vrijdag 22 april 2022

Jack Monroe (1800's) / Jackaro (1916) / Jack Went A-Sailing (1932) / Lily Monroe (1937) / Sing Lay the Lily Low (1940) / Join the CIO (I Am a Union Woman) (1931) / Which Side Are You On? (1931)

2 songs, written by 2 Kentucky miner's wives, during the Harlan County War, became labor movement classics: "Which Side Are You On?" and "I Am a Union Woman".


In 1931, in Kentucky coal-mining country, at the height of the bloody strikes and union organizing drives of the period, a miner's wife, Mrs. Florence Reece, wrote what became one of the great labor song classics "Which Side Are You On?". For her stirring and powerful song, Mrs. Reece borrowed the tune of an old broadside, "Lay the Lily Low". At the same time, in the same place, Aunt Molly Jackson wrote the song "I Am a Union Woman" to the identical tune. Whether she was inspired by Florence Reece or vice versa - or whether it should just be chalked up as a folk coincidence, we'll never know. 


Which Side Are You On? - Coal and Blood, Part 2 - Sing Out!

Fact is, in 1937 Aunt Molly was more than familar with Florence Reece's "Which Side Are You On?", because that year she went from Kentucky to New York City, where Alan Lomax recorded her singing a version of her song "I Am a Union Woman" (or "Join the C.I.O.") and at the same date and location Lomax also recorded her cousin Jim Garland  singing a version of Reece's "Which Side Are You On?". (SEE FURTHER ON IN THIS POST)

Florence Reece was the wife of Sam Reece, a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. In 1931, the miners and the mine owners in southeastern Kentucky were locked in a bitter and violent struggle called the Harlan County War. In an attempt to intimidate the family of union leader Sam Reece, Sheriff J. H. Blair and his men, hired by the mining company, illegally entered their home in search of Reece. Reece had been warned in advance and escaped but his wife, Florence, and their children were terrorized. That night, after the men had gone, Florence wrote the lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" on a calendar that hung in their kitchen. She took the melody from an old broadside, "Lay the Lily Low" (or "Lily Munroe") which tells of a young lady who dresses in man's clothing so that she may join her true love in battle. "Lay the Lily Low" (or "Lily Munroe") is a variation of the broadside ''Jack Munroe" or ''Jackaro''.

The song was immediately picked up by the striking miners after it had been sung at the union hall by Mrs. Reece's two little daughters. From Harlan County, it spread throughout the entire labor movement.

In 1937 the Reece family visited Tillman Cadle in Middlesboro, KY and one evening after supper the 2 Reece daughters sang Cadle a version of "Which Side Are You On?"


In the same year, Alan Lomax recorded Tillman Cadle, singing "Which Side Are You On?" on location in Middlesboro, Bell County, KY

(o) Tillman Cadle (1937) (as "Which Side are You On?")
Recorded September 1937 in Middlesboro, Bell County, KY







“Which Side Are You On?” began its travels out of Kentucky, when Jim Garland and his cousin Aunt Molly Jackson took the song to New York City, where they held concerts to raise funds for the striking miners and their starving families.
On November 13, 1937 Jim Garland recorded "Which Side Are You On?" in New York City, under the supervision of Alan Lomax.

(c) Jim Garland (1937) (as "Which Side Are You On?")
Recorded November 13, 1937 in New York City.
Produced by Alan Lomax
 






Pete Seeger, collecting labor union songs, learned "Which Side Are You On?" in 1940 from Tillman Cadle. The following year, it was recorded by the Almanac Singers in a version that gained a wide audience.

(c) The Almanac Singers (1941) (as "Which Side are You On?")
Recorded May 1941 in New York
Released on Keynote 302



Listen here:



In 1963 Seeger also recorded "Which Side Are You On?" with The Weavers.

(c) The Weavers (1963) (as "Which Side Are You On?") 

Listen here:



And in 1967 he recorded a solo-version.

(c) Pete Seeger (1963) (as "Which Side Are You On?")

Listen here:



More versions of "Which Side Are You On?" on the link below:




Around 1931 Aunt Molly Jackson is well-known for writing a song during Bloody Harlan to the same tune as Florence Reece's “Which Side Are You On?”.
Her song "I Am a Union Woman" (or "Join the C.I.O.") is not about workers choosing sides, but the picture it paints is every bit as stark as Reece’s.

