The Story BEHIND the song!

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: Azizi
Date: 09 May 05 - 11:41 PM

David Mason,

Since "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" is a folk song, there is no such thing as a "complete' set of lyrics.

I have read that this song is of Afro-Caribbean origin and I have also read that it is of African American origin. Since enslaved Black people from the Caribbean came to the USA and vice versa during those centuries of slavery, it's not surprising that both cultures claim this song..

I have also read that 'Michael Row The Boat Ashore" was sung as a religious song and also sung as a work song {while rowing a boat}.
And that wasn't uncommon..for the choruses, and verses of quite a few religous songs composed by enslaved Black people were also used for secular purposes {including secular dancing}.

Also David, might I suggest that you read Masato Sakurai's post on 22 Apr 03 - 02:35 AM In This Thread and click on the link that Masato provided to a thread whose subject is "Michael Row The Boat Ashore".

I believe that you will find the thread on "Michael Row.." interesting.

[And David, it's a good practice to read or at least scan all the previous posts in a thread-but we all have failed to do that sometimes].

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 10 May 05 - 08:38 AM

One of the things I realy like about folk music, in its broadest folk scene sense, is going to see people who not only wrote but lived the songs I love.

An early highlight for me was going to see Eric Bogle a few years ago and as well a the raw emotion of his account of how visiting a war cemetery in Northern France and observing how young the majority of the fallen were inspired no mans land, he told the story behind two of my favourites, Leaving Nancy and the Belle of Broughton.

Leaving Nancy I had always pictured a young soldier leaving his sweetheart behind, probably because Bogle is so well known for his anti war songs, but in fact the song relates the day when, as a young man, he left his mother on the platform of Edinburghs Waverley Station to go and live in Australia. At a similar time and similar age I had done the same thing (only moving away to London mind you. ) With me it was my father and Glasgow Central Station but the recollection of the wordless emotion reduced me to tears then ( I'm choking now writing this.

Belle of Broughton
A lovely simple song Bogle says he wrote it following the death of his grandmother. He says he could never remember his Grandfather aving anything nice to say about her when she was alive but that when she died he was really cut up and told him that when they were young in the borders village of Broughton she had been the village beauty and he could never really quite believe that she had chosen him. Bogle only remembered his grandmother as an ordinary old woman
and the two as constantly bickering but the old man told him he had been in awe of the beautiful girl who had chosen him all through their long years together. Again this chimed with me because I can only remember my own grandmother as a little fat grey haired Glasgow woman, but apparently she was a real stunner when she was young. My Grandfather had always seemed to me as a kid pretty indifferent to her but when she died he completely went to pieces.
He was physically a very strong man and lived outlived her by some years, but there was no life left in him.

Thats the strength of many great songs, they can be written specifically about one person but speak so much of the human condition you feel they could be about you. cf " Killing me softly", about a Don Mclean concert.

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Mar 06 - 05:14 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: Azizi
Date: 05 May 09 - 08:53 AM

The urban legend about the song "Amazing Grace" lives on.

Check out this paragraph from a blog post honoring Pete Seeger on his 90th birthday:

"Now, if you ever miss that feeling of being among the youngest in a crowd, I highly recommend attending your pal's ninetieth birthday party. It's the perfect way to get that warm enfant terrible feeling all over again. I had a wonderful time strumming and harmonizing with Pete and his posse. At one point when the folk song army was conducting a rather croonish version of "Amazing Grace," Pete got up from his chair, interrupted, and told the story of how the words were written: how the captain of a slave ship had a moment of clarity and turned the ship around back to Africa. He then led the assembled to raise their voices to sustain each word and note, converting it back from a mere folk song into a gospel spiritual again. The guy's still got it."

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger
Posted by Al Giordano - May 3, 2009 at 8:31 am

(my italics for emphasis)

-snip-

Here's a paragraph that debunks that commonly held version:

Turner... explodes what he calls the "folk myth version" (p. 49) of the hymn's origins,
according to which Newton converted to Christianity and abandoned the slave trade after his near loss of life, and wrote "Amazing Grace" about his having done so. In fact, Turner argues, Newton began commanding slave-trading ships only after embracing Christianity, saw no inconsistency between these two commitments, and turned against slavery only
gradually."
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=9298


"Turner" is Steve Turner. Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song. New York: Ecco, 2002. xxxii + 266 pp. $23.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-06-000218-3; $14.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-06-000219-0

-snip-

Here's an account of Newton's composition of "Amazing Grace" that provides information about the hymn's tune:

"Steve Turner's book Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song tells the story of composer John Newton's conversion from slave trader to abolitionist, and traces the evolution of the song from its composition in 1772 as a hymn with no set tune to the version familiar today.

Amazing Grace" was first heard on New Year's Day in 1773. Turner tells NPR's Liane Hansen it was written without "ceremony" in an attic room where Newton wrote weekly hymns to amplify the message of his sermons. When Newton put the internal rhyme "amazing grace" together, it wasn't purely for poetic reasons. He understood grace to mean God's unmerited favor to lost souls. Turner says it was a meaning Newton — with his sordid history and personal tale of redemption — could take to heart.

Newton supplied the lyrics, but the tune sung today arrived much later. Turner says that in Newton's day, the song would have been sung "to another song that fit its meter" — if it were sung at all. And "Amazing Grace" continued to be associated with a number of different tunes throughout much of the 19th century. In 1835, "...the tune that we now sing... was married to the words of John Newton," Turner says. That same year a South Carolina singing instructor named William Walker published a widely popular hymn book combining the now-familiar tune with Newton's words."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=894060

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: Azizi
Date: 05 May 09 - 09:04 AM

And speaking of long held urban legends about songs (and rhymes), there's always "Ring Around The Rosie".

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring Around The Rosey's History??
From: GUEST,the black death - PM
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 05:51 PM

Ring around the rosie- the red "mark" 1st sign that you had the plague.
pocket full of posies- The flowers that People carried to the smell of the bodies down.
Ashes ashes- They burned the bodies sence no one wanted to bury them.
Or Achoo Achoo- the snezzing that came with the plague.
We all fall down- The plague spared no one. Rich, poor, old or young it would kill you..
This is the real meaning of the childhood song that we sang.

thread.cfm?threadid=49672#2382361


-snip-

That thread has several witty alternate meanings for the words to that well known children's rhyme. I'll take the liberty of posting one example:

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring Around The Rosey's History??
From: Nerd - PM
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 01:49 PM

Actually, it's about that favorite schoolyard pastime, the kick up the arse!

The "Rosey" is not a facial cheek but the cheek of someone's arse. The "ring" is the mark made by the hobnail boot of a person administering a swift kick. The Pocket full of posies is the back pocket of the victim's trousers, at which the kick was traditionally aimed, and the rest of the rhyme is:

"arses, arses, we all fall down!"

-snip-

But, in spite of the fact that this rhyme's connection to the plague was roundly debunked, as of this date, the last post to that thread is:

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring around the Rosy / Rosey
From: GUEST,joeeeyyy - PM
Date: 19 Jan 09 - 08:19 PM

its about the plauge

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 05 May 09 - 12:00 PM

For Pete Savage:

The Martin four-string guitar to which you refer was played by Nick Reynolds, "The runt of the litter," as often described by Dave Guard, Bob Shane and, later, John Stewart. Sadly, we recently lost both Nick, who I had met locally from time to time, and John Stewart. Both had roots in the San Diego area. Nick's dad was a retired navy captain in Coronado and John was born here. Nick once said, with a wink, that some of the "back stories" were basically stage patter that may or may not have had roots in reality. You may find a lot of that in your research.

Remembering some of the exploits of my "misspent youth" in folk music, I kiddingly asked Nick once if he realized how much mischief his group had gotten some of us into. He just grinned and said, "Yeah; but, wasn't it a gas!"

Bob, the only surviving original member, is in the Phoenix area, as is Travis Edmonson, of Bud & Travis. Both are in difficult health situations, but Bob still plays a bit, from what I hear.

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: GUEST,Honah Leah H.
Date: 07 May 09 - 11:31 AM

This has been a very interesting read! I was obviously named from the song puff the magic dragon. It was my mothers favortite song. Not an easy name to grow up with. Anyhow, I have heard that there is a place in Hawaii that is called hanalei or something of that nature and that is what inspired where puff was from. Who knows, but it was an interesting tidbit.

Subject: RE: The Story BEHIND the song!
From: GUEST,Brazos Valley Boy
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 05:25 PM

Hanalei is on the north side of the island of Kauai, HI. Great place to visit!