend
It seems like you enjoy my crying , baby
You always said that I was strong
But I believe that you were wrong
Lately , God knows , I have been trying

There ain't no use in you trying to kiss away the hurt , baby
'Cause it hurts where it's deep down inside of me and it's hiding
If you decide you're coming home
You walk in , it won't be like before
'Cause I ain't gonna let you break my heart again , no
Ain't gonna let you break my heart again , no no


Lyrics to No Way To Treat A Lady :

You can tease me
You can sweet-talk and lead me on
But believe me
Won't be long till I'm catchin' on

Now you left me here with nothin'
And you put my love on hold
Well there must be somethin' behind those eyes
Cuz I believed every lie you told

That ain't no way to treat a lady
That ain't no way to treat a woman in love
That ain't no way to treat a lady
I coulda sworn that you'd had enough

So you'd leave me
When I'm lonely and in despair
It intrigues me
How you don't really seem to care

Well I ain't here for nothin'
And my love doesn't come that cheap
I would hold you to all your promises
If I could find one you meant to keep

That ain't ain't no way to treat a lady
That ain't no way to treat a woman in love
That ain't ain't no way to treat a lady
That ain't no way to treat a woman in love

You can tease me
You can sweet-talk and lead me on
But believe me
Won't be long till I'm catchin' on

Cuz I ain't here for nothin'
And my love doesn't come that cheap
And I would hold you to all your promises
If I could find one you meant to keep

That ain't ain't no way to treat a lady
That ain't no way to treat a woman in love
That ain't ain't no way to treat a lady
That ain't no way to treat a woman in love

A Slice Of Life-French Style-Beauty Galore In The Days Of Old-Maybe-Cary Grant’s “Kiss And Make-Up” (1934)-A Film Review

A Slice Of Life-French Style-Beauty Galore In The Days Of Old-Maybe-Cary Grant’s “Kiss And Make-Up” (1934)-A Film Review

DVD Review

By Sarah Lemoyne

Kiss and Make-Up, starring Cary Grant, Helen Mack, Genevie Tobin, 1934        

New Introductory note by Sarah Lemoyne: I want to thank site manage Greg Green for manning up to what had happened to me in losing the coveted Hammer Production psychological thriller six-film series due to what he confessed was office politics and the cruel realities of the cutthroat publishing business. I had intended on leaving but his offer of giving me both the Star Wars and Marvel Comic studio film reviews was too good to pass up. Read below to find out just how treacherous this journalism business really is-stuff they don’t have a clue about in journalism schools.

**********

Admittedly, as I have freely admitted in my bracketed introduction to my first film review, I have a lot to learn about journalism, the ins and outs of journalism, and the internal politics of who and why certain personalities get, or don’t get, certain reviews. That naiveté on my part got me caught in a vise right after my second review of the six-part Hammer Production psychological thrillers when wizened and gnarled ancient Sam Lowell unceremoniously grabbed the series from under me on the basis of some good old boy connection. In that sense I learned fast that you make your own breaks in this world and that you had best defend your turf in this cutthroat business. I get that. What I don’t get is when a turkey of a film, well not a turkey but one that could have been left on the cutting floor and nobody would have cried one single tear, like this Kiss and Make-Up is assigned to me and I am clueless about what to say about the thing except I am fully confused by the point.               

That is when my newfound friend and mentor Seth Garth gave me some pearls of wisdom that he had learned at the feet of that same gnarled Sam Lowell who I refuse to talk to these days as one can understand. Seth told me Sam told him that when all else fails always go to a “slice of life” hook informing a new younger audience of what these old- time films showed about life in those periods. That will be my hook here although in a quirky way.

