Friday, July 10, 2009
The Quick & Dirty Folk Project 4
One of my favorite hearty sailin' songs, "Mingulay Boat Song" is based on an old pipe tune, but the lyrics are not that old, having been written by Sir Hugh S. Robertson in 1938 for the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. The island of Mingulay is located in the Outer Hebrides and was abandoned in 1912. I've been singing this song with the Jug o' Punch since January 2009 (when we were learning a bunch of Scottish tunes for our Burns' Supper gig) but I lowered the key for this version.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Quick & Dirty Folk Project 3
A couple more folk songs for ya.
"Kingdom Comin'" was written by Henry Clay Work in 1863, around the time of the Emancipation Proclamamation. The lyric is seldom heard today but it's actually a funny and clever story of slaves who take over their master's house when he runs away, due to the arrival of the 'Lincoln soldiers.' The problem is that the lyric is written in that highly-derogatory 'Negro' dialect that was so common in songs of the period. So I did a little re-writing (just a little) to make it more palatable for today's sensibilities.
I (like many others, I'm sure) first became familiar with "Man of Constant Sorrow" through its appearance in 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' It's just a great, bluesy kind of lament. It may or may not have been written by a partially blind fiddler named Dick Burnett. He was the first person who recorded it, but in later life Burnett said he didn't remember whether he wrote it or learned it from someone.
"Kingdom Comin'" was written by Henry Clay Work in 1863, around the time of the Emancipation Proclamamation. The lyric is seldom heard today but it's actually a funny and clever story of slaves who take over their master's house when he runs away, due to the arrival of the 'Lincoln soldiers.' The problem is that the lyric is written in that highly-derogatory 'Negro' dialect that was so common in songs of the period. So I did a little re-writing (just a little) to make it more palatable for today's sensibilities.
I (like many others, I'm sure) first became familiar with "Man of Constant Sorrow" through its appearance in 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' It's just a great, bluesy kind of lament. It may or may not have been written by a partially blind fiddler named Dick Burnett. He was the first person who recorded it, but in later life Burnett said he didn't remember whether he wrote it or learned it from someone.
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