When I first came to this land

Subject: When I first came to this land
From: Murpholly
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 07:42 AM

Does anyone remember singing this at school. It was a regular with my school choir.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: GUEST,#
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 08:53 AM

https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/whenifirstcametothisland.html

There are many 'takes' of it on YouTube as a btw.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 09:21 AM

Not in school but it is certainly a song of my childhood. I think we had it by Pete Seeger.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 04:34 PM

I think the version we are most familiar with is by Oscar Brand. I believe he translated it in 1957 from a Pennsylvania Dutch folk song. A lot of others recorded it.

I do remember he was extremely displeased with the version The Limeliters did. I think he copyrighted his version and was not at all happy with their lyric changes, and I believe Lou Gottlieb and Malvina Reynolds claimed credit for the song. Don't know offhand if there was any sort of lawsuit.

Jay

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: mg
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 04:43 PM

are Pennsylvania Dutch really Dutch or perhaps German? I always heard it was an old Dutch song. My Dutch ancestors would not be happy with someone copyrighting their own song.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: cnd
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 10:05 AM

Jay, that is ironic given the circumstances... all the major folk groups back then would copyright 'their' renditions of songs which they had learned and performed themselves for free.

mg, the name comes from an old German word for 'German', Deitsch. They were ethnically German and originally spoke a variety of German dialects, however over time the dialects amalgamated into Pennsylvania Dutch, aka Pennsylvania German.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: GUEST,#
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 10:25 AM

Hi, cnd. Trust you're doing well.

"Jay, that is ironic given the circumstances... all the major folk groups back then would copyright 'their' renditions of songs which they had learned and performed themselves for free."

Lest there be misunderstanding, I would suggest that it wasn't the musicians who copyrighted the various works but rather the publishers/record companies.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: cnd
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 10:28 AM

Thanks, I am, hope you are as well.

That's a fair correction, I can agree with that.

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 04:55 PM

I did a little digging, and the following is taken from Oscar Brand's 1962 book The Ballad Mongers. It's from chapter 10 - The Legal Tangle, pages 209-210. I believe the "West Coast writer" is Malvina Reynolds.

*****************

It's easy to understand why the radio and television authorities have become jittery where folk music is concerned. If I were to sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on a program, the "music clearance" department would insist on knowing the name of some book or publisher who would be willing to claim authorship. In some cases folk singers, unable to find their favored songs in available collections, have ascribed them to companies willing to accept the responsibility. This compounds the problem, by producing many copyrights to some folk songs - complicating the courts' search for the proper owner.

In 1948 I composed the song, "When I First Came to This Land." I sang it at a Town Hall program. I included it in my book Singing Holidays. Thereafter, a West Coast writer refurbished it and brought it to the attention of the popular group, The Limeliters. Their recording of the song was very well received, but not by me - for the song was ascribed to the West Coast writer. When I objected, I was told that a substantial change had been made and that I was, therefore, stripped of my rights. Fortunately, I had never recorded the song before my book appeared, and so I was reinstated as the author. But, it is with a sickening recollection that I observe the 25 LP's on my shelf, complete with many original songs, and many rewritten traditional songs, which I recorded before I was aware of the legal implications.

*****************

Jay

Subject: RE: When I first came to this land
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 07:23 PM

Yeah, maybe it was Oscar Brand.