The Songs that most influenced you

Subject: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 01:07 AM

I got this idea from the thread on books (see the BS section). What songs most influenced you and changed your life?

In my case...

1. Four Strong Winds (Ian Tyson)...the first song that really hit me in a big way...it was the voice of Canada to me, and I was really missing Canada at the time (had moved to upstate NY).
2. My Country Tis of The People You're Dying...and a whole bunch of others by Buffy Sainte-Marie
3. A lot of stuff Joan Baez did, specially when she covered Dylan around about '65...I liked the Dylan stuff better than anything else.
4. Like A Rolling Stone - completely blew my mind. Nothing was the same after I heard that song.
5. It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
6. Gates of Eden
7. Just Like A Woman (my favourite song to sing for about 20 years)
8. And about 50 other songs by Mr Bob Dylan

That should do it for now.

- LH

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: fogie
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 02:10 AM

UK and personal:-
Uncle Mac- most of the eccentric songs and tunes on a Saturday morning, I can still sing most of them now.
Lipstick on your collar, and Itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polkadot bikini- sexual awakening
Telstar and Bonanza -suddenly felt strongly about instrumentals
Island of dreams -mmm Dusty
Love me do -saw them on TV the first time they performed, and never looked back
Catch the wind -started finger picking
Anthems in Eden on the John Peel show ?1966 The Blacksmith- and the Coppers- I found out about trad folk
Incredible String Band-Maya Still can sing just about everything thy did by Williamson
Delius Walk to the Paradise Garden -I grasped the concept of Classical music, I never got over my next big find- Beethovens 6th
Verdi's La Traviata - Ditto for opera
Of course ther were hundreds of others -but these changed the course of my listening and playing , There was also the Chieftains 3rd LP,andfinding out about French music with Blowzabela- I guess I could go on and on -drrrrrrrrone.
As a final word I have subconscious songs that seem to live in by brain without me realising they're there For years and years I find myself singing I'm forever blowing bubbles and Rudolph the rednose reindeer. I don't know why but there it is!

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: fat B****rd
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 02:15 AM

Let's have a party. Tutti Frutti. New Orleans (US Bonds) Eight MIles High.Midnight Special etcetcetc

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 03:03 AM

These all are German songs, translated:
Don't yo see the pigs in the garden (in dialect):
Since I was brought up strictly learning High German at home, it started my interest in the dialect of my home country, which I'm speaking now quite well.
A mighty Fortress is our God:
A reassuring song in the troubles of life
Jesus my confidence:
Even more so; it was played at a soldier's funeral, and so will it be with mine, with fifes and drums.
Infantry, you are the crown of the weapons (service branches):
When I had the luck to be drafted into a battalion with a tradition fore more than 300 years and sang this song, I decided to give my best for my country.
With love songs it just was the other way round. I started to sing them first when I was married to my beautiful wife.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 05:18 AM

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Makes you realize the stupidity of war.
The Haying Song, (Dave Mallett) Reminds me what a beautiful state I live in.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 09:09 AM

I was never the same after "She Loves You".

Hearing Son House's "Death Letter Blues" was a life changing experience, still is, every time I hear it.

It is interesting that, every once in a while, you can still get the kind of thrill that you thought was purely adolescent, though it happens much less often. Two Paul Simon ones come to mind: the amazing live version of "Late in the Evening" from the Central Park concert with Art Garfunkel. The band is like a jet plane going off. And the whole Graceland album -- I can remember listening to the song "Graceland" for the first time and thinking -- Jesus, what the hell is that (Ray Phiri!!) -- a completely new musical landscape just opens up. How many people finally plunged into world music because of Graceland, must be thousands....

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 09:34 AM

I'm not sure if this is eactly what the thread is referring to, but for me the song "Barrett's Privateers" by Stan Rogers has had great influence for me, but not due to the song itself -- it just happened to be the first song I ever sang onstage! I learned the lyrics primarily to help out other people locally who would begin the song and get lost amongst the verses -- or so I believed. I think subconsciously I just wanted to get on stage and belt it out myself.

When a friend who hosted an open mic night found out I knew the song, he managed to convince me to get on stage and sing it. Five years later, I am in an acoustic duo doing something I truly love, and the people listening seem to enjoy it as well. So I guess for influence, that song has definitely made an impact. By the way, it is still one of the two songs I am most known for whenever I play here in Moncton, New Brunswick (that's Canada, eh!)

