TEXAS IS CALLIN’ ME
Blair Powell was a close friend and mentor of our November Second Saturday artist Steve Fisher. Blair asked that Steve sing at his memorial service, which took place in Kerrville at the festival. Steve wrote more than one song for Blair, because he said that just one song was not enough of an homage. You can hear Steve perform this song at MEMORIAL DAY , on his CD, Count Me In or at the link below
Memorial
Day [video]
Memorial
Day[lyrics and chords]
Our
song this month comes from the timely pen of our editor, Cehlena
Solus, and is published here with her permission.
This song’s back story is pretty self-evident. One
of the things I like about it is the uncommon way it begins on
the IV chord. Many Celtic songs do that – not
surprising, considering that Cehlena is the leader of a Celtic
band called Wylde
Meade. You
can hear this song performed at the link below.
Pandemic
Shadows [video]
Pandemic
Shadows [lyrics and chords]
A-CRAWLIN’ IN
YOUR WHISKERS
One
of Canada’s most iconic folk songs, the song recounts his
experience while he was visiting Northern Ontario with an
Ontario Hydro survey party to study the feasibility of a dam
on the Little Abitibi River, which flows north towards James
Bay. You can hear this song performed by the author at
the link below.
Black Fly
Song [video]
Black Fly
Song [lyrics and chords]
WHERE WERE YOU
LAST FRIDAY NIGHT
There
are many versions and verses of this song. This is how
Tony Rice recorded it fairly early in his career. You
also get to hear some of Tony’s unparalleled flat-picking.
This was back when his playing was still fairly
traditional, which is my favorite era of his work. You
can hear the song at the link below.
Way
Downtown [video]
Way Downtown [lyrics
and chords]
DID THE HOT DOGS
TASTE BETTER?
The things in this song are true, except
for the ones that I made up. Mostly true. The
streetcar ran down Colonial Ave. in South Dallas right by
Grandpa’s house. You can hear this song performed by Across the Water at the link below.
Grandpa, Do You
Wonder [audio]
Grandpa,
Do you Wonder [lyrics and chords]
MY FEET THEY ARE
SO TENDER
The
historical setting of this ballad is most likely either the War
of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
or the Seven
Years War (1756-1763).
High Germany refers to the mountainous, Alpine southern
part of Germany. Cecil Sharp collected a version of this
song in 1906, and it was actually recorded on phonograph by
Percy Grainger in 1908. You can hear the great English
folksinger Martin Carthy perform this song at the link below.
High
Germany [video]
High Germany
[lyrics & chords]
Otto P. Kelland wrote
this song in 1947. Kelland was a prison warden at
St. John’s Penitentiary in Newfoundland when he decided to
set to music a conversation he once had with a sea captain
about a sailor longing for his southeastern Newfoundland
home. You can listen to Stan Rogers perform the song
here at the link below.
Let
Me Fish off Cape St. Mary's [video]
Let
Me Fish off Cape St. Mary's [lyrics & chords]
WITH HEARTS UNDAUNTED AND COURAGE TRUE
A
song about cold weather seemed to be in order. This
traditional ballad about Lord John Franklin’s ill-fated
expedition in 1845 to find a Northwest Passage around the pole
is one of my favorites. There were a great many
recordings on Youtube to choose from – some by big “names”
like Sinead O’Connor and Pentangle. I liked this version
by Andy Toman, which you can hear at the link below. As
with all traditional songs, you will find somewhat different
words with different versions.
THEY ATE OF OUR MEAT
On
February 13, 1692, an estimated 30 members and associates of
Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe were killed by government forces
for failing to pledge allegiance to the new monarchs, William
III of Scotland and Mary II. The MacDonalds were
Jacobites, participating in an uprising to restore James II to
the throne. The government of William III sought to make
a brutal example of them for all the Jacobites. This
tactic worked; the uprising in the Highlands ended with the
massacre of Glen Coe. You can hear a nice version of
this song by The Corries at youTube
link,
or at the link below.
Massacre
of Glencoe [video]
Massacre of
Glencoe [lyrics and chords]
Our January issue actually
comes out closer to Christmas than the December one, so here
goes with my favorite Christmas carol. Christina Rosetti
composed it as a poem in 1872, then the noted English composer
Gustav Holst set it to music in 1906. It makes a lovely
vocal piece with acoustic guitar. You can hear a
beautiful version of this song by Dan Fogelberg at In
The Bleak Mid Winter.
This
song by our Editor, Cehlena Solus, “…really came from
staring out the window,” she says. “Seeing the
wind blow through the trees on the walks I take daily
with the dogs along the bayou.” “Music is all
around us in nature if we just take a moment and
listen.” You can hear this song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gEIz2FBKpo
or at the link below.
Stepin'
Into Color [video]
Stepin' Into
Color [lyrics and chords]
I CLIMBED THE WALLS THE ROMANS LEFT BEHIND
Jack Williams has
graciously given us permission to print this song from
his fine album, Walkin’
Dreams. He wrote it
on one of his several tours performing in England.
Jack tells us that the brothers mentioned in verse
four were actually his ancestors – sixteen generations
back. Walkin’
Dreams is still
available through Jack’s website: http://www.jackwilliamsmusic.com/discography.html.
ONE KIND FAVOR
I was listening to Lightnin’
Hopkins sing this on 33rpm vinyl before I ever heard
him do it at the Will Rice commons in Houston in 1962.
But this song goes way back before that.
It was recorded (and some say written) by Blind
Lemon Jefferson in 1927. The list of people who
have recorded it since goes on forever, as does the
number of different ways to treat the song.
