Click On Title to Link To August Wilson Home page.
Play/Book Review
Fences, August Wilson, New American Library, New York, 1986
The first couple of paragraphs of this review have been used as introduction to other August Wilson Century Cycle plays as well.
Okay, blame it on the recently departed Studs Terkel and his damn interview books. I had just been reading his "The Spectator", a compilation of some of his interviews of various authors, actors and other celebrities from his long-running Chicago radio program when I came across an interview that he had with the playwright under review here, August Wilson. Of course, that interview dealt with things near and dear to their hearts on the cultural front and mine as well. Our mutual love of the blues, our concerns about the history and fate of black people and the other oppressed of capitalist society and our need to express ourselves politically in the best way we can. For Studs it was the incessant interviews, for me it is incessant political activity and for the late August Wilson it was his incessant devotion to his century cycle of ten plays that covered a range of black experiences over the 20th century.
Strangely, although I was familiar with the name of the playwright August Wilson and was aware that he had produced a number of plays that were performed at a college-sponsored repertory theater here in Boston I had not seen or read his plays prior to reading the Terkel interview. Naturally when I read there that one of the plays being discussed was entitled "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" about the legendary female blues singer from the 1920's I ran out to get a copy of the play. That play has been reviewed elsewhere in this space but as is my habit when I read an author who "speaks" to me I grab everything I can by him or her to see where they are going with the work. This is doubly true in the case of Brother Wilson as his work is purposefully structured as an integrated cycle, and as an intensive dramatic look at the black historical experience of the 20th century that has driven a lot of my own above-mentioned political activism.
The action of this play takes place in the mid-1950's in a black neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Wilson's home town) as do most of the plays in the cycle. This is the sixth play in the cycle and the first to reflect that notion that some profound changes were in the offing for black people, not all of them good and not all for the better. Both these facts are important in understanding the tensions of the play. Although Wilson's plays are almost exclusively centered in black life as it is lived in the neighborhood the various trials and tribulations of blacks elsewhere are woven into his story line. The white world, for the most part, except as represented by amorphous outside forces that have the access and control of the resources that blacks need to survive and break out of racial isolation are on the sidelines here. And that is as it should be in these plays on the black experience. Moreover, this truly reflects how it has been (and how it still is, notwithstanding the Obamaid) in that outer world.
I labelled this entry with the headline "Better Days Are Coming?" purposefully including the question mark. Surely, some progress toward the goal of racial equality, if not nearly enough, has been made over the last half century since the time period of this play. That is not the question. The real question is posed by the main character, Troy Maxton, who in his time was something of an exceptional baseball player, but who "came too early" to have it change the fortunes of his life. His reply: "ain't nothing should have ever been too early". Wilson hits the nail on the head here. After that remark nothing else really needs to be said.
Wilson's conceptual framework, as I have mentioned previously in a review of his "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", is impeccable. Placing the scene in 1950's Pittsburgh permits him to give a bird's eye view of that great migration of blacks out of the South in the post-World War II period at a time when they are shaking off those old subservient southern roots. Wilson is also able to succinctly draw in the questions of white racism (obliquely here), black self-help (as in building that damn fence) , black hatred of whites, black self-hatred, black illusion (that the `lifting' of the white boats was going to end, for blacks, the seemingly permanent Great Depression), black pride (through the link with past black historical figures and with the then current hero, Jackie Robinson, although Troy has some cutting remarks on the status of that figure), the influence of the black church (good or bad), black folk wisdom (as portrayed by Jim Bono, who is more grounded in his memories of his southern roots than the others) and, in the end, the rage just below the surface of black existence (as portrayed here by Troy's mentally ill brother Gabriel, a character who epitomizes one of the tragic aspects of black male existence) resulting from a world that not was not made by the characters in this play but took no notice of their long suppressed rage that turned in on itself.
Unlike some of the earlier play, however, there is a little ray of hope in the character of Troy's son (by his wife Rose) Cory whose struggle for his own identity with his father and the world is a sub-theme here. As always, if you get a chance go see this play but, please, at least read it. Read the whole cycle.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
*This Is Not Your Father’s War- But It May Be Your Children’s- Obama’s Afghan War
Click On Title For Link To Associated Press Story On Obama's Afghan War Budget.
This Is Not Your Father’s War- But It May Be Your Children’s- Obama’s Afghan War- Vote No With Both Hands On The War Budget!
President withholds torture photos as national security measure. President revives military tribunals. Congress gets ready to pass President’s supplementary Afghan/Iraq war budgets. Correct me if I am wrong but is this May 15, 2008 or May 15, 2009. These are headlines formerly associated with the Cheney/Bush Administration. For those who are ready to shed a few dogmatic illusions the contours of the Age of Obama are starting to come into focus. And it isn’t pretty. The streets are not for dreaming now. Read on.
Commentary
Sometime soon, perhaps as this commentary is being written on Friday May 15, 2007, the Democrat Party-controlled Congress will have passed the latest supplemental war budget appropriations asked for by the Obama Administration (actually more that they asked for, nice right?). I have already noted previously in a commentary earlier this year, as this issue surfaced, that such supplementary war budgets were a hallmark of the …Bush Administration. But we will let that little issue pass because the “big deal” here is how little opposition (and press coverage) there has been now that the “good guys” are in charge. The epitome of such servile non-opposition (Ouch! Sorry for this awkward expression.) is exemplified by the lack on efforts to oppose this war budget by the so-called “anti-war’ Progressive Democratic Caucus. The “highlight” of Democratic opposition centers on a bill by left-liberal Massachusetts Democratic Congressman James McGovern to “require” the Pentagon to come up with an “exit” strategy for Afghanistan by the end of this year. So much for the vaunted parliamentary opposition. Hence the title of the headline of this commentary.
Such innocuous and, frankly, baffling legislation does not even come close to rising to the occasions in the past where the likes of Congressman McGovern at least voted against the war budget. If Congressman McGovern represents the most extreme left expression within the Democratic Party on war issues, and I believe that he does, one hardly needs a crystal ball to realize that the already almost eight year American presence in Afghanistan has just gotten a lot longer. Add to that the recent decisions to have “Shoot first, and let god sort the rest out” General McChrystal replace the old-line armchair General McKiernan and you now know why at the very beginning of this Obama Administration I stated that he has staked his place in history on the outcome of that war. For those who despair that their children will be fighting in Afghanistan I do have a simple solution. Fight around this slogan- Obama- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops From Afghanistan (and Iraq). Do it for the kids.
********
House Passes War Funds As 51 Democrats Dissent
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 15, 2009
The House passed a bill yesterday that would provide more than $96 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through Sept. 30, as President Obama had requested, but a bloc of 51 Democrats opposed it.
Democratic opponents are accusing Obama of the same charge they leveled against his predecessor: escalating a war without a clear exit strategy.
The bill passed 368 to 60, with 200 Democrats and all but nine Republicans supporting it.
Democratic opponents did not attack Obama by name, but some likened his increase of 21,000 troops and billions of dollars to win the war in Afghanistan to President George W. Bush's efforts in Iraq.
"When George Bush was president, I was on this floor saying we need an exit strategy," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). "The same applies with Afghanistan. I'm tired of wars with no deadlines, no exits and no ends."
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who also voted against the bill, said that "this bill simply amplifies and extends failed policies."
The vote came the same day that another part of Obama's security agenda -- closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- drew criticism from his party. The Democratic-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill that includes $50 million to close the prison, as Obama promised during the campaign.
But the measure bans Obama from using the money to bring any of the 241 detainees to the United States, a move that administration officials have suggested might be necessary to get other countries to accept prisoners. The measure also requires the administration present Congress with a detailed plan on closing the prison before the money can be used.
Senate Democratic leaders criticized Obama for not having presented such a plan, as Republicans continue to highlight the issue and accuse the administration of putting Americans at risk with its proposal to bring potential terrorists to the United States.
Obama defended his strategy for Afghanistan in a meeting late last month with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of more than 70 liberal members, many of whom opposed the funding bill. But most House Democrats indicated they want to give Obama's strategy a chance to succeed.
"The questions that were not being asked are now being asked," said Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), who voted for the supplemental funding.
House Democratic leaders refused to back an effort by McGovern and other antiwar legislators that would require Obama to provide Congress a detailed exit strategy for Afghanistan by the end of the year.
Some Democratic senators, particularly Russell Feingold (Wis.), have also criticized Obama's proposal, but the funding is expected to be approved there, possibly as soon as next week. Republicans have said they might oppose increased funding for the International Monetary Fund, a request that has been inserted in the Senate version.
Some liberal activist groups, such as MoveOn.org, which sharply criticized Bush's efforts to increase troops in Iraq two years ago, have said little about Obama's troop increase in Afghanistan.
The failed effort to amend the House bill illustrated the ineffectiveness of some of the House's most liberal members. While the caucus of conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs has effectively blocked some of Obama's proposals, such as a ban on assault weapons, liberal Democrats have struggled with two of their biggest priorities: establishing a commission to investigate allegations of violations by the Bush administration; and greater reductions of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGovern said he remains concerned about Obama's policy in Afghanistan but is not sure exactly what he and others could do.
"I like Barack Obama; I thank God he's president; I think he will be a great president," McGovern said. "But sometimes great presidents make mistakes."
This Is Not Your Father’s War- But It May Be Your Children’s- Obama’s Afghan War- Vote No With Both Hands On The War Budget!
President withholds torture photos as national security measure. President revives military tribunals. Congress gets ready to pass President’s supplementary Afghan/Iraq war budgets. Correct me if I am wrong but is this May 15, 2008 or May 15, 2009. These are headlines formerly associated with the Cheney/Bush Administration. For those who are ready to shed a few dogmatic illusions the contours of the Age of Obama are starting to come into focus. And it isn’t pretty. The streets are not for dreaming now. Read on.
Commentary
Sometime soon, perhaps as this commentary is being written on Friday May 15, 2007, the Democrat Party-controlled Congress will have passed the latest supplemental war budget appropriations asked for by the Obama Administration (actually more that they asked for, nice right?). I have already noted previously in a commentary earlier this year, as this issue surfaced, that such supplementary war budgets were a hallmark of the …Bush Administration. But we will let that little issue pass because the “big deal” here is how little opposition (and press coverage) there has been now that the “good guys” are in charge. The epitome of such servile non-opposition (Ouch! Sorry for this awkward expression.) is exemplified by the lack on efforts to oppose this war budget by the so-called “anti-war’ Progressive Democratic Caucus. The “highlight” of Democratic opposition centers on a bill by left-liberal Massachusetts Democratic Congressman James McGovern to “require” the Pentagon to come up with an “exit” strategy for Afghanistan by the end of this year. So much for the vaunted parliamentary opposition. Hence the title of the headline of this commentary.
Such innocuous and, frankly, baffling legislation does not even come close to rising to the occasions in the past where the likes of Congressman McGovern at least voted against the war budget. If Congressman McGovern represents the most extreme left expression within the Democratic Party on war issues, and I believe that he does, one hardly needs a crystal ball to realize that the already almost eight year American presence in Afghanistan has just gotten a lot longer. Add to that the recent decisions to have “Shoot first, and let god sort the rest out” General McChrystal replace the old-line armchair General McKiernan and you now know why at the very beginning of this Obama Administration I stated that he has staked his place in history on the outcome of that war. For those who despair that their children will be fighting in Afghanistan I do have a simple solution. Fight around this slogan- Obama- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops From Afghanistan (and Iraq). Do it for the kids.
********
House Passes War Funds As 51 Democrats Dissent
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 15, 2009
The House passed a bill yesterday that would provide more than $96 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through Sept. 30, as President Obama had requested, but a bloc of 51 Democrats opposed it.
Democratic opponents are accusing Obama of the same charge they leveled against his predecessor: escalating a war without a clear exit strategy.
The bill passed 368 to 60, with 200 Democrats and all but nine Republicans supporting it.
Democratic opponents did not attack Obama by name, but some likened his increase of 21,000 troops and billions of dollars to win the war in Afghanistan to President George W. Bush's efforts in Iraq.
"When George Bush was president, I was on this floor saying we need an exit strategy," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). "The same applies with Afghanistan. I'm tired of wars with no deadlines, no exits and no ends."
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who also voted against the bill, said that "this bill simply amplifies and extends failed policies."
The vote came the same day that another part of Obama's security agenda -- closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- drew criticism from his party. The Democratic-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill that includes $50 million to close the prison, as Obama promised during the campaign.
But the measure bans Obama from using the money to bring any of the 241 detainees to the United States, a move that administration officials have suggested might be necessary to get other countries to accept prisoners. The measure also requires the administration present Congress with a detailed plan on closing the prison before the money can be used.
Senate Democratic leaders criticized Obama for not having presented such a plan, as Republicans continue to highlight the issue and accuse the administration of putting Americans at risk with its proposal to bring potential terrorists to the United States.
Obama defended his strategy for Afghanistan in a meeting late last month with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of more than 70 liberal members, many of whom opposed the funding bill. But most House Democrats indicated they want to give Obama's strategy a chance to succeed.
"The questions that were not being asked are now being asked," said Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), who voted for the supplemental funding.
House Democratic leaders refused to back an effort by McGovern and other antiwar legislators that would require Obama to provide Congress a detailed exit strategy for Afghanistan by the end of the year.
Some Democratic senators, particularly Russell Feingold (Wis.), have also criticized Obama's proposal, but the funding is expected to be approved there, possibly as soon as next week. Republicans have said they might oppose increased funding for the International Monetary Fund, a request that has been inserted in the Senate version.
Some liberal activist groups, such as MoveOn.org, which sharply criticized Bush's efforts to increase troops in Iraq two years ago, have said little about Obama's troop increase in Afghanistan.
The failed effort to amend the House bill illustrated the ineffectiveness of some of the House's most liberal members. While the caucus of conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs has effectively blocked some of Obama's proposals, such as a ban on assault weapons, liberal Democrats have struggled with two of their biggest priorities: establishing a commission to investigate allegations of violations by the Bush administration; and greater reductions of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGovern said he remains concerned about Obama's policy in Afghanistan but is not sure exactly what he and others could do.
"I like Barack Obama; I thank God he's president; I think he will be a great president," McGovern said. "But sometimes great presidents make mistakes."
Thursday, May 14, 2009
*Those Oklahoma Hills Back Home- The Cowboy Songs Of Woody Guthrie
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Woody Guthrie Doing "So Long Its Been Good To Know You".
CD REVIEW
Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Volume 4, Woody Guthrie, Smithsonian/Folkways, 1999
As I have mentioned on early reviews concerning the music of folklorist Woody Guthrie if any of the older generation, the “Generation of ‘68” needs an introduction to Woody Guthrie then I ask what planet have you been on. Woody’s “This Land Is Your Land” is practically a national anthem (and in some quarters is treated as just that). Not as well known, but which now should be rectified with the production of this fourth volume of Woody’s work from his most prolific Asch Recording period of the 1940’s, is his rather large compilation of Western cowboy-oriented material. This, as the title of this entry notes, reflects those Oklahoma hills back home from whence he came.
Woody as a folklorist, as well as a singer and songwriter, was not interested in the cowboy as created by the movies, especially the one-dimensional one created in the hey day of the cowboy movie in the 1930’s, but the real one. The one who spend many a lonely night out on the trail herding cattle to market; who went hungry and dusty for long periods; and, who was nicked up, kicked up and busted up by man and animal alike. And the one who liked his entertainments short and sweet, a little simple music, a lot of simple liquor and plenty of women on those raucous Saturday nights off the range. Not much room in those tales, either for 1930’s Hollywood or Woody’s for that matter, for the ones portrayed in literature by Larry McMurtry or Cormac McCarthy or on film by “Brokeback Mountain” or those not recognized until much later like those of the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range, but those are stories for another day.
