Tune Req: That Crazy War

Subject: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: martoons
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 10:22 AM

I've been trying to gather the tunes from "old-time string band songbook" and I can't seem to find a few. I was wondering if someone could point me to a version of 'That Crazy War'.
Thanks.
Gary

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 10:56 AM

don't forget to search Mudcat data base first!!!

search for [crazy war]

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 11:31 AM

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/CSW102.html

more NFO here...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 06:54 PM

Thanks for all the help.
I did check the Mudcat database first. I'm looking for a performance of the tune.
Sorry if I wasn't too clear.
G

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 10:05 PM

http://b5.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?&user=recldy&user2=record&pass2=lady&

post your request and email addr here.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: 12-stringer
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 12:22 AM

Guest:

http://www.juneberry78s.com/otmsampler/otmsampta.html

Two good takes of it here (both are mentioned in the headnote to the NLCR songbook text). Just scroll down the page to "Battleship of Maine" by Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers, and then scroll just a little further to "Bloody War" by Jimmie Yates' Boll Weevils. "Battleship" is the more familiar version, similar to what Scotty Wiseman reworked as "That Crazy War," in the late 30s. Stringbean and I (great minds think alike) independently came up with nearly identical Vietnam remakes in 1969, and I recently revamped it for Iraq. Yates' version has similar lyrics but a very different arrangement, which sounds like a natural for western swing.

An mp3 of the version by Wilmer Watts and the Lonely Eagles ("Fighting in the War with Spain") is on the net but I can't remember just where I downloaded it. I think it was from the music section at www.archive.org. Sound is rough, but the Watts records are all quite rare.

Additional songs from the NLCR songbook may be found on the same page at Juneberry, and there are 2 or 3 other sections of the site which contain oldtime music not duplicated on this page.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 01:24 AM

I collected a version titled "That Bloody War" sung by an 82-year-old East Tennessee mountain man, logger, and farmer named Abe Trivett. He was a bit worried about singing it back in 1961, for fear US authorities might come down on him for being unpatriotic. It's on our second vinyl album - FSA-2 (not yet offered on CD).
    Michael Cooney also recorded "That Crazy War" on his Folk-Legacy CD-35, "The Cheese Stands Alone." He borrowed one of Abe's verses to add to those he knew.
    Sandy

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 05:55 AM

The Wilmer Watts version (a very scarce record)mentioned just above has just been released on a marvelous 2cd set by Yazoo 2202. It really is a great version. The set contains 46 rare and absolutely wonderful tracks.
I would urge you not to bother downloading but buy the albums and support the specialist labels and collectors who continue to bring you such interesting material and do their best to bring it to you with the best sound quality possible. We owe a huge debt to labels such as Yazoo, Folk Legacy and County and Old Hat for example.

And no I do not have any commercial interests in any of those companies, just a love of good music.

Hoot

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'That Crazy War'
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 06 - 09:37 AM

Spectacular!!!
Thank you all.

Gary

Subject: Lyr Add: THAT CRAZY WAR (from Lulu Belle & Scotty)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Dec 13 - 09:36 PM

This may be a bit redundant, but it should at least have fewer typos than the version in the DT:


THAT CRAZY WAR
As sung by Lulu Belle & Scotty on "Vintage Disaster Songs" (2010)

1. Now over there across the sea they've got another war,
But, oh, I wonder if they know just what they're fightin' for
In that war, that crazy war.

2. In nineteen seventeen, you know, we helped 'em win their fight,
But all we got was a lesson in what Sherman said was right,
In that war, that crazy war.

3. I was a simple country lad; I'd lived down on the farm.
I'd never even killed a gnat nor done a body harm,
Until that war, that crazy war.

4. One day the sheriff caught me; said, "Come along, my son.
Your Uncle Sam is needin' you to help him tote a gun,
In that war, that crazy war."

5. They took me down to the courthouse; my head was in a whirl,
And when the doctors passed on me, I wished I'd been a girl,
In that war, that crazy war.

6. They took me out to the rifle range to hear the bullets sing.
I shot and shot that whole day long and never hit a thing,
In that war, that crazy war.

7. The captain said to fire at will, and I said, "Who is he?"
The old fool got so ravin' mad he fired his gun at me,
In that war, that crazy war.

8. When first we got to sunny France, I looked around with glee,
But rain and kilometers was all that I could see,
In that war, that crazy war.

9. A cannonball flew overhead; I started home right then.
The corporal he was after me but the general beat us in,
In that war, that crazy war.

10. And now we're back at home again from over there in France.
The enemy lost the battle and we lost all our pants
In that war, that crazy war.

[Michael Cooney sings the following additional verses on "The Cheese Stands Alone" (1968).]

They fed me on potatoes and beans three times a day.
I thought the hogs must all be dead and the hens had ceased to lay
In that war, that crazy war.

I run all over Europe just tryin' to save my life.
There will come another war; I'll send my darling wife
To that war, that crazy war.

Now wars may come and wars may go, but get this on your mind:
There will come another war and I'll be hard to find
In that war, that crazy war.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: That Crazy War
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 05:46 PM

An updated version of the Spanish-American War song, "That Battleship of Maine."

The tunes may owe a little to the 1898 hit, "A Hot Time in Old Town Tonight."

Subject: RE: Tune Req: That Crazy War
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 07:27 PM

Some stanzas of "That Crazy War," appropriately updated, were still occasionally being sung (or sung again) in the U.S. military during both Korea and Vietnam.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: That Crazy War
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 07:36 PM

And see 12-stringer's post from 2006 above.