Brian

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 09:47 AM

Well, that is certainly an interesting variety of song influences.

I agree, Peter, that "Graceland" was absolutely remarkable. Quite an accomplishment. The Beatles also did many songs with an indelibly unique sound and they changed the World, but I was a bit standoffish to them at first, cos they weren't "folk". I was a real folk snob when I was a teenager.

Of course, Dylan wasn't exactly folk at a certain point either. He was the one who most succeeded in broadening my tastes, and I did eventually get to like the Beatles, Hendrix, and others outside the folk genre.

- LH

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Louie Roy
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 10:18 AM

God BLESS AMERICA by Kate Smith.After spending over three years in the South Pacific in WW2 coming into San Francisco and passing under the golden gate bridge this was the first song that I heard and it brought tears to my eyes and even today it still inspires me LouieRoy

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 11:47 AM

Man, that would be some dramatic moment to remember, all right, Louie!

German soldiers seem to have been most affected by "Lili Marlene", a bittersweet song...appropriate for those looking at war from the losing side.

For the Japanese it was "Kimigayo", an anthem about death on a lonely battlefield, far from home. The sailors from sunken Japanese ships would often sing it together until their strength failed and they slid beneath the waves. Being Japanese, they did not expect to survive in the event of defeat.

- LH

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 01:22 PM

Frank Warner's collection probably had a major impact on my learning -- "The Unreconstructed Rebel " and "Whisky in the Jar". The Weavers' rendition of "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" and "Follow the Drinking Gourd". Dylan's Girl from the North Country, and three or four others of his prior to Tambourine Man. Ramona. Most of the Nashville Skyline album. Marais and Miranda and Theo Bikel both hit me betweenthe eyes at one time. More recently, John Prine and Townes van Zandt.

A

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 01:45 PM

As an aspiring songwriter, 30 years ago or so, the new "confessional" songs of Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne really gave me something to think about. They just blew away the ceiling of what I had considered a song could/should be. This was music that - for me - really turned rock music into something important, something of lasting value.
If I had to pick one song from that period that contains the elements that moved me so, it would be Jackson's " Opening Farewell ". It was just so different, so beautiful.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 01:51 PM

"The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out"

This song gave me my entire world view. It prepared me for the inevitalbility and the eventuality of every War that has ever come down the pike during my 62 years of life in the U.S.A. It has taught me to live below the radar. That is the true meaning of existence in the underground both here and now---and later. **smile**

It is also the secret of lfe with the PROs. ((***BIGGER SMILE***))

Now----it is up to you to figure out if I'm spoofing you or not. Like with Bob Crane, I'll leave it for the biographers to figure it out "later".

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 02:02 PM

Over the years, I've had a number of chats with Cyril Tawney ( a great artist), and during one conversation, I asked where he had got his inspiration for his early songs ( bearing in mind that he was writing great "folky" type songs in the 50s ). To my amazement, he said that the songs of Guy Mitchell had been a big inspiration for his songwriting!

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Francy
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 02:10 PM

Woody & Cisco......All the things they did in the 40's and 50's...The Weavers....Pete Seeger........Hank Williams...Merle Haggard.....Tom T Hall...Townes Van Zandt......Dick Gaughan...just to name a few....Cisco Houston is my biggest influence... Frank of Toledo

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,D28
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 03:03 PM

The Kingston Trio singing MTA. It made me want to play music, particularly the banjo. And I have been playing for over 40 years. Lon live the Trio.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,Hutzulka
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 03:55 AM

My Dad's favorite song, Lili Marlane, 'cause he played it on the squeezebox. Made me want to learn to play.

"Red Wing" that my mother sang and later "Union Maid" which turned my head to the left.

"You Are My Sunshine" 'cause everybody should be somebody's "Sunshine" at least once

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 06:43 AM

When I was 15 years old (1944) I lived in Dayton, Ohio This was before one had to join a tour to go through a museum. My Friend,Jimmy Stone and I used to wander around the back rooms and storage areas of the Dayton Art Institute. It was a grand museum, and we were actually encouraged to wander around to wherever our fancy pointed at the time.
One day we found a little room filled with "stuff". It also had a Victrola (The stand up, wind up kind, state of the art at the time) and some stacks of phoonograph records. Most of the records were by famous classical orchestras and singers, like Enrico Caruso's vesti la Giubba, Arturo Toscaninni's orchewstra etc etc. We went back day after day, wound up the victrola over and over again and one by one, we listened to a lot of "Victor Red Seal" classics, some "Big Band Swing" Benny Goodan, Glenn Miller etc, Traditional Jazz, New Orleans style, Bunk Johnson, Kid Ory, Jack Teagarten, and so on.
We had decided to go through the records one at a time, no repeats, until we foud the sort of thing that we really liked better than the others.
One day,we played a Victor record on which the label looked something like this:

