This old folk song shows up a lot in the folk singer community, especially among Irish folk singers. But sometimes pop singers pull up an old folk tune and red-headed comedian Danny Kaye used to sing songs like Molly Malone in his movies and radio appearances. He had that lovely Irish tenor voice that set these songs perfectly.
I especially like poignant sweet melodies like this one. I think it probably inspired The Beatles song, Obla Di, Obla Da which also features a barrow wheeling daughter of fish-mongers. Danny Kaye movies are some of my favorites, but I love listening to him sing too. There's another Danny Kaye melody by his wife Sylvia Fine called Darlin Meggie. I had to go to the Library of Congress to get that video. Enjoy these two beautiful songs.
My son, Micah introduced me to this Nickel Creek song. The lyrics are beautiful and this song always makes me mist up a little bit. I'm not sure even now, as many times as I've listened to it, that I could sing it all the way through without getting all choked up. The Hand Song is one of those poignant folk songs that is beyond the typical murder ballad, folk hero song or the "I love her so much I want to lock her up inside a box and not let her out" sort of twisted love songs you find in mountain music. This song is lyrical and beautiful.
Sheila, the boys and I once spent a Sunday at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. One of the performers was a perky little woman named Christine Lavin. While she's aged some since we saw her live, she's still funny and odd even with white hair. One of my favorite of her songs is a tribute to men without hair and as a man who is losing his hair with startling rapidity, I find myself quite fond of this song. She also did a version some years ago with five other women who called themselves "Six Bitchin' Babes", a nom de plume somewhat at odds with their collective feminism.
Great song, though. Christine can be forgiven for her politics if she keeps writing funny songs.
Of all the acapella groups out there these days, Home Free is probably my very favorite. Here they've gone and done my favorite folk genre proud with this driving medley of sea shanties including the song that rehooked me on them - The Wellerman. Enjoy!
This old folk song shows up a lot in the folk singer community, especially among Irish folk singers. But sometimes pop singers pull up an old folk tune and red-headed comedian Danny Kaye used to sing songs like Molly Malone in his movies and radio appearances. He had that lovely Irish tenor voice that set these songs perfectly.
I especially like poignant sweet melodies like this one. I think it probably inspired The Beatles song, Obla Di, Obla Da which also features a barrow wheeling daughter of fish-mongers. Danny Kaye movies are some of my favorites, but I love listening to him sing too. There's another Danny Kaye melody by his wife Sylvia Fine called Darlin Meggie. I had to go to the Library of Congress to get that video. Enjoy these two beautiful songs.
I
think this is my new theme song. "On the Water" by Steve Martin and the
Steep Canyon Rangers. I believe there's a reason that the first
disciples Jesus called were a bunch of sailors. I love bluegrass music.
Every musician gets a turn to shine. It's such an unselfish genre of
music.
I first heard this song back in college on a recording by folksingers
Ian & Sylvia. The song was in French; an old voyageur song that used
to be sung by early French traders in America and Canada. I'd been
looking for a song to sing on long canoe trips. I wasn't able to
memorize all of it, but I got enough of it to help me keep up my
paddling rhythm on summer canoe trips with my canoe classes. It's a fun
song with a driving rhythm and really odd words. But then folk songs are
not noted for their Shakespearean intricacies. Here's Miss Lizzy's version followed by the lyrics in
both English and French.
Chorus: Here's the good wind, here's the pretty wind, Here's the good wind! My friend is calling me. Here's the good wind, here's the pretty wind, Here's the good wind! My friend is waiting for me.
Behind our place there is a pond. Behind our place there is a pond. Three fine ducks are bathing there.
Chorus:
The king's son goes hunting there, The king's son goes hunting there With his big silver gun. Chorus: Aimed at the black one, killed the white, Aimed at the black one, killed the white, And all its feathers went with the wind.
Chorus: There are three ladies picking them up. There are three ladies picking them up. And we will make a camp bed. Chorus:
The two of us will sleep in it, The two of us will sleep in it, To have some little children there. Chorus:
I need to learn the last two verses yet. I really like Lizzy's gentle version of the song. It's on my phone now so I should be able to practice it a little.
This song always makes me tear up. I've tried singing it and it always gives me trouble. This beautiful song is here delivered by two of Ireland's finest singers from two of Ireland's finest musical families. The Dutchman was written by Michael Peter Smith, who was a nice discovery through this song. You may not know Michael but you may have heard some of his songs. Look him up. He's really good. Get yourself a hankie first.
