songs about too few men

Subject: songs about too few men
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:15 AM

I've been asked to look for a song that would complement a sermon on why there are more women than men in most churches. I'm thinking there may be some songs dating from times when all the men went off to war or off to find jobs in the city. ANything spring to mind for anyone?

Subject: Lyr Add: WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
From: postman
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:20 AM

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
(PETE SEEGER/JOE HICKERSON) (1956-'60)

This isn't specifically about church, but refers to men going off to war. It's a classic - very popular in its time.


Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the flowers gone?
The girls have picked them ev'ry one.
Oh, when will you ever learn?
Oh, when will you ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the young girls gone?
They've taken husbands, every one.
Oh, when will you ever learn?
Oh, when will you ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the young men gone?
They're all in uniform.
Oh, when will you ever learn?
Oh, when will you ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the soldiers gone?
They've gone to graveyards, every one.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the graveyards gone?
They're covered with flowers, every one.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls picked them, every one.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Noreen
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:23 AM

DANCING AT WHITSUN

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 09:01 AM

Well, "I Got No USe for the Women" is, at its core, about the fact that there were too few women in theWest. but it probably won't fly in Church!

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 09:22 AM

That's too few MEN, Amos, not too few women.

And don't worry about songs being fit for church - this is a UU church.

Thanks for the suggestions, postman and Noreen.

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: sian, west wales
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 09:27 AM

Cigareets an' whiskey an' wild wild women,
They'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.

... perhaps?

sian

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:07 AM

Ahhhhh - perhaps not. ;-)

Subject: Lyr Add: IF I HAD MY DRUTHERS
From: sian, west wales
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:17 AM

OK. (Some people are SO hard to please!) How about :

IF I HAD MY DRUTHERS
Lil' Abner : The Musical (1956)
(Gene De Paul / Johnny Mercer)

If I had my druthers,
I'd druther have my druthers
Than anything else I know
While you'd druther hustle
accumulatin' muscle
I'd druther watch daisies grow.

While they're growin' slow
'n the summer breeze is blowin'
My heart is overflowin' 'n so;
If I had my druthers
I'd druther have my druthers
than anything else I know.

If I had my druthers,
I'd druther have my druthers
Than work any wheres at all
It ain't that I hates it,
I often contemplates it
while watchin' the rain drops fall

I sits there for hours,
developin' my powers
a figurin' how flowers gets tall
If I had my druthers
I'd druther have my druthers
than anything else at all.


sian

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:28 AM

I'd have thought the reason was that more men than women don't feel the need to go to church. I don't suppose there are any songs about that ...

Steve

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:28 AM

Hey, how about Bright Morning Stars? It's not meant to be about that, I don't think, but the words are actually perfect -- either the version in the DT (you'll find it here) or this one in the forum.

I'd vote for Whitsun, too, except depending on where you are the congregation might not understand the Morris tradition and WWI English history behind it. Also I can never get through it without crying.

Claire

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM

Noreen - I wouldn't expect you to be complaining about too few men.

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 11:03 AM

I stand corrected! Too few MEN? For some reason there aren't a lot of folksongs about that theme. I guess most non-men feel that one is plenty and more than one is a surfeit.

A

Subject: RE: songs about too few men
From: GUEST,MG
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 03:57 PM

There are a lot of reasons why there are more women past a certain age than men...one is that (I am doing this from memory now and not looking up specific research so feel to contradict with actual research)...they seem to be weaker immunologically so I think more die in infancy etc. even though there are usually more boys born than girls by a ratio of about 105 to 100. Then there are accidents, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism (all of which affect women but I am sort of remembering they wipe out more men)...industrial accidents have traditionally killed more men, and put them out of commission...they don't have to be actually killed to be out of the gene pool or seen at church...just facing such social problems that they don't seek out society or are actively rejected. Some sleep under bridges and wander the streets...shelters will often accept women before men, leaving more men homeless. Women tend to marry upwardly and men downwardly..where does that leave the men at the bottom of the pecking order? The war thing of my generation is very significant in the US..60,000 dead officially, many more unofficially,and hundreds of thousands, if not more,in very very bad shape. Like I said at Sunnycamp, no one is singing Dancing at Whitsun to us, but they should (I have a song along those lines if anyone wants it).

Plus, at a certain age, they start dying much more rapidly than women of heart attacks especially (have your insulin levels checked please, gentlemen and ladies and avoid all trans fats and white flour and sugar..)

That explains why they aren't in society. It doesn't explain why they aren't in church, except that churchs often, despite the cry to the contrary, tend to be matriarchal and more female-friendly..who know.

mg