Aunt Molly:  "I was organizing the miners around Bell and Harlan Counties in 19 and 31, I sang this song. I used it in my organizational work; I always sung this before giving my speech. In those days it was "Join the NMU." But later on, John L. Lewis started a real democratic organization, so I changed it to "Join the C.I.O."






Aunt Molly Jackson recorded "Join the C.I.O." in 1937, on the exact same day and on the same location in New York City, where her cousin Jim Garland recorded "Which Side Are You On?".
Also under the supervision of Alan Lomax.

(c) Aunt Molly Jackson (1937) (as "Join the C.I.O.")
Recorded November 13, 1937 in New York City.
Produced by Alan Lomax
 




In a few interviews, Florence Reece, didn't exactly remember where she got the tune for "Which Side Are You On?"

In a 1971 interview with Ron Stanford, published in "Sing Out!" magazine vol 20 # 6, Reece related, "I've heard different people's ideas on where I got the tune for "Which Side Are You On?", but I think I got it from a hymn called "I'm Going To Land On That Shore". The first verse starts out, "I'm going to land on that shore / And be saved forever more", but I don't remember more, and I've looked everywhere". 

The same year a flexi-disc accompanying the Sing Out magazine vol 20 # 6 was released.
 



In Kathy Kahn's "Hillbilly Women", published in 1973, Reece said, "The music to the song is an old hymn. I can't remember what was the hymn, but I've got to look in the songbooks and find out what that was a tune to". 
In a 1978 interview, Reece also talks about her inspiration to write the song:


But already in 1953 John Greenway in his songbook "American Folksongs of Protest", pointed to the correct source of the tune: "Lay the Lily Low".


And in the liner notes to They'll Never Keep Us Down: Women's Coal Mining Songs (Rounder Records 4012, 1984), "Lay the Lily Low" is also given as the source for the tune.  .


In 1940 Pearl Jacobs Borusky recorded "Sing Lay, Sing Lay, sing Lay The Lily Low" (or "My Jack Has Gone a'Sailing" (with a tune very similar to "Which Side Are You On").

(c) Pearl Jacobs Borusky (1940) (as "Sing Lay, Sing Lay, sing Lay The Lily Low")
Recorded August 1940 in Antigo, Wisconsin.
 


‎My Jack has gone a'sailing - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries

Listen here:




A few years earlier, Uncle Alec Dunford recorded "Lily Munroe", with that same tune Florence Reece had used to write "Which Side Are You On?".
This version was produced by John and Elizabeth Lomax, the parents of Alan Lomax

(c) Uncle Alec Dunford (1937) (as "Lily Munroe")
Recorded by John and Elizabeth Lomax
Recorded October 22, 1937 in Galax, Virginia
AFS 1340 B2
 





"Lay the Lily Low" or Lily Monroe" is in fact an American variation of the British broadside ballad "Jack Munro" or "Jackie Frazier". 




The Lomax connection with this traditional is emphasized again by the fact it is included in 1910 in  John Lomax's songbook Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads
 




There are 5 versions of "Jack Munro" in the Bodleian Library all dated early 18th century

This one from the Bodleian library is dated between 1812 and 1825




"Jack Monroe" (Roud 268 and Laws N7), also known as "Jack Munro", "Jack-A-Roe", "Jackaro", "Jacky Robinson", "Jackie Frazier" and "Jack the Sailor", is a traditional ballad which describes the journey of a woman who disguises herself as the eponymous character to board a sailing ship and save her lover, a soldier.



Here are a few early field recordings of  "Jack Monroe"/"Jack the Sailor"/"Jack Went A-Sailing"

(c) Mrs. Victoria Morris (1932) (as "Jack Went A-Sailing")
Sung by Mrs. Victoria Morris of Mount Fair, Albemarle County, Virginia. 
Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on November 1932.