Listening to different versions on Youtube was
so interesting that I have provided two versions for
contrast. First, a modern ensemble arrangement
by Del McCoury and Friends where they treat it almost
like a spiritual.
One
Kind Favor - Del McCoury
One
Kind Favor - Blind Lemon Jefferson
One Kind
Favor [lyrics & chords]
ON THE LEFT
FOOT, PEG FOOT
I got chills the first time I heard this song in about 1959. It must have been The Weavers’ version, because I don’t know if anyone else had recorded it yet. The song was first published in 1928 by the Texas Folklore Society. The A major IV chord at the beginning of the chorus gives the song a very interesting Dorian mode flavor. The Weavers are actually performing it in E flat minor, so to play along with them you could tune down a half step, or transpose it to D minor and capo up one. The drinking gourd is, of course, the Big Dipper constellation in which two of its stars point to Polaris, the north star. Pete Seeger tells more of the story of the song in the intro to their recording, which you can hear at the link below.
BRING ALL MY
WORRIED NATIONS
Dance
Around My Atom Fire [video]
Dance
Around My Atom Fire [lyrics and chords]
WHO WILL WEAR THE ROBE AND
CROWN?
A lot of us may think of Valley to Pray as a folk song. In fact it was written by the great gospel composer Albert E. Brumley (1905-1977), who also composed I’ll Fly Away, Turn Your Radio On, and many other gospel classics. The song is also widely known as Down in the River to Pray, as recorded by Allison Krauss and many others. To me, it is Valley to Pray because that is the version I first heard by Arlo Guthrie 50 years ago. The song has been recorded by a great many people, perhaps least notably by Across the Water on their a cappella CD, No Strings Attached, so that is the version I have transcribed here, and that you can hear at the link below.
I WILL PAWN
YOU THIS HEART IN MY BOSOM
We
haven’t had a Carter Family song in this space for quite a
while. Here is one that A. P. Carter wrote in 1933
and recorded for RCA Victor. They recorded the
song in B-flat, which means it was probably played in G
shape with the capo on the third fret. So I have
transcribed it in G, and you can capo wherever it is
comfortable for you to sing it. You can listen to
the Carter Family’s original version of this song at the
link below.
GOLD
WATCH AND CHAIN [video]
GOLD WATCH
AND CHAIN [lyrics & chords]
WE LEARNED TO MAKE MUSIC OUR OWN
WILL YE GANG TO THE
HIELANDS
It’s
been
a while since we had a good old Child ballad in this space,
so here’s a pretty one to learn. Like most songs
this old, there are many variants out there, especially of
the lyrics on this one.
You can hear this version performed by The
Corries at
YouTube
location
DID YOU TRY TO
ABSCOND WITH A BEAUTIFUL BLONDE?
SHE
CHURNED THE BUTTER IN DAD’S OLD BOOT
THE ANGELS
SING A LULLABY
HOW CAN A
YOUNG MAN STAY AT HOME
This
is a great jamming tune, and the verses can go on
forever. Any
of the dozens of verses to “Shady Grove” will fit, among
others. You
can hear a nice rendition of this song by the Dublin
group We Banjo 3 at
Down
The River Uncle Joe [video]
Down
The River Uncle Joe [lyrics and chords]
BEND DOWN THE TALLEST TREE
ALL THE LADS HAVE
GOT THE SACK
The
Rhondda
Valley in South Wales has been synonymous with coal mining
since the mid-nineteenth century, and the fortunes of the
region and its people have always paralleled those of the
coal industry. Pete
Seeger’s song “The Bells of Rhymney” based on the poem by
Welsh poet Idris Davies mentions “the black bells of
Rhondda” – black from the coal dust. This song was
written by Frank Hennessey during a miners’ strike. The reference to
“Roben’s axe” refers to Alfred Robens, who was Chairman of
the National Coal Board from 1961 to 1971. You can hear this
song performed by The New Barleycorn
at the link below.
If
all the Welsh names in the last verse don’t roll easily off
your tongue, it would probably not violate the folk process
to substitute Anglicized Welsh names like Morgan, Davis,
Edwards.
Farewell
to the Rhondda [video]
Farewell
to the Rhondda [lyrics and chords]
This
one
presents a real dilemma between authenticity and art. As you can see
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2DJvgNlMA,
Woody performed it playing a D major chord throughout the
song. And the
purity and earnestness of the song certainly comes out when
it is done that way. But
to my musical taste, the melody cries out for a minor chord
at the beginning, and the dramatic change to the relative
major in the second line, as in this fine rendition from
1965 by Tracy Newman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTGilvIw7Y
You can
take your pick. That’s
why they call it folk music.
I have notated the chords the way Tracy plays it. You can play it as
she does in the A minor chord shape and capo anywhere from
open up to V or so to fit your vocal range.
Pastures
of Plenty [video with Woody]
Pastures of Plenty [video with Tracy Newman]
Pastures
of Plenty [lyrics and chords]
‘TIS
NATURE’S NEED; ‘TIS GOD’S DECREE
The
leaders of the Abolitionist movement set up anti-slavery
singing circles and wrote special songs for them, generally
set to the tune of old hymns. The best of them was this
“Abolitionists Hymn” set to the familiar “Old Hundredth.”,
which was published in the Genevan Psalter in 1551. John Pierpont
wrote the lyrics as a poem in 1842. If you have ever
accompanied a hymn singalong, you will know that many hymn
tunes change chords just about every beat. This one is no
exception, so don’t take it too fast. I have simplified
the chords somewhat from the nice rendition by Stephen
Griffith that can be found at the link below.