The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #160815   Message #3815971
Posted By: GUEST
22-Oct-16 - 07:52 AM
Thread Name: Singing 'Shenandoah' for Brits
Subject: RE: 'Singing 'Shenandoah' for Brits
Or even Seeger Sessions. :-)

It matters little who pronounces what for this sort of thing - an old song that's gone through many changes in its history and has been sung by many different people in different circumstances. Isn't it what's known as the "folk process?"

What matters is whether it's a song worthy of singing and, from its history, it obviously is.

I'm reminded of the old English song, "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which crossed the Atlantic and evolved into a nursery rhyme with a Caribbean lilt in the Virgin Islands. A lady called Mrs. Rollins sang it to her son when they lived in New York and, many years later, he wrote a great tune based on it called "St. Thomas". Now that's what I call the folk process!