Looking for recording: Ballad of Erica Levine

Subject: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: David Seuss
Date: 07 Aug 97 - 11:48 AM

I would like to buy a CD of the Ballad of Erica Levine. I have checked every record store including Tower in Boston and cannot locate it. Can anyone identify an album name and record label for me?

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 07 Aug 97 - 02:17 PM

Possibly on old album, "Erica Levine and Friends" from Bob Blue in the 80's. Yours, Peter.

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Gene
Date: 07 Aug 97 - 06:51 PM

Hi - according to Joe F. -- You can find it his Mister Blue Songbook- (J. Gordon, Philadelphia, [phone], n.d.) or, without music, in Rise Up Singing.

It is on his LP Erica Levine & Friends - (Black Socks Press, BS 86543);

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Aug 97 - 08:30 PM

Words & music are in the DT. For a recording try Kim Wallach or the Short Sisters. You're in Boston try the Music Emporium in Arlington, Sandy's or Brigg's& Brigg's in Cambridge. If all that fails, Kim is a local. Barry

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Susan of DT
Date: 08 Aug 97 - 06:35 PM

I don't know if this will help, but Frankie Armstrong used to sing it. I do not know if she recorded it.

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Aug 97 - 03:55 AM

Davis, it's on Peter Alsop's "Fan Club Favorites," Flying Fish cassette #396 - No CD. Rounder owns Flying Fish now, and they're at One Camp Street in Cambridge, in case you can't get UPS delivery....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Looking for Ballad of Erica Levine
From:
Date: 09 Aug 97 - 02:49 PM

Frankie Armstrong did record it on her album "I heard a woman singing", 1984

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Erica Levine
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 20 May 09 - 01:41 PM

This song was written by Bob Blue, from Massachusetts, who died a few years back. Bob also wrote such wonderful songs as "Dear Mr. President" and "I Did It Their Way" (with apologies to Paul Anka).

Dan

Subject: RE: Recordings - The Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Genie
Date: 22 Feb 11 - 02:51 PM

I first heard in on a Northwest Folklife Festival compilation album, sung by Frank and Dina Blade, in the late '70s or early '80s.

Subject: RE: Looking for recording: Ballad of Erica Levine
From: Cuilionn
Date: 22 Feb 11 - 03:28 PM

We have the Frankie Armstrong recording, and it's a delightful rendition-- very "singable-alongable."

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: Looking for recording: Ballad of Erica Levine
From: oldhippie
Date: 22 Feb 11 - 05:49 PM

Kim Wallachs version is on her "The Coldest Winter In Living Memory".

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF ERICA LEVINE
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jun 17 - 12:08 AM

Yes, Frankie Armstrong does a wonderful performance of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncPcd7vy7y4

---

For the record, here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition:

THE BALLAD OF ERICA LEVINE
(Bob Blue)

When Erica Levine was seven and a half
Up to her door came Jason Metcalfe
And he said: "Will you marry me, Erica Levine?"
And Erica Levine said: "What do you mean?"
"Well my father and my mother say a fellow ought to marry
And my father said his brother, who is my Uncle Larry
Never married and he said Uncle Larry is a dope---
So will you marry me?" Said Erica,"Nope."
"My piano teacher's smart, and she never had to marry
And your father may be right about your Uncle Larry,
But not being married isn't what made him a dope.
Don't ask me again, 'cause my answer's 'Nope'."

When Erica Levine was seventeen
She went to a dance with Joel Bernstein,
And they danced by the light of a sparkling bobby sock,
'Cause the theme of the prom was the history of Rock.
And after the prom, Joel kissed her at the door,
And he said "Do you know what that kiss was for?"
And she said, "I don't know, but you kiss just fine."
And he said, "What it means is that you are mine."
And she said "No, I'm not!", and she rushed inside
And on the way home, Joel Bernstein cried
And she cried, too, and wrote a letter to 'Ms.',
Saying"This much I know: I am mine, not his."

When Erica Levine was twenty-three
Her lover said "Erica, marry me.
This relationship is answering a basic need
And I'd like to have it legally guaranteed.
For without your precious love I would surely die
So why can't we make it legal?" Said Erica, "Why?
Basic needs, at your age, should be met by you;
I'm your lover, not your mother---let's be careful what we do.
If I should ever marry,I will marry to grow,
Not for tradition, or possession or protection. No!
I love you, but your needs are a very different issue."
Then He cried, and Erica handed him a tissue.

When Erica was thirty, she was talking with Lou,
Discussing and deciding what they wanted to do.
"When we marry, should we move into your place or mine?
Yours is rent-controlled, but mine is on the green line."
And they argued and they talked, and they finally didn't care
And they joined a small cooperative near Central Square.
And their wedding was a simple one, they wanted it that way.
And they thought a lot about the things that they would choose to say.
"I will live with you and love you, but I'll never call you mine."
Then the judge pronounced them married, and everyone had wine.
And a happy-ever-after life is not the kind they got,
But they tended to be happy more often than not.

(Recorded by Bob Blue, Kim Wallach, Frankie Armstrong)
Copyright Bob Blue
@feminist @courtship
filename[ ELEVINE
TUNE FILE: ELEVINE
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF





Here's a recording by Peter Alsop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANF9ynumGgo

Wow! Here's the entire album, Erica Levine and Friends, by Bob Blue and Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQXt5BuPypk