Listen here (it's the second song)


In 1950 Maud Karpeles also recorded Victoria Morris singing this song




(c) Elmer George (1934) (as "Jack Monroe")
Recorded 1934 in North Montpelier, Vermont USA



Listen here at 5 min and 42 sec on the next link:




(c) Nora Begley (1937) (as "Jackie Frazier")
Recorded on September, 7, 1937 by Alan and Bess Lomax in Harlan County, KE




Listen here:




(c) John McCready (1939) (as "Sailor Jack" or "Sing low, lowly low and sing low, low, low")
Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Groveland, California on July 31, 1939.


Listen here:




(c) Asa Davis (1945) (as "Jack the Sailor")
Recorded October 24, 1945 in Milton, Vermont USA


Listen here at 33 min and 36 sec on the next link:




(c) Willie Mathieson (1952) (as "Jack the Sailor")
Recorded January 1952 by Hamish Henderson.
Text and music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 12 verses with refrain. Willie Mathieson learned the song from Jimmy Jaffray, the third horseman at Drakemyre when Willie was in his teens.





(c) Frank Steele (1952) (as "The Wealthy Merchant" (or "Jackie Fraser") 
Recorded July 8, 1952 by Seamus Ennis in Whitehills, Aberdeenshire





(c) Thomas Moran (1954) (as "Jack Mulroe" or "The Chester Merchant") 
Recorded December 1954 by Seamus Ennis, Mohill, Co Leitrim


Listen here (after 15 min and 15 sec in the soundfile in the link below)




The famous version of the song comes from the Ritchie family of Kentucky. Jean Ritchie released "Jackero" on her 1953 album "Songs from Kentucky" and performed it on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest in 1966. 
Her sister Edna Ritchie sang the song on her eponymous 1962 album. 
Cecil Sharp had previously collected this version of the song from Jean and Edna's older sister May Ritchie (1896-1982) on August 30, 1917 in Pine Mountain, KY
 


In 1917 Cecil Sharp also collected 4 versions as "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" and "Jack Went A-Sailing"


But already in 1916 the song had been collected by Howard Brockway and Loraine Wyman.in Knott County, KY
 



Jean Ritchie (1922-2015), was a Kentucky singer and song writer. She recieved a Fulbright scholarship in 1952 and 1953, to study the links between her family's music traditions and those from England, Ireland, and Scotland. In England she also recorded a version of "Jackaro", which had been collected back in 1917 by Cecil Sharp from Jean's older sister May Ritchie in Pine Mountain, KY.

(c) Jean Ritchie (1953) (as "Jackaro")
Recorded in England in 1952


In 1966 Jean sang a version in Pete Seeger's TV show "Rainbow Quest"

Listen here (at 4 min and 30 sec in the YT below)




(c) Tom Paley (1953) (as "Jackaro")


Listen here:





(c) Sarah Hawkes (1959) (as "Ho Lily Ho")
Recorded October 10, 1959 in Nottingham, PA by Eric H. Davidson




Listen here:




And here's the version by May and Jean Ritchie's sister Edna.

(c) Edna Ritchie (1962) (as "Jackaro")


Listen here:




(c) Joan Baez (1963) (as "Jackaroe")


Listen here:




(c) Pete Seeger (1966) (as "Jackaro")


Listen here:




"Jackaro" was subsequently covered by 

Grateful Dead in 1981


And by Bob Dylan in 1993




And here are a few versions of "I Am a Union Woman"

(c) Peggy Seeger (1968) (as "I Am a Union Woman")



(c) Bobbie McGee (1981) (as "I Am a Union Woman")


Listen here:




(c( Rosalie Sorrels (1982) (as "I Am a Union Woman")  


Listen here:




In 1985 Dick Gaughan adapted the lyrics of "Which Side Are You On?" as a campaigning song for the UK miners' strike (1984–85).


Listen here:




In the same year Billy Bragg also adapted the lyrics of "Which Side Are You On?"
On the back cover of his EP it says: "This record is dedicated to the work of the Miners' Wives Support Group".


Listen here:




In 1986 Pete Seeger, Si Kahn and Jane Sapp recorded a version which combined "I Am a Union Woman" and "Which Side Are You On?".

(c) Pete Seeger, Si Kahn and Jane Sapp (1986) (as "I Am a Union Woman"/"Which Side Are You On?")


Listen here:





(c) Deborah Holland (1997) (as "I Am a Union Woman")


Listen here:





In 2013 Elvis Costello also adapted the lyrics of "Which Side Are You On?", although Reece is the sole credited writer.


Listen here:




More info and versions on the links below:





Florence Reece supported a second wave of miner strikes circa 1973, as recounted in the documentary Harlan County, USA. 
Reece herself, now in her 70s, took the song to the Brookside (KY) strike of 1973, where she was filmed for the first time singing it in Kopples’ award-winning film.
In the documentary she also recalls the miner strikes in Harlan County in 1931, when the mining company intimidated union leader Sam Reece, the husband of Florence.

Whereas in 1931/32, before New Deal legislation secured the right to organize, the miners lost their fight and the union was driven from the coalfields, the Brookside strike ended in a UMWA victory in which local women played a leading role.

Florence speaks and sings after 49 minutes and 49 seconds on the link below:



Reece recorded the song later in life, and it can be heard on the next album:
The recording was made by Mr. and Mrs. Carawan in 1980 at Mrs. Reece's home in Fountain City, Tenn.


In 1978 in an interview Florence Reece talks about where she got the inspiration to write 'Which Side Are You On".


And here she's singing her own song:




Here's an interview with Tillman Cadle discussing organizing at Yancy, getting kicked out of the mine, meeting Jim Garland and Sarah Ogan Gunning, starvation in Bell county vs. Harlan county, Aunt Molly Jackson, meeting his wife, Sarah's first song, how John L. Lewis became UMWA president.



And here's a thesis by John Cullen Moran about the events that took place during the Harlan County War of 1931 --->     Moran2021.pdf



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donderdag 14 april 2022

Creole Belles (1900) / Back Up and Push (1929) / Rubber Doll Rag (1929) / Rubber Dolly (1931) / Clapping Song (1965)



"The Clapping Song" is an American song, written by Lincoln Chase and recorded by Shirley Ellis in 1965.  The single sold over a million copies, and peaked at number eight in the United States and number six in the UK.



"The Clapping Song" is in fact build around 3 different musical elements.

1. "3,6,9 the Goose Drank Wine", which is an old children's jump-rope/skipping song

Three six nine, the goose drank wine.
The monkey chew tobacco on the street car line.
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat.




2. "The Hambone", which is a children's game, combining dancing while slapping various parts of the body.

Clap pat, clap pat, clap pat clap slap!
Clap pat clap your hand, pat it on your partner's hand
Right hand.
Clap pat clap pat clap your hand. Cross it with your left arm.
Pat you partner's left palm.
Clap pat, clap your hand, pat your partner's right palm
With your right palm again.
Clap slap, clap your hand, slap your thighs and sing a little song.


But "Hambone" is in fact connected to the barber expression "Shave And A Haircut, Two Bits", which has a history of its own.




3. The children's song "Rubber Dolly".

My mother told me, if I was goody.
That she would buy me a rubber dolly.
My aunty told her I kissed a soldier,
Now she won't buy me a rubber dolly

The age of this traditional song has not been determined, and it has traveled through tradition as both a song and an instrumental tune. In 1900 Jens Bodewalt Lampe composed a song "Creole Belles", which has a strain closely resembling the "Rubber Dolly" tune. At the bottom of this post I give some examples, which clarify the similarity
As an instrumental tune it is considered to be a Southern fiddle breakdown that is also known by the title "Back Up and Push", versions of which were recorded twice in 1929, days apart; first, on April 2, in Richmond, Indiana, by the Augusta Trio, and then in Atlanta by the Georgia Organ Grinders.


(c) The Georgia Organ Grinders (1929) (as "Back Up and Push")
Recorded April 9, 1929 in Atlanta, GA
Released on Columbia 15394-D





Or here:




A few days later (also in Atlanta, GA) Joe Falcon recorded a cajun-version of the Rubber Dolly tune.

(c) Joe Falcon (1929) (as "Osson")
with Cleoma and Ophy Breaux
Recorded April 18, 1929 in Atlanta, GA
Released on Columbia 40506




In fact the tune was used the year before for a cajun-version by Adam Trahan
And later on more cajun-versions would use the tune.