This compilation covers a wide variety of songs that pay honor, justifiably or not, to the norms of the cowboy profession. “Ranger’s Command” and “Buffalo Skinners” give a sense of the hard life on the trail and the pitfalls of ignorant cowboys being taken in by primitive agrarian or industrial capitalists or their agents-and, as in the case, of “Buffalo Skinners” the quick and sure retribution when the rank and file cowboy got his dander up. Songs of the trail and its travails get a workout here, as well, in “Little Dogies” and “Chisholm Trail”. The loneliness of the life and the vagaries of love in such a transient profession are reflected in “Cowboy Waltz” and “Red River Valley”. The theme of ’rough and ready’ justice is revealed in songs like “Slipknot” and “Billy The Kid”. Overall these twenty- six tracks, several of which also have Woody's long time traveling friend Cisco Houston accompanying him(a man whose career and place in the folk pantheon deserves more attention separately), bring to life the ‘real’ cowboy experience as it was known in Woody’s time.
As always with a Smithsonian/Folkways production the CD includes a booklet of copious liner notes that detail, for the folk historian or the novice alike, the history of each song and its genesis. I am always surprised by the insightful detail provided and as much as I know about this milieu always find something new in them. Moreover, the information here provided inevitably details the rather mundane genesis of some very famous songs like “Pretty Boy Floyd”.
Note: I want to address separately the subject of one of Woody’s most famous songs, and perhaps one of the first of his songs that I remember hearing back in the days, the above-mentioned “Pretty Boy Floyd”. I have reviewed Larry McMurtry’s novel of the same title elsewhere in this space. That novel details the actual ‘exploits of this notorious murderer at the tail end of the Old West period (and maybe, really, the post-Old West period). Woody’s version reflects a 1930’s romantic notion of this primordial outlaw as a modern day Robin Hood. Thus, even a realist like Woody, who could write with compassion and wit about the real sufferings of his beloved Okies and others, got caught up in the myths of the Old West that have sustained generations of Americans, including this reviewer, eagerly looking for a heroic past. For all its false premises though, Woody’s “Pretty Boy” has a line that still has a kernel of folk wisdom that is what drew me to the song in the first place-“some men will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen”. Sounds prophetic, right?
Pretty Boy Floyd
If you'll gather 'round me, children,
A story I will tell
'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.
It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.
There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An' his wife she overheard.
Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.
Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.
But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.
Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.
It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:
Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,
You say that I'm a thief.
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
CD REVIEW
Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Volume 4, Woody Guthrie, Smithsonian/Folkways, 1999
As I have mentioned on early reviews concerning the music of folklorist Woody Guthrie if any of the older generation, the “Generation of ‘68” needs an introduction to Woody Guthrie then I ask what planet have you been on. Woody’s “This Land Is Your Land” is practically a national anthem (and in some quarters is treated as just that). Not as well known, but which now should be rectified with the production of this fourth volume of Woody’s work from his most prolific Asch Recording period of the 1940’s, is his rather large compilation of Western cowboy-oriented material. This, as the title of this entry notes, reflects those Oklahoma hills back home from whence he came.
Woody as a folklorist, as well as a singer and songwriter, was not interested in the cowboy as created by the movies, especially the one-dimensional one created in the hey day of the cowboy movie in the 1930’s, but the real one. The one who spend many a lonely night out on the trail herding cattle to market; who went hungry and dusty for long periods; and, who was nicked up, kicked up and busted up by man and animal alike. And the one who liked his entertainments short and sweet, a little simple music, a lot of simple liquor and plenty of women on those raucous Saturday nights off the range. Not much room in those tales, either for 1930’s Hollywood or Woody’s for that matter, for the ones portrayed in literature by Larry McMurtry or Cormac McCarthy or on film by “Brokeback Mountain” or those not recognized until much later like those of the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range, but those are stories for another day.
This compilation covers a wide variety of songs that pay honor, justifiably or not, to the norms of the cowboy profession. “Ranger’s Command” and “Buffalo Skinners” give a sense of the hard life on the trail and the pitfalls of ignorant cowboys being taken in by primitive agrarian or industrial capitalists or their agents-and, as in the case, of “Buffalo Skinners” the quick and sure retribution when the rank and file cowboy got his dander up. Songs of the trail and its travails get a workout here, as well, in “Little Dogies” and “Chisholm Trail”. The loneliness of the life and the vagaries of love in such a transient profession are reflected in “Cowboy Waltz” and “Red River Valley”. The theme of ’rough and ready’ justice is revealed in songs like “Slipknot” and “Billy The Kid”. Overall these twenty- six tracks, several of which also have Woody's long time traveling friend Cisco Houston accompanying him(a man whose career and place in the folk pantheon deserves more attention separately), bring to life the ‘real’ cowboy experience as it was known in Woody’s time.
As always with a Smithsonian/Folkways production the CD includes a booklet of copious liner notes that detail, for the folk historian or the novice alike, the history of each song and its genesis. I am always surprised by the insightful detail provided and as much as I know about this milieu always find something new in them. Moreover, the information here provided inevitably details the rather mundane genesis of some very famous songs like “Pretty Boy Floyd”.
Note: I want to address separately the subject of one of Woody’s most famous songs, and perhaps one of the first of his songs that I remember hearing back in the days, the above-mentioned “Pretty Boy Floyd”. I have reviewed Larry McMurtry’s novel of the same title elsewhere in this space. That novel details the actual ‘exploits of this notorious murderer at the tail end of the Old West period (and maybe, really, the post-Old West period). Woody’s version reflects a 1930’s romantic notion of this primordial outlaw as a modern day Robin Hood. Thus, even a realist like Woody, who could write with compassion and wit about the real sufferings of his beloved Okies and others, got caught up in the myths of the Old West that have sustained generations of Americans, including this reviewer, eagerly looking for a heroic past. For all its false premises though, Woody’s “Pretty Boy” has a line that still has a kernel of folk wisdom that is what drew me to the song in the first place-“some men will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen”. Sounds prophetic, right?
Pretty Boy Floyd
If you'll gather 'round me, children,
A story I will tell
'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.
It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.
There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An' his wife she overheard.
Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.
Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.
But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.
Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.
It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:
Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,
You say that I'm a thief.
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
*An Encore, The "Jelly Roll Baker" Is In The House- The Blues Of Lonnie Johnson
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lonnie Johnson Doing "Blackbird Blues".
CD REVIEWS
Ballads and Blues, Lonnie Johnson and Elmer Snowden, Vanguard Records, 1960
Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time blues artists that were the passion of my youth (and still are). So this writer, who thought he had heard virtually all the key blues men and women of the old days, got his comeuppance recently when the name of Lonnie Johnson and his version of the classic double-entendre "Jelly Roll Baker" came up. To name drop just a little, the occasion was a local reunion of Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band from the 1960’s (that also included Geoff’s ex-wife and great performer in her own right, Maria Muldaur). They did a stirring rendition of the song and attributed it to the performer under review here. After scratching my head I ran out to get some more of Brother Lonnie’s work and I am here to tell you- get this CD because if you have any interest at all in the blues you will not be disappointed.
Why this particular album to start out with? Well, it features Lonnie Johnson and long time friend Elmer Snowden together for the first time although early on (back in the 1920’s) they had worked together on some blues and jazz albums. That is, perhaps, why this work is interesting as an example of that closeness between the jazz and blues idioms before those musical forms parted ways sometime in the late 1940’s. As others have mentioned Johnson, the father of single-note six-string soloing, is in a strangely haunting voice on this selection of blues, ballads, and jazz, crooning the double-entendre "Jelly Roll Baker" and the heartache-laden "Back Water Blues". I cannot add much to that description except you cannot go wrong by giving Haunted House, the first cut, a listen. That sets the mood. Finally, let me say WOW!
"Why Should I Grieve After You're Gone (1927)"
After you're gone, I'm left all alone.
Just feeling blue, all depending on you.
Not even the telephone, it don't ring anymore.
Not even the sun that shines, don't shine in my door anymore.
Since youâ've been gone away, many a million miles away.
I will give you a million smiles a day, to keep your blues away.
As the sun go down, and the wrong news, no play.
As the time goes lower and lower and lower, there's only you.
While I'm feeling blue, just feeling blue.
I would be happy today, but it all depends on you.
As the sun go down, and sinks behind the trees.
And just before it falls, I will answer to your calls.
When you're a million, million miles away, I will give you a million smiles a day.
That's because I love you, and wants to keep your blues away.
"Big Leg Woman"
Yes, I've got me a big legged woman, that solid rocks my soul
Yes, I've got me a big legged woman, that solid rocks my soul
And every time she turns the lights down low, Jack that's when I give up all my gold
She's so fine, she's so mellow, the rest I can't explain
Yes, she's so fine, she's so mellow, rest I can't explain
Way my baby stacked up, it's enough to drive the average cat insane
Yes, she's got great big legs, so pleasin' on the eye
Yes, she's got those great big legs, so pleasin' on the eye
And the preacher walked by, turned around and looked, Jack and hollered "My, my, my!"
She's got those big brown eyes, yes and she's somethin' really fine
Yes, she's got those big brown eyes, Jack she's somethin' really fine
And the best part about it, Jack she's mine, all mine!
"Cat You Been Messin' Around"
Now look here woman, you done lost your mind,
this is not my child, you bring me a better line
'Cause there's something wrong, woman don't start that lies there's something wrong
I never had such mix-ups in my family, since I was born
First it's loop-footin', and its head is long
And it's been half nuts ever since you brought it back home
So there's something wrong, I mean there's something wrong
Oh, take it back where you got it, woman 'cause depression is on
Now his eyes is blue, and his hair's brown
You know darn well you've been messin' around
So take that lie off of me, I mean take that lie off of me
Woman you had a twelve-month vacation, so don't put that lie on me
Now his head is nappy, and his feets is long, his eyes is crossed, and his sight is gone
You know there's something wrong, yes, woman there's something wrong
I never had nothing like that in my family, woman since I was born
Now I said it wasn't my child and you argued me down,
now my eyes ain't blue and my hair ain't brown
Woman you've been messin' around, yes,woman you've been messin' around
So woman get out of my face, or I take my fist and knock you down
"Low Down St. Louis Blues"
I love my St. Louis women, but their ways I really can't stand
I love my St. Louis women, but their ways I really can't stand
They always bettin' some woman, how she can take her man
My woman dips snuff
, and she drinks a good old homemade corn
My woman dips her snuff, and she drinks a good old homemade corn
She get as drunk as she can be, then she fight for the whole night long
And I got another gal, live down on Deep Morgan Street
And I got another gal, she lives down on Deep Morgan Street
If she don't kill a man every day, all I can do is to keep 'r off of me
She drinks her homemade corn whiskey, blackjack and a razor's her friend
She drinks her homemade corn whiskey, a blackjack and a razor's her friend
And she loves to kill a man, just like the devil loves sin
Boys I got another gal, she lives down on Walnut Street
Boys I got another gal, she lives down on Walnut Street
My other gal is so bad, the cops is scared to walk the beat
She can make a blackjack talk and a razor fairly moan
She can make a blackjack talk and a razor fairly moan
From the way that gal kill up men, the graveyard ain't got much more room
"Dont Drive Me From Your Door"
Just look how it's rainin', my feet's on the ground
Just look how it's rainin', and my poor feet's on the ground
For the woman I've made happy, well she's after every man in town
Friends please open your door, and don't drive me away
Please open your door, and don't drive me away
The rent man has put me outdoors, and I've got no place to stay
Let me stay here tonight, it's ice all on the ground
Let me stay here tonight, it's ice all over the ground
Cause I'm motherless and I'm fatherless, and please don't turn me down
When I had plenty money, I had friends all over town
When I had plenty of money, I had friends all over town
But just as soon as I got outdoors, none of my friends could be found
After mother and father's gone, a dollar's your right-hand friend
After mother and father's gone, dollar's your right-hand friend
Then after your last dollar's gone, you're like a road that has no end
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lord where will I go
I'm beggin' you my friend, don't drive me from your door
I cannot sleep on the ground, there's nothing but ice and snow
Jelly Roll Baker
She said, 'Mr. Jellyroll Baker
Let me be your slave
When Gabriel blows his trumpet
Then I'll rise from my grave
For some-a your jellyro-oll
Yes, I love a good jellyroll'
It is good for the sick
Yes, and it's good for the old'
I was sentenced for murder
In the 1st degree
*The judge's wife called up and says
'Let that man go free'
He's a jellyroll baker
He's got the best jellyroll in town
He's the only man can bake jellyroll
With his damper down
Once in a hospital
Shot all full-a holes
The nurse left the man dyin'
An says he's got to get her jellyroll
His good old jell-e-e-y
She says, 'I love my good jellyroll'
She says, 'I ruther let him lose his life
Than to miss my good jellyroll'
Lady asked me who learnt me
How to bake good jellyroll?
I says, 'It's nobody, Miss
'It's just a gift from my soul'
To bake good jellyro-oll
Mmm-mmm, that good ol' jellyroll
She says, 'I love your jellyroll
It do's me good deep down in my soul
She says, 'Can I put in a order
For two weeks ahead?
I'd ruther have your jelly-roll
Than my home-cooked bread'
I love your jell-e-e-y
I love your good jellyroll
It's just like Maxwell House Coffee
It's good, deep down in my soul.
CD REVIEWS
Ballads and Blues, Lonnie Johnson and Elmer Snowden, Vanguard Records, 1960
Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time blues artists that were the passion of my youth (and still are). So this writer, who thought he had heard virtually all the key blues men and women of the old days, got his comeuppance recently when the name of Lonnie Johnson and his version of the classic double-entendre "Jelly Roll Baker" came up. To name drop just a little, the occasion was a local reunion of Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band from the 1960’s (that also included Geoff’s ex-wife and great performer in her own right, Maria Muldaur). They did a stirring rendition of the song and attributed it to the performer under review here. After scratching my head I ran out to get some more of Brother Lonnie’s work and I am here to tell you- get this CD because if you have any interest at all in the blues you will not be disappointed.
Why this particular album to start out with? Well, it features Lonnie Johnson and long time friend Elmer Snowden together for the first time although early on (back in the 1920’s) they had worked together on some blues and jazz albums. That is, perhaps, why this work is interesting as an example of that closeness between the jazz and blues idioms before those musical forms parted ways sometime in the late 1940’s. As others have mentioned Johnson, the father of single-note six-string soloing, is in a strangely haunting voice on this selection of blues, ballads, and jazz, crooning the double-entendre "Jelly Roll Baker" and the heartache-laden "Back Water Blues". I cannot add much to that description except you cannot go wrong by giving Haunted House, the first cut, a listen. That sets the mood. Finally, let me say WOW!
"Why Should I Grieve After You're Gone (1927)"
After you're gone, I'm left all alone.
Just feeling blue, all depending on you.
Not even the telephone, it don't ring anymore.
Not even the sun that shines, don't shine in my door anymore.
Since youâ've been gone away, many a million miles away.
I will give you a million smiles a day, to keep your blues away.
As the sun go down, and the wrong news, no play.
As the time goes lower and lower and lower, there's only you.
While I'm feeling blue, just feeling blue.
I would be happy today, but it all depends on you.
As the sun go down, and sinks behind the trees.
And just before it falls, I will answer to your calls.
When you're a million, million miles away, I will give you a million smiles a day.
That's because I love you, and wants to keep your blues away.
"Big Leg Woman"
Yes, I've got me a big legged woman, that solid rocks my soul
Yes, I've got me a big legged woman, that solid rocks my soul
And every time she turns the lights down low, Jack that's when I give up all my gold
She's so fine, she's so mellow, the rest I can't explain
Yes, she's so fine, she's so mellow, rest I can't explain
Way my baby stacked up, it's enough to drive the average cat insane
Yes, she's got great big legs, so pleasin' on the eye
Yes, she's got those great big legs, so pleasin' on the eye
And the preacher walked by, turned around and looked, Jack and hollered "My, my, my!"
She's got those big brown eyes, yes and she's somethin' really fine
Yes, she's got those big brown eyes, Jack she's somethin' really fine
And the best part about it, Jack she's mine, all mine!
