ADD: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: CapriUni
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 10:46 AM

Hmmm... Nor do I think that "Cultural Hollows" (love that term!) is necessarily a bad thing... In this day and age of cookie-cutter franchised restaurants, stores, highways, and houses, I think it's rather nice that I can travel to another part of the country/world and hear an artist I've never heard before...

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: CapriUni
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 10:47 AM

Hmmm... Nor do I think that "Cultural Hollows" (love that term!) is necessarily a bad thing... In this day and age of cookie-cutter franchised restaurants, stores, highways, and houses, I think it's rather nice that I can travel to another part of the country/world and hear an artist I've never heard before...

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 11:32 AM

I agree, Capri Uni: The last thing I want to listen to is a McBallad. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 12:02 PM

Guest: Guest noted : "In the upper midwest Cities like Madison Wisconsin and Ann Arbor and the Detroit area have a certain circuit of "Stars" ... New York and Philadelphia another set that overlaps just a little with the New England crowd, Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico a different set and California a different set".

As a host of a radio show in the NYC area, I really noticed that happening. I began my program back in 1980, just as Fast Folk was getting started in the NYC area. As Fast Folk started to dissolve (through artists moving on, nightclubs losing leases, etc.) I actually started becoming bored with what "seemed" like a dwindling folk scene. I began playing more traditional artists and focusing on so-called "classic" folk recordings. For awhile, in the early 90's, I felt that the folk scene was on the endangered species list - particularly here in the NYC area.

It was the advent of Internet and sites like Mudcat that opened my eyes (or perhaps my ears) to the incredible music that exists beyond our "borders" here in the NYC/NJ area.

I don't mean to sidetrack this discussion to a personal level by discussing my radio show (I do enough of that here on Mudcat - forgive me!) but I do find it incredibly exciting that we are seeing a new "folk process" at work. Even though artists tend to be regional, there seems to be great outlets to share the music.

The question is, does folk music need to expand? I know of one folk-singer who lives in New Hampshire. He is a full-time musician, but rarely travels beyond his geopgraphic region. I asked him why he doesn't travel more, and his answer was that it doesn't make sense. Because he has a bit of a following in his homebase, he can be assured of bookings. Even aside from travel costs, the money to play venues that wouldn't be familiar with his work doesn't pay. By traveling he would jeopardize his steady work for a payback that might not come. Too risky.

CapriUni summed it up perfectly - it is nice to travel to another place and hear music that is native to the area. I like to think of folk music using the old "stew" analogy - lots of tasty ingredients that maintain their own individiual tastes and add up to a great meal!

Ron

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: jackb
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 02:08 PM

First post by a newbie - (be gentle). Pat Humphries will be appearing at a house concert this Sat. night - June 8th, 7:30 PM in the Philadelphia area (Newtown Square, Delaware county). The concert will be hosted by Fortissimo Folk Music. We host house concerts, provide voluntary web services for folk artists and venues (mostly in the Philly area), and volunteer at Phila. Folk Fest, NERFA, Phila. Folksong Society and various local folk clubs.

Please check our website for details on the Pat Humphries concert at www.fortissimo.org, or email [e-mail] for details or directions. If you are planning to come, bring your instrument(s) and/or voice. We always circle up the chairs afterwards.

I've been logging on to Mudcat for several months and have enjoyed (mostly) the wide-ranging discussions. I did catch the NPR broadcast on 'Swimming'. Not quite sure about the folk anthem status, but we have enjoyed Pat's music for a long time, and are looking forward to her concert this weekend.

Thanks - JackB

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: CapriUni
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 10:15 PM

Welcome to the 'Cat, Jack!

I'm too far from Philly to get to see Pat this time, but maybe someone else reading this thread will...

Not sure about the term "Anthem", either... strikes me as a little too "official and officious" for a song like this...

But I guess a news story about a "Very Good" folk song, wouldn't have the same punch, would it? ;-)

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side
From: CamiSu
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 12:10 AM

Jack-- have FUN! Pat is quite wonderful. I met here at the Clearwater Revival 14 years ago (though my husband thinks we met her earlier in VT-I can't say.) I have always loved her songs, but being kinda shy in the song-circle, it never occurred to me that she would get to know ME! But she is hte kind of person who takes the time and energy to know who you are, and her songs make me feel GOOD. People will be grinning when she gets done, and thinking as well.

She told me she wasn't going to make the Clearwater this year...boo.

CamiSu

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Jan 03 - 08:33 PM

For some reason I started thinking about this song tonight, and the only two things I could remember about it were that it was about swimming (sort of), and that I thought it was a great song. So I put "swimming" in the Mudcat forum search and found this thread, and used the link Charlie Baum gave to listen to it again.

And I still think it's a great song, so I thought I'd revive the thread to give people a chance to hear it or to hear it again. And with the shape the world is in right now, it seems a good time to hear it again.

Anyway, here is the link to it, to save scrolling up to the top of the thread looking for it.

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)
From: CapriUni
Date: 17 Jan 03 - 09:25 PM

Thanks for reviving this thread, McGrath. This has been one of my all time favorite songs since I first heard it a couple years ago.

I'm now listening to Lui Collins' cover of the song (the link to which is on the same NPR site), and while I love her descant,^* I find her enunciation a little bit sloppier than Pat Humphries' -- she seems to "slide over" the ending consonants of the words, if you know what I mean. And the consonantal (was that a word before, or did I just make it up?) rhythms are one of the things that I like best about the song.

But enough nit picking! I just love the song... I have, for many years, ridden horses under the guidance of physical therapists as my primary form of PT, and often, we ride to music, sometimes as part of dressage exercises, sometimes for demonstrations, and sometimes just because the horses and riders like it (really, the horses tend to pick up on the tempo of whatever's playing, and move in time). And this song strikes me as being perfect for such a purpose -- not only do the lyrics celebrate creatures of all kinds supporting and helping each other, but I can almost feel the rhythm of a horse's walking stride within it. If/when I get the opportunity to design my own musical dressage exercise again, I'm going to pick this song...

^*We are living, we are dwelling
in a grand and awesome time
We can worship, we can cherish
All the ones we live beside

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Jan 03 - 09:39 PM

I can visualize this song becoming the 'We Shall Overcome' of our day.

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 08:56 AM

My women's chorus performed this in our latest concert, along with my 4th and 5th grade children's chorus from school. It was a hit, and had the audience singing along (which is the whole point of most of my concerts!!). It's a great song for that reason, but I don't know if it will reach the status of "We shall overcome" since the lyrics are not as straightforward.

Subject: RE: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 01:23 PM

The thing about We Shall Overcome is that it's easy to improvise new verses and apply old verses to meet the need of new situations, such as water cannons and tear gas.

You couldn't do that with Swimming to the Other Side - but I can imagine that it'll become the kind of song where everybody knows the chorus though few know the verses to singbthem. But that's fine, because it's a great chorus and contains the heart of the song, and you could keep on singing it as long as needed - or until the tear gas got to you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries
From: GUEST,purplestreak
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 08:28 PM

ok- this is a bit late but sed:

I appreciate and respect your views, but this song has nothing to do with Jesus.
And I say nothing whatsoever.
It is a folk song, which are rarely anything like gospel,
and while it may not be completely free of religious tone, it might be described as secular humanism. So please, think what you want, but leave the Jesus out of the post.

---

I think we should drop the religious discussion. It's been covered. Thanks.
Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor