Songs That Tell Stories

Imagine, if you can, being a kid with a single dime to provide some escape on a Friday night in a small Texas town, as Gene Pitney tells it.

Whisc Seeger would that be?

I remember when Bob Seger played at sock hops in Detroit in the late 60s. Normally, admission was 50 cents but it was $1.50 when he played. I was reading a bulletin board one afternoon, as were some other people. I heard a male voice behind me say, "A dollar and a half! Who does Seger think he is anyway?"

Gene Pitney was a favorit artist of my mother's. I like him myself.

Concerts used to be cheap. I saw Bob Dylan for four dollars, I think. It was while Like a Rolling Stone was a hit.

This was my first experience listening to Steve Goodman. He's all right. (I recall I am my own Grandpa off the radio when I was pretty small).

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS VISITS LINCOLN PARK AND ESCAPES UNSCATHED

As I went out one evening to take the evening air
I was blessed by a blood red moon
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I spied a fair young maiden and a flame was in her eyes
And on her face lay the steel blue skies
Of Lincoln Park the dark was turning
Turning

They spread their sheets upon the ground just like a wandering tribe
And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes
Through Lincoln Park the dark was turning
The towers trapped and trembling and the boats were tossed about
When the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out
From Lincoln Park the dark was turning
Turning

Like wild horses freed at last we took the streets of wine
But I searched in vain for she stayed behind
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I'll go back to the city where I can be alone
And tell my friend she lies in stone
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
Turning

Phil Ochs - written in the time of the police riots in Chicago, during the Democratic Convention. 1968? Seems like a century ago.

Just heard a great version of Fiddle and Bow by Jonathan Byrd, a relatively young folksinger who has been a winner at Kerrville. Unfortunately, youtube is not opening for me today and so I can't post it.

Alright, I have to post this although I must get away from my computer and do tons of work around the house and prepare for tomorrow's classes.

Kate Campbell, who I think is originally from Mississippi, is one of America's best song-writers. Her work is a history of 20th C. America. If you don't know her, get off your asses and discover this gem.

A song called Delmus Jackson appeared on her second album, Moonpie Dreams.

The song is deceptively simple: the story of a Black janitor and staunch Christian. This is a man who lived his life on the good -- not the hypocritical -- side of Christianity. He knows when he goes to heaven and meets Jesus, Jesus will say well done. Jesus loves the Delmus Jacksons of the world.

Her writing is personal and yet it reminds all of us that the American South is an ethnicity.

I will try to check into this later on. Right now I am preoccupied with two or three things.

Sooner or later we all go back to visit our personal street of memories as Johnnie
Ray did way back in 1957.

It's a good song. I never heard it before. My favorite by Johnny Ray is Walking in the Rain.

Lol- I remember FEN would play Just Walking In The Rain on rainy mornings as they went on the air.

Unfortunately, one of my ancestors gave the order to charge.

Part of Tennyson's poem.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipdjwuSQcfE&feature=related

Great one by Ms campbell, edgar

That was one of the poems I memorized for class, in the tenth grade, letty.

Something reminded me of Lonnie Donegan, so I googled him. Was sad to learn that he died in 2002.