(By the way I am not talking to Sam especially since I have heard a rumor that the old cretin in taking over my Hammer series has decided that he had to give his take on my first two published reviews in order to make the series his own. Being from all observations practically senile he is looking for me, for Sarah Lemoyne, to write those reviews and basically trash my own reviews as so much insignificant babble since as a stringer I am at the beck and call of this mountebank. He had, has, a well-deserved reputation for either, at least in the old days, just doing a recopy job on the press releases the studios handed out or having a stringer like Leslie Dumont, who clued me in of on Sam’s having stringers write the stuff under his name, write it for him   

Probably for some women, maybe more in the past than now, although maybe I have been sheltered a bit by being around professional women, personal beauty and appearance drives their lives. That is the premise the studio was working on in this wacky sent-up of the very lucrative beauty business where handsome Cary Grant is in Paris as a doctor specializing in make-overs for the rich and ugly women who need all the help they can get in his temple of beauty. (Why the film had to be set in Paris, per se, instead of London or New York since nobody including French Nationals speaks French except I heard that Paris was, and still is, one of the beauty and fashion centers of the world with people like Coco Chanel and Christian Dior running amok). What the good doctor was trying to do is laughable by today’s plastic surgery standards where a tuck here and a pinch there will do wonders, thank you, exercise and diet standards but we will chalk this up to the times and let the chips fall where they may.

Now Cary, whom along with Clark Gable, was my grandmother’s idea of manly handsomeness and to an extend I see her point is not only running this beauty temple but sampling the wares of his transformations, especially one Madame Caron, who has not only been transformed but has become the bane of her husband since she came under Cary’s care. The solution, for the cuckolded husband anyway: sue for divorce with Cary as the co-respondent, the alienator of affections, in those tough divorce times especially in Catholic France in the 1930s when the Church still had some sway. That done Madame and Cary get married and run to the French Rivera for their honeymoon but find they are incompatible since she had become a beauty maven. (By the way what passes for beauty, genuine or bought, in those days would be hard-pressed to even get a date out in today’s meat markets since today pretzel thin upper body with long thin legs and long hair un-permed, or the appearance of un-permed hair is what is considered attractive by fashion magazine and cinematic standards.)           

   

Of course that was only the “front” story. Handsome Doc, who apparently had sold out his professional credentials for filthy lucre after medical school rather than making some research breakthrough that could lessen the ills of humankind, in the end sees the error of his ways. Made to see those errors by his smitten (with him) secretary and chief fixer Anne who is dewy fresh and who could today get dates without lifting a finger both as to looks and brains. Seth tells me this is an old Hollywood “hook” in the storied history of cinematic boy meets girl lines which have salvaged half the films ever made. If you don’t follow the bouncing ball you lose the fact that everything is heading toward some final romance between this pair, despite Cary’s ill-advised marriage, despite the playboy affect, despite the blindness to a genuine companion against some floosy affair.

In the end after being kicked metaphysically in the head Cary finally gets it. If that doesn’t give enough of a slice of life about what was fashionable in a previous age then let me throw this out. This is film is touted as a pre-Code film meaning after the enforcement of the Code came into play that each and every possible connotation of sex, sexual desire, even sexual knowledge was under pressure from the religious crazies and zanies banned from the screen. This included any nude scenes, profanity, erotic touching and the like. Those later post-Code films, especially with scenes of  married, happily married, couples in separate marital beds, certainly could provide a slice of life for the times but what passes for the sexually provocative in the pre-Code period would be laughed at today by eight- year olds with a computer and access to the Internet. How is that for slice of life.        

Happy 200th Birthday Karl Marx-From The Archives- The Living Thoughts of Karl Marx

Happy 200th Birthday Karl Marx-From The Archives- The Living Thoughts of Karl Marx

Workers Vanguard No. 1134	18 May 2018

TROTSKY

LENIN

The Living Thoughts of Karl Marx

(Quote of the Week)

May 5 marked the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth. The excerpts below are taken from the beginning and conclusion of the Communist Manifesto, a seminal work that Marx co-wrote with his lifelong comrade, Friedrich Engels.

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes....

The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.

Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat....

The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labour. Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the labourers. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the labourers, due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its own grave-diggers....

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

—Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)