Saturday, October 26, 2019

From The Archives- Armistice Day for Peace Statement of Purpose


                                                                                                                                                                              Armistice Day for Peace

Statement  of Purpose


Statement of Purpose
We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater
responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will
work, with others
§
To increase public awareness of the costs of war;
§
To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and
covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations;
§
To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons;
§
To seek justice for veterans and victims of war;
§
To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use
non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both
www.smedleyvfp.org
vfpsmedley@gmail.com

In Flanders Fields
www.facebook.com/smedleyvfp/

We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others:

a)                To increase public awareness of the costs of war;

b)                To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of oth er nations;

c)                To end the arms r aceand to r educe and eventually eliminate nuclear weapo ns;

d)                )               To  seek ju st ice for veter an s and victim s of war;

e)                To abolish war as an instrument of nat ional policy.

To achi eve th ese go als, mem ber s of Veteran s F or P eace pledge t o u se non- violent m ean s and to main tain an or g an izati on tha t is bo th dem ocr ati c and open w ith the un ders t andin g th at all m ember s ar e tru sted to act in th e best in tere sts of the gro up for the lar g er pur pose of worl d peace.


Smedl ey D. Butl er Bri g ade (Ch . 9)
P. O. Box 3 2 06 83
Boston, MA 0 2 1 3 2
T el. 6 1 7- 9 4 2-0 3 2 8
www.smedl eyvfp .org Email: smedleyvfp@gmail.com
F ind Us On F acebook at: Smedley  D. Bu tler Br igad e of Ve ter ans F or Peace
Twitt er: @SmedleyVF P

2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Samuel Adams Park Boston, Massachusetts




"War is  a racket.
A few profit.   The  many pay."
Ma j. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, USMC

In Flanders Fields                                                    Armistice (Veterans) Day For Peace


John McCrae


In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.








Leftist Marching Band-Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians (BABAM)

November 11, 2018 2:30 p.m.  S:SO p.m.
Samuel Adams Park Boston, Massachusetts

PROGRAM








Bring us together music




We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with  the  foe: To you from failing hands we throw The  torch; be yours to hold it  high. If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

   Al Johnson,  Member             Chapter 9

Dan Luker
Coordinator, Veterans For Peace Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Chapter 9

Sev Bruynt, M ember, VFP Chapter 9

David Rothhauser  Member, VFP Chapter 9

John Schuchardt
M ember, VFP Chapter 45

Opening Words Welcome

"Words Of Peace " read by Pat Scanlon


Rememben.ng Anthony F laherry


House Of Peace






It is believ ed that the death of h is fri e nd and for mer  student, Lieutenan t  Alexis  Helmer,  was  the   inspiration  for  the  poem wr it ­ te n by Major John McCra e, a sur geon attached to 1st Briga de, Canadian  Fie ld Artillery .  Helmer  was a  popular  youn g  officer  in the 1st Brigade  who,  on  the  morn ing  of Sunday,  May  2, 1915,  lefl: his dugout and was killed instant ly by a dir ect hit from an 8  inch German shell in the second wee k of fight in g dur in g  t h e Sec ond Batt le  of Ypres.  Lieutenant  Helmer  was  buried  late  r  that day.   In the   absence   of  a   chapla in,   Major   McCrae   conducted   a   simple se rvice at  the  graveside,  recit in g  from  memory  some  passages from the Chur ch  of England' s 'Order  of Bur ia l  of the Dead.'

T he nex t day, sitt ing on the back of an ambula nce par ked near the dress ing  statio  n Ju st  a few  hundred  yards north of Ypres,  McCra e ve nted h is an gu ish by composing a poem.  In  t he  nearby  cemtery,  McCrae  could  see  th e  w ild  poppies  t hat  spran g   up  in  the dit c hes  in  that  part  of  Europe,  and  he  spent  twenty  min utes  of  rp   ecious  rest  time  scribbling fifteen  lines of vre   se  in  a  not  eb ook - w hat  would  become  o ne of  the  most  memorable  war   poems ever



Major John McCrae

Al Johnson, Vietnam Veteran Member, VFP Chapter 9


Leftist Marching Band

Webb Nichols, Vietnam Veteran M ember, VFP Chapter 9

Chr istopherWo!fse
M ember. V FP Chapter 9
Formerly *N G A/ CIA Bob Funke
Leftist Marching Band

"ChelseaManning Update" & "There is a Wall in Washington"

Musical Interlude "Changing Times"

''Perpetual Warfare v. The Light"

Closing remarks Musical W rap-Up

wr itt e n.