I love this song. It's one of my favorite Irish folk songs and best of all it's sung by two members of my favorite Irish music families - the Makems and the Clancys. I've actually seen both these guys and their dads performing at the North Texas Irish Festival. First I got to see the Clancy Brothers, then Tommy Makem performing solo. Then I got to see Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy performing together. After them, I got to see the younger Clancys performing together and the Makem Brothers performing as a group.
Since we've lost Tommy Makem and all the the elder Clancy Brothers, Tom, Liam and Paddy, it's nice to know their voices live on in their sons. I could listen to those guys all day, especially singing those ballads like "The Leavin' of Liverpool" and "The Parting Glass".
For this post I've included Rory Makem and Donal Clancy singing "The Leavin' of Liverpool" and The original Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem singing "The Parting Glass". I am so happy the sons have carried on their fathers' musical tradition. Maybe if I can find an Irish festival up here in Washington State, maybe I can see the tradition live on.
Here's Rory and Donal:
And here's Tommy Makem, Liam, Tom and Paddy Clancy
Love these lovely Irish voices. What I would give to jam with them.
Discovered this wonderful version of the first song I ever learned - Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons". You have to picture a 4 year old singing, "Some say a man is made out of mud, but a poor man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood, skin and bones. A mind that's weak and a back that's strong."
I sang it with gusto. These guys, though, sing it with talent. I AM impressed.
This morning we get a cornucopia of folk music goodness. This is a rare little medley/sing off by three folk powerhouses of the sixties. It starts out with the Peter, Paul & Mary, followed by the odd British minstrel, Donovan Leitch, capped by the inimitable Smothers Brothers. I stole songs from all these people when I did campfires at Lone Star Camp. I swiped some of these very songs, especially the Smothers Brothers blackouts.
So here for a quick blast from my hippie past are PP&M, Smothers Brothers and Donovan:
Well that was fun! Now I want to sit down and listen to my old folk music that I've collected over the years.
Eric Bogle is a Scotsman who decided to continue his folk-singing career in Australia after he struggled in the British folk scene for a while. He assimilated into Aussie culture and writes a lot of songs about his adopted country, its history and people. One of the most poignant is this song about soldiers returning from Australia's WWI experience in Turkey at the vicious battle of Gallipoli. Bogle weaves the old Aussie tramp song "Waltzing Matilda" into this
story about the tragedy of returning veterans of the carnage at
Gallipoli. I first heard this song sung by Peter Paul and Mary. Then I
head it by the author of the song. Here's the original version by Bogle.
He wrote another song about the Australian WWI experience in Turkey called "It's As If He Knows." It's about the fate of some 136,000 cavalry and supply horses the Australian Army took to Gallipoli. It was heart-breaking and I can't listen to the song anymore. It's too disturbing. I have a very soft spot for horses. Bogle will break your heart.
Cripple Creek is a standard bluegrass tune from way back. And this is
one of my favorite versions, not by a country boy from North Carolina,
but from an irreverant Scottish comedian who also happens to play
frailing or clawhammer banjo.
Earl Scruggs who was not a comedian who plays Scruggs Style bluegrass banjo does a definitive version with Lester Flatt that you can listen to to see the difference and I'll post a link to his version at the end, but
for now, I'll post Billy's version because it looks like he's having so
danged much fun playing it.
You'll recognize Billy from parts he's
played in a bunch of movies of late, including "Lemony Snicket's A
Series of Unfortunate Events" with Jim Carrey. Billy's a very funny guy,
but it's
better if you catch him where there are some censors available to tone
him down just a bit. He was also one of the voice actors in Disney's
Brave with his rich Scottish brogue and played a part in the third of
Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies "The Battle of Five Armies."
He's actually Sir William Connolly CBE, knighted by the Queen and everything. He's an odd little man, but very talented.
This is another great Tom Paxton song from the 80s. Paxton takes off on "Ghost Riders in the Sky" in a parody of the Yuppie culture. A lot of Paxton's songs are topical and have a fairly short shelf life. If you remember the big Yuppie culture though, this one's still funny.