"Cat You Been Messin' Around"
Now look here woman, you done lost your mind,
this is not my child, you bring me a better line
'Cause there's something wrong, woman don't start that lies there's something wrong
I never had such mix-ups in my family, since I was born
First it's loop-footin', and its head is long
And it's been half nuts ever since you brought it back home
So there's something wrong, I mean there's something wrong
Oh, take it back where you got it, woman 'cause depression is on
Now his eyes is blue, and his hair's brown
You know darn well you've been messin' around
So take that lie off of me, I mean take that lie off of me
Woman you had a twelve-month vacation, so don't put that lie on me
Now his head is nappy, and his feets is long, his eyes is crossed, and his sight is gone
You know there's something wrong, yes, woman there's something wrong
I never had nothing like that in my family, woman since I was born
Now I said it wasn't my child and you argued me down,
now my eyes ain't blue and my hair ain't brown
Woman you've been messin' around, yes,woman you've been messin' around
So woman get out of my face, or I take my fist and knock you down
"Low Down St. Louis Blues"
I love my St. Louis women, but their ways I really can't stand
I love my St. Louis women, but their ways I really can't stand
They always bettin' some woman, how she can take her man
My woman dips snuff
, and she drinks a good old homemade corn
My woman dips her snuff, and she drinks a good old homemade corn
She get as drunk as she can be, then she fight for the whole night long
And I got another gal, live down on Deep Morgan Street
And I got another gal, she lives down on Deep Morgan Street
If she don't kill a man every day, all I can do is to keep 'r off of me
She drinks her homemade corn whiskey, blackjack and a razor's her friend
She drinks her homemade corn whiskey, a blackjack and a razor's her friend
And she loves to kill a man, just like the devil loves sin
Boys I got another gal, she lives down on Walnut Street
Boys I got another gal, she lives down on Walnut Street
My other gal is so bad, the cops is scared to walk the beat
She can make a blackjack talk and a razor fairly moan
She can make a blackjack talk and a razor fairly moan
From the way that gal kill up men, the graveyard ain't got much more room
"Dont Drive Me From Your Door"
Just look how it's rainin', my feet's on the ground
Just look how it's rainin', and my poor feet's on the ground
For the woman I've made happy, well she's after every man in town
Friends please open your door, and don't drive me away
Please open your door, and don't drive me away
The rent man has put me outdoors, and I've got no place to stay
Let me stay here tonight, it's ice all on the ground
Let me stay here tonight, it's ice all over the ground
Cause I'm motherless and I'm fatherless, and please don't turn me down
When I had plenty money, I had friends all over town
When I had plenty of money, I had friends all over town
But just as soon as I got outdoors, none of my friends could be found
After mother and father's gone, a dollar's your right-hand friend
After mother and father's gone, dollar's your right-hand friend
Then after your last dollar's gone, you're like a road that has no end
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lord where will I go
I'm beggin' you my friend, don't drive me from your door
I cannot sleep on the ground, there's nothing but ice and snow
Jelly Roll Baker
She said, 'Mr. Jellyroll Baker
Let me be your slave
When Gabriel blows his trumpet
Then I'll rise from my grave
For some-a your jellyro-oll
Yes, I love a good jellyroll'
It is good for the sick
Yes, and it's good for the old'
I was sentenced for murder
In the 1st degree
*The judge's wife called up and says
'Let that man go free'
He's a jellyroll baker
He's got the best jellyroll in town
He's the only man can bake jellyroll
With his damper down
Once in a hospital
Shot all full-a holes
The nurse left the man dyin'
An says he's got to get her jellyroll
His good old jell-e-e-y
She says, 'I love my good jellyroll'
She says, 'I ruther let him lose his life
Than to miss my good jellyroll'
Lady asked me who learnt me
How to bake good jellyroll?
I says, 'It's nobody, Miss
'It's just a gift from my soul'
To bake good jellyro-oll
Mmm-mmm, that good ol' jellyroll
She says, 'I love your jellyroll
It do's me good deep down in my soul
She says, 'Can I put in a order
For two weeks ahead?
I'd ruther have your jelly-roll
Than my home-cooked bread'
I love your jell-e-e-y
I love your good jellyroll
It's just like Maxwell House Coffee
It's good, deep down in my soul.
*The "Jelly Roll Baker" Is In The House- The Blues Of Lonnie Johnson
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lonnie Johnson Doing "Got The Blues For Murder Only".
CD REVIEW
Steppin’ The Blues, Lonnie Johnson, Columbia Records, 1990.
Parts of the following have been used in a review of Lonnie Johnson Blues and Ballads CD (hereafter B&B).
Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time blues artists that were the passion of my youth (and still are). So this writer, who thought he had heard virtually all the key blues men and women of the old days, got his comeuppance a while back when the name of Lonnie Johnson and his version of the classic double-entendre song “Jelly Roll Baker” came up. To name drop just a little, the occasion was a local reunion of Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band from the 1960’s (that also included Geoff’s ex-wife and great performer in her own right, Maria Muldaur). They did a stirring rendition of the song and attributed it to the performer under review here. After scratching my head I ran out to get some more of Brother Lonnie’s work and as noted above I have fulsomely praised his B&B CD in this space.
Although this CD has merit musically and certainly has historical worth as a comparison of young Lonnie Johnson in the 1920’s to the later B&B Lonnie this is one time when aging seems to have created a better body of work. A comparison of “I’m Nuts About That Gal” (really an early version of his classic “Jelly Roll Baker”) and the “Jelly Roll Baker” of the B&B make my point succinctly. That said, the noted Johnson guitar work is highlighted on “Guitar Blues”, the novelty sassy song in two parts “Toothache Blues” and “Deep Blue Sea Blues”. That is why you want this album.
CD REVIEW
Steppin’ The Blues, Lonnie Johnson, Columbia Records, 1990.
Parts of the following have been used in a review of Lonnie Johnson Blues and Ballads CD (hereafter B&B).
Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time blues artists that were the passion of my youth (and still are). So this writer, who thought he had heard virtually all the key blues men and women of the old days, got his comeuppance a while back when the name of Lonnie Johnson and his version of the classic double-entendre song “Jelly Roll Baker” came up. To name drop just a little, the occasion was a local reunion of Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band from the 1960’s (that also included Geoff’s ex-wife and great performer in her own right, Maria Muldaur). They did a stirring rendition of the song and attributed it to the performer under review here. After scratching my head I ran out to get some more of Brother Lonnie’s work and as noted above I have fulsomely praised his B&B CD in this space.
Although this CD has merit musically and certainly has historical worth as a comparison of young Lonnie Johnson in the 1920’s to the later B&B Lonnie this is one time when aging seems to have created a better body of work. A comparison of “I’m Nuts About That Gal” (really an early version of his classic “Jelly Roll Baker”) and the “Jelly Roll Baker” of the B&B make my point succinctly. That said, the noted Johnson guitar work is highlighted on “Guitar Blues”, the novelty sassy song in two parts “Toothache Blues” and “Deep Blue Sea Blues”. That is why you want this album.
Friday, May 08, 2009
*The Zen Of Golf And The Struggle For Socialism
Click On Title To Link To United States Golf Association web site. That is the golf part. The Zen and Socialism part you are on your own.
Commentary
Has old Markin finally gone off the deep end? Golf, Zen and socialism under the same headline. What gives? What gives is this. It is spring time in New England when a man’s thoughts (or at least this man’s thoughts) turn to the need to get to the great outdoor. To commune with nature. To smell the roses. In short, to get to the local public golf course and tempt fate and incur the ire of the golf gods. For those of a certain age though this thought may seem to place me in the category of “counter-revolutionary” Trotskyites that I have, more than once in my life, been accused of being. Why?
Back in the days, in the late 1960’s, “when to be young was very heaven” those of us who considered ourselves either politically or culturally radical would probably have heartily endorsed the slogan “burn down the country clubs”. And we would not have been too far off then, or now. The late Wobblie folk singer/songwriter Utah Phillips has spun more than one on-target line about the usual denizens of such haunts. Golf and its earliest manifestations in a conservative country club ethos were the stuff of bourgeois life, leisure and status and begged to be made fun of. The novelist John O’Hara made a literary career in the mid-20th century writing of the foibles and follies of the mainly conservative and status conscious American country club set, most notably in “Appointment In Samarra” That book is still a good read to get the feel of being trapped in that world. More recently and vividly the Ponzi artist supreme, Bernard Madoff, worked his financial ‘magic’ among a more contemporary section of that set down in Palm Beach, Florida.
All the above points are very true. As far as they go in our hatred of the ethos of the country club set. There is another aspect, however, that ‘corrects’ our youthful misunderstanding of the aims of socialism, our capacity to fight for it and our staying power in that struggle. I do not know if it was the old, somewhat dour, picture of what a Bolshevik existence was to be like that colored our perceptions, handed down by the old time Stalinists (except, of course, the conduct of the privileged bureaucrats). Or if it was the pressure to seem to be “at one” with the workers by scorning various bourgeois lifestyle traditions but somewhere along the line the sense of the need for more opportunities for rest and relaxation rather than less got thrown by the wayside. To the contrary the idea of socialism, at least any socialism worth fighting for and asking others to fight for as well, is to increase socially useful productive capacity, redistribute goods more equitably and thus allow for greater free time for creative activities. Or just hit golf balls, if one so desires.
Although, admittedly, we are far away from that socialist goal today those who fight under the banner of socialism need to keep some balance in their lives in order to stay with the struggle. Thus, a certified revolutionary leader like Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx’ life long co-thinker, liked to fox hunt while in his British exile. While I fully support Oscar Wilde’s comment about the ‘virtues’ of that endeavor that was Engels’ “thing”. The Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, after Vladimir Lenin the best and most well-known Bolshevik, liked to hunt, fish and later in life collect cacti. None of those hobbies are particularly associated with strictly proletarian social interests. In short, other than some patently illegal or outrageous activity, one’s personal forms of relaxation are no one’s concern. That, moreover, is probably the secret to the staying power of these great revolutionaries mentioned above. They were in it for the long haul and balanced their personal lives accordingly.
But why golf rather than, let us say, bowling or stamp collecting? Well, go back to that first paragraph about communing with nature. Most golf courses located near urban centers offer interesting natural sites like woods, ponds and sand that one can become very familiar with if one’s golf ball goes astray. Moreover, nobody should object to getting a little walking in and to get out in the sunshine and away from the damn computer for a bit. But here is the Zen part. For this average golfer there is nothing like hitting a golf shot from about 150 yards away and having it land on the green (the target area for the shot for those who do not know the game). That is what now passes for “very heaven”. And then make the putt (put it in the hole). Nirvana.
Commentary
Has old Markin finally gone off the deep end? Golf, Zen and socialism under the same headline. What gives? What gives is this. It is spring time in New England when a man’s thoughts (or at least this man’s thoughts) turn to the need to get to the great outdoor. To commune with nature. To smell the roses. In short, to get to the local public golf course and tempt fate and incur the ire of the golf gods. For those of a certain age though this thought may seem to place me in the category of “counter-revolutionary” Trotskyites that I have, more than once in my life, been accused of being. Why?
Back in the days, in the late 1960’s, “when to be young was very heaven” those of us who considered ourselves either politically or culturally radical would probably have heartily endorsed the slogan “burn down the country clubs”. And we would not have been too far off then, or now. The late Wobblie folk singer/songwriter Utah Phillips has spun more than one on-target line about the usual denizens of such haunts. Golf and its earliest manifestations in a conservative country club ethos were the stuff of bourgeois life, leisure and status and begged to be made fun of. The novelist John O’Hara made a literary career in the mid-20th century writing of the foibles and follies of the mainly conservative and status conscious American country club set, most notably in “Appointment In Samarra” That book is still a good read to get the feel of being trapped in that world. More recently and vividly the Ponzi artist supreme, Bernard Madoff, worked his financial ‘magic’ among a more contemporary section of that set down in Palm Beach, Florida.
All the above points are very true. As far as they go in our hatred of the ethos of the country club set. There is another aspect, however, that ‘corrects’ our youthful misunderstanding of the aims of socialism, our capacity to fight for it and our staying power in that struggle. I do not know if it was the old, somewhat dour, picture of what a Bolshevik existence was to be like that colored our perceptions, handed down by the old time Stalinists (except, of course, the conduct of the privileged bureaucrats). Or if it was the pressure to seem to be “at one” with the workers by scorning various bourgeois lifestyle traditions but somewhere along the line the sense of the need for more opportunities for rest and relaxation rather than less got thrown by the wayside. To the contrary the idea of socialism, at least any socialism worth fighting for and asking others to fight for as well, is to increase socially useful productive capacity, redistribute goods more equitably and thus allow for greater free time for creative activities. Or just hit golf balls, if one so desires.
Although, admittedly, we are far away from that socialist goal today those who fight under the banner of socialism need to keep some balance in their lives in order to stay with the struggle. Thus, a certified revolutionary leader like Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx’ life long co-thinker, liked to fox hunt while in his British exile. While I fully support Oscar Wilde’s comment about the ‘virtues’ of that endeavor that was Engels’ “thing”. The Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, after Vladimir Lenin the best and most well-known Bolshevik, liked to hunt, fish and later in life collect cacti. None of those hobbies are particularly associated with strictly proletarian social interests. In short, other than some patently illegal or outrageous activity, one’s personal forms of relaxation are no one’s concern. That, moreover, is probably the secret to the staying power of these great revolutionaries mentioned above. They were in it for the long haul and balanced their personal lives accordingly.
But why golf rather than, let us say, bowling or stamp collecting? Well, go back to that first paragraph about communing with nature. Most golf courses located near urban centers offer interesting natural sites like woods, ponds and sand that one can become very familiar with if one’s golf ball goes astray. Moreover, nobody should object to getting a little walking in and to get out in the sunshine and away from the damn computer for a bit. But here is the Zen part. For this average golfer there is nothing like hitting a golf shot from about 150 yards away and having it land on the green (the target area for the shot for those who do not know the game). That is what now passes for “very heaven”. And then make the putt (put it in the hole). Nirvana.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
*From The Archives Of "Women And Revolution"-Down with the Reactionary Anti-Porn Crusade!
Click on the headline to link to a Website featuring the paintings, nude and non-nude of the great artist, Titian. Close your eyes if you are offended by the nudes. Okay.
Markin comment:
The following is an article from the Spring 1985 issue of "Women and Revolution" that may have some historical interest for old "new leftists", perhaps, and well as for younger militants interested in various cultural and social questions that intersect the class struggle. Or for those just interested in a Marxist position on a series of social questions that are thrust upon us by the vagaries of bourgeois society. I will be posting more such articles from the back issues of "Women and Revolution" during Women's History Month and periodically throughout the year.
**********
Down with the Reactionary Anti-Porn Crusade!
Granddaughters of Carry Nation in Bed with Jerry Falwell
Reprinted from Young Spartacus No. 123, December 1984/January 1985
MADISON— Formerly a hotbed of campus protest, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's "radical" reputation has given way in large part to smug, "me generation" liberalism. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), scabs on the anti-Vietnam War movement, carry a lot of weight in city and county government. With prudery that suits Madison's Protestant environs, "alternative" lifestylism has been institutionalized. You will live a wholesome life. Some manifestations are just plain silly: Madison was declared a "nuclear-free zone" and sandwiches come with beansprouts whether you order them or not. Some are absolutely infuriating: liquor stores close, at 9:00 p.m. and you can't buy cigarettes anywhere on the huge UW campus.
The latest target for moral uplift of the community is pornography—Penthouse and Playboy have been pulled from the Student Union newsstand on the dubious grounds of "low circulation." DSAer Kathleen Nichols, a Dane County supervisor, is proposing legislation modeled on Andrea Dworkin's Minneapolis ordinance to make pornography a civil rights violation. Material in which "people" are "reduced to body parts," "presented in postures of sexual submission" or "presented as whores by nature" would be outlawed (Badger-Herald, 8 November 1984)! Under this law, you can't consent to buy, sell, photograph or pose for pornographic pictures. As the Badger-Herald commented, "Groups normally in solidarity, such as pseudo-feminists and homosexuals, are at odds. Groups normally in opposition, such as pseudo-feminists and the local fundamentalist ministers, support the ordinance." Talk about obscene!
