BS: A true folk singer is....

Subject: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bert
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:00 PM

Yes this is a BS thread because it is tongue in cheek and just for fun. SO let's not get too serious here.

Marti Rogers once said that a true folk singer must be able to sing Mattie Groves.

I used to think that a true folk singer must be able to sing The Old Sow Song. But now I think that a true folk singer is someone who turns off the car radio and sings songs to themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Dan Keding
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:13 PM

A true folksinger must be able to play the first few bars of "Freight Train" but not the whole song. You lose your folksinger i.d. card if you can play it correctly all the way through.

Dan

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:14 PM

A true folksinge will sing










                                       and the delivery will touch the hearts and souls of the audience.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:24 PM

A true folksinger is one who has never heard of the problem of defining 'folk'....but still knows who Libba Cotten is.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Amos
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:29 PM

...and who employed her...


A

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:44 PM

...unaware of any definitions of "folk", and couldn't care less. He/she just sings for the joy of it, and is appreciated for the same.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:45 PM

alternatively:

... one whose ears never collect any wax.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:46 PM

I think I need help because I write and play folked-up rock and I know who Libba is.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:49 PM

GEORGE. Your new CD is wonderful. All 64 minutes and 10 seconds of it.(Just thought I'd mention that.)

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 02:52 PM

"...I know who Libba is."

Necessary, but not sufficient condition... ☺

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:07 PM

anyone who's had Derek Brimstone kip on their sofa.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:11 PM

OK. I know about Woody--had one when I awoke today. I have heard Dylan and I love "A Child's Christmas in Wales." I can spell mixolydian and know that it and the dominant seventh scale are the same despite it seeming to be a contaminant in cigarette tobacco. I know that 1954 was an important year for folk music because it was finally defined, and I too wonder where all the flowers have gone. So, even though I'm not a folksinger, I have shaken the hand of at least three. Does any of this stuff count?

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:15 PM

...someone with a keen appreciation for the past musical traditions and a keen eye on the present as well.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:19 PM

A keen eye on the present . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:20 PM

A true folk singer is exactly different from a head of cabbage except when they are the same.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 03:22 PM

But a RED cabbage, aye?

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: gnu
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 04:21 PM

.... poor.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 04:29 PM

I was talking with an eighty year old friend on the phone, last night. She knows about the Mudcat and she is very well educated, plus sings beautifully at certain events, enjoys folks music, but doesn't know a lot about the "folk world" so to speak. I was rattling on about the "folkies" on Mudcat when she said, "The WHAT?" I slowed down and said it again, "Folkies." Then, I explained it meant you lot...the singer/songwriters and musicians at the Mudcat. She laughed and said she'd never heard "them" called that before. She lives in Boulder, CO and has never been shy about getting out and about, so I was surprised she'd never heard teh expression.

So...it is less common than I thought? Are you a folkie?

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Gene Burton
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 05:31 PM

Anybody with a good voice who sings good songs, regardless of source.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 05:38 PM

"Are you a folkie?"



I prefer peace to war, calm to storm, I cry when I see hungry children, and when people hurt, I do too. I like lots of music, from classical to jazz, trad to rock. I have a dislike for most of the 'political' -isms, and I think people are more important than things. If that's a folkie, then I guess I am too.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:05 PM

...one who doesn't delete the words folk and/or folksinger from their own self description, promo packet, vocabulary and interviews---and therefore feels no guilt when using those terms even though, to some, folk is a filthy four letter word in these times of redefining and revisionist history.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:17 PM

Oh dear.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:23 PM

"Anybody with a good voice who sings good songs, regardless of source.

Maria Callas was a folkie? Just like Yma Sumac?

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: dwditty
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:23 PM

John Lennon
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I'm kidding.....sheesh.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: gnu
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:41 PM

Imagine there's no fuckups.... that is good folkin music.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 07:35 PM

I wonder if you can....

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 07:37 PM

Right on, Art! Err....maybe I should say Left on, Art!! (The connotations are so different these days!)

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Dan Keding
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 08:56 PM

A folksinger is someone who enjoys the finer tings in life while knowing that those finer things are beyond their wildest financial dreams.

Also, someone who ignores the modern electronic tuner for the finely tuned ear that they have cultivated over the years - remember this is suppose to be a funny thread!! :)


Dan

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 10:09 PM

Far trout! That's what I meant to say!

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 10:47 PM

someone who doesn't give a shit about the definition or provenance or origin of the music, they just like the danged stuff. Like Peace said above.

"This is a little ditty that was composed at 11:37 p.m. in a boothy in the hills above Camp, County Kerry by a young man who was supposed to be watching Lord Ventry's sheep but who had gotten some poteen. Since this was on February 19th, 1857, there were no wolves or bears around, but it was lambing time and, as you know, Camp is just a peninsula over from Killorglin, where they annually celebrate Puck Fair. That, of course...."

And the song never gets sung because the background gets in the way.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 11:09 PM

Oh, you've BEEN to a Michael Cooney concert!

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Gurney
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 02:11 AM

...is never paid. Paid singers are professional. Even if they don't earn their living that way.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Ernest
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 08:10 AM

...someone who is not going to do a Dylan medley when asked to do some of that mixolydian stuff...

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: bankley
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 08:37 AM

someone who shouldn't be confused with a false folk singer

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Bert
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 12:32 PM

Someone who doesn't edit the swear words out of the sea shanties.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 12:54 PM

"A true folk singer is..."

....enjoying themselves! (Usually at a session with an eclectic mix of material!)

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 02:29 PM

"All the true folk singers are dead, and I'm not feeling so well myself."

I'm not sure whom I'm paraphrasing but it will do for this thread.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST,Smiler
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 04:15 PM

If I had a hammer............

There'd be no more folk singers!

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 04:23 PM

Steve's Hammer (For Pete)

One of these days I'm gonna lay this hammer down
And I won't have to drag this weight around
When there ain't no hunger
And there ain't no pain
Then I won't have to swing this thing
One of these day I'm gonna lay this hammer down

One of these nights I'm gonna sing a different tune
All night long beneath the silvery moon
When the war is over
And the union's strong
Won't sing no more angry songs
One of these nights I'm gonna sing a different tune

Someday when my struggle's through
I won't have to strive
Until then all I can do
Is let my hammer fly

One of these days I'm gonna lay this hammer down
Leave my burden restin' on the ground
When the air don't choke ya and the ocean's clean
And kids don't die for gasoline
One of these days I'm gonna lay this hammer down

John Henry was a mighty man
Worked his whole life long
When he made that hammer ring
He always sang this song

One of these days I'm gonna lay this hammer down
And I won't have to drag this weight around
When there ain't no hunger
And there ain't no pain
Then I won't have to swing this thing
One of these day I'm gonna lay this hammer down

Yeah, one of these days I'm gonna lay this hammer down

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 04:23 PM

That song was written by Steve Earle.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Ythanside
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 04:51 PM

known to be on the loose somewhere on Bodmin Moor. Members of the public are being warned to keep away until the creature is cornered and shot. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 08:52 PM

...usually somewhere where I ain't.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 02:30 AM

..writing a song right now that will be well known long after he is forgotten.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 07:41 AM

as, Lonesome EJ, but will it be "a true folk song"? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: sian, west wales
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 09:41 AM

... someone who takes 5 minutes to introduce a 2 minute song.


And I'm pretty sure that I picked that up from Mudcat in the dim and distant past; not original, but deeper than it looks.

sian

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 10:04 AM

A folk singer is someone who doesn't believe in labels - or definitions - and, hence, can't tell his arse from his elbow ... possibly?

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Peace
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 03:01 PM

Works for me, Shimrod.

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: Dead Horse
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 04:08 AM

.......a thing of the past !

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 05:42 AM

A TRUE folk singer is one who doesn't sing the Derby Ram....

I went to Derby Market
Without a word of lies,
And I saw a normal ram there
Of pretty well average size!

Indeed sir, it's true sir,
For lies are strangers to us,
And if you go to Derby
You'll wonder why bthe fuss...

Subject: RE: BS: A true folk singer is....
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 03:00 PM

Me. I'm a true folk singer.