Tom wrote another one about the coming plague of lawyers called "One
Million Lawyers". His prediction has since come true. He wrote one about
the planet Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. The song is funny. Some of
his stuff is poignant like "Hobo's Lullaby". And he does do some kids
song like "Daddy's Takin' Us to the Zoo Tomorrow."
First time I heard this song, it was Peter, Paul and Mary who sang it. I
didn't find out till I bought the music that someone named Tom Paxton
wrote the song. Later on I took the kids to a folk concert in Fort
Worth, Texas where both PP&M and Tom Paxton performed the same
night. One of the songs Tom sang was "Last Thing on My Mind," a lament
about lost love - the kind that's your fault. Tom writes a lot of
protest songs. Some I agree with and some I don't. I'm funny like that
about folk music.
Here's Tom singing "Last Thing on My Mind,"
with another favorite of mine, Liam Clancy of the Clancy brothers. There
are much better sounding versions of this song, but I couldn't resist a
live version with Liam.
Kind of a sad song, but the guitar part is very nice. I learned to play it on the guitar and used to sing it when girlfriend's broke up with me. That actually happened a lot. This song got me through some bad days.
Ever once in a while you stumble across a weird little song and it just sticks in your head. This little ditty by Louden Wainright III celebrates an experience we've all had driving down a country road late at night. this is one of those songs you sing at the top of you lungs when you're driving along alone and feeling just a bit unhappy with the state of affairs in the world and you just want to express your frustration with the things.
Here's Louden Wainright III with "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road".
I am here to tell you that being a pirate is a dangerous business. I know. When I was 10, I was a swashbuckling buccaneer - fearless, dangerous with a sword and ruthless. My brother and I tied our flag to the top of the swingset and strung an old sheet from the crossbar so that it would belly out when the winds came. Texas has a lot of wind, so of course we were often taking in sail, shortening sail and setting sail. As a pirate in a North Central Texas backyard, we didn't have a lot of plundering opportunities, though we somehow found ourselves in a lot of sword fights. I'm here to tell you that wooden swords hurt when your kid brother lands a lucky shot to your knuckles and if he refuses to fall down dead when you shoot him with your trusty pirate pistol, well, there's not a lot else you can do but climb up the mast and set sail again.
It was a grand life it was (except for all the X-rays, the Mercurochrome, which stung like the blazes and which the ship's doctor (my Mom) insisted upon. The bandages were kind of cool, though.They contributed to your piratical look I must say.
This little song is popular in Irish pubs and Renaissance fairs and often badly sung by people with eye patches and fake peg legs who'd never get away with singing in public if the song wasn't funny. But it is a funny song and so I put it on my mP3 player to remind me of my sea-faring youth.....
Here's one of the better sounding versions of this song on Youtube with a cobbled together video featuring shots from Pirates of the Caribbean.
See what I mean about piracy? Not a great career choice my young friends. Take it from one who knows! Aaaaaaargh!
I heard this song and realized it was my baseball theme song. I was the nerdy skinny kid with glasses who always got picked last. Like the guy in the song, I made it my practice to ask to play right field. That way it was my choice to go out there and pick dandelions. I even had one of those "ball dropped right in my glove" moments once. It was my personal equivalent of Willy Mays' famous over-the-shoulder catch*
Here's Peter, Paul & Mary with "Right Field".
It's an eerily accurate depiction of the plight of guys like me in elementary school. I love Paul Stookey's sense of humor. He's a really lovely guy.
Tom
*NOTE: For those of you who missed it, here's the Willy Mayes catch. I actually saw this happen one day when I was accidentally watching a baseball game. Always wanted to do that. Nearly got a concussion trying to make that catch - twice. Fortunately I have a thick skull.
Willy Mays' over-the-shoulder catch - the man could play center field.
I don't think Dougie Maclean meant for this to be a Christian song, but
if you think of the lighthouse as Jesus, this song comes into sharp
focus. I particularly like this live version done with a choir for
backup. I love the rainstorm opening put together by the choir. It's
lovely and kinda breath-taking. Then the choir joins him later in the
song and makes it awesome.
In this day and age I am seeing things
happening around me that the old preachers warned us about when I was a
kid going to evangelistic meetings. Now it's all happening before my
eyes. I have walked for 46 years with Jesus. I am ready for the storm
and I am not afraid.
Here's Dougie and the Perthshire Amber choir in my favorite version of Ready for the Storm.