We print below a slightly edited version of the Spartacus Youth League statement submitted to the Madison Isthmus and UW Daily Cardinal. It appeared in a shortened version in the Isthmus (16 November 1984) while the Cardinal has refused to publish it.
Contrary to prevailing liberal opinion, Madison is part of Reagan's USA, albeit with a twist. Witness the New Right's drive to "clean up America." It's going strong in Madison. There's legislation to ban dirty pictures. On 19 October 1984, demonstrators picketed at a State Street porno store; someone stenciled "Burn Me Down" on the wall—and they mean it. Rampaging fundamentalists? Nope. This particular anti-sex crusade is led by Madison's "alternative" to the Army of God— the "radical" feminists.
Finding Robin Morgan in bed with Jerry Falwell may surprise some who thought feminism had something to do with women's liberation. After all, the '60s feminists posed as right-on revolutionaries. They rejected "male-defined" sex roles, denounced "family values" as scams to keep women isolated, dependent, condemned to domestic servitude. They worried about racism and poor people. But the feminists never opposed the oppressive capitalist system itself: their "program" consists of escapist lifestylism, "consciousness raising," "women's" vegetarian co-ops. That's why the feminist "movement" didn't move. It remained confined to rarefied microcosms like Madison, lily-white and middle-class.
What's left of the "movement" no longer even worries about real human oppression. While the feminists are busy trying to stamp out fishnet stockings and high heels, genuine assaults on women's rights go unanswered. Legalized abortion is seriously threatened; abortion clinics get firebombed, their patients harassed, but you don't hear a peep from the feminists. Then there's the case of Patricia Ridge—a single, black, working mother. Last year her five-year-old son was shot pointblank in her bedroom in a Los Angeles-area housing project by a white cop. The cop got off, but a grand jury tried to charge her with everything from child neglect to Murder Two. The Marxist Spartacist League came to her defense. But the organized feminists did nothing. For them, "women's oppression" equals nude photos: they're blind to real class and race oppression facing working-class and black women.
This "Take Back the Night" crusade is a slice of middle America at its worst—about as progressive as forbidding sex education. It dovetails with the current incitement of every backward, sexist, racist, jingoistic prejudice of American society in preparation for war against the USSR. The Democrats and Republicans have been humming "Onward Christian Soldiers" since Cold War II began under born-again Jimmy Carter; with Reagan the crusade has reached new lows. They both want a "prepared" society with social relations straight out of "Leave It To Beaver." No "extramarital" sex, no porn, no abortion, no gays.
The feminists even share Cold War/Moral Majority terminology (e.g., "Porn is the new terrorism"). And there's a certain ideological congruence. The feminists basically buy the Moral Majority's "me Tarzan, you Jane" view of human sexuality: women are gentle nurturers, children are "innocent" and asexual, while men are sexual aggressors. That's what "Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice" boils down to: men are barely controlled rapists—all it takes is a little leg to set 'em off. In that case, why stop with censoring Penthouse? According to Annie Laurie Gaylor, editor of the Feminist Connection, Rubens and Titian can go too: they painted women ravished by swans! (Perhaps when Gaylor leaves the Connection, she can get a job at the Elvehjem Museum chiseling the genitals off classical statues.)
Then there's the touchy question of First Amendment rights. With the exception of the rabid crackpot Andrea Dworkin, most feminists try to squeak past it by making a snooty differentiation between pornography and "erotica." It works like this. "Erotica" is printed on expensive paper with "tasteful" hand-drawn illustrations; "pornography" goes for $2.50, with tacky overexposed photos. As the saying goes, "perversion" is what you aren't into.
As Marxists, the Spartacist League and Spartacus Youth League oppose all attempts at puritanical censorship, whether launched by outright reactionaries or feminist ayatollahs. You can't legislate sexuality. We defend the right of consenting individuals in any combination of age, race, sex, in any number, to engage in the sexual activity of their choice—or look at the photos of their choice—without state intervention.
Pornography is not violence: it's fantasy. Rape is a form of violent criminal assault. Among other things, we advocate the repeal of gun control laws: women should have the right to carry arms and use them in self-defense. To argue that "porn is rape" or, like Robin Morgan, that any sex not initiated by a woman is rape, is—aside from being pretty damned presumptuous— to trivialize and confuse the issue. Capitalist society— its forced poverty, rigid family structure, hypocritical straitjacket morality—breeds the poisonous frustrations that explode in violence. The liberation of women requires getting rid of the repressive constraints imposed on women by the nuclear family, thus creating the possibility of new relationships based on social equality—free from compulsion and stultifying "moral" restrictions. In short, women's liberation requires socialist revolution.
While the feminist anti-porn crusaders rely on candlelight vigils, their Reaganite allies have access to systematic state repression and vigilante terror. And Reagan has launched a full-scale attack on democratic rights. Political opposition becomes "terrorism." Cop/ media hysteria about child abuse at daycare centers carries the message that the only safe place for kids is locked up at home with a non-working mom. If your sexual preference doesn't suit Jerry Falwell, you could be locked up for life.
That's no idle threat. The campaign for "decency" has been viciously anti-gay from the start. Vanessa Williams lost her crown not least because those photos were of lesbian sex. Boston-area photographer George Jacobs got 20 years for the "crime" of having consensual sex with his 14-year-old roommate. Jacobs was tested to determine if he was a "sexually dangerous person" and could have been put away in a mental hospital permanently. The cops and press went wild over NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association), an organization for the defense of civil rights of "men and boys involved in consensual sexual and other relationships with each other." NAMBLA members were beaten, framed and sent to psychiatric institutions. And that's nothing compared with the Justice Department's plan to research "behavior modification, chemical treatments, physiological stud¬ies of those suspected of psychosexual dysfunction—as evidenced by...their divorces or homosexuality" (Village Voice, 7 August 1984)!
The reactionary nature of anti-porn legislation masquerading as protection of "civil rights" is spelled out in a new law pending in Suffolk County, New York. The bill is identical to Dworkin's Minneapolis anti-porn law, minus feminist verbiage. It's sponsored by groups like the National Federation for Decency (an actual organization!) explicitly to "wipe out sodomy" and, according-to one supporter, "pornography [that] could cause social decay leading to a possible communist takeover"!
It's not like the feminists can't smell this anti-gay stench; far from it. Kathleen Nichols, lesbian activist member of the "Democratic" Socialists of America, is the Dane County supervisor behind the Madison censorship. This bigot told OUT! magazine that if the ordinance closes adult bookstores where gay men meet, all the better to stop AIDS because "that kind of anonymous sexual congress has resulted in 5500 cases of AIDS" (OUT!, September 1984). For this anti-democratic liberal, male gay sex is a health hazard. This is vile anti-gay bigotry. Do lesbians active in the anti-porn movement believe that once they outlaw everyone else's sexual practices, their own will be protected? They're on mighty thin ice. Check out Khomeini's Iran: no porn there—and they stone homosexuals to death.
Pornography reflects, and only reflects, some human behavior. In this violent, irrational society, those reflections sometimes aren't pretty: but you can't change society by changing its images on a screen. "Positive images" won't materially advance the cause of women's equality any more than those movies with Sidney Poitier as the black neurosurgeon changed the harsh reality of racist oppression. Socialist revolution alone can create the economic basis to replace the nuclear family and liberate women. We don't pretend to know what human relations in socialist society will be like. But we assume that, liberated from the artificial constraints currently imposed on human expression, sexuality under socialism will be more free, more open, more tolerant, more rich and more diverse. May the day come soon.
Carla Norris
for the Spartacus Youth League
Markin comment:
The following is an article from the Spring 1985 issue of "Women and Revolution" that may have some historical interest for old "new leftists", perhaps, and well as for younger militants interested in various cultural and social questions that intersect the class struggle. Or for those just interested in a Marxist position on a series of social questions that are thrust upon us by the vagaries of bourgeois society. I will be posting more such articles from the back issues of "Women and Revolution" during Women's History Month and periodically throughout the year.
**********
Down with the Reactionary Anti-Porn Crusade!
Granddaughters of Carry Nation in Bed with Jerry Falwell
Reprinted from Young Spartacus No. 123, December 1984/January 1985
MADISON— Formerly a hotbed of campus protest, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's "radical" reputation has given way in large part to smug, "me generation" liberalism. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), scabs on the anti-Vietnam War movement, carry a lot of weight in city and county government. With prudery that suits Madison's Protestant environs, "alternative" lifestylism has been institutionalized. You will live a wholesome life. Some manifestations are just plain silly: Madison was declared a "nuclear-free zone" and sandwiches come with beansprouts whether you order them or not. Some are absolutely infuriating: liquor stores close, at 9:00 p.m. and you can't buy cigarettes anywhere on the huge UW campus.
The latest target for moral uplift of the community is pornography—Penthouse and Playboy have been pulled from the Student Union newsstand on the dubious grounds of "low circulation." DSAer Kathleen Nichols, a Dane County supervisor, is proposing legislation modeled on Andrea Dworkin's Minneapolis ordinance to make pornography a civil rights violation. Material in which "people" are "reduced to body parts," "presented in postures of sexual submission" or "presented as whores by nature" would be outlawed (Badger-Herald, 8 November 1984)! Under this law, you can't consent to buy, sell, photograph or pose for pornographic pictures. As the Badger-Herald commented, "Groups normally in solidarity, such as pseudo-feminists and homosexuals, are at odds. Groups normally in opposition, such as pseudo-feminists and the local fundamentalist ministers, support the ordinance." Talk about obscene!
We print below a slightly edited version of the Spartacus Youth League statement submitted to the Madison Isthmus and UW Daily Cardinal. It appeared in a shortened version in the Isthmus (16 November 1984) while the Cardinal has refused to publish it.
Contrary to prevailing liberal opinion, Madison is part of Reagan's USA, albeit with a twist. Witness the New Right's drive to "clean up America." It's going strong in Madison. There's legislation to ban dirty pictures. On 19 October 1984, demonstrators picketed at a State Street porno store; someone stenciled "Burn Me Down" on the wall—and they mean it. Rampaging fundamentalists? Nope. This particular anti-sex crusade is led by Madison's "alternative" to the Army of God— the "radical" feminists.
Finding Robin Morgan in bed with Jerry Falwell may surprise some who thought feminism had something to do with women's liberation. After all, the '60s feminists posed as right-on revolutionaries. They rejected "male-defined" sex roles, denounced "family values" as scams to keep women isolated, dependent, condemned to domestic servitude. They worried about racism and poor people. But the feminists never opposed the oppressive capitalist system itself: their "program" consists of escapist lifestylism, "consciousness raising," "women's" vegetarian co-ops. That's why the feminist "movement" didn't move. It remained confined to rarefied microcosms like Madison, lily-white and middle-class.
What's left of the "movement" no longer even worries about real human oppression. While the feminists are busy trying to stamp out fishnet stockings and high heels, genuine assaults on women's rights go unanswered. Legalized abortion is seriously threatened; abortion clinics get firebombed, their patients harassed, but you don't hear a peep from the feminists. Then there's the case of Patricia Ridge—a single, black, working mother. Last year her five-year-old son was shot pointblank in her bedroom in a Los Angeles-area housing project by a white cop. The cop got off, but a grand jury tried to charge her with everything from child neglect to Murder Two. The Marxist Spartacist League came to her defense. But the organized feminists did nothing. For them, "women's oppression" equals nude photos: they're blind to real class and race oppression facing working-class and black women.
This "Take Back the Night" crusade is a slice of middle America at its worst—about as progressive as forbidding sex education. It dovetails with the current incitement of every backward, sexist, racist, jingoistic prejudice of American society in preparation for war against the USSR. The Democrats and Republicans have been humming "Onward Christian Soldiers" since Cold War II began under born-again Jimmy Carter; with Reagan the crusade has reached new lows. They both want a "prepared" society with social relations straight out of "Leave It To Beaver." No "extramarital" sex, no porn, no abortion, no gays.
The feminists even share Cold War/Moral Majority terminology (e.g., "Porn is the new terrorism"). And there's a certain ideological congruence. The feminists basically buy the Moral Majority's "me Tarzan, you Jane" view of human sexuality: women are gentle nurturers, children are "innocent" and asexual, while men are sexual aggressors. That's what "Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice" boils down to: men are barely controlled rapists—all it takes is a little leg to set 'em off. In that case, why stop with censoring Penthouse? According to Annie Laurie Gaylor, editor of the Feminist Connection, Rubens and Titian can go too: they painted women ravished by swans! (Perhaps when Gaylor leaves the Connection, she can get a job at the Elvehjem Museum chiseling the genitals off classical statues.)
Then there's the touchy question of First Amendment rights. With the exception of the rabid crackpot Andrea Dworkin, most feminists try to squeak past it by making a snooty differentiation between pornography and "erotica." It works like this. "Erotica" is printed on expensive paper with "tasteful" hand-drawn illustrations; "pornography" goes for $2.50, with tacky overexposed photos. As the saying goes, "perversion" is what you aren't into.
As Marxists, the Spartacist League and Spartacus Youth League oppose all attempts at puritanical censorship, whether launched by outright reactionaries or feminist ayatollahs. You can't legislate sexuality. We defend the right of consenting individuals in any combination of age, race, sex, in any number, to engage in the sexual activity of their choice—or look at the photos of their choice—without state intervention.
Pornography is not violence: it's fantasy. Rape is a form of violent criminal assault. Among other things, we advocate the repeal of gun control laws: women should have the right to carry arms and use them in self-defense. To argue that "porn is rape" or, like Robin Morgan, that any sex not initiated by a woman is rape, is—aside from being pretty damned presumptuous— to trivialize and confuse the issue. Capitalist society— its forced poverty, rigid family structure, hypocritical straitjacket morality—breeds the poisonous frustrations that explode in violence. The liberation of women requires getting rid of the repressive constraints imposed on women by the nuclear family, thus creating the possibility of new relationships based on social equality—free from compulsion and stultifying "moral" restrictions. In short, women's liberation requires socialist revolution.
While the feminist anti-porn crusaders rely on candlelight vigils, their Reaganite allies have access to systematic state repression and vigilante terror. And Reagan has launched a full-scale attack on democratic rights. Political opposition becomes "terrorism." Cop/ media hysteria about child abuse at daycare centers carries the message that the only safe place for kids is locked up at home with a non-working mom. If your sexual preference doesn't suit Jerry Falwell, you could be locked up for life.
That's no idle threat. The campaign for "decency" has been viciously anti-gay from the start. Vanessa Williams lost her crown not least because those photos were of lesbian sex. Boston-area photographer George Jacobs got 20 years for the "crime" of having consensual sex with his 14-year-old roommate. Jacobs was tested to determine if he was a "sexually dangerous person" and could have been put away in a mental hospital permanently. The cops and press went wild over NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association), an organization for the defense of civil rights of "men and boys involved in consensual sexual and other relationships with each other." NAMBLA members were beaten, framed and sent to psychiatric institutions. And that's nothing compared with the Justice Department's plan to research "behavior modification, chemical treatments, physiological stud¬ies of those suspected of psychosexual dysfunction—as evidenced by...their divorces or homosexuality" (Village Voice, 7 August 1984)!
The reactionary nature of anti-porn legislation masquerading as protection of "civil rights" is spelled out in a new law pending in Suffolk County, New York. The bill is identical to Dworkin's Minneapolis anti-porn law, minus feminist verbiage. It's sponsored by groups like the National Federation for Decency (an actual organization!) explicitly to "wipe out sodomy" and, according-to one supporter, "pornography [that] could cause social decay leading to a possible communist takeover"!
It's not like the feminists can't smell this anti-gay stench; far from it. Kathleen Nichols, lesbian activist member of the "Democratic" Socialists of America, is the Dane County supervisor behind the Madison censorship. This bigot told OUT! magazine that if the ordinance closes adult bookstores where gay men meet, all the better to stop AIDS because "that kind of anonymous sexual congress has resulted in 5500 cases of AIDS" (OUT!, September 1984). For this anti-democratic liberal, male gay sex is a health hazard. This is vile anti-gay bigotry. Do lesbians active in the anti-porn movement believe that once they outlaw everyone else's sexual practices, their own will be protected? They're on mighty thin ice. Check out Khomeini's Iran: no porn there—and they stone homosexuals to death.
