The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #95495   Message #1866462
Posted By: GUEST,Mike Miller
23-Oct-06 - 10:09 AM
Thread Name: So what is *Traditional* Folk Music?
Subject: RE: So what is 'TRADITIONAL' Folk Music ?
Ron, whatever you and your kids sing in the car does become your tradition if you guys sing those songs on a regular, or ritual schedule. For instance, my daughter has sung "George Washington Bridge" (to the tune of "The Loveliest Night Of The Year") every time she crosses that span into New Jersey because I told her that, if she does, she wouldn't have to pay a toll (There is no toll in that direction). That has become her tradition and she will probably pass that little joke on to my beloved grandson when he is old enough to be fooled. It is not the song that made the tradition, it was the ritual. It doesn't matter when the song was written, either. When she was a baby, I wrote her a song called "Ten Little Fingers". She called me yesterday to tell me that she has been using that song to sing to her son and would I record it, already, so he could hear me sing it. Tradition is a product of repitition. It is what keeps old songs new. It is why "Happy Birthday" is a folksong and "Mister Tamboureen Man" is not, why "We Shall Overcome" is and "Abraham, Martin and John" is not. "Folk" and "Tradition" are not defined by the songs but, rather, by their use. If you work as a pants presser and you use "Twist and Shout" to time the mangle, you've got yourself a folksong and, if you teach your Beatles inspired trick to others, you have started a tradition.

                     Mike