Folksingers with phony identities

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST,John Nolan
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 06:19 PM

Last entry was JN with a wiped out cookie

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 06:15 PM

Ian McGeachie annoyed a lot of people in Glasgow, years ago, when he took off for London and became The Folksinger John Martyn. Bad enough changing his name, but sticking a "y" in for an "i" - well I'll be knocked down, hog-tied, horse-whupped, dipped and double-dipped in dog shit, as Mick Broderick of the Whistlebinkies used to say.

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 05:21 PM

Don't quote me on this but I think McColl was born Jimmy Miller in Salford

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST,AliUK on the works computer
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:52 PM

hmmm. Inflamatory thread? I think Bob actually used the name Dylan in homage of his favourite Poet Dylan Thomas. I honestly believe that he didn't actually start out to make a quick buck, but was/is genuinely interested in his heritage. And heritage he has, for though his birthright is jewish he is also a North American, and he has the right of all North Americans to explore their own traditions. I suspect that with Ramblin'Jack and Utah the reason was the same. And I wouldn't say that they are phoney identities but certainly nome-de-plumes/guerre, which has been a tradition in itself for many centuries.

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:50 PM

Not only Jewish people, Ewan McColl, regarded by some as the founding father of the present day folk revival, totally reinvented not only his name, but his employment history, his lifestyle and entire past. The only person to surpass this work of biographical fiction was L Ron Hubbard!

LTS

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:39 PM

Guest, who started this thread,... Although I am not Jewish, you are courteous encouraged, BY ME, to spend the rest of an exquisite (for the rest of us) eternity in that sacred and exclusive region expressly set aside for the eternal damnation of the souls of people who have SO much in common with you... ttr

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: Amos
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:36 PM

Judaism has nothing to do with it!! It is a matter of simple economics and market perception. These guys all created identities which resonated with the heroes of folk music in the English language, which is predominantly a legacy of Anglo Saxon types -- including those who wrote most of the Childes' ballads, the cowboy songs, the chanties, plough-songs, pioneer songs, Appalachian tunes, moonshining music, railroading songs, drunk brawl ballads and chanties and love songs and rebel tunes which make up the mass of that legacy. If you're going to sell records in Rome, sing as the Romans sing. You'll sell more records that way then sweating in a niche category trying to have a global impact.

This is a statistical observation, not a political or sociological issue.

A

Subject: RE: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST,Little Jewford
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:26 PM

That's right, we have to cover up our Judaism. The reason that Jack, Bob and Utah all wear hats is so that you goys don't see the horns.

Subject: Folksingers with phony identities
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 04:22 PM

I always thought that folk music was the music of "real" people but I've seen that some folksingers have recreated themselves with phony identities or characters. Some of them include:

Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Elliott Adnopoz), the son of a Jewish doctor from New York;

Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman), the son of a Jewish appliance store owner from Minnesota;

Utah Phillips (Bruce Cohen), the son of a Jewish movie theater owner from Ohio.

Are these people ashamed of who they are? Is being Jewish not acceptable for a folksinger?