Pornography reflects, and only reflects, some human behavior. In this violent, irrational society, those reflections sometimes aren't pretty: but you can't change society by changing its images on a screen. "Positive images" won't materially advance the cause of women's equality any more than those movies with Sidney Poitier as the black neurosurgeon changed the harsh reality of racist oppression. Socialist revolution alone can create the economic basis to replace the nuclear family and liberate women. We don't pretend to know what human relations in socialist society will be like. But we assume that, liberated from the artificial constraints currently imposed on human expression, sexuality under socialism will be more free, more open, more tolerant, more rich and more diverse. May the day come soon.
Carla Norris
for the Spartacus Youth League
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
*The First Family Of Mountain Music-The Carter Family-"Country Legends"
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Carter Family Doing "My Clinch Mountain Home".
CD Review
RCA Country Legends: The Carter Family, The Carter Family, RCA, 2004
So what is good here? Obviously the classic track "My Clinch Mountain Home” (which has many variations). The much covered “Wabash Cannonball” (again, with many variations). “Bury Me Beneath The Weeping Willow” (a variation) and "Hello Central, Give Me Heaven” also stick out. The others give a good feel for what this music is all about for the beginner. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one sitting.
"Hello Central, Give Me Heaven"
Hello central give me heaven
For I know my mother's there
And you'll find her with the angels
Over on the golden stair
She'll be glad it's me a speaking
Wont you call her for me please
For I surely want to tell her
That we're sad without her here
Hello central give me heaven
For I know my mother's there
You will find her with the angels
Over on the golden stair
Poppa dear is said and lonely
Sobbed the tearful little child
Since momma's gone to heaven
Poppa dear you do not smile
I will speak to her and tell her
That we want her to come home
You just listen while I call her
Call her through the telephone
I will answer just to please her
Yes dear heart I'll soon come home
Kiss me momma it's your darling
Kiss me through the telephone
CD Review
RCA Country Legends: The Carter Family, The Carter Family, RCA, 2004
So what is good here? Obviously the classic track "My Clinch Mountain Home” (which has many variations). The much covered “Wabash Cannonball” (again, with many variations). “Bury Me Beneath The Weeping Willow” (a variation) and "Hello Central, Give Me Heaven” also stick out. The others give a good feel for what this music is all about for the beginner. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one sitting.
"Hello Central, Give Me Heaven"
Hello central give me heaven
For I know my mother's there
And you'll find her with the angels
Over on the golden stair
She'll be glad it's me a speaking
Wont you call her for me please
For I surely want to tell her
That we're sad without her here
Hello central give me heaven
For I know my mother's there
You will find her with the angels
Over on the golden stair
Poppa dear is said and lonely
Sobbed the tearful little child
Since momma's gone to heaven
Poppa dear you do not smile
I will speak to her and tell her
That we want her to come home
You just listen while I call her
Call her through the telephone
I will answer just to please her
Yes dear heart I'll soon come home
Kiss me momma it's your darling
Kiss me through the telephone
*The First Family Of Mountain Music-The Carter Family- "The Country Music Hall Of Fame"
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Carter Family Doing "Weeping Willow".
The Country Music Hall Of Fame: The Carter Family, MCA, 1991
So what is good here? Obviously the classic track "In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain” (which has many variations). The much covered song, particularly associated with Emmy Lou Harris in the modern era, “Hello Stranger”. “Answer To Weeping Willow” (a variation) and "You Are My Flower” also stick out. The others give a good feel for what this music is all about for the beginner. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time.
“Hello Stranger”
Hello stranger
Put your loving hand in mine
You are a stranger
And you're a friend of mine
Get up, rounder
Let a working girl lay down
You are a rounder
And you're all out and down
Every time
I ride the four and six street cars
I can see my baby
Peeping through the bars
He bowed his head
And he waved both hands at me
He's prison bound
And longing to be free
I'll see you
When your troubles are like mine
Yes. I'll see you
When you haven't got a dime
The Country Music Hall Of Fame: The Carter Family, MCA, 1991
So what is good here? Obviously the classic track "In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain” (which has many variations). The much covered song, particularly associated with Emmy Lou Harris in the modern era, “Hello Stranger”. “Answer To Weeping Willow” (a variation) and "You Are My Flower” also stick out. The others give a good feel for what this music is all about for the beginner. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time.
“Hello Stranger”
Hello stranger
Put your loving hand in mine
You are a stranger
And you're a friend of mine
Get up, rounder
Let a working girl lay down
You are a rounder
And you're all out and down
Every time
I ride the four and six street cars
I can see my baby
Peeping through the bars
He bowed his head
And he waved both hands at me
He's prison bound
And longing to be free
I'll see you
When your troubles are like mine
Yes. I'll see you
When you haven't got a dime
*The First Family Of Mountain Music-The Carter Family-"Anchored In Love"
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Carter Family Doing "Anchored In Love".
CD Review
Anchored In Love: Their Complete Victor Recordings 1927-28, The Carter Family, Rounder Records, 1993
So what is good here? Obviously the classic title track "Anchored in Love". The much covered Depression classic “Keep On The Sunny Side",” Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow" and "River Of Jordan" also stick out. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time. Moreover, the technical quality, for the times, of the Victor label shows here.
"Anchored In Love"
I've found a sweet haven of sunshine at last,
and Jesus abiding above,
His dear arms around me are lovingly cast
and sweetly He tells His love
The tempest is o'er
(The danger, the tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe evermore
(I'm anchored in hope and have faith evermore)
What gladness what rapture is mine
The danger is past
(The water's receding, the danger is past)
I'm anchored at last
(I'm feeling so happy I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
He saw me endangered and lovingly came
To pilot my storm-beaten soul
Sweet peace He has spoken and bless His dear name
The billows no longer roll
His love shall control me through life and in death
Completely I'll trust to the end
I'll praise Him each hour of my last fleeting breath
Shall sing of my soul's Best Friend
CD Review
Anchored In Love: Their Complete Victor Recordings 1927-28, The Carter Family, Rounder Records, 1993
So what is good here? Obviously the classic title track "Anchored in Love". The much covered Depression classic “Keep On The Sunny Side",” Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow" and "River Of Jordan" also stick out. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time. Moreover, the technical quality, for the times, of the Victor label shows here.
"Anchored In Love"
I've found a sweet haven of sunshine at last,
and Jesus abiding above,
His dear arms around me are lovingly cast
and sweetly He tells His love
The tempest is o'er
(The danger, the tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe evermore
(I'm anchored in hope and have faith evermore)
What gladness what rapture is mine
The danger is past
(The water's receding, the danger is past)
I'm anchored at last
(I'm feeling so happy I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
He saw me endangered and lovingly came
To pilot my storm-beaten soul
Sweet peace He has spoken and bless His dear name
The billows no longer roll
His love shall control me through life and in death
Completely I'll trust to the end
I'll praise Him each hour of my last fleeting breath
Shall sing of my soul's Best Friend
*The First Family Of Mountain Music-The Carter Family-"Gold Watch And Chain"
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Carter Family Doing "Keep On The Sunny Side".
CD REVIEWS
Gold Watch and Chain: Their Complete Victor Recordings 1933-34, The Carter Family,Rounder Records, 1998
The body of this review has been used elsewhere in this space to comment on other The Carter Family CDs.
This information is from a review Of a PBS documentary and serves my purpose here by bringing out the main points that are central to the place of The Carter Family in American musical history. The last paragraph will detail the outstanding tracks on this CD.
“I have reviewed the various CDs put out by the Carter Family, that is work of the original grouping of A.P., Sara and Maybelle from the 1920’s , elsewhere in this space. Many of the thoughts expressed there apply here, as well. The recent, now somewhat eclipsed, interest in the mountain music of the 1920’s and 30’s highlighted in such films as “The Song Catcher” and George Clooney’s “Brother, Where Art Thou”, of necessity, had to create a renewed interest in the Carter Family. Why? Not taking the influence of that family’s musical shaping of mountain music is like neglecting the influence of Bob Dylan on the folk music revival of the 1960’s. I suppose it can be done but a big hole is left in the landscape.
What this PBS production has done, and done well, is put the music of the Carters in perspective as it relates to their time, their religious sentiments and their roots in the seemingly simple mountain lifestyle. Is there any simpler harmony than the virtually universally known Carter song (or better, variation) “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”? Nevertheless, these gentle mountain folk were as driven to success, especially A.P, as any urbanite of the time. Moreover, they seem, and here again A.P. is the example, to have had as many interpersonal problems (in short, marital difficulties) as us city folk.
I have mentioned elsewhere, and it bears repeating here, that the fundamentalist religious sentiment expressed throughout their work does not have that same razor-edged feel that we find with today’s evangelicals. This is a very personal kind of religious expression that drives many of the songs. These evangelical people took their beating during the Scopes Trial era and turned inward. Fair enough. That they also produced some very simple and interesting music to while away their time is a product of that withdrawal. Listen.”
So what is good here? Obviously the classic title track "Gold Watch and Chain" that I first heard covered by Alice Stuart over forty years ago. The pathos of desperate, seemingly unrequited, love still comes through after all that time. The much covered "See That My Grave Is Kept Green” (clean, in other versions that I have heard), "Cowboy Jack" and "Faded Flowers" also stick out. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time. Moreover, the relatively technical quality, for the times, of the Victor label shows here.
AMBER TRESSES
Far away in sunny mountains
Where the merry sunbeams play
There I wander through the clover
Singing to a village maid
She was dearer than the dearest
Ever loving kind and true
And she wore beneath her bonnet
Amber tresses tied with blue
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Fate decreed that we be parted
Ere the leaves of autumn fell
When two hearts are separated
That had loved each other well
She was all I had to cherish
Ever loving kind and true
Now I see in every vision
Amber tresses tied with blue
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
She was dearer than the dearest
Ever loving kind and true
And she wore beneath her bonnet
Amber tresses tied with blue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANCHORED IN LOVE
I found a sweet haven of sunshine at last
In Jesus abiding above
His dear arms around me are lovingly cast
And sweetly he tells his love
The tem----------pest is o'er
(The dangerous tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe----------evermore
(My anchor is holding, I'm safe evermore)
What gladness, what rapture is mine
(What gladness, what rapture is mine)
The dan--------------ger is past
(The waters are peaceful, the danger is past)
I'm an-----------chored at last
(My spirit is happy, I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
(I'm anchored in love divine)
He saw me endangered and lovingly came
To pilot my stormy doomed soul
Sweet peace he has spoken and bless his sweet name
The billows no longer roll
The tem----------pest is o'er
(The dangerous tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe----------evermore
(My anchor is holding, I'm safe evermore)
What gladness, what rapture is mine
(What gladness, what rapture is mine)
The dan--------------ger is past
(The waters are peaceful, the danger is past)
I'm an-----------chored at last
(My spirit is happy, I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
(I'm anchored in love divine)
His love shall enfold me through life and in death
Completely I'll trust to the end
I'll praise him each hour and my last fleeting breath
Shall sing of my soul's best friend
[CHORUS]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANGEL BAND
My latest sun is sinking fast
My race is nearly run
My strongest trials now are past
My triumph is begun
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
O bear my longing heart to him
Who bled and died for me
Where blood now cleanses from all sin
And gives me victory
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I've almost gained my heavenly home
My spirit loudly sings
The Holy one before me comes
I hear the noise of wings
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER TO WEEPING WILLOW
My love is dead and buried yonder
Beneath the weeping willow tree
What wrecks my life and makes me wonder
Is because he died for me
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Yes, she died before I told her
That I loved her true and kind
And that I did not mean to fool her
But she'd left me to repine
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
God, shall I ever get forgiveness
For the deeds that I have done
And meet up yonder her sweet charming
For I know she bids me come
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
Like a rose on the vine I am clinging to you
As I did when we drifted apart
I am wishing you back to that little shack
Where I kissed you and called you sweetheart
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Does the chair in your parlor seem empty and bare
Do you miss me and wish I was there
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again
Tell me, darling, are you lonesome tonight
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I have counted the days, I have counted the nights
I've counted the months and the years
I have counted on you since we've drifted apart
Tell me, darling, are you lonesome tonight
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARE YOU TIRED OF ME, MY DARLING
Are you tired of me, my darling
Did you mean those words you said
That has made me yours forever
Since the day that we were wed
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
Do you ever rue the springtime
Since we first each other met
Since we spoke in warm affection
Words my heart can ne'er forget
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
Do you think the bloom departed
From these cheeks you once thought fair
Do you think I've grown cold-hearted
With the passing of the years
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAUTIFUL HOME
There's a beautiful home far over the sea
There are mansions of bliss for you and for me
Oh the beautiful home so wonderously fair
That savior for me has gone to prepare.
[CHORUS:]
There's a beautiful hom (beautiful home)
Far over the sea (far over the sea)
There's a beautiful home (for you and for me)
Its glittering towers (glittering towers)
The sun outshine (the sun outshine)
That beautiful home (that beautiful home)
Someday shall be mine.
In that beautiful home a crown I shall wear
With the glorified throng their glories to share
But the joys of that home can never be known
Till the Savior we see upon his white throne.
[repeat chorus]
Back to top
BEAUTIFUL BROWN EYES
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
I'll never love blue eyes again
Willie, my darling, I love you
Love you with all of my heart
We could have been married
But liquor has kept us apart
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
I'll never love blue eyes again
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAUTIFUL ISLE O'ER THE SEA
I will not be your sweetheart
I'll tell you the reason why
My mama always told me
To pass a drunkard by
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Some say there's pleasure in courting
What pleasure is it to me
For the boy I love so dearly
Has turned his back on me
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Now, young man, I will tell you
If you want my heart, my hand
You'd better quit your drinking
And be a sober man
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Go prove yourself, be faithful
Go prove yourself, be true
And sometime in the future
Perhaps I'll marry you
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
BLACK JACK DAVID
Black Jack David came riding through the woods
And he sang so loud and gaily
Made the hills around him ring
And he charmed the heart of a lady. (2x)
"How old are you my pretty little miss
How old are you my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday". (2x)
"Come go with me my pretty little miss
Come go with me my honey
I'll take you across the deep blue sea
Where you never shall want for money." (2x)
She pulled off her high-heeled shoes
They were made of Spanish leather
She put on those low-heeled shoes
And they both rode off together. (2x)
"Last night I lay on a warm feather bed
Beside my husband and baby
Tonight I lay on the cold, cold ground
By the side of Black Jack David." (2x)
BONNIE BLUE EYES
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
You've told me more lies than the stars in the skies
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
You've done me wrong and now I'm gone
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
I saw my little Bonnie last night
She looked so dear to me
She's the only girl I ever loved
She's now gone back on me
I stayed in the country too long
I stayed in the country too long
The only wrong that I have done
I stayed in the country too long
Come and go with me to the train
Come and go with me to the train
Come and go with me and see me get on
Goodbye, my little Bonnie, I'm gone
BRING BACK MY BLUE-EYED BOY TO ME
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
'Tis true the rainbow has no end
It's hard to find a faithful friend
And when you find one just and true
Change not the old one for the new
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
Must I go bound and him go free
Must I love a boy that don't love me
Or must I act the childish part
And love that boy that broke my heart
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Last night my lover promised me
To take me across the deep blue sea
And now he's gone and left me alone
An orphan girl without a home
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep
Place marble at my head and feet
And on my breast a snow white dove
To show to the world I died for love
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
BRING BACK MY BOY
Out in the cold world and far away form home
Somebody's boy is wandering alone
No one to guide him and keep his footsteps right
Somebody's boy is homeless tonight.
[CHORUS:] Bring back my boy, my wandering boy
Far, far away, wherever he may be
Tell him his mother with faded cheeks and hair
At their old home is waiting him there.
Out in the hallway there stands a vacant chair
Yonder's the shoes my darling used to wear
Empty the cradle, the one that's loved so well
Oh how I miss him there's no toung can tell.
[CHORUS]
Oh could I see him and fold him to my breast
Gladly I'd close my eyes anmd be at rest
There is no other that's left to give me joy
Bring back my boy, my wandering boy.
