Jeri: I think I heard Ken (and maybe Wally) singing it in the dining room at Camp Freedman. We didn't know it during Niskayuna or Fox Hollow times. I doubt that Dillon had written it that long ago. Last year, in the Dutch Barn at Old Songs, I sang it, and then Phil Shapiro arrived late and also sang it. He had learned it from me when we sang on his radio show in Ithaca the year before. A good song deserves to be spread around as much as possible, and it's a good one.
Re: tempo. When Dillon presented it at a workshop at Pinewoods, the first time we heard it, he sang it unaccompanied and "briskly." Later that evening, in a most generous private session with us, he did it with what we call "lazy river" banjo accompaniment, and it was much more leisurely paced. We feel "leisurely" is the appropriate tempo, considering the text.
|