Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings

Subject: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: olddude
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 07:48 AM

Nanci Griffith has an amazing posting on you tube. She does a wonderful job with this song very moving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMTv44FHG3Y

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: jacqui.c
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 05:41 PM

Here's the clicky.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: open mike
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 05:45 PM

This is a Stephen Foster Song

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: jacqui.c
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 05:49 PM

Not the best version I've heard - I don't care for her pronunciation on this one.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: open mike
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 05:58 PM

someone else is singing with Nanci...an Irish woman...who?

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 06:02 PM

Thread 2933, Hard Times Come Again No More (1854): Hard Times Come

Odd version. Her diction is poor.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 06:03 PM

Maybe it's the fact that I'm Canadian that makes me say that the Kate & Anna McGarrigle version of this song (also available on You Tube)performed with Kate's son, Rufus Wainwright, is absolutely stunning IMHO. I've also performed Hard Time Come Again No More a couple of times. It's one of those songs you perform once in awhile so people will hopefully experience its full power each time they hear it. The song/hymn Farther Along has, for me, a similar power behind it.

Charlotte R

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 06:08 PM

sounds like Dolores Keane.
the way she[nanci] pronounces lingered is really odd

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Sorcha
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 06:26 PM

My personal favorite singing this is Mary Black, when she was with DeDannan. Sent shivers up my spine.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 06:59 PM

It's from Other Voices, Too. I own it, but I have no idea where it is at the moment. I bought it because 1) I like Nanci Griffith, and 2) fRoots gave it a scathing review which prompted bloody battles in their letters section and on line. IAA said (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that she prounounced words oddly and she was frequently noticeably off pitch.

I thought there were good moments on that CD, but all of what he said was true, and it got to the point where these things seriously interfered with my ability to enjoy it. Mainly, it bothered me that either the producer couldn't hear the problems or he believed we punters wouldn't. There are some great songs, but I prefer Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 07:13 PM

Although this is an American classic, I must admit that De dannan et al. with Mary Black is a fine version. And on youtube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KO6uMhvfE

Thomas Hampson gave an excellent rendition of the song a few years back.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: olddude
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 07:19 PM

I have a version by Mary Black and Maura O'Connell
amazing

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Sorcha
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 07:27 PM

I don't generally care for sopranos, but I make an exception for Mary Black.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 08:37 PM

People will naturally differ about taste for specific types of voices & phrasing, but I am beginning to think that this song shouldn't be performed by 'professionals'.....mainly because they seem to BE "performing" it, rather than just singing it. So far, the best I've heard it done was by amateurs in low key situations. I like hearing it 'as if' it were done in Foster's era, by someone having hard times.....and I have heard it done many, many times in sings and at parties.

I do like the McGarrigles' 'pacing' ok, but they don't quite get the phrasing.

Mary Black has a fine voice, but she is using the song to promote Mary Black, and is making it 'fit' the string band with her...

For a nice choral arrangement, listen to this version by some unnamed group.

For a solo voice with help on the chorus, listen to the 'feeling' and phrasing by Jim and Maggi Dalton (I hope that is the right URL...)


I admit, this is just my personal prejudice...but that song is pretty special...I like it almost anytime...(well, not by THIS bunch...but usually by a deeper voice, with slower phrasing.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:24 AM

Always been a favorite. One of the youtube videos has striking pictures from the depression years, which I remember, being an old timer.
I like several renditions- from Thomas Hampson- a professional concert and opera star- to the one by the Daltons recommended by Bill D. And I just realized that the one with the pictures from the 1930s is the choral performance also mentioned by Bill D.

The song itself was sung widely from the time the sheet music was first published in 1854; every home with a piano had sheet music or compilations of his songs. I have a book of Foster songs that belonged to my grandmother. Foster was and is is America's greatest song writer, although a number of the songs belong to another era; "Hard Times..." is one of those which is timeless.

Anyone wishing to explore the full range of Foster's music should bookmark stephen-foster-songs.de, which has full sheet music and wonderful midis of all of his songs. Also many other old favorites.
Stephen Foster

A Civil War song of his which should be better known is "A Soldier in the Colored Brigade." The hymn "He Leadeth Me Beside Still Waters" is never heard, and the sentiments of "There's a Good Time Coming" perhaps could be sung as a follow-up to "Hard Times Come Again No More."

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Mr Happy
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 04:18 AM

'lingad?'

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 04:01 AM

Heidi Talbot (Cherish the Ladies) does a cracking version of this.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Alice
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 10:34 PM

I perform this song.
I like the Mary Black and the De Dannan & Friends recordings that are both on the right side of that linked page.

Alice

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: GUEST,gregor simpson
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 03:21 PM

The Bob Dylan version is wonderful.His guitar fits this somg to perfection.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: JedMarum
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 03:33 PM

Yet another version

I love the song, but don't see it as a dirge. It feels more positive to me.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 08:59 PM

Dramtreeo of the Hampton Roads (Norfolk VA) area also do this as an uptempo number:

www.southernbranch.com

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Beer
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 09:46 PM

I think that anyone who wants to sing this song will do it with feeling. It's just one of those songs that require it.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 11:05 PM

I have wondered why no one ever coupled it with another Foster song, "There's a Good Time Coming." A nice contrast.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: jeddy
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 07:14 PM

i don't thin you can beat marie littles version of this song. she lifts the tempo and makes it seem more about the coming through than the suffering.

take care all

jade x x

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 07:34 PM

We'll just have to disagree on that one, jeddy....She's a talented singer, but she sings it much too fast and misses the 'feel' of it.

She also messes with the tune in the verse.....I assume just to BE a little different.

(I have listened to about 50 versions of "Hard Times", and only about 25& do a decent job. Too many want to adapt the song to suit them, rather than understanding the spirit of it.)

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: RTim
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 07:37 PM

This tune is also used on the Carillon at the church in Adderbury Oxon. It is played every 3 hours after the hour is struck on one day of the week
I forget which day and I'm to lazy to find it now.

The Carillon was installed to celebrate Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Tim Radford - ex-Foreman & Squire, the Adderbury Morris Men

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Janie
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 08:01 PM

I "field recorded" Big Mick singing this at my first or second Getaway after he led it in a song circle in what back then was the "Mudcat" cabin. I don't know if Mick has ever recorded it on a CD, but he does a wonderful job with it.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 08:13 PM

I expect Mick would certainly do a good job on this. I wish I had heard him.

For the long discussion of the song...on a rare thread I actually started myself... go to thread # 117818

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 09:11 PM

I learned the song from The Red Clay Ramblers' version on their "Hard Times" album. They only sang the first two of the four verses, but I think that's plenty. All four verses plus four repeats of the chorus is a bit too much of a good thing to suit me.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: jeddy
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 09:20 PM

bill, thats ok if we all liked the same thing festivals would even more repetive. still love em though.

see now why can't i have this enthusiasm when i wake up instead of when i go to bed???????? aaarrgggg.

take care all

jade x x

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: eddie1
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 02:28 AM

Found a great acapella version on Spotify by a group called "Mustard's Retreat".
Even beats the version by Emmylou Harris! And for me to say that is a big thing!!

Eddie

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: open mike
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 02:34 AM

A recent recording project from Joe Weed included this song and many others by Stephen Foster. Joe Weed SWANEE: THE MUSIC OF STEPHEN FOSTER.
http://www.joeweed.com/
http://www.joeweed.com/studiopages/highlandstudio.htm
He has a varied cast of musicians who perform a Stephen Foster special
concert, and they travel to bring this show to many audiences.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 02:56 AM

This version with james Taylor and a String Quartet is really quite nice.
Hard Times

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 05:07 PM

well... that video by James Taylor and a couple of ...*grin*... decent helpers, was about the most talented, creative, well-executed variation on the original melody that I think I've heard.
It was so well-done I 'almost' forgot it was about them as 'professionals', rather than presenting a special **song** done by musicians who could have raised the hair on the back of my neck if they cared to.


who me? cynical?...nawwwwwwww


It really was pretty and 'honed' to a fine....something.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 09:32 PM

When I listened to all of the youtube versions last year, only two ended up downloaded- an unnamed choral treatment, and the one by the Daltons.
Both were listed in the post by Bill D, 23 Apr. 08.
The latter has been removed, but can be heard at their website,
Singing String
I wish they would do it again, with better acoustics.

Taylor has a fine voice- I would like to hear him do it unaccompanied. But I agree with Bill D, the Taylor video doesn't catch it.

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 10:16 PM

Q...I found that site earlier, but saw no indication of a link to an actual playable file of "Hard Times"

Tried with both Firefox & Opera browsers. Opera showed links to several other MP3 files, but they didn't actually play, either.

I will experiment...sometimes settings in specific browsers are the key... (I have 4-5 OTHERS I can try)

Subject: RE: Hard Time Come Again No More - recordings
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 01:19 PM

Hard Times on Dalton website-
Click on Recordings and Sound Clips. Then scroll waaayy down.