Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,Hoosierpicker
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 10:04 PM

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. We performed at the library today with great success. We played seventeen songs altogether, and the following were recommended in this thread:

When the Frost is on the Punkin (Riley poem from the Anne Hills link)
On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away (state song of Indiana)
Such A Long Time, Old Friend (by Lotus Dickey)
New Harmony (by Craig Johnson)
Wabash Cannonball

I'm drained right now though. Performing takes more out of me the older I get.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 06:28 PM

Joe,

No, never did record that one. Almost my theme song (no pun intended) was THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. In the song's chorus it says,

Move your family westward,
Bring all your girls and boys,
And cross the Shawnee Ferry
To thye state of Elanoy.

I learned it from a mentor of mine, Win Stracke, a founder of Chicago's Old Town School Of Folk Music ---(along with Frank Hamilton.)

Art

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:06 AM

Cole Porter: "By the Mississinewah" from Something for the Boys (1943). One of his funniest songs.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 05:56 AM

There's a fiddle tune called, variously, Indiana Stomp and Indian on a Stump. Which title is a corruption of which I have no idea.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 03:06 AM

Art, didn't you record Shawneetown? I tried to find it in my vast collection of Art Thieme albums, but couldn't.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:25 AM

The cowboy song, "Sam Bass" begins:

Sam Bass was born in Indiana, it was his native home
And at the age of 17 young Sam began to roam,

This song moves to Texas pretty quickly though!

Waylon Jennings' song "GREEN RIVER" ---flows into the Ohio River just east of Evansville.

Craig Johnson's fine song "NEW HARMONY" -- sung by Jim Ringer on his Folk Legacy Records CD.

of course "The Wabash Cannonball"

and the one called "Shawneetown"





Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 01:02 AM

There's also a copy of Brewster's Ballads and Songs of Indiana at http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/indiana/index.html. Free download, until somebody complains about copyright infringement. The book was published by Indiana University in 1940, so it's not really worth anybody complaining about.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:23 AM

How much would you have to pay to download something like that Masato?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: iancarterb
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:52 PM

Grey Larson has some Indiana songs from old time music informants, both instrumental and vocal, I believe. He presently lives in Indiana. I bet you could get ahold of him through his website for some suggestions and paths.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: masato sakurai
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 06:15 PM

See Paul G. Brewster, Ballads And Songs Of Indiana (1940).

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 04:14 PM

Theres some songs about Dillinger - the Hoosier Hoodlum. I wrote one but there are several others. Tony Stewart who was a realtion of beryl Hovious who married JD wrote one.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 04:10 PM

She means 'Farewell Indiana', which already has its own thread with all the background you could wish for, including contributions from Andy (who later began posting here as 'Strupag' if I recall correctly).

Farewell, Indiana

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: open mike
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 03:25 PM

to which "particular" song do you refer?
there are at least 8 listed here

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,Sandra
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:48 AM

If you want more background on this particular song, this song was written by Andy Mitchell of Ullapool (in the NW Highlands of Scotland) for friends of his who returned to Scotland to work. I have heard Andy Irvine doing this solo, and it is a really beautiful song which tugs at the hearstrings!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 03:44 PM

Gary, Indiana from the Music Man

Subject: ADD: Indiana Wants Me
From: GUEST,C. Jane Gotta
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 03:29 PM

Indiana Wants Me
(As recorded by R. Dean Taylor)

Mmmm, mmmm

Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
I wish I had you, to talk to

If a man ever needed dyin' he did
No one had the right to say what he said about you
And it's so cold and lonely here without you
Out there the laws are coming
I'm scared and so tired of running

Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
I wish I had you, to talk to

It hurts to see the man that I've become
And to know I'll never see the morning sunshine on the land
I'll never see your smiling face, or touch your hand
If just once more I could see
You, our home, and our little baby

Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there, oh

I wish I had you, to talk to

I hope this letter finds its way to you
Forgive me love for the shame I put you through
And all the tears
Hang on love to the memories of those happy years
Red lights are flashin' around me
Yea love it looks like they found me

Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
I wish I had you, to talk to

Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
("This is the police, you are surrounded, give yourself up")
Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there
("This is the police, give yourself up, you are surrounded")

(c) Copyright 1970 by Jobete Music Co., Inc.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: open mike
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 03:21 PM

The Roger Miller song.......God didn't make little green apples..


And i wake up in the morning with my hair down in my eyes and she says hi
And i stumble to the breakfast table while the kids are going off to school, goodbye.
And she reaches out and takes my hand and squeezes it and says how you feeling hon?
And i look across at smiling lips that warm my heart, and see my morning sun.

And if that's not loving me, then all i've got to say,
God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time.
And there's no such thing as dr. seuss or disney land and mother goose, no nursery rhymes.
God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time.
And when myself is feeling low, i think about her face and go and ease my mind.

Sometimes i call her up, at home, knowing she's busy.
And ask her if she can get away, meet me and maybe we can grab a bite to eat.
And she drops what she's doing and she hurries down to meet me, and i'm always late.
But she sits waiting patiently, and smiles when she first sees me, because she's made that way.

And if that ain't loving me, then all i've got to say,
God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't snow in minneapolis when the winter comes.
And there's no such thing as make-believe, puppy dogs or autumn leaves, no bb guns.
God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't snow in minneapolis when the winter comes.
and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time...

it is number 15 on this page
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/miller-roger/little-green-apples-1156.html
and the chords are here...
http://www.azchords.com/m/millerroger-tabs-5367/littlegreenapples-tabs-110808.html

The most famous author I know of from Indiana is http://www.genestrattonporter.net/
she wrote about moths (maybe a moth song would be appropriate?)
two ofher books were made into movies...but they were silent movies
so they did not have a theme song or sound track...maybe you could
make one?!
http://www.tentativetimes.net/porter/gspfilm.html
here is a little about her life
http://www.indianahistory.org/pop_hist/people/gs_porter.html
http://www.bsu.edu/ourlandourlit/Literature/Authors/portergs.htm

Subject: ADD: Indiana (Andy Mitchell)
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 02:35 PM

INDIANA
(Andy Mitchell)

Fare thee well, now, Indiana, your green land has been good to me.
There I travelled, there I settled, there I raised up my family.
But the cord has never severed, and the longing each day it has grown.
So, tomorrow, I'll be leaving for the land that I call my home.

All my friends say that I'm crazy, going back to such poverty,
America is, so they say now, the land of opportunity.
But the shy hare runs so swiftly and the heron slowly flies.
These are treasures from my homeland that all your money can never buy.

As our ship lies in the harbour, I shall look back on your shore.
And I'll feel sadness that I'm leaving your green land forever more.
But as our ship lies on the ocean and each day we are out on the sea.
All the dreams I've had for years now, drawing nearer reality.

Fare thee well, now, Indiana, your green land has been good to me.
There I travelled, there I settled, there I raised up my family.
But the cord has never severed, and the longing each day it has grown.
So, tomorrow, I'll be leaving for the land that I call my home.

Sung by Andy Irvine on Patrick Street CD

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: bankley
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 01:52 PM

"Up in Indiana"... Lyle Lovett..... 2 versions on his last CD... one is kind of bluegrass...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 01:46 PM

My father used to sing 'Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash', a sentimental parlor song. Isn't the Wabash between Illinois and Indiana?

You might like to research Dillon Bustin. I believe he was a Hoosier, and he wrote great traditional-type songs.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 09:42 PM

See if the library has copies of George List's book, Singing About It - Folksong in Southern Indiana. You can also get it used online from a couple of sites. It's a wonderful collection.

If you're anywhere near Bloomington, the folklore department at the University ought to have MANY resources - it's one of the top folklore departments in the country and specialized in folksong. (That's where Joe Hickerson, among others, went.)

Lotus Dickey was an Indiana musician. His songs are not exactly traditional, but are amazing!

Good luck!

Dan

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 09:35 PM

I suppose that it depends on whether your library wants old songs found in Indiana or modern songs that mention it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Chris in Portland
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 08:56 PM

Anne Hills - http://cdbaby.com/cd/hillsanne
Chris in Portland

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 08:50 PM

Search the 'place collected' field at the Roud Folksong Index for 'Indiana'. There are 722 references, which should get you off to a decent start.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 08:42 PM

How about this one - QV

Subject: Tune Req: Folk Songs With Indiana Connections
From: GUEST,Hoosierpicker
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 03:52 PM

My musical partner and I have agreed to do a performance at a local library here in Indiana. The library wishes that we do a presentation of folk songs with strong Indiana connections. We're having a harder than expected time in putting together such a setlist and I figure that this would be the best place to ask for help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Mudcat rules!