[CHORUS]
THE THE BROKEN HEARTED LOVER
Would you let her part us, darling
Could you truly turn away
Would it make your heart ache, darling
Not to see me night or day
I've been dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Many a day with you I've rambled
Down by the shades of the deep blue sea
There you told me that you loved me
That you loved none else but me
I am dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I will give you back your letters
And your picture I love so well
How it makes my heart ache, darling
Oh, 'tis hard to say farewell
I been dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
BURY ME BENEATH THE WILLOW
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow
For the only one I love
When will I see him, no, no, never
Till I meet him in heaven above
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
He told me that he dearly loved me
How could I believe him untrue
Until an angel softly whispered
He has proven untrue to you
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Tomorrow was their wedding day
But, alas, oh, where can he be
He's gone, he's gone to wed another
And he no longer cares for me
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
BURY ME UNDER THE WEEPING WILLOW (II)
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow
For the only one I love
When shall I see him, oh, no, never
Till I meet him in heaven above
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
They told me that he did not love me
I could not believe it was true
Until an angel softly whispered
He has proven untrue to you
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Tomorrow was our wedding day
But, Lord, oh, where is he
He's gone to seek him another bride
And he cares no more for me
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Oh, bury me under the violets blue
To prove my love to him
Tell him that I would die to save him
For his love I never could win
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
BY THE TOUCH OF HER HAND
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
There are days so dark that I seek in vain
For the face of my own true love
But the darkness hides, she is there to guide
By the light of the moon above
Oh the lonesome pine, oh the lonsome pine
Where I met that sweetheart of mine
With her hand in mine, and our hearts entwined
As we stroll through the lonesome pine
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Bright stars above, two sweethearts in love
As we sing to the cooing doves
She has brought me back to that mountain shack
By the touch of her hand in love
Oh the lonesome pine, oh the lonsome pine
Where I met that sweetheart of mine
With her hand in mine, and our hearts entwined
As we stroll through the lonesome pine
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
I was standing by my window
On one cold and cloudy day
And I saw the hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Oh, I told the undertaker
Undertaker, please drive slow
For this body you are hauling
How I hate to see her go
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Lord, I followed close beside her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in the grave
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Went back home Lord, My home was lonely
Since my mother she had gone
All my brothers, sisters crying
What a home so sad and lone
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
CAN'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through
My treasures and my hopes are all beyond the blue
Where many many friends and kindred have gone on before
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Over in Glory land, there is no dying there
The saints are shouting victory and singing everywhere
I hear the voice of them that I have heard before
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home, oh, lord, what would I do
Angels beckon me to heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Heaven's expecting me, that's one thing I know
I fixed it up with Jesus a long time ago
He will take me through though I am weak and poor
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, I have a loving mother over in Glory land
I don't expect to stop until I shake her hand
She's gone on before, just waiting at heaven's door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home, oh, lord, what would I do
Angels beckon me to heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
CHURCH IN THE WILDWOOD
There's a church in the valley in the wildwood
No lovelier place in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
How sweet on a clear sabbath morning
To listen to the clear ringing bells
Its gongs so sweetly are calling
Oh, come to the church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
There, close by the side of the loved one
'Neath the tree where the wildflowers bloom
She sleeps, sweet love sleeps 'neath the willow
Disturb not her rest in the tomb
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
CLIMBING ZION'S HILL
Oh, the heaven bells are ringing and I'm a-going home
I'm a-going home, yes, I'm a-going home
Oh, the heaven bells are ringing and I'm a-going home
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
If you don't, my mother, you'll be too late
You'll be too late, you'll be too late
If you don't, my mother, you'll be too late
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
If you don't, my father, you'll be too late
You'll be too late, you'll be too late
If you don't, my father, you'll be too late
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
COAL MINER'S BLUES
Some blues are just blues
Mine are the miner's blues
Some blues are just blues
Mine are the miner's blues
My troubles are coming
By threes and by twos
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Blues and more blues
It's a coal black blues
Blues and more blues
It's a coal black blues
Got coal in my hair
Got coal in my shoes
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
These blues are soul blue
They are the coal black blues
These blues are soul blue
They are the coal black blues
For my place will cave in
And my life I will lose
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
You say they are blues
These old miner's blues
You say they are blues
These old miner's blues
Now I must have sharpened
These picks that I use
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I'm out with these blues
Dirty coal black blues
I'm out with these blues
Dirty coal black blues
We'll lay off tomorrow
With the coal miner's blues
COME BACK TO ME
Come back to me in my dreaming
Come back to me once more
Come with the love light gleaming
As in the days of yore
And tell me that you still love me
And that your heart is still true
When the spring roses are blooming
Then I'll come back to you
Somewhere a heart is breaking
Calling me back to you
Memories of loved ones awaiting
Each happy home and you
Absence makes my heart fonder
Is it the same with you
Are you still happy, I wonder
Or do you feel lonesome, too
When the sun is sinking
In the golden west
And the birds and flowers
They have gone to rest
Come tell me that you still love me
And that your heart is still true
When the roses are blooming
Then I'll come back to you
THE CURTAINS OF NIGHT
When the curtains of night are pinned back with a star
And the beautiful moon climbs the sky
And the dewdrops of heaven are kissing the rose
It is then that my memory flies
As upon the wings of some beautiful dove
In haste with the message it bears
To bring a kiss of affection and say
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
I have loved you too fondly to ever forget
The words you have spoken to me
With a kiss of affection still warm on my lips
When you told me how true you would be
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
As the heavenly angels are guarding the good
As God has ordained them to do
In answer to prayers I have offered for you
I know there is one watching you
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
And may its bright spirit go with you through life
To guide you up heaven's bright stairs
To meet with the one who has loved you so true
And remembered to love in her prayers
CD REVIEWS
Gold Watch and Chain: Their Complete Victor Recordings 1933-34, The Carter Family,Rounder Records, 1998
The body of this review has been used elsewhere in this space to comment on other The Carter Family CDs.
This information is from a review Of a PBS documentary and serves my purpose here by bringing out the main points that are central to the place of The Carter Family in American musical history. The last paragraph will detail the outstanding tracks on this CD.
“I have reviewed the various CDs put out by the Carter Family, that is work of the original grouping of A.P., Sara and Maybelle from the 1920’s , elsewhere in this space. Many of the thoughts expressed there apply here, as well. The recent, now somewhat eclipsed, interest in the mountain music of the 1920’s and 30’s highlighted in such films as “The Song Catcher” and George Clooney’s “Brother, Where Art Thou”, of necessity, had to create a renewed interest in the Carter Family. Why? Not taking the influence of that family’s musical shaping of mountain music is like neglecting the influence of Bob Dylan on the folk music revival of the 1960’s. I suppose it can be done but a big hole is left in the landscape.
What this PBS production has done, and done well, is put the music of the Carters in perspective as it relates to their time, their religious sentiments and their roots in the seemingly simple mountain lifestyle. Is there any simpler harmony than the virtually universally known Carter song (or better, variation) “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”? Nevertheless, these gentle mountain folk were as driven to success, especially A.P, as any urbanite of the time. Moreover, they seem, and here again A.P. is the example, to have had as many interpersonal problems (in short, marital difficulties) as us city folk.
I have mentioned elsewhere, and it bears repeating here, that the fundamentalist religious sentiment expressed throughout their work does not have that same razor-edged feel that we find with today’s evangelicals. This is a very personal kind of religious expression that drives many of the songs. These evangelical people took their beating during the Scopes Trial era and turned inward. Fair enough. That they also produced some very simple and interesting music to while away their time is a product of that withdrawal. Listen.”
So what is good here? Obviously the classic title track "Gold Watch and Chain" that I first heard covered by Alice Stuart over forty years ago. The pathos of desperate, seemingly unrequited, love still comes through after all that time. The much covered "See That My Grave Is Kept Green” (clean, in other versions that I have heard), "Cowboy Jack" and "Faded Flowers" also stick out. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time. Moreover, the relatively technical quality, for the times, of the Victor label shows here.
AMBER TRESSES
Far away in sunny mountains
Where the merry sunbeams play
There I wander through the clover
Singing to a village maid
She was dearer than the dearest
Ever loving kind and true
And she wore beneath her bonnet
Amber tresses tied with blue
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Fate decreed that we be parted
Ere the leaves of autumn fell
When two hearts are separated
That had loved each other well
She was all I had to cherish
Ever loving kind and true
Now I see in every vision
Amber tresses tied with blue
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
She was dearer than the dearest
Ever loving kind and true
And she wore beneath her bonnet
Amber tresses tied with blue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANCHORED IN LOVE
I found a sweet haven of sunshine at last
In Jesus abiding above
His dear arms around me are lovingly cast
And sweetly he tells his love
The tem----------pest is o'er
(The dangerous tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe----------evermore
(My anchor is holding, I'm safe evermore)
What gladness, what rapture is mine
(What gladness, what rapture is mine)
The dan--------------ger is past
(The waters are peaceful, the danger is past)
I'm an-----------chored at last
(My spirit is happy, I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
(I'm anchored in love divine)
He saw me endangered and lovingly came
To pilot my stormy doomed soul
Sweet peace he has spoken and bless his sweet name
The billows no longer roll
The tem----------pest is o'er
(The dangerous tempest forever is o'er)
I'm safe----------evermore
(My anchor is holding, I'm safe evermore)
What gladness, what rapture is mine
(What gladness, what rapture is mine)
The dan--------------ger is past
(The waters are peaceful, the danger is past)
I'm an-----------chored at last
(My spirit is happy, I'm anchored at last)
I'm anchored in love divine
(I'm anchored in love divine)
His love shall enfold me through life and in death
Completely I'll trust to the end
I'll praise him each hour and my last fleeting breath
Shall sing of my soul's best friend
[CHORUS]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANGEL BAND
My latest sun is sinking fast
My race is nearly run
My strongest trials now are past
My triumph is begun
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
O bear my longing heart to him
Who bled and died for me
Where blood now cleanses from all sin
And gives me victory
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I've almost gained my heavenly home
My spirit loudly sings
The Holy one before me comes
I hear the noise of wings
O come, angel band
Come and around me stand
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
O bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER TO WEEPING WILLOW
My love is dead and buried yonder
Beneath the weeping willow tree
What wrecks my life and makes me wonder
Is because he died for me
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Yes, she died before I told her
That I loved her true and kind
And that I did not mean to fool her
But she'd left me to repine
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
God, shall I ever get forgiveness
For the deeds that I have done
And meet up yonder her sweet charming
For I know she bids me come
Then lay me down in death beside her
For she's all this life to me
That I may join and e'er caress her
In a land beyond the sea
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
Like a rose on the vine I am clinging to you
As I did when we drifted apart
I am wishing you back to that little shack
Where I kissed you and called you sweetheart
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Does the chair in your parlor seem empty and bare
Do you miss me and wish I was there
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again
Tell me, darling, are you lonesome tonight
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I have counted the days, I have counted the nights
I've counted the months and the years
I have counted on you since we've drifted apart
Tell me, darling, are you lonesome tonight
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me, I say
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory cling to that bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARE YOU TIRED OF ME, MY DARLING
Are you tired of me, my darling
Did you mean those words you said
That has made me yours forever
Since the day that we were wed
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
Do you ever rue the springtime
Since we first each other met
Since we spoke in warm affection
Words my heart can ne'er forget
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
Do you think the bloom departed
From these cheeks you once thought fair
Do you think I've grown cold-hearted
With the passing of the years
Tell me, could you live life over
Would you make it otherwise
Are you tired of me, my darling
Answer only with your eyes
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAUTIFUL HOME
There's a beautiful home far over the sea
There are mansions of bliss for you and for me
Oh the beautiful home so wonderously fair
That savior for me has gone to prepare.
[CHORUS:]
There's a beautiful hom (beautiful home)
Far over the sea (far over the sea)
There's a beautiful home (for you and for me)
Its glittering towers (glittering towers)
The sun outshine (the sun outshine)
That beautiful home (that beautiful home)
Someday shall be mine.
In that beautiful home a crown I shall wear
With the glorified throng their glories to share
But the joys of that home can never be known
Till the Savior we see upon his white throne.
[repeat chorus]
Back to top
BEAUTIFUL BROWN EYES
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
I'll never love blue eyes again
Willie, my darling, I love you
Love you with all of my heart
We could have been married
But liquor has kept us apart
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes
I'll never love blue eyes again
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAUTIFUL ISLE O'ER THE SEA
I will not be your sweetheart
I'll tell you the reason why
My mama always told me
To pass a drunkard by
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Some say there's pleasure in courting
What pleasure is it to me
For the boy I love so dearly
Has turned his back on me
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Now, young man, I will tell you
If you want my heart, my hand
You'd better quit your drinking
And be a sober man
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Go prove yourself, be faithful
Go prove yourself, be true
And sometime in the future
Perhaps I'll marry you
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
Beautiful isle o'er the sea, o'er the sea
There's someone waiting for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
BLACK JACK DAVID
Black Jack David came riding through the woods
And he sang so loud and gaily
Made the hills around him ring
And he charmed the heart of a lady. (2x)
"How old are you my pretty little miss
How old are you my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday". (2x)
"Come go with me my pretty little miss
Come go with me my honey
I'll take you across the deep blue sea
Where you never shall want for money." (2x)
She pulled off her high-heeled shoes
They were made of Spanish leather
She put on those low-heeled shoes
And they both rode off together. (2x)
"Last night I lay on a warm feather bed
Beside my husband and baby
Tonight I lay on the cold, cold ground
By the side of Black Jack David." (2x)
BONNIE BLUE EYES
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
You've told me more lies than the stars in the skies
Goodbye, my little Bonnie blue eyes
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
You've done me wrong and now I'm gone
Oh, Bonnie, you've done me wrong
I saw my little Bonnie last night
She looked so dear to me
She's the only girl I ever loved
She's now gone back on me
I stayed in the country too long
I stayed in the country too long
The only wrong that I have done
I stayed in the country too long
Come and go with me to the train
Come and go with me to the train
Come and go with me and see me get on
Goodbye, my little Bonnie, I'm gone
BRING BACK MY BLUE-EYED BOY TO ME
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
'Tis true the rainbow has no end
It's hard to find a faithful friend
And when you find one just and true
Change not the old one for the new
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
Must I go bound and him go free
Must I love a boy that don't love me
Or must I act the childish part
And love that boy that broke my heart
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Last night my lover promised me
To take me across the deep blue sea
And now he's gone and left me alone
An orphan girl without a home
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep
Place marble at my head and feet
And on my breast a snow white dove
To show to the world I died for love
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
BRING BACK MY BOY
Out in the cold world and far away form home
Somebody's boy is wandering alone
No one to guide him and keep his footsteps right
Somebody's boy is homeless tonight.
[CHORUS:] Bring back my boy, my wandering boy
Far, far away, wherever he may be
Tell him his mother with faded cheeks and hair
At their old home is waiting him there.
Out in the hallway there stands a vacant chair
Yonder's the shoes my darling used to wear
Empty the cradle, the one that's loved so well
Oh how I miss him there's no toung can tell.
[CHORUS]
Oh could I see him and fold him to my breast
Gladly I'd close my eyes anmd be at rest
There is no other that's left to give me joy
Bring back my boy, my wandering boy.
