Popular Music in Jacksonian America - An Antidote for Nostalgia

This is a three-LP set.  I saw it in a thrift store and thought it looked pretty nifty.  And it was, but also sad.

These songs cover ranges of popular music of North and South, and therefore show how the degradation of humanity (aka slavery) was a commonplace of everyday life.  We need to be able to acknowledge the sad parts of our history along with the glorious parts.  I leave further thoughts or comments to you.

I am happy that projects like this set try to simply show what was what, and we can see the depressing and sorrow-making aspects of the subject matter on our own.  We have two CDs and a scan of the entire booklet that came with the set.

Popular Music in Jacksonian America, Disc 1:

Music of the Stage and Concert Hall

01. The Celebrated Sontag Polka Song (2:48)

02. The Dashing White Sergeant (3:12)

03. Yes! Tis the Indian Drum (2:28)

04. The Hunters of Kentucky (2:15)

05. Home! Sweet Home (2:50)

06. The Slave Ship (5:54)

07. My Old Kentucky Home (1:17)

Early Blackface Minstrelsy

08. Nigger on de Wood Pile (0:35)

09. The Way George Christy Got Through College (1:26)

10. What Did You Come From (1:12)

11. Lubly Fan Will You Cum Out to Night (1:40)

12. Nelly Was a Lady (2:46)

13. De Boatman's Dance (1:38)

14. Root Hog or Die (0:57)

15. Old King Crow (2:03)

16. Old Folks at Home (3:18)

17. Old Dan Tucker (1:40)

18. Dixie's Land (2:26)

Songs of the Hutchinson Family

19. Flow Gently Sweet Afton (2:15)

20. A Life on the Ocean Wave (2:06)

21. The Indian's Lament (2:53)

22. The Batchelor’s Lament (2:52)

23. Kind Words Can Never Die (3:07)

24. Get Off the Track! (2:10)

25. Gentle Annie (2:37)

Popular Music in Jacksonian America, Disc 2:

Sentimental Ballads

01. Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (2:22)

02. The Orphan Ballad Singers (3:47)

03. The Old Arm Chair (3:46)

04. The Old Oaken Bucket (2:03)

05. The Messenger Bird (3:05)

06. Darling Nelly Gray (4:06)

07. Ah! May the Red Rose Live Always (1:26)

Amateurs and Music Societies

08. My Country 'Tis of Thee (0:38)

09. Mountain Song (1:09)

10. 'Tis the Last Rose of Summer (1:44)

11. Happy Are We Darkies So Gay (1:18)

12. Temperance Hymn (1:06)

13. The Hazel Dell (2:53)

14. Rural Felicity (0:27)

15. From Greenland's Icy Mountains (2:42)

16. Nearer My God to Thee (1:11)

17. Oh! Susanna (2:41)

18. Old Uncle Ned (4:10)

Shape-Note Singing

19. Holy Manna (2:03)

20. Hail! Columbia (1:04)

21. Hebrew Children (1:06)

22. Resignation (0:55)

23. Solemn Thought (1:06)

24. The Indian's Petition (0:58)

25. War Department (0:37)

26. Wondrous Love (2:39)

27. The Romish Lady (3:18)

28. The Dove of Peace (2:14)

29. Lover of the Lord (0:34)

30. Hallelujah (2:10)

31. New Britain (2:22)

Popular Music in Jacksonian America Booklet -- This is a 16-page scan including essays and lyrics.

I think the Yankee Doodle Society did a good job.


 

MA-13 - Splitting Mad: More Nuclear Numbers

Here's an early number in my ongoing anthology of pop music that treats with nuclear power or conflict, inspired by the soundtrack album from The Atomic Cafe.

1     Fireball Boogie         Camille Howard               1948

2    Sh-Boom   The Chords               1953

3    Watch World War Three (on Pay TV)         Crown City Four              1960

4    The Sun Is Burning    Simon & Garfunkel                1964

5    I Come And Stand At Every Door  The Byrds               1966

6 Atomic Bombs Away Blues Creation 1971

7 Nuclear Blues Blood Sweat & Tears 1980

8 Your Attention Please Scars 1981

9 After the Rain   Comsat Angels 1982

10 99 Red Balloons Nena 1983

11 Party at Ground Zero Fishbone 1985

12 Protect And Survive The Dubliners 1987

13 Everyday Is Like Sunday Morrissey 1988

14 I Like Chinese Monty Python 1989

15 April 2031 Warrant 1992

16 Nuclear Supremacy Dayglo Abortions 1995

17 Jesus Hits Like an Atomic Bomb Chanticleer 2004

18 Bring Back the Bomb GWAR 2004

19 Brighter Than A Thousand Suns  Iron Maiden 2006

20 The Iranian Bomb Tal Gilad 2011

Concerning Track Two, "Sh-Boom," most folks don't know its thermonuclear origins.As the story goes, a group of guys were sitting in a car listening to the radio when a news bulletin announced the USSR's first successful H-bomb test.  While talking about this super-bomb, idle talk turned to what kind of sound such a detonation might make.  "Sh-Boom" (the sound) was their eventual answer, and soon this phrase became the the core of a song about the impact of sudden love, not a sudden H-bomb attack!

The song was first recorded on Atlantic Records' subsidiary label Cat Records by The Chords on March 15, 1954 and would be their only hit song. "Sh-Boom" reached #2 on the Billboard R&B charts and peaked at #9 on the pop charts.  It is sometimes considered to be the first doo-wop or rock 'n' roll record to reach the top ten on the pop charts (as opposed to the R&B charts). This version was ranked #215 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is the group's only song on the list.

Now you too can go Sh-Boom!

 

The Adventures of Robin Hood OST

RE-POST
Here's a very fine out-of-print score that will have you leaping and bounding around the living room and challenging people with your quarterstaff.  Or maybe buck-and-a-quarterstaff!

1.   Prologue (Main Title) (01:34)
2.   Banquet At Nottingham Castle (01:52)
3.   Robin Enters The Great Hall (00:56)
4.   Escape From The Castle (05:09)
5.   Robin Meets Little John (01:38)
6.   The Oath And The Black Arrow (01:54)
7.   Robin And Friar Tuck (01:24)
8.   Ambush In Sherwood (03:01)
9.   Feast In The Forest (02:52)
10.   Robin And Marian (03:09)
11.   The Archery Tournament (03:04)
12.   Escape From The Gallows (02:13)
13.   Love Scene (05:40)
14.   Dagger Fight: King Richard In Sherwood (02:07)
15.   Coronation Procession (03:05)
16.   Duel, Victory And Epilogue (03:22)



New link January 2015