                VICTOR
            Dust Bowl Ballads
               Do-Re-Mi.
               (Guthrie)
             WOODY GITHRIE
          Vocal with guitar

The other side was, "That old Dust Storm"

Our Eyes opened a little bit wider as we stared at the Victrola, It wasn't too far into the song that we realized that this guy was singing about real people and a very real dream shattering
situation. We'd seen "The Grapes of Wrath" and knew very well what Woody was singing about. We had never before heard a person sing a song that contained social comment about a specific occurance. This wasn't what grabbed us, though. It was the performance itself that was enthralling.
We went back day after day and wound up the Victrola time after time and listened to Mr. Guthrie sing and play his guitar over and over and over again. It was the only record of it's kind in the museum. When the Museum poeople saw us coming they remarked, "Do Re Mi, right"? We nodded and proceeded to the room with the victrola. Occasionally we'd listen to Caruso or Yehudi Menhuin once or twice and then go back to "Do Re Mi" and "That old Dust Storm"

If we weren't canoeing on the Miami River or cycling out to the end of the Runway at Wright Field to look over the Chain link fence and watch the airplanes take off, we were at the Dayton Art Institute listening to Woody.

No, there weasn't any "extra security" at Wright Field. The Nation was of one mind. Thanks to the very patriotic Lucky Luciano and the "Maffia" who caught prospective sabotuers on the waterfront, the military wasn't obsessed with security

This went on until we had to go back to school upon which we were otherwise engaged. But, come Christmas, long weekends, spring vacation, and other holidays, we were right back up the hill at the Dayton Art Institute accompanied by the rest of our Roosevelt High School (class of 47) mob, "Tom McQuain, Jack Schaeffer, Tito Puskas and Tom's siblings.

Jody Gibson


Note: Wright Field and Patterson Field were two entirely different facilities at the time.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Peter T.
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 10:25 AM

There's a good story.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Frankham
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 11:00 AM

My first recollection of a folk song was my step-father singing "The Tennesee Blues". ("I could sit right here and look a million miles away.") One of the first books passed down through my family was "The American Songbag" by Carl Sandburg. I have an original edition. The first song I ever sang publicly was at a YMCA Campfire. "Streets of Laredo" accompanied by the music counselor. The first folksinger I ever recognized as being one was Burl Ives. I loved him. "On Top Of Old Smokey" The first "hootenanny" I ever attended, I heard Cisco Houston sing "900 Miles". That did it. I've been an active performer of folk music ever since.

Early Songs: Tennesee Blues,Streets of Laredo,On Top of Old Smokey, 900 Miles. Also Mariachi music from Tijuana, Mexico on radio station KMTR, Los Angeles.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 11:15 AM

"Shoals of Herring" was, probably" the song that turned me into a 60s folkie. In 1963, my brother dragged me along to a folk concert in Liverpool, UK. I was captivated by the whole evening. One of the acts sang "Shoals of Herring",( which I'd never heard before) and when the the refrain came around ( "They were hunting for the shoals of herring")a group of people close to where I was sitting joined in with some beautiful harmonies. Now this might not sound particularly exciting now, but back then I thought it was magical. I had a similar feeling the first time I heard " Three score and ten" in and candle lit folkclub in St.Austel. Cornwall, in 1967.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: alanabit
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 04:06 PM

I think there are several ways in which songs influence you. They can influence the way you feel about music, the way you think or feel in general and of course, they can influence the way you write yourself.
I was about seven when the extraordinary effect of The Beatles and the subsequent revolutionary wave of pop music which they opened up took effect. Obviously I adored the Beatles, but also all the music which followed as a result.
Songs which expressed a lot of anger - whether personal or political -were played on the radio for the first time. So songs like "The Last Time", "Get Off My Cloud" and "My Generation" all affected me a lot. Dylan was probably the first really important and articulate (in song) artist to attain mass popularity. Songs like "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Positively Fourth Street" stay with me for that reason.
As a writer, I always most wanted to be like Ray Davies or Pete Townsend. They were both archetypally English writers (The Stones were always a very American band). Songs like "Waterloo Sunset" and "Twentieth Century Man" by the Kinks showed me the sort of writer I wanted to become. Ray Davies loves The Thames and is able to romanticise it without being mawkish: Dirty old river, just you keep rolling, rolling into the night.
When I can write like that...

