Au Claire de Lune

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.

Clementine

Coal mine excavation where you could get a splinter

Clementine is one of those songs with a mixed history, mixed in the sense it is cited by different sources with unique information about its origin.  The folk ballad is usually credited as having been written by Percy Montrose in 1884.  Others believe it was written by a man named Barker Bradford.  Still others, many years ago, believed the song came from Mexican workers during the time of the gold rush.

At the outset the song appears to be a sad one, a ballad where someone is grieving the loss of a lover or grown daughter.  Yet the song turns to speak of size 9 shoes and herring boxes without top-ses that are parodies that take away from the possible romantic ballad one presumes at the outset.

And it is performed here with that tongue-in-cheek, upbeat style:

Hava

Forest in Poland

Vivian Richman was one of the more well-known folk singers in Pennsylvania.  She sang in the coffee houses of Pittsburgh, entertained crowds at the huge arena in the city and brought folk music to thousands of people, including children.  Two of her best friends had been Pete Seegar and Woody Guthrie, and I was lucky enough to call her friend and have her teach me this rare song.

The Story of Hava, as we will call the song that, given the fact it is unknown and had no name.  It is that old story of girl meets boy, in a fantasy love story, rather an allegory of the young man entering an innocent girl's life and then leaving as quietly as he came.

The song captures the innocence of the young woman, whose love affair comes along, becomes a part of youthful experience then appears to fade, as the woman goes on with her life.

Perhaps the song is a lesson.  Perhaps it is a recitation of someone's real experience.  But this old song, that Vivian Richman translated from Yiddish into English, this song that originated in Poland, has a charm that stays with us.  I recorded the song on YouTube, and it is the only rendition of the song I have heard, since Richman was given the song to translate and perform.  She died about 25 years ago, but her folk music, much of it at the Smithsonian, remains part of the treasured memories of all who heard her and this song.

Queen Jane

Queen Jane is a character of myth and history, as is a song written about her.  A folk song  relates the details of the death of Queen Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII, whom the King married after the beheading of Ann Boleyn for adultery. Queen Jane was a popular Queen who died after giving birth to the King's only male heir. It is a traditional English ballad, recorded by such luminaries as Joan Baez on one of her earliest albums.  But the song has been recorded by many others, including Tracy Chapman and Bob Dylan.

Even the Rolling Stones performed the song.  And why did the record it?  A website gives us these details:

"Brian Jones, who was The Stones guitarist until his death in 1969, played the dulcimer, an instrument you play on your lap by plucking or strumming the strings. Jones could learn just about any instrument very quickly. He had just recently learned how to play it when they recorded this.Keith Richards: "Brian was getting into dulcimer then because he dug Richard Farina. We were also listening to a lot of Appalachian music then too. To me, Lady Jane is very Elizabethan. There are a few places in England where people still speak that way, Chaucer English."Mick Jagger: "Lady Jane is a complete sort of very weird song. I don't really know what that's all about myself. All the names are historical but it was really unconscious that they should fit together from the same period." 

Bob Dylan's song about Queen Jane is called, "Queen Jane Approximately" in which the singer admonishes her and tells her she will meet a sad end.  Others, like Joan Baez, remain true to the folk version of the song, relating the story of the Queen's demise and how women died in labor in those early days and how that included members of the royal family.

The song is done here in its traditional form: