One of those old-time but good-time traditional songs is Wabash Cannonball. Who hasn't stood up and clapped and tapped their feet? And for those who haven't heard the song, the time is now.
This is one of those songs people can play easily with three chords. It is done here with a uke banjo and accordion.
The song is about a fictional train of the 19th century. It first was seen on sheet music in 1882 and called "The Great Rock Island Route," authored by J.A. Roff. There are several different versions of the song with variations of the chorus.
Leave it to the ingenuity of the French to combine a child's simple song and romantic love. Au Claire de la Lune is really a song that is taught to young children or they listen and learn about music from this charming melody, often presented with an instrument or music box.
The delightful tune is written in French, and there are a few translations in English that don't quite fit the melody. So it is translated here with a somewhat different flair. Just as others in the world have done, when languages, customs and time have separated original meanings and changed songs somewhat, this one is changed as well in this American rendition of the song with ukulele strum, vocal and accordion.
Among the many spirituals, the African American traditional called "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" crosses over into other genres with a number of singers across many years to become a classic for everyone.
The song expresses the sadness and loneliness sometimes people feel during times of hardship. But it is also in a way a song of celebration of the fact of humankind's link to common feelings and the search for finding the source of respite and help. In this case, the answer is God. Two of the more famous versions are done by Odetta and also Mahalia Jackson.
It is performed here with a solitary voice and guitar.
War has been protested in some way ever since men fought each other on the battlefields. Women pleaded for peace, as men took up swords in those early days of man's history. And in modern times protestrrs have demonstrated their objections in many ways, often times in song.
The song "Willie Dale" is rots music that relates the death of a young man, the mourning that occurs when someone dies too soon. And the depiction of the loved one in remembrance is always poignantly best expressed in song, as performed here.
One of the most amazing songs is one called "Amazing Grace." It is performed at funerals and at times when people face considerable emotional or physical stress. It is almost a song for protection, a plea people send through song when they feel lost.
But the song is a hopeful one as well, for it relates the grace from God that is said to be infinite, both within the song and the contexts in which it has been performed.
The song was written by a minister, in some ways as a redemption from a young adulthood where the plight of the slaves was awful, and the captain, a minister, maintained the job of taking unwilling and tortured people to a life of enslavement.
It was a song of the abolitionists and a song for us all, in good or bad times, as a reminder that wherever we may be, we can be surrounded by grace that is amazing.
Recently the nation celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington, a time that heralded a change in America, as it brought women and African Americans, as well as other minority groups, into the mainstream. That happened through action, demonstration, laws and even music, as the latter blew the trumpets that opened the gates to freedom.
The Freedom Trilogy consists of traditional music but done in a form that signals to the listener that the words and melodies mean far more than something superficial. It is a reminder that freedom comes with a price and also with dimensions of suffering and resolutions of belief.
That Freedom Trilogy is done here to recall those times but as a reminder that freedom is something that must be respected as well, for many times it came at great price.
While the world waits and wonders over Syria, and whether or not there might be a war that could escalate, there are songs that offer the protest that often comes during these times.
Anthem of the Rainbow was sung by Odetta, with her rich voice and stirring delivery able to arouse listeners to the opposition of the Vietnam War. Music had much to do with stimulating debate and provoking feelings, most especially of sorrow and anger about the futility of war.
The author of the song is unknown. Odetta was a major spokesperson during the civil rights era and also during the times when musicians became part of the protest of the Vietnam war. The song is performed here, in its simplest and most traditional form.
One of the most poignant and memorable of the Hank Williams contributions to music is "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The song has that eternal classic sound one finds in country music.
Hand Williams wrote "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" in 1949. His songs tugged at the heart strings, and this particular one is an example of it. He had a troubled relationship with his wife, and this song came as a reflection of that relationship, the lonesomeness he felt growing through the conflicts he had with a loved one.
Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan all performed this song, that remains a standout favorite not just of country music fans but of fans of different genres, as it retains the flavor of yesteryear but always seems new in its evocation of simple feelings that which we can all identify.
The song is here, performed by Carol and Del Forsloff, the Oregon Meadowlarks
The songs we learn in childhood we often cherish as we do the events that remind us of good times and special occasions, or the people we associate with pleasant experiences. We move on as adults and may forget them for awhile, but often they will appear when we pass a group of children, turn on a program where a familiar tune is played. So it is with Grandfather's Clock.
The song is an old, traditional song, performed by many people, including Johnny Cash, and one I learned on a Victrola at the home of an elderly couple in La Grande, Oregon. The couple both had white hair, so for me they represented the oldest people I knew. They were known as loving and kind and would often give me cocoa and a piece of cake or cookies when I came to visit. They were the parents of a step-grandfather, but the distant relationship was made a close one by the way they treated me. One of those special moments came when they turned on the old, wind-up Victrola so I could listen to the collection of music they had, one of which was Grandfather's clock.
For me the song is identified with a walk to the home of that elderly couple, especially in the warm days of summer in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. It is associated with those cookies and a simple life.
Let me share those moments with you by way of this special song, that some of you may know, and some may not. But if it offers good memories or good moments than it has served its purpose now for both you and me, as this song is presented in its traditional, yet modernized way.
The working man's lot has been written about and songs have been written about it for many years, particularly during the initial times when the struggle for equality was at is height.
But these days the struggle remains in a different way. As local and national budgets become restricted, often worker pensions, raises and other benefits are the first to go, even before reduction in force.
Nowhere are the rights of the workers better expressed than in the song about the controversial Joe Hill. History records him as the authorities found him a petty thief and one involved in desperate crimes, however his efforts for the working man are also shown to demonstrate how people used, and abuse, the protests against unfair labor practices. The song, "Which Side Are You On" by Pete Seeger, shows how controversial the issue has been.
Paul Robeson was one of the first singers to express the sentiments of Joe Hill. Joan Baez, an advocate for equal rights and a major folk singer in America, also has performed and recorded Joe Hill, using her beautiful soprano voice as a major emotional emphasis to the issues raised about the working man.
The song Joe Hill is a traditional folk song, while "Which Side Are You On" represents the variety of songs by Pete Seeger. They are both done here together in honor of the working man and Labor Day as well, a day that remembers the contributions of ordinary folk to the rise of the middle class throughout most of the developed world.