[CHORUS]
THE THE BROKEN HEARTED LOVER
Would you let her part us, darling
Could you truly turn away
Would it make your heart ache, darling
Not to see me night or day
I've been dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Many a day with you I've rambled
Down by the shades of the deep blue sea
There you told me that you loved me
That you loved none else but me
I am dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I will give you back your letters
And your picture I love so well
How it makes my heart ache, darling
Oh, 'tis hard to say farewell
I been dreaming of you, darling
Dreaming of your eyes so blue
Take me back, for love I'm dying
For I love none else but you
BURY ME BENEATH THE WILLOW
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow
For the only one I love
When will I see him, no, no, never
Till I meet him in heaven above
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
He told me that he dearly loved me
How could I believe him untrue
Until an angel softly whispered
He has proven untrue to you
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Tomorrow was their wedding day
But, alas, oh, where can he be
He's gone, he's gone to wed another
And he no longer cares for me
Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
BURY ME UNDER THE WEEPING WILLOW (II)
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow
For the only one I love
When shall I see him, oh, no, never
Till I meet him in heaven above
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
They told me that he did not love me
I could not believe it was true
Until an angel softly whispered
He has proven untrue to you
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Tomorrow was our wedding day
But, Lord, oh, where is he
He's gone to seek him another bride
And he cares no more for me
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Oh, bury me under the violets blue
To prove my love to him
Tell him that I would die to save him
For his love I never could win
Oh, bury me under the weeping willow
Yes, under the weeping willow tree
So he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me
BY THE TOUCH OF HER HAND
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
There are days so dark that I seek in vain
For the face of my own true love
But the darkness hides, she is there to guide
By the light of the moon above
Oh the lonesome pine, oh the lonsome pine
Where I met that sweetheart of mine
With her hand in mine, and our hearts entwined
As we stroll through the lonesome pine
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Bright stars above, two sweethearts in love
As we sing to the cooing doves
She has brought me back to that mountain shack
By the touch of her hand in love
Oh the lonesome pine, oh the lonsome pine
Where I met that sweetheart of mine
With her hand in mine, and our hearts entwined
As we stroll through the lonesome pine
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
I was standing by my window
On one cold and cloudy day
And I saw the hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Oh, I told the undertaker
Undertaker, please drive slow
For this body you are hauling
How I hate to see her go
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Lord, I followed close beside her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in the grave
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Went back home Lord, My home was lonely
Since my mother she had gone
All my brothers, sisters crying
What a home so sad and lone
Can the circle be unbroken
Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
CAN'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through
My treasures and my hopes are all beyond the blue
Where many many friends and kindred have gone on before
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Over in Glory land, there is no dying there
The saints are shouting victory and singing everywhere
I hear the voice of them that I have heard before
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home, oh, lord, what would I do
Angels beckon me to heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Heaven's expecting me, that's one thing I know
I fixed it up with Jesus a long time ago
He will take me through though I am weak and poor
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, I have a loving mother over in Glory land
I don't expect to stop until I shake her hand
She's gone on before, just waiting at heaven's door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
Oh, lord, you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home, oh, lord, what would I do
Angels beckon me to heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore
CHURCH IN THE WILDWOOD
There's a church in the valley in the wildwood
No lovelier place in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
How sweet on a clear sabbath morning
To listen to the clear ringing bells
Its gongs so sweetly are calling
Oh, come to the church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
There, close by the side of the loved one
'Neath the tree where the wildflowers bloom
She sleeps, sweet love sleeps 'neath the willow
Disturb not her rest in the tomb
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
[bass] Oh, come, come, come, come
[all] Come to the church in the wildwood
Oh, come to the church in the dell
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the dell
CLIMBING ZION'S HILL
Oh, the heaven bells are ringing and I'm a-going home
I'm a-going home, yes, I'm a-going home
Oh, the heaven bells are ringing and I'm a-going home
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
If you don't, my mother, you'll be too late
You'll be too late, you'll be too late
If you don't, my mother, you'll be too late
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
If you don't, my father, you'll be too late
You'll be too late, you'll be too late
If you don't, my father, you'll be too late
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
I'm climbing, I'm climbing
Climbing up Zion's hill
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
COAL MINER'S BLUES
Some blues are just blues
Mine are the miner's blues
Some blues are just blues
Mine are the miner's blues
My troubles are coming
By threes and by twos
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
Blues and more blues
It's a coal black blues
Blues and more blues
It's a coal black blues
Got coal in my hair
Got coal in my shoes
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
These blues are soul blue
They are the coal black blues
These blues are soul blue
They are the coal black blues
For my place will cave in
And my life I will lose
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
You say they are blues
These old miner's blues
You say they are blues
These old miner's blues
Now I must have sharpened
These picks that I use
[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]
I'm out with these blues
Dirty coal black blues
I'm out with these blues
Dirty coal black blues
We'll lay off tomorrow
With the coal miner's blues
COME BACK TO ME
Come back to me in my dreaming
Come back to me once more
Come with the love light gleaming
As in the days of yore
And tell me that you still love me
And that your heart is still true
When the spring roses are blooming
Then I'll come back to you
Somewhere a heart is breaking
Calling me back to you
Memories of loved ones awaiting
Each happy home and you
Absence makes my heart fonder
Is it the same with you
Are you still happy, I wonder
Or do you feel lonesome, too
When the sun is sinking
In the golden west
And the birds and flowers
They have gone to rest
Come tell me that you still love me
And that your heart is still true
When the roses are blooming
Then I'll come back to you
THE CURTAINS OF NIGHT
When the curtains of night are pinned back with a star
And the beautiful moon climbs the sky
And the dewdrops of heaven are kissing the rose
It is then that my memory flies
As upon the wings of some beautiful dove
In haste with the message it bears
To bring a kiss of affection and say
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
I have loved you too fondly to ever forget
The words you have spoken to me
With a kiss of affection still warm on my lips
When you told me how true you would be
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
As the heavenly angels are guarding the good
As God has ordained them to do
In answer to prayers I have offered for you
I know there is one watching you
Go wherever you will, over land, over sea
I will share all your sorrows and cares
And at night when I kneel by my bedside to pray
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers
And may its bright spirit go with you through life
To guide you up heaven's bright stairs
To meet with the one who has loved you so true
And remembered to love in her prayers
*Walking The Line-At The End- The Carter Family’s June Carter Cash Bids Adieu
Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of June Carter Cash performing the original Carter Family classic "Will You Miss Me When I Am Gone?
CD Review
Wildwood Flower, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, Norman and Nancy Blake and various artists, produced by John Carter Cash, Dueltone Records, 2003
Recently I did a series of DVD reviews of legendary folklorist Pete Seeger’s old television show “Rainbow Quest” in which, on one of the segments, June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash were featured. Here is part of what I had to say there:
“In a year that has featured various 90th birthday celebrations it is very appropriate to review some of the 1960’s television work of Pete Seeger, one of the premier folk anthologists, singers, transmitters of the tradition and “keeper” of the folk flame. This DVD is a “must see” for anyone who is interested in the history of the folk revival of the 1960’s, the earnest, folksy style of Pete Seeger or the work of the also tradition-oriented , although that fact was previously unknown to me, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash (she of the famous Carter Family tribe. How is that for traditional bloodlines?). This is not only a musical treat seeing the real subjects of the hit movie of a few years ago, “Walk The Line” that got me interested, at least somewhat, in Johnny Cash’s music but filled with information about the Carter Family that I have been interested in for a long time. Pete, by the way, couldn’t be more pleased in working with this pair and they regale us with some old Carter Family songs like “Worried Man Blues”. “
As a result of that experience I went back and reviewed the film “Walk The Line” and here is what I had to say, in part, there:
“I am reviewing this nicely done commercial effort to delve into parts of the lives of the legendary singers Johnny Cash and his (eventual) wife June Carter Cash (of the famous mountain music Carter Family bloodlines. Her mother was the incredible vocalist and guitarist Maybelle Carter) in reverse order. Although I saw the this film for the first time when it was released in theaters (and have viewed it several times on DVD) several years ago I am reviewing now after having just seen the real Johnny Cash and June Carter on one of the segments of Pete Seeger’s black and white television programs from the mid-1960s, “Rainbow Quest” where they appeared. And knocked me, and I think Pete, over with their renditions of Carter Family material and information about that clan.
Okay, here is the skinny. If you want to get the glamorous, sexy romance and a fetching June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), the heartache and longing of pain in the butt Johnny Cash and the eventual joining together of two great musical talents story then this is the place to start. But, if you want the reason why this film was made in the first place, the legendary musical talent, warts and all, then watch them go through their paces along with old Pete Seeger. Both are worth the time. “
Well, my friends, excuse this roundabout way to get to the CD under review but the points made above will stand for my thoughts on this last June Carter Cash CD. I can only add that when you listen to it you will feel the Appalachian mountain breeze, the sound from the hollows below but most of all you will hear the voice of Maybelle Carter come back to life in daughter June in 2002. And with the likes of Norman and Nancy Blake as backup where is there anything to find wrong with here? The tops here are two classic Carter Family songs, a soulful “Storms Are On The Ocean” and a cryptic (under the circumstance as she way dying at the time) “Will You Miss Me When I Gone?” with the whole gang, including Johnny joining in. Whoa, what a send off!
Storms are on the ocean
I'm go[C]ing a[F]way to [C]leave you, love, I'm going a[G]way for a[C]while,
but I'll re[F]turn to [C]you some time, if I go ten thou[G]sand [ C]miles.
CH
The [F]storms are on the [C]ocean, the [F]heavens may [G]cease to [C]be,
this [F]world may lose its [C]motion, love, if I prove [G]false to [C]thee.
Oh, who will dress your pretty little feet, oh, who will glove your hand.
Oh, who will kiss your rosy red cheek, when I'm in a far off land?
The storms are on the ocean, the heavens may cease to be,
this world may lose its motion, love, if I prove false to thee.
3.Oh,Poppa will dress my pretty little feet,and Momma will glove my hand.
You can kiss my rosy red cheeks, when you return again.
CH
Oh, have you seen those mournful doves, flying from pine to pine,
a-mourning for their own true love just like I mourn for mine.
CH
I'll never go back on the ocean, love, I'll never go back on the sea,
I'll never go back from the blue-eyed girl, till she goes back on me.
CH
WILL YOU MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE
D
1. When death shall close these eyelids,
G D
and this heart shall cease to beat,
and they lay me down to rest
A A7 D
in some flowery-bound retreat.
D
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
G D
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
A A7 D
Will you miss me when I'm gone ?
D
2. Perhaps you'll plant a flower
G D
on my poor, unworthy grave.
Come and sit alone beside me,
A A7 D
when the roses nod and wave. + CHORUS
D
3. One sweet thought my soul shall cherish,
G D
when this fleeting life has flown,
this sweet thought will cheer when dying,
A A7 D
will you miss me when I'm gone. + CHORUS
D
4. When these lips shall never more
G D
press a kiss upon thy brow,
but lie cold and still in death,
A A7 D
will you love me then as now. + CHORUS
(capo 2 nd) (The Carter Family)
CD Review
Wildwood Flower, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, Norman and Nancy Blake and various artists, produced by John Carter Cash, Dueltone Records, 2003
Recently I did a series of DVD reviews of legendary folklorist Pete Seeger’s old television show “Rainbow Quest” in which, on one of the segments, June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash were featured. Here is part of what I had to say there:
“In a year that has featured various 90th birthday celebrations it is very appropriate to review some of the 1960’s television work of Pete Seeger, one of the premier folk anthologists, singers, transmitters of the tradition and “keeper” of the folk flame. This DVD is a “must see” for anyone who is interested in the history of the folk revival of the 1960’s, the earnest, folksy style of Pete Seeger or the work of the also tradition-oriented , although that fact was previously unknown to me, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash (she of the famous Carter Family tribe. How is that for traditional bloodlines?). This is not only a musical treat seeing the real subjects of the hit movie of a few years ago, “Walk The Line” that got me interested, at least somewhat, in Johnny Cash’s music but filled with information about the Carter Family that I have been interested in for a long time. Pete, by the way, couldn’t be more pleased in working with this pair and they regale us with some old Carter Family songs like “Worried Man Blues”. “
As a result of that experience I went back and reviewed the film “Walk The Line” and here is what I had to say, in part, there:
“I am reviewing this nicely done commercial effort to delve into parts of the lives of the legendary singers Johnny Cash and his (eventual) wife June Carter Cash (of the famous mountain music Carter Family bloodlines. Her mother was the incredible vocalist and guitarist Maybelle Carter) in reverse order. Although I saw the this film for the first time when it was released in theaters (and have viewed it several times on DVD) several years ago I am reviewing now after having just seen the real Johnny Cash and June Carter on one of the segments of Pete Seeger’s black and white television programs from the mid-1960s, “Rainbow Quest” where they appeared. And knocked me, and I think Pete, over with their renditions of Carter Family material and information about that clan.
Okay, here is the skinny. If you want to get the glamorous, sexy romance and a fetching June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), the heartache and longing of pain in the butt Johnny Cash and the eventual joining together of two great musical talents story then this is the place to start. But, if you want the reason why this film was made in the first place, the legendary musical talent, warts and all, then watch them go through their paces along with old Pete Seeger. Both are worth the time. “
Well, my friends, excuse this roundabout way to get to the CD under review but the points made above will stand for my thoughts on this last June Carter Cash CD. I can only add that when you listen to it you will feel the Appalachian mountain breeze, the sound from the hollows below but most of all you will hear the voice of Maybelle Carter come back to life in daughter June in 2002. And with the likes of Norman and Nancy Blake as backup where is there anything to find wrong with here? The tops here are two classic Carter Family songs, a soulful “Storms Are On The Ocean” and a cryptic (under the circumstance as she way dying at the time) “Will You Miss Me When I Gone?” with the whole gang, including Johnny joining in. Whoa, what a send off!
Storms are on the ocean
I'm go[C]ing a[F]way to [C]leave you, love, I'm going a[G]way for a[C]while,
but I'll re[F]turn to [C]you some time, if I go ten thou[G]sand [ C]miles.
CH
The [F]storms are on the [C]ocean, the [F]heavens may [G]cease to [C]be,
this [F]world may lose its [C]motion, love, if I prove [G]false to [C]thee.
Oh, who will dress your pretty little feet, oh, who will glove your hand.
Oh, who will kiss your rosy red cheek, when I'm in a far off land?
The storms are on the ocean, the heavens may cease to be,
this world may lose its motion, love, if I prove false to thee.
3.Oh,Poppa will dress my pretty little feet,and Momma will glove my hand.
You can kiss my rosy red cheeks, when you return again.
CH
Oh, have you seen those mournful doves, flying from pine to pine,
a-mourning for their own true love just like I mourn for mine.
CH
I'll never go back on the ocean, love, I'll never go back on the sea,
I'll never go back from the blue-eyed girl, till she goes back on me.
CH
WILL YOU MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE
D
1. When death shall close these eyelids,
G D
and this heart shall cease to beat,
and they lay me down to rest
A A7 D
in some flowery-bound retreat.
D
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
G D
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone) ?
A A7 D
Will you miss me when I'm gone ?
D
2. Perhaps you'll plant a flower
G D
on my poor, unworthy grave.
Come and sit alone beside me,
A A7 D
when the roses nod and wave. + CHORUS
D
3. One sweet thought my soul shall cherish,
G D
when this fleeting life has flown,
this sweet thought will cheer when dying,
A A7 D
will you miss me when I'm gone. + CHORUS
D
4. When these lips shall never more
G D
press a kiss upon thy brow,
but lie cold and still in death,
A A7 D
will you love me then as now. + CHORUS
(capo 2 nd) (The Carter Family)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
*A Communist Before His Time –Gerrard Winstanley and the Digger Colonies in the English Revolution
Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Billy Bragg (Known In This Space As Narrator Of Woody Guthrie And His Guitar: The Machine Kills Fascists)performing The World Turned Upside Down.
DVD REVIEW
Winstanley, starring Miles Harriwell, directed by Kenneth Brownlow, 1975
The time of the English Revolution in the 1640's, Oliver Cromwell's time, as in all revolutionary times saw a profusion of ideas from all kinds of sources- religious, secular, the arcane, the fanciful and the merely misbegotten. A few of those ideas however, as here, bear study by modern militants. As the film under review amplifies, True Leveler Gerrard Winstanley's agrarian socialist utopian tracts from the 1640's, the notion of a socialist solution to the problems of humankind has a long, heroic and storied history. The solutions presented by Winstanley had and, in a limited sense, still do represent rudimentary ways to solve the problem of social and economic distribution of the social surplus produced by society. Without overextending the analogy Winstanley's tract represented for his time, the 1600's, what the Communist Manifesto represented for Marx's time-and ours-the first clarion call for the new more equitable world order. And those with property hated both men, with the same venom, in their respective times.
One of the great advances Marx had over Winstanley was that he did not place his reliance on an agrarian solution to the crisis of society as Winstanley, by the state of economic development of his times, was forced to do. Marx, moreover, unlike Winstanley, did not concentrate on the question of distribution but rather on who controlled the means of production a point that all previous theorists had either failed to account for, dismissed out of hand or did not know about. Thus, all pre-Marxist theory is bound up with a strategy of moral as well as political persuasion as a means of changing human lifestyles. Marx posed the question differently by centering on the creation of social surplus so that under conditions of plenty the struggle for daily survival would be taken off the human agenda and other more lofty goals put in its place. Still, with all the True Levelers' weaknesses of program and their improbabilities of success in the 1640's militants today still doff our hats to Winstanley's vision.
Notwithstanding the utopian nature of the experiment discussed above the filmmaker, Kenneth Brownlow, and his associates here have painstakingly, lovingly and with fidelity to the narrative and detail that are known from the researches of the likes of Christopher Hill and George Sabine, among others, that make for an excellent snapshot of what it might have been like up on Winstanley's St. George's Hill long ago. Two things add to that end.
First, the use of black and white highlights the bleak countryside (after all although the land was "common" it was waste that the landlord did not find it expedient to cultivate) and the pinched appearances of the "comrades" (especially the deeply-farrowed expressions of Miles Harriwell as Winstanley). Secondly, the director has used to the greatest extent possible Winstanley's own pamphlets that dealt with what was going on in Surrey and what his political purposes were (expressed as almost always in those days in religious terms- but taking land in common for use rather than profit is understanding in any language. I might add that the attempts to replicate the costumes of the period, the furnishings and the music round out a job well done.
Note: Part of this DVD contains a section on the hows and whys of the making of the film, including in-depth coverage of its making and commentary by Mr. Brownlow. You are getting this film for the Winstanley reenactment but this section is interesting if you are interested in filmmaking.
THE FOLLOWING IS A SONG BASED ON THE DIGGER EXPERIENCE IN 1650
If John Milton was the literary muse of the English Revolution then the Diggers and their leader, Gerrard Winstanley, were the political muses.
The World Turned Upside Down
We will not worship the God they serve, a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve.
In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's
will
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.
We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common and make the waste
ground grow
This earth divided we will make whole
So it may be a common treasury for all "**
The sin of property we do disdain
No man has any right to buy or sell the earth for private gain
By theft and murder they took the land
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
They make the laws to chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven, or they damn us into hell
We will not worship the God they serve,
a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve
We work and eat together, we need no swords
We will not bow to masters, nor pay rent to the lords
Still we are free, though we are poor
Ye Diggers all, stand up for glory, stand up now!
From the men of property the orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers'
claim
Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
They were dispersed - only the vision lingers on
Ye poor take courage, ye rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
All things in common, all people one
They came in peace - the order came to cut them down
WORDS AND MUSIC BY LEON ROSSELSON, 1981
DVD REVIEW
Winstanley, starring Miles Harriwell, directed by Kenneth Brownlow, 1975
The time of the English Revolution in the 1640's, Oliver Cromwell's time, as in all revolutionary times saw a profusion of ideas from all kinds of sources- religious, secular, the arcane, the fanciful and the merely misbegotten. A few of those ideas however, as here, bear study by modern militants. As the film under review amplifies, True Leveler Gerrard Winstanley's agrarian socialist utopian tracts from the 1640's, the notion of a socialist solution to the problems of humankind has a long, heroic and storied history. The solutions presented by Winstanley had and, in a limited sense, still do represent rudimentary ways to solve the problem of social and economic distribution of the social surplus produced by society. Without overextending the analogy Winstanley's tract represented for his time, the 1600's, what the Communist Manifesto represented for Marx's time-and ours-the first clarion call for the new more equitable world order. And those with property hated both men, with the same venom, in their respective times.
One of the great advances Marx had over Winstanley was that he did not place his reliance on an agrarian solution to the crisis of society as Winstanley, by the state of economic development of his times, was forced to do. Marx, moreover, unlike Winstanley, did not concentrate on the question of distribution but rather on who controlled the means of production a point that all previous theorists had either failed to account for, dismissed out of hand or did not know about. Thus, all pre-Marxist theory is bound up with a strategy of moral as well as political persuasion as a means of changing human lifestyles. Marx posed the question differently by centering on the creation of social surplus so that under conditions of plenty the struggle for daily survival would be taken off the human agenda and other more lofty goals put in its place. Still, with all the True Levelers' weaknesses of program and their improbabilities of success in the 1640's militants today still doff our hats to Winstanley's vision.
Notwithstanding the utopian nature of the experiment discussed above the filmmaker, Kenneth Brownlow, and his associates here have painstakingly, lovingly and with fidelity to the narrative and detail that are known from the researches of the likes of Christopher Hill and George Sabine, among others, that make for an excellent snapshot of what it might have been like up on Winstanley's St. George's Hill long ago. Two things add to that end.
First, the use of black and white highlights the bleak countryside (after all although the land was "common" it was waste that the landlord did not find it expedient to cultivate) and the pinched appearances of the "comrades" (especially the deeply-farrowed expressions of Miles Harriwell as Winstanley). Secondly, the director has used to the greatest extent possible Winstanley's own pamphlets that dealt with what was going on in Surrey and what his political purposes were (expressed as almost always in those days in religious terms- but taking land in common for use rather than profit is understanding in any language. I might add that the attempts to replicate the costumes of the period, the furnishings and the music round out a job well done.
Note: Part of this DVD contains a section on the hows and whys of the making of the film, including in-depth coverage of its making and commentary by Mr. Brownlow. You are getting this film for the Winstanley reenactment but this section is interesting if you are interested in filmmaking.
THE FOLLOWING IS A SONG BASED ON THE DIGGER EXPERIENCE IN 1650
If John Milton was the literary muse of the English Revolution then the Diggers and their leader, Gerrard Winstanley, were the political muses.
The World Turned Upside Down
We will not worship the God they serve, a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve.
In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's
will
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.
We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common and make the waste
ground grow
This earth divided we will make whole
So it may be a common treasury for all "**
The sin of property we do disdain
No man has any right to buy or sell the earth for private gain
By theft and murder they took the land
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
They make the laws to chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven, or they damn us into hell
We will not worship the God they serve,
a God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve
We work and eat together, we need no swords
We will not bow to masters, nor pay rent to the lords
Still we are free, though we are poor
Ye Diggers all, stand up for glory, stand up now!
From the men of property the orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers'
claim
Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
They were dispersed - only the vision lingers on
Ye poor take courage, ye rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
All things in common, all people one
They came in peace - the order came to cut them down
WORDS AND MUSIC BY LEON ROSSELSON, 1981
Sunday, April 26, 2009
* In Honor Of The Irish Cultural Gradient- The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem Performing "Brennan On The Moor".
CD Review
Celtic Classic Treasures, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and Friends, Legacy International
If the CD “Rising Of The Moon” above was filled with fight songs of the Irish national liberation struggle in the classic period up in the 1920’s then this CD reflects the folk traditions of the rest of Irish life under the occupation. Moreover, there is a nice smattering of reels, jigs and ballads that are more familiar to most people when they think about Irish culture. And the boyos have brought in other voices and instruments to round out this work. Outstanding here are “Whiskey You’re The Devil” a perennial favorite concerning a subject near and dear to many Irish. “The Lowland Of Holland’ deals with the hard fact that many Irish, in order to get under from under the farm, enlisted in the British Army. A few children’s songs are thrown in which are always interesting as an example of how universal the concerns of childhood are. These are the songs that our grandmothers sang to us low and sweet. To round things out there are several tracks in Gaelic like the standard “Roisin Dubh”, “Amhran Dochais” and “An Bhruinnlin Bheasach”.
Here are some songs of the Irish Rebellions
By the Rising of the Moon
words by J.K. Casey, music Turlough O'Carolan
And come tell me Sean O'Farrell tell me why you hurry so
Husha buachaill hush and listen and his cheeks were all a glow
I bare orders from the captain get you ready quick and soon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon
And come tell me Sean O'Farrell where the gath'rin is to be
At the old spot by the river quite well known to you and me
One more word for signal token whistle out the marchin' tune
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon
Out from many a mud wall cabin eyes were watching through the night
Many a manly heart was beating for the blessed warning light
Murmurs rang along the valleys to the banshees lonely croon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon
All along that singing river that black mass of men was seen
High above their shining weapons flew their own beloved green
Death to every foe and traitor! Whistle out the marching tune
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon
'Tis the rising of the moon, 'tis the rising of the moon
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon
The Croppy Boy
It was early, early in the spring
The birds did whistle and sweetly sing
Changing their notes from tree to tree
And the song they sang was Old Ireland free.
It was early early in the night,
The yeoman cavalry gave me a fright
The yeoman cavalry was my downfall
And I was taken by Lord Cornwall.
'Twas in the guard-house where I was laid,
And in a parlour where I was tried
My sentence passed and my courage low
When to Dungannon I was forced to go.
As I was passing my father's door
My brother William stood at the door
My aged father stood at the door
And my tender mother her hair she tore.
As I was going up Wexford Street
My own first cousin I chanced to meet;
My own first cousin did me betray
And for one bare guinea swore my life away.
As I was walking up Wexford Hill
Who could blame me to cry my fill?
I looked behind, and I looked before
But my aged mother I shall see no more.
And as I mounted the platform high
My aged father was standing by;
My aged father did me deny
And the name he gave me was the Croppy Boy.
It was in Dungannon this young man died
And in Dungannon his body lies.
And you good people that do pass by
Oh shed a tear for the Croppy Boy.
"The Foggy Dew"
As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by
No fife did hum nor battle drum did sound it's dread tatoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey swell rang out through the foggy dew
Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Sulva or Sud El Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew
'Twas Britannia bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Sulva's waves or the shore of the Great North Sea
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their names we will keep where the fenians sleep 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew
But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew
Ah, back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go and I'd kneel and pray for you,
For slavery fled, O glorious dead, When you fell in the foggy dew.
"Kevin Barry"
In Mountjoy jail one Monday morning
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty.
But a lad of eighteen summers,
Still there's no one can deny,
As he walked to death that morning,
He proudly held his head on high.
2. Just before he faced the hangman,
In his dreary prison cell,
The Black and Tans tortured Barry,
Just because he wouldn't tell.
The names of his brave comrades,
And other things they wished to know.
"Turn informer and we'll free you"
Kevin Barry answered, "no".
3. "Shoot me like a soldier.
Do not hang me like a dog,
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that still September morn.
"All around the little bakery
Where we fought them hand to hand,
Shoot me like a brave soldier,
For I fought for Ireland."
4. "Kevin Barry, do not leave us,
On the scaffold you must die!"
Cried his broken-hearted mother
As she bade her son good-bye.
Kevin turned to her in silence
Saying, "Mother, do not weep,
For it's all for dear old Ireland
And it's all for freedom's sake."
5. Calmly standing to attention
While he bade his last farewell
To his broken hearted mother
Whose grief no one can tell.
For the cause he proudly cherished
This sad parting had to be
Then to death walked softly smiling
That old Ireland might be free.
6. Another martyr for old Ireland;
Another murder for the crown,
Whose brutal laws to crush the Irish,
Could not keep their spirit down.
Lads like Barry are no cowards.
From the foe they will not fly.
Lads like Barry will free Ireland,
For her sake they'll live and die.
CD Review
Celtic Classic Treasures, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and Friends, Legacy International
If the CD “Rising Of The Moon” above was filled with fight songs of the Irish national liberation struggle in the classic period up in the 1920’s then this CD reflects the folk traditions of the rest of Irish life under the occupation. Moreover, there is a nice smattering of reels, jigs and ballads that are more familiar to most people when they think about Irish culture. And the boyos have brought in other voices and instruments to round out this work. Outstanding here are “Whiskey You’re The Devil” a perennial favorite concerning a subject near and dear to many Irish. “The Lowland Of Holland’ deals with the hard fact that many Irish, in order to get under from under the farm, enlisted in the British Army. A few children’s songs are thrown in which are always interesting as an example of how universal the concerns of childhood are. These are the songs that our grandmothers sang to us low and sweet. To round things out there are several tracks in Gaelic like the standard “Roisin Dubh”, “Amhran Dochais” and “An Bhruinnlin Bheasach”.
Here are some songs of the Irish Rebellions
By the Rising of the Moon
words by J.K. Casey, music Turlough O'Carolan
And come tell me Sean O'Farrell tell me why you hurry so
Husha buachaill hush and listen and his cheeks were all a glow
I bare orders from the captain get you ready quick and soon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon
And come tell me Sean O'Farrell where the gath'rin is to be
At the old spot by the river quite well known to you and me
One more word for signal token whistle out the marchin' tune
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon
Out from many a mud wall cabin eyes were watching through the night
Many a manly heart was beating for the blessed warning light
Murmurs rang along the valleys to the banshees lonely croon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon
By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon
All along that singing river that black mass of men was seen
High above their shining weapons flew their own beloved green
Death to every foe and traitor! Whistle out the marching tune
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon
'Tis the rising of the moon, 'tis the rising of the moon
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon
The Croppy Boy
It was early, early in the spring
The birds did whistle and sweetly sing
Changing their notes from tree to tree
And the song they sang was Old Ireland free.
It was early early in the night,
The yeoman cavalry gave me a fright
The yeoman cavalry was my downfall
And I was taken by Lord Cornwall.
'Twas in the guard-house where I was laid,
And in a parlour where I was tried
My sentence passed and my courage low
When to Dungannon I was forced to go.
As I was passing my father's door
My brother William stood at the door
My aged father stood at the door
And my tender mother her hair she tore.
As I was going up Wexford Street
My own first cousin I chanced to meet;
My own first cousin did me betray
And for one bare guinea swore my life away.
As I was walking up Wexford Hill
Who could blame me to cry my fill?
I looked behind, and I looked before
But my aged mother I shall see no more.
And as I mounted the platform high
My aged father was standing by;
My aged father did me deny
And the name he gave me was the Croppy Boy.
It was in Dungannon this young man died
And in Dungannon his body lies.
And you good people that do pass by
Oh shed a tear for the Croppy Boy.
"The Foggy Dew"
As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by
No fife did hum nor battle drum did sound it's dread tatoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey swell rang out through the foggy dew
Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Sulva or Sud El Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew
'Twas Britannia bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Sulva's waves or the shore of the Great North Sea
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their names we will keep where the fenians sleep 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew
But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew
Ah, back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go and I'd kneel and pray for you,
For slavery fled, O glorious dead, When you fell in the foggy dew.
"Kevin Barry"
In Mountjoy jail one Monday morning
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty.
But a lad of eighteen summers,
Still there's no one can deny,
As he walked to death that morning,
He proudly held his head on high.
2. Just before he faced the hangman,
In his dreary prison cell,
The Black and Tans tortured Barry,
Just because he wouldn't tell.
The names of his brave comrades,
And other things they wished to know.
"Turn informer and we'll free you"
Kevin Barry answered, "no".
3. "Shoot me like a soldier.
Do not hang me like a dog,
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that still September morn.
"All around the little bakery
Where we fought them hand to hand,
Shoot me like a brave soldier,
For I fought for Ireland."
4. "Kevin Barry, do not leave us,
On the scaffold you must die!"
Cried his broken-hearted mother
As she bade her son good-bye.
Kevin turned to her in silence
Saying, "Mother, do not weep,
For it's all for dear old Ireland
And it's all for freedom's sake."
5. Calmly standing to attention
While he bade his last farewell
To his broken hearted mother
Whose grief no one can tell.
For the cause he proudly cherished
This sad parting had to be
Then to death walked softly smiling
That old Ireland might be free.
6. Another martyr for old Ireland;
Another murder for the crown,
Whose brutal laws to crush the Irish,
Could not keep their spirit down.
Lads like Barry are no cowards.
From the foe they will not fly.
Lads like Barry will free Ireland,
For her sake they'll live and die.
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