* N ational Geospatial A gency/ Central Intelligence Agency
A ppreciation to the City of Boston for use of Samuel Adams Park

The Centennial Of Pete Seeger’s Birthday (1919-2014)- *Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part One-The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Peggy Seeger

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Peggy Seeger performing "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".

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 One; Woody Guthrie on “Hard Travelin’”, Big Bill Broonzy on “Black , Brown And White”, Jean Ritchie on “Nottamun Town”, Josh White on “One Meat Ball” Malvina Reynolds on “Little Boxes”, Cisco Houston on “Midnight Special”, The Weavers on “Wasn’t That A Time”, Glenn Yarborough on “Spanish Is A Loving Tongue”, Odetta on “I’ve Been Driving On Bald Mountain”, The New Lost City Ramblers on “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”, Bob Gibson and Bob Camp on “Betty And Dupree”, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott on “San Francisco Bay Blues”, Peggy Seeger on “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, Hoyt Axton on “Greenback Dollar” and Carolyn Hester on “Turn And Swing Jubilee”."

Peggy Seeger on “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. You know this is a very beautiful song but I keep hearing Roberta Flack’s voice very time I listen to it. Peggy (Pete’s half-sister and a great songwriter and singer in her own right) brings a much more folk mystical sense to the song. And she should. After all it was written by her life companion and husband Ewan McColl.

First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love,
To the dark and the empty skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
And felt your heart beat close to mine
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time my love
It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face,
your face, your face

Happy Birthday To You-*Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Joan Baez

Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.   



Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Joan Baez performing Hedy West's "500 Miles" amd Phil Och's "There But For Fortune".

CD Review

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


Disc Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”.

Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”. I have been running a series on female folk singers from the 1960s who had great talent but who didn’t make it- or at least didn’t become “queen of the hill”, a title reserved, and probably justifiably so, to Joan Baez. That said, unlike Bob Dylan whose work then (and somewhat now) has been profusely reviewed in this space because at some primordial level it “spoke” to me that is not the case with Joan Baez. Except for some early covers (that I really did like and remember memorizing) like the Child ballad “Geordie” and other such fare as “Copper Kettle”, etc. I early on closed my ears to her songs. (Her sister Mimi, along with husband Richard Farina, was different story.) In a sense all the problems that I had listening to most of Baez apply here to this song. She does not “speak" to me even forty years later.

"There But For Fortune"
Joan Baez


Show me the prison, show me the jail
Show me the prisoner, whose life has gone stale
And I'll show you, young man,
With so many reasons why
there but for fortune, go you or I......mm.mm

Show me the alley, show me the train
Show me the hobo, who sleeps out in the rain
And I'll show you, young man,
With so many reasons why
there but for fortune ,go you or I, mm.mm

Show me the whiskey, stains on the floor
Show me the drunkard, as he stumbles out the door
And I'll show you, young man
with so many reasons why
there but for fortune go you or I, mmm,mm

Show me the country, where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of the buildings, once so tall


And I'll show you, young land
with so many reasons why
there but for fortune go you and I, you and I.

Once Again Haunted By The Question Of Questions-Who Represented The “Voice” Of The Generation Of ’68 When The Deal Went Down-And No It Was Not One Richard Millstone, Oops, Milhous Nixon