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Deckman
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 05:16 PM

Little Hawk! Well, look at you. You've gone and done it again! Started another good thread! SHEEEUH! For me, it was when I was 13 (I actually was once) and a man named Bill Higley, also known as "Willi Waw Willi", picked up his guitar and sang "The Foggy, Foggy Dew." It was like the world opened up for me. Someone could actually pick up a musical instrument, make pleasant sounds, and then open his mouth and STORIES CAME OUT! It was the beginning of the end for me, and I've never looked back. CHEERS, and thanks again, Bob

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Padre
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 10:50 PM

For me, it was the old Folkways album "American Songs and Ballads" which our library had - it taught me that those 'dull' ballads that our English teacher used to have us recite in class (like Lord Randal or Sir Patrick Spens) were more than just some dusty example of poetry, but could really tell a story - and WITHOUT any instruments!!
From that moment, I was hooked on 'story songs'

Later, it was the old time string bands of the 20s and 30s that drew me deeper into singing and playing with other people - it meant that I could use my harmony singing.

Padre

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Jazzyjack
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 11:21 PM

Oh yeah Little Hawk re " Just Like a Woman " . Do you sing " And your long time curse hurts but what's worse is this pain in here, I can't stay in here " just like Dylan ? People would break up when I did this line( perhaps overdoing the Dylan imitation ) I still like to play the harp solo better than any other I do ( only a bit here and there, mostly old Dylan tunes like "Tambourine Man" and " St. Augustine "). Did you play harp on " Just Like a Woman " ?   Jack

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 01:50 AM

Hey, Tunesmith, the first time I heard Three Score and Ten was on the first of April 1958, before noon, a BBC Documentary about "Mods" and old folks fighting over "turf at Brighton, August Bank Holiday. There were shots of old geezers charging down the hill in wheelchairs, using thei crutches for lances, cackling with glee, etc. etc. In the Background was a measured performance of "Three Score and Ten". I laughed myself silly.

The only other April Fools BBC thing I remember was the Great Spaghetti Harvest documentary with Richard Dimbleby (BBC's voice of authority) narrating it.

For those of you who've never been to England, On April 1st each year, you should not believe anything you hear or see on BBC before noontime.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Gurney
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 02:55 AM

A lass in a jazz club swung me from trad to modern with 'Willow Weep for Me' and 'Cry Me a River,' and 'Fanny Blair' moved me to folk.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,David J
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 03:40 PM

Miles Weatherhill. After singing the song for about 15 years, I was passing through Todmorden, UK! and found the graves of three of the victims mentioned in the song. Made me fully appreciate how such songs transmit history and how so many real lives were affected by the events. I now treat such songs with more respect than perhaps I once did!

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: jacqui c
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 04:23 PM

Ebony Eyes by the Everlys, that really made me start listening. I loved their stuff back in the late 50s/early 60s. Anything by the Beatles, was I a fan! Roberts Flack's version of First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - how I wish I could get my vocal chords round that one!

I'm a fairly late convert to folk music so am still discovering new stuff which gives so much pleasure - I wish I'd found it earlier, but better late than never. I think that Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water opened up a door that had been closed for some time due to circumstances and got me back into listening to music. Maddy Prior's Arthur album is one of my favourites at present - it joins the folk music to a long time interest in the Arthurian legend. Thinking of that there was Rick Wakeman's Myths and Legends album, which I've loved since I first heard it in the 70s, AND taken a lot a flack when I've mentioned it! I think that Bohemian Rhapsody has to come into any list - those boys could produce some good stuff.

When you start thinking there are so many influences - I'll probably go to bed tonight and wake up thinking of dozens more. Ain't music wonderful!

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: CET
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 05:50 PM

Much as I liked the Beatles (and still do), and other pop artists, it's mostly hymns and traditional songs that have become part of my personal fabric.

I think I would start with the Bonnie Earl of Morey because I can remember my father singing it to me when I was very young. I don't know why he chose to sing it. He wasn't constantly singing folksongs. The records he listened to were almost all classical music. However, that song has stuck with me ever since.

As for hymns, I could name several of the great Welsh hymns: Cwm Rhondda, Calon Lan, Once to every man and nation, Hyfrydol, etc. Be Thou My Vision would be my favourite non-Welsh hymn.

The Clancy Brothers' parody of Galway Bay has a place of honour in my personal musical archives because it was the first Clancy Brothers song I ever heard, and it was the Clancys that have led to everything else I've learned about folk music.

An album from the 60's called All-Star Hootenanny that my sister owned was also a huge influence. I particularly remember Johnny Cash singing 9 Pound Hammer, the Clancys doing Brennan on the Moor and Carolyn Hester singing Swing and Turn Jubilee.

I would have to add Oh Death, sung by Ralph Stanley. It made me realize what a magnificent singer he is, and helped me to hear country music with new ears.

There are a few songs that I think of as mine, as opposed to great songs that I've heard other people sing, because I keep coming back to them when I'm singing to myself or with friends. Sam Hall and Bonnie Susie Cleland are particularly important for me. I learned them both from Alistair Brown (a fine singer and accordion player and a member of Friends of Fiddlers Green).

Wilfried: can you tell me where to get the lyrics and music for your infantry song?

Edmund

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jun 03 - 05:51 PM

I divide this into several categories. One category is recordings of songs, second category is performance of songs. Then there are the stages of my life when I first encountered the song in question. Without a doubt, my eclectic musical tastes were formed in the 1960s, growing up in New York, so I've limited my lists to my most impressionable years, and only to recorded versions of songs. If I included live versions of songs, the list would be pretty endless.

As a teenager, there were several artists' influences that really struck a deep chord in me. The biggies were the Beatles, the Doors, and Laura Nyro.

The Beatles songs that most influenced me were:

All My Loving
I Saw Her Standin' There
Can't Buy Me Love
Norwegian Wood
Blackbird
Tell Me Why
You Can't Do That
Baby You Can Drive Ny Car
Get Back
For No One
Within You/Without You
In My Life
Good Day Sunshine
You're Going to Lose That Girl
Let it Be
Fool on the Hill
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

The Doors:

Crystal Ships
Soul Kitchen
People Are Strange
Break on Through
Riders on the Storm
Light My Fire

Laura Nyro (some might remember some of these as covered by other artists like Blood, Sweat and Tears and Fifth Dimension):

And When I Die
Poverty Train
Save the Country
Up on the Roof
I am the Blues
Eli's Comin'
Sweet Blindness
Gonna Take a Miracle
Wedding Bell Blues

Then as a teen, there was everyone else after the above, but these are songs that all blew me away (and still do when I hear them):

Sounds of Silence (also the album)-Simon and Garfunkel
Fionnghuala-Bothy Band
Good Vibrations-The Beach Boys (also the entire Pet Sounds album)
What's Goin' On-Marvin Gaye
Who Knows Where the Time Goes-Sandy Denny
Lyke Wake Dirge-Pentangle
My Father-Judy Collins
Compared to What-Les McCann and Eddie Harris
Steve's Song-The Blues Project
Bring the Boys Home-Freda Payne

And then the happy hits music of the era, the artists and the songs (can't separate the two) that I think of when I am remembering all that youthful passion:

Young Rascals-Groovin, How Can I Be Sure, Good Lovin', A Beautiful Morning, People Got to Be Free, Groovin, and I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore

War-All Day Music, Cisco Kid, Slippin' Into Darkness, The World is a Ghetto, Me and Baby Brother

And then, there is the music of my older sibs that I still LOVE when I hear these songs:

Peppermint Twist-Joey Dee and the Starliters
Soldier Boy-The Shirelles
Wake Up Little Susie-Everly Brothers
Cathy's Clown-Everly Brothers
All I Have to do is Dream-Everly Brothers
Tears on My Pillow-Little Anthony and the Imperials
The Loco-Motion-Little Eva
Runaway-Del Shannon
Quarter to Three-Gary and the US Bonds
Twistin' the Night Away-Sam Cooke
Bring it on Back To Me-Sam Cooke

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 30 Jun 03 - 06:56 AM

The Beatles' All My Loving still gets me hot.

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 30 Jun 03 - 05:16 PM

Waylon Jennings

Subject: RE: The Songs that most influenced you
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jun 03 - 09:39 PM

Good thread.

Dave Van Ronk's version of "Cocaine Blues" and Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and "Priests" probably had the most to do with my becoming a musician. Later Townes Van Zandt may have had the most influence on what kind of musician I wanted to be.