ADD: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks (Mike Glick)

Subject: RE: ADD: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks (Mike Glick)
From: GUEST,Bev Praver
Date: 21 Jun 20 - 02:50 AM

Thanks Mike, but Jerry passed away April 30th, 2018 and I now have no one to sing the harmony part he wrote for your song or any of our songs for that matter. I will check our database of recorded songs and see if I have a recording of us singing it. If I do I'd be happy to email the file to you so you can hear what we did with your song. If I can get your email I can give you a bit of our background.

Subject: RE: ADD: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks (Mike Glick)
From: GUEST,Mike Glick
Date: 24 Oct 19 - 11:23 PM

Hey Bev and Jerry,

Just wondering who you folks are, and what your version of my song sounds like. My email is [e-mail] - and I'll be glad to send you an mp3 of the song - Mike

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: GUEST,Mike Glick
Date: 27 Mar 14 - 04:54 PM

Thanks all for the appreciation of the song. Those very well may have been the original lyrics but the ones I recall are as follows:

In the year of seventeen seventy, one the COmmons in Boston town.
The British opened fire and a black man was shot down.
Crispus Attucks was his name and he met an early grave.
He was the first to die for freedom though his people still were slaves.


2nd line, 2nd verse is a little backwards:

But he loved the feel of the salty wind and the taste of the ocean spray

last verse just begins:

Now there were (many who came in.....)

Many thanks! And you can hear some of my new music with my son, ALeksi at generations-music.com Also if you go to folkalley.com and look for their Open Mic and input the name of my new group Generations: Mike & Aleksi Glick you can hear my new tribute to Nelson Mandela (coming soon in a recording, maybe May 2014)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 03:19 PM

Sol:

That's very interesting. We learned the song from a written source and we had never heard it performed. So, we arranged it the way it seemed right to us. We do it unaccompanied and at a rather slow pace. Because the tune is so unusual, our two part harmony is rather unusual, too, employing a lot of open fifths and major and minor thirds.

We can't imagine it a fast pace with a lot of instrumentation, especially drums. But, if Mike Glick wrote it and performed it that way, who are we to criticize.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 06:16 PM

Anyway, Bev & Jerry, thanks for the lyrics. Even though I have the tape, it is hard to write down all the lyrics when the song is being sung so fast and being partially drowned out by the accompanying instrumentation & percussion. SOL ZELLER

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 06:36 PM

Actually, Sing Out! says the song was copyrighted in 1983. It could have been written anytime before that or, heaven forbid, Sing Out! could be wrong.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 04:40 PM

Mike actually first recorded it with the New Song Quintet on his own album, put out by City View Music. I have the original casette. It is unfortunate that the New Song Quintet broke up. They were one of the first racially mixed folk groups, and their music reflected it. Their was a strong African as well as Hispanic influence that blended in perfectly with Mike's powerful lyrics. It was folk music in its purest form. SOL ZELLER

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF CRISPUS ATTUCKS (Mike Glick
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 02:54 PM

Sol:

Here you go:

THE BALLAD OF CRISPUS ATTUCKS (Mike Glick)

1. In the year of seventeen seventy, it happened in Boston town.
The British opened fire and a black man was shot down.
Crispus Attucks was his name. They laid him in his grave.
He was the first to die for freedom though his people still were slaves.

CHORUS: He was the first to die for freedom, he was the first to die for freedom,
The first to die for freedom, though his people still were slaves.

2. Some said he was a sailing man. some said he'd run away,
But he loved the taste of the salty wind, the feel of the ocean spray;
And he loved the taste of freedom, and he led that crowd,
And he died the way he lived his life, a free man black and proud.

3. Many came on sailing ships to these British colonies,
And they came to build a freer life across the stormy seas;
But freedom was most precious to those who came in chains,
So let's not say our brother Crispus Attucks died in vain.

This powerful song was written by Mike Glick in 1983 and it appeared in Sing Out!, Volume 30, #1, Jan-Mar, 1984. It was also recorded by Charlie King and Martha Leader on an album called "Steppin' Out" which is available here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 12 Jul 04 - 05:10 PM

Thanks Bev & Jerry. I am a very patient man. I can wait. I do very much appreciate the quick response. SOL ZELLER

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 12 Jul 04 - 04:43 PM

We have these lyrics but we don't have time to post them right now.

Hang on. We'll get back to you soon.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: Lyr Req: The Ballad Of Crispus Attucks
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 11 Jul 04 - 10:46 PM

This song was recorded in the late 1970s by a group called "The New Song Quintet". It was written by Mike Glick, who was the lead vocalist for the group. I heard them at the Nassau Community College Folk Festival and later that year at one of the first Hudson River Revivals. SOL ZELLER