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Background on a bunch of songs
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Background on a bunch of songs |
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Subject: Background on a bunch of songs From: Goater Date: 12 Apr 99 - 01:00 PM Hey everyone! Perhaps the thing I love most about folk music is that the songs are a reflection of history...about the poeple, the times and the culture that they erupted from. Even modern folk songs still tell similar stories (even if done in retrospect). This long winded intro done, I have questions about some songs that I have learned. I am looking for any information that anyone can give me about these songs. I am most interested in the stories behind the songs (the period of history they cam out of, the reason the song was written, the battle or war it talks about, the politics at the time, etc) I have saved up the list until I thought it was big enough to only bother everyone once. I am always happy to recieve personal email on this topic and not take up any of the all too precious bandwidth here. I tried to do some searching in the old threads but kept getting errors. Sorry if this dulicates anything that has been talked about.
the list: Thanks for any info you can give me!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Allan C. Date: 12 Apr 99 - 01:30 PM (Okay, I'll be the one.) Felix, I am sure that you thought you were making the best use of space by combining your many requests into one. But it is far, far better to initiate a separate thread for each song. There are, indeed other threads about many of the songs you list. Another try at a "forum search" would most certainly bring results. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Goater Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:01 PM My deepest apologies. Please consider this thread killed. I was getting so many errors searching the forum I thought this might be the best route. Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: AlistairUK Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:09 PM Okay Felix I can help ya on a couple of these
The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda is an Eric Bogle song it's part of a three song cycle about the ANZACS during the first world war who were sent off to fight. The Other Two being The Green Fields of France ( or Willie McBride) and All The Fine Young Men. Eric is a scot that moved out to Oz about 30 years ago and has written slews of wonderful songs. Mathilda is specifically about the landing by the ANZACS ( Australian New Zeland Army CorpS)at Suvla Bay and the shit kicking that they got there because of the piss poor support they got from the British military.
Johhny Has Gone for a Soldier/Johnny I hardly Knew Ya: these a versions of the same song about how during the Napoleonic wars it was usual for recruiters to go round rural villages and Sign up lads for a shilling. Once the Shilling was accepted they were in the Army: Many unscrupulous recruiting sergeants sometimes got them pissed first (drunk to our yankee friends)and then offer them the King's Shilling. Also there's a version called "The Recruiting Sergerant". Phe! I feel all knowledgeable and stuff now...I'd better go and have a lie down for a bit. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Joe Offer Date: 12 Apr 99 - 05:13 PM Hi, Felix - I guess I'd have to say that for now, the "body" part of the Forum Search is more-or-less inoperable, but Max promises repairs soon. In the meantime, you can still check under "subject" or "username" with pretty good results, or you can search the last year's worth of thread titles by using the "filter" on the forum menu. If you find a thread on one of your songs, add your question to that thread so the discussion can continue. If you don't find a thread, please start one. Discussing music is what (most of us) Mudcatteers enjoy most about this forum. I think it's best if we don't ask for private replies to questions about folk music - it's the open discussion of music that makes this forum so valuable. Also, if you ge e-mail replies, how do the rest of us know that your question has already been answered? -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Philippa Date: 12 Apr 99 - 05:39 PM I agree with Allan C, but since AlasdairUK has set a precedent of answering your multiple query, I'll add a bit also! You'll find more discussion about Johnny has gone for a Soldier if you do a forum search for the discussions of Shule Aroon / Siúl a Rúin. The song in its many variants has been used from the aftermath of the Jacobite wars, circa 1745 to the American revolution and the American civil war. 'Johnny I hardly Knew Ye' seems to me to be quite a different song, not another version of 'Johnny has gone for a soldier' I thought 'Red is the Rose' was a recent song, by Tommy Makem, but probably he adapted it from an older song, because there are two versions in the database and one is attributed to the singing of Joe Heany. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: catspaw49 Date: 12 Apr 99 - 05:49 PM Have you taken another shot at "filter" yet? Almost every song you mention has appeared on a thread in the past4 or5 months. I tried a couple with good results. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Lesley N. Date: 12 Apr 99 - 06:33 PM Don't feel too bad Felix - I've been using DT a while and I still re-ask questions... Just when I think I'm improving I'll re-ask another one... I don't like to plug my page here - and I think you'll be able to find what you want in the forum but you can also check here for information on some of them. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Joe Offer Date: 12 Apr 99 - 06:55 PM Lesley, I think you SHOULD give a plug here every once in a while for your Contemplator Folk Music page, expecially if you've made any recent major additions. It's a darn good page. There's a link to it on the Mudcat links page. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Pete M Date: 12 Apr 99 - 07:09 PM I too have found that the forum search is less than optimum at present, or to cross pollinate from the colloquialism thread "The fucking fuckers fucked!" So as the precedent has been set and established, here is another snippet: Banks of Sicily - Words by Hamish Henderson, tune "Farewell to the creeks" by Pipe Major James Robertson. 51st Highland Division were at the time loading for Italy, operation Baytown, the assult bt 8th Army across the straits of Messina which took place four days prior to Operation Avalanche, the assult by 5th Army at Salerno. There was a thread about this song about a year ago. Pete M |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Lesley N. Date: 12 Apr 99 - 10:48 PM OK Joe - I'll plug - I added a page for Child Ballads - listed by volume and number. I also made a page for American tunes ordered chronologically. It's all cross-pollinated everything is on the main page - I just made the new pages to highlight my special interests. Thanks for the good words! You can tell I don't have much of a life, so good words mean a lot!
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Ferrara Date: 12 Apr 99 - 11:30 PM Lesley -- what a wonderful site! I'm especially thrilled with the "Popular Songs in American History" page. What an extensive and unusual collection of songs! I was very excited to find the whole text of "Battle of the Kegs." Bits of it, and an explanation of the scandal about Sir William and Mrs. Loring, are given in a novel, "Dawn's Early Light" by Elswyth Thane, which I read four or five times when I was in middle school. I've wanted to learn the whole song ever since! - By the way, Bill says the alternate tune, Maddie Lauder, is also called Maggie Lauder. But some of us who aren't so well informed about trad music, learned the tune as the setting for "Unfortunate Miss Bailey." As an aside, Eswyth Thane's Civil War novel, "Yankee Stranger," which I re-read even oftener, was the original cause of my interest in the song "Lorena". Lorena is now a real favorite of mine and Bill's. Funny how something like that can stick with you. I expect I'll be a pretty frequent visitor to your site. - Rita Ferrara |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Joe Offer Date: 13 Apr 99 - 04:44 AM Felix - I added links to your list for whatever songs we already have threads on. Click, and you'll find a wealth of information. We also had a couple of threads on "Scotland the Brave," but no substantial information. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Goater Date: 13 Apr 99 - 10:54 PM To everyone (for their great insites) and Joe for creating the links to the past threads I want to thank you. I have a little better success searching threads and cam e across many of the ones ref'd by Joe. Also, Leslies pages are a GREAT reference. I'll start new threads with a couple songs I couldn't find what I was looking for and see if anyone has more specific info. Thanks |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: JedMarum Date: 18 Jul 00 - 09:06 AM Great links in this thread! These sites provide some wonderful music and background. Great places to spend hours hunting, learning, enjoying! |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: Lena Date: 18 Jul 00 - 12:29 PM Lesley,are you the saint behind that wonderful sites?!I love you.I really do. Thanks so much for it. |
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Subject: RE: Background on a bunch of songs From: MartinRyan Date: 18 Jul 00 - 03:30 PM A quick note on "Johnny I hardly knew you": the DT version refers to the "island of Suloon". This should be "Ceylon". I have a vague memory of checking about a British campaign in that area - in which some Irish regiments were involved. Frank Harte sings it better than most, BTW. Regards |
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