By Seth Garth

I have been haunted recently by various references to events in the early 1960s brought to mind by either seeing or hearing those references. First came one out of the blue when I was in Washington, D.C. on other business and I popped in as is my wont to the National Gallery of Art to get an “art bump” after fighting the dearies at the tail-end of the conference that I was attending. I usually enter on the 7th Street entrance to see what they have new on display on the Ground Floor exhibition areas. This time there was a small exhibit concerning the victims of Birmingham Sunday, 1963 the murder by bombing of a well-known black freedom church in that town and the death of four innocent young black girls and injuries to others. The show itself was a “what if” by a photographer who presented photos of what those young people might have looked like had they not had their precious lives stolen from them by some racist KKK-drenched bastards who never really did get the justice they deserved. The catch here, the impact on me, was these murders and another very disturbing viewing on television at the time, in black and white, of the Birmingham police unleashing dogs, firing water hoses and using the ubiquitous police billy-clubs to beat down on peaceful mostly black youth protesting against the pervasive Mister James Crow system which deprived them of their civil rights.
Those events galvanized me into action from seemingly out of nowhere. At the time I was in high school, in an all-white high school in my growing up town of North Adamsville south of Boston. (That “all white” no mistake despite the nearness to urban Boston since a recent look at the yearbook for my class showed exactly zero blacks out of a class of 515. The nearest we got to a black person was a young immigrant from Lebanon who was a Christian though and was not particularly dark. She, to my surprise, had been a cheer-leader and well-liked). I should also confess, for those who don’t know not having read about a dozen articles  I have done over the past few years in this space, that my “corner boys,” the Irish mostly with a sprinkling of Italians reflecting the two major ethic groups in the town I hung around with then never could figure out why I was so concerned about black people down South when we were living hand to mouth up North. (The vagaries of time have softened some things among them for example nobody uses the “n” word which needs no explanation which was the “term of art” in reference to black people then to not prettify what this crowd was about.)
In many ways I think I only survived by the good graces of Scribe who everybody deferred to on social matters. Not for any heroic purpose but because Scribe was the key to intelligence about what girls were interested in what guys, who was “going” steady, etc. a human grapevine who nobody crossed without suffering exile. What was “heroic” if that can be used in this context was that as a result of those Birmingham images back then I travelled over to the NAACP office on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston to offer my meager services in the civil rights struggle and headed south to deadly North Carolina one summer on a voting drive. I was scared but that was that. My guys never knew that was where I went until many years later long after we had all gotten a better gripe via the U.S. Army and other situations on the question of race and were amazed that I had done that.         
The other recent occurrence that has added fuel to the fire was a segment on NPR’s Morning Edition where they deal with aspects of what amounts to the American Songbook. The segment dealt with the generational influence of folk-singer songwriter Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ as an anthem for our generation (and its revival of late in newer social movements like the kids getting serious about gun control). No question for those who came of political age early in the 1960s before all hell broke loose this was a definitive summing up song for those of us who were seeking what Bobby Kennedy would later quoting a line of poetry from Alfred Lord Tennyson call “seeking a newer world.” In one song was summed up what we thought about obtuse indifferent authority figures, the status quo, our clueless parents, the social struggles that were defining us and a certain hurried-ness to get to wherever we thought we were going.
I mentioned in that previous commentary that given his subsequent trajectory while Bob Dylan may have wanted to be the reincarnation Plus of Woody Guthrie (which by his long life he can rightly claim) whether he wanted to be, could be, the voice of the Generation of ’68 was problematic. What drove me, is driving me a little crazy is who or what some fifty plus years after all the explosions represented the best of what we had started out to achieve (and were essentially militarily defeated by the ensuing reaction before we could achieve most of it) in those lonely high school halls and college dormitories staying up late at night worrying about the world and our place in the sun.
For a long time, probably far longer than was sensible I believed that it was somebody like Jim Morrison, shaman-like leader of the Doors, who came out of the West Coast winds and headed to our heads in the East. Not Dylan, although he was harbinger of what was to come later in the decade as rock reassembled itself in new garb after some vanilla music hiatus but somebody who embodied the new sensibility that Dylan had unleashed. The real nut though was that I, and not me alone, and not my communal brethren alone either, was the idea that we possessed again probably way past it use by date was that “music was the revolution” by that meaning nothing but the general lifestyle changes through the decade so that the combination of “dropping out” of nine to five society, dope in its many manifestations, kindnesses, good thought and the rapidly evolving music would carry us over the finish line. Guys like Josh Breslin and the late Pete Markin, hard political guys as well as rabid music lovers and dopers, used to laugh at me when I even mentioned that I was held in that sway especially when ebb tide of the counter-cultural movement hit in Nixon times and the bastinado was as likely to be our home as the new Garden. Still Jim Morrison as the “new man” (new human in today speak) made a lot of sense to me although when he fell down like many others to the lure of the dope I started reappraising some of my ideas -worried about that bastinado fate.  

So I’ll be damned right now if I could tell you that we had such a voice, and maybe that was the problem, or a problem which has left us some fifty years later without a good answer. Which only means for others to chime in with their thoughts on this matter.         

For Bob Dylan *Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Bob Dylan

Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.   



Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Bob Dylan performing "Boots Of Spanish Leather".

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 Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”.

Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”. Whew! After bashing old Peter, Paul and Mary and The Chad Mitchell Trio around it is nice to get back to basics. There is no reason to go on and on about Bob Dylan, his place I the folk revival and his later career as our generation’s “Frank Sinatra”. I have heard many versions of this song but nobody gets the pathos, the longing for love and the betrayal of that dastardly sentiment as right as Brother Dylan does in this song. More than one time in my youth I was more than happy with the idea that ...yes, that ”there is something you can sent me to remember you by. Spanish boots of Spanish leather”. Kudos. Bob.

Boots Of Spanish Leather

Oh, I'm sailin' away my own true love,
I'm sailin' away in the morning.
Is there something I can send you from across the sea,
From the place that I'll be landing?

No, there's nothin' you can send me, my own true love,
There's nothin' I wish to be ownin'.
Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled,
From across that lonesome ocean.

Oh, but I just thought you might want something fine
Made of silver or of golden,
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona.

Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night
And the diamonds from the deepest ocean,
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss,
For that's all I'm wishin' to be ownin'.

That I might be gone a long time
And it's only that I'm askin',
Is there something I can send you to remember me by,
To make your time more easy passin'.

Oh, how can, how can you ask me again,
It only brings me sorrow.
The same thing I want from you today,
I would want again tomorrow.

I got a letter on a lonesome day,
It was from her ship a-sailin',
Saying I don't know when I'll be comin' back again,
It depends on how I'm a-feelin'.

Well, if you, my love, must think that-a-way,
I'm sure your mind is roamin'.
I'm sure your heart is not with me,
But with the country to where you're goin'.

So take heed, take heed of the western wind,
Take heed of the stormy weather.
And yes, there's something you can send back to me,
Spanish boots of Spanish leather.

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

*Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Tom Paxton

Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.   



Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Tom Paxton performing "Buy A Gun For Your Son" on Pete Seeger's 1960's television show "Rainbow Quest"

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 Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”.


Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”. I made mention earlier about Dave Van Ronk’s friendship with Tom Paxton so we need not go into that here. What is interesting about Tom is that unlike a comment I made about Ian&Sylvania and their body of work his stuff still, for the most part, sounds good. The title of this song (and the lyrics contained in it) is a good approximation of the confusions that we were trying to work out as we traveled physically, mentally, and spiritually back in those heady times. A couple of other Paxton songs that are worthy of inclusion in your modern American folk songbook are “The Last Thing On My Mind” about the ever-changing vagaries of...love. I need say no more. Also about the rigors of the old hobo road and friendship, “Ramblin’ Boy”.

I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER WHERE I'M BOUND
(Tom Paxton)


It's a long and a dusty road
It's a hot and a heavy load
And the folks that I meet ain't always kind
So are bad, some are good
Some have done the best they could
Some have tried to ease my troubling mind

And I can't help but wonder where I'm bound
Where I'm bound
And I can't help but wonder where I'm bound

I have wandered thru this land
Just a doing the best I can
Tryin to find what I was meant to do
And the people that I see
Look as worried as can be
And it looks like they are a wondering too

I had a little girl one time
She had lips like Sherry wine
I loved her til my head went plumb insane
But I was too blind to see
She was drifting away from me
And my good gal went off on the morning train

And I had a buddy back home
But he started out to roam
I hear he's out by Frisco Bay
And sometimes when I've had a few
His old voice comes a ringing thru
And I'm going out to see him some old day

If you see me passing by
And you sit and you wonder why
And if you wish that you were a rambling too
Nail your shoes to the kitchen floor
Lace them up and bat the door
Thank your stars for the roof that over you

The Centennial Of Pete Seeger’s Birthday (1919-2014)- *Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The 1960s New York Folk Scene- Ian& Sylvia

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Ian and Sylvia and a retrospective of their early work.

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 Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”.

Ian&Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”. Here is another example of a pure classic from the modern American folk songbook and no more comment is needed here. What is rather odd (to me at least) is that while they did great harmonies on some of their songs (and on some that they covered) a recent re-hearing of their “greatest hits” CD left me cold. The only one I still liked was ... you guessed it, this one. Go figure.

"Four Strong Winds"-Ian Tyson

Four strong winds that blow slowly
Seven seas that run high
All these things that dont change come what may
Now our good times are all gone
And Im bound for moving on
Ill look for you if Im ever back this way

Guess Ill go out to alberta
Weathers good there in the fall
Got some friends that I can go to workin for
Still I wish youd change your mind
If I asked you one more time
But weve been thru that a hundred times or more

Four strong winds that blow lonely
Seven seas that run high
All these things that dont change come what may
Now our good times are all gone
And Im bound for movin on
Ill look for you if Im ever back this way

If I get there before the snow flies
And if things are going good
You could meet me if I send you down the fare
But by then it would be winter
Nothing much for you to do
And the wind sure blows cold way out there

Four strong winds that blow slowly
Seven seas that run high
All these things that dont change come what may
Now our good times are all gone
And Im bound for movin on

Ill look for you if Im ever back this way
Yes, Ill look for you if Im ever back this way

*Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Hedy West

Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.   



Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Hedy West performing "Cotton Mill Girl" on Pete Seeger's 1960s television show, "Rainbow Quest".

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 Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”.


Hedy West on “500 Miles”. This is a pure classic of the modern American folk songbook and thus needs no further comment from me on that score. What is interesting though about Hedy West is that she, unlike most of the other folk performers who emerged in the early 1960s, is an authentic product of the rural mountain roots. That music was among the types of music that we were searching out as we tried to make sense of the American historical experience that we felt had gone haywire in those times. That said, Ms. West has an interesting comment in the profuse booklet that accompanies these CDs about the arrogant way she was treated by the 'guardians' of the folk faith down in the wilds of Greenwich Village. Apparently, at least one person was not impressed by the surface “holy quest” for roots of, basically, upper middle class white kids who latched onto this music and snubbed the real thing. Interesting. Kudos, Hedy.

"500 Miles"-Hedy West

If you miss the train Im on, you will know that I am gone
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles,
A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Lord Im one, lord Im two, lord Im three, lord Im four,
Lord Im 500 miles from my home.
500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles
Lord Im five hundred miles from my home.

Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name
Lord I cant go a-home this a-way
This a-away, this a-way, this a-way, this a-way,
Lord I cant go a-home this a-way.

If you miss the train Im on you will know that I am gone
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

*Once More Into The Time Capsule, Part Two- The New York Folk Revival Scene in the Early 1960’s-Dave Van Ronk


Happy Birthday To You-

By Lester Lannon

I am devoted to a local folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.

So much for radio folk history except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such happening along the historical continuum.

To “solve” this problem I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.   



Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Bob Dylan performing "He Was A Friend Of Mine", a song that he learned from Dave Van Ronk.

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 Two: Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”, The Chad Mitchell Trio on “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”, Hedy West on “500 Miles”, Ian &Sylvia on “Four Strong Winds”, Tom Paxton on “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, Peter, Paul And Mary on “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Bob Dylan on “Boots Of Spanish Leather”, Jesse Colin Young on “Four In The Morning”, Joan Baez on “There But For Fortune”, Judy Roderick on “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, Bonnie Dobson on “Morning Dew”, Buffy Sainte-Marie on “Cod’ine” and Eric Von Schmidt on “ Joshua Gone Barbados”."

Dave Van Ronk on “He Was A Friend Of Mine” and You’se A Viper”. There is no way to truly discuss the roots, toots and hoots of what went on in the folk revival scene in the lower depths of Greenwich Village in the early 1960s without a tip of the hat to the “Mayor” of McDougall Street, Dave Van Ronk. Not only did he give Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton and others a leg up on what was happening in his home town but he took seriously, very seriously the study of the roots of folk music (and other genres). If you want to get the barest taste of his encyclopedic knowledge on this subject get your hands on what turned out to be his last live album, “..and the tin can bended, and the story ended”, a work that is interspersed with great songs and very nice stories about this period, his role in it and that of others as well. I’ve created a mini-furor among the "keepers" of his shrine for criticizing his apolitical stance in performances from a very political man (a hard Trotskyist in his youth waging battle against the local New York City Stalinists, not a simple task even in the 1950s) and I still maintain that criticism but as a performer and historian he was a piece of work.

He Was A Friend Of Mine-Bob Dylan lyrics

He was a friend of mine
He was a friend of mine
Every time I think about him now
Lord I just can't keep from cryin'
'Cause he was a friend of mine

He died on the road
He died on the road
He never had enough money
To pay his room or board
And he was a friend of mine

I stole away and cried
I stole away and cried
'Cause I never had too much money
And I never been quite satisfied
And he was a friend of mine

He never done no wrong
He never done no wrong
A thousand miles from home
And he never harmed no one
And he was a friend of mine

He was a friend of mine
He was a friend of mine
Every time I hear his name
Lord I just can't keep from cryin'
'Cause he was a friend of mine.

Copyright ©1962; renewed 1990 MCA