In 1930 Uncle Bud Landress with Georgia Yellow Hammers were the first group to play and sing a vocal version of the "Rubber Dolly". 

(c) Uncle Bud Landress (1930) (as "Rubber Doll Rag") 
Recorded in November 21, 1929 in Atlanta, GA
Released in September 1930 on Victor V 40252





Listen here:




(c) Bob Skyles and his Skyrockets (1938) (as "Rubber Dolly")
Recorded April 4, 1938 in San Antonio, TX
Released on Bluebird B-7650






(c) The Texas Wanderers (1939) (as "Rubber Dolly")
Recorded August 28, 1939 in Houston, TX
Released on Decca 5740
 


Or here:




(c) Ella Fitzgerald (1939)  (as "My Wubba Dolly")
Recorded October 12, 1939 in Chicago
Released on Decca 2816
 





(c) The Four King Sisters (1939) (as "My Wubba Dolly")
Recorded ca November 1939
Released on Bluebird B-10512







(c) Helen O'Connell and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (1940) (as "My Wubba Dolly")
Recorded December 1939 in Long Island New York


Listen here:




(c) Woody Guthrie (1944)  (as "Rubber Dolly")
Woody Guthrie: lead vocal/mandolin;
CiscoHouston: harmony vocal/guitar;
Sonny Terry: harmonica
Unreleased alternate version; recording date unknown (probably April 20, 1944)
Mastered from Smithsonian Acetate 075, 10" aluminum-based disc)

Listen here:




(c) Harry Choates and his Fiddle (1948) (as "Rubber Dolly")
Recorded February 19, 1947 at the Quinn Recording Studios in Houston Texas
Released on Goldstar 1331







(c) Ned Landry (1950) (as "Rubber Dolly")


Listen here: 




(c) Tommy Jackson (1954) (as "Rubber Dolly")
Recorded September 1954 in Nashville, TN
Released on Dot 45-1234





(c) Bill Parsons (1958) (as "Rubber Dolly")


Listen here:




(c) Rufus Thibodeaux ‎(1975) (as "Rubber Dolly")
Recorded 1974 in Lafayette, LA


Listen here:




As I said above Shirley Ellis' "The Clapping Song" is an amalgation of 3 children's songs:
"3,6,9 the Goose Drank Wine" / "The Hambone" and "Rubber Dolly"

(c) Shirley Ellis (1965) (as "The Clapping Song")
Released March 1965 on Congress CG-234



Listen here:




Here are a few cover-versions:  Cover versions of The Clapping Song

(c) The Belle Stars (1982) (as "The Clapping Song")
Nr 11 hit UK/ Nr 4 hit Australia
Released on Stiff BUY 155



Listen here:




British singer Carmel made a new arrangement of "The Clapping Song", which became the title-song of her album from 1984.

(c) Carmel (1984) (as "The Drum Is Everything")


Listen here:




Tom Waits's song "Clap Hands" from his album Rain Dogs quotes the line "they all went to heaven in a little row boat".

(c) Tom Waits (1985) (as "Clap Hands")


Listen here:



In the version of the song on the live album Big Time, Waits prefaces "Clap Hands" with the entire first verse of "The Clapping Song".

(c) Tom Waits (1988) (as "Clap Hands") 


Listen here:




(c) Roger Taylor (2021) (as "The Clapping Song")




Listen here:





But some sources also indicate "Rubber Dolly" or "Back Up and Push" was the product of composer Jens Bodewalt Lampe (1869–1929), a Danish-born violinist, composer, arranger, performer and band-leader of ragtime and syncopated dance music.
The second strain of his most famous composition, "Creole Belles", published in 1900, is very similar to "Rubber Dolly" and "Back Up and Push".





It is a rag or cakewalk (the sheet music says it is a "Ragtime march" or "March-two-step") that became the second major hit of ragtime that sold more than a million copies in sheet music, and was recorded by John Philip Sousa's band in 1902 and again four subsequent times in the decade 1902-1912). "Creole Belles" became a staple of brass and jazz bands and ragtime pianists, in part because the piece was versatile and could be employed as a march, two-step, and ragtime cakewalk.
"Creole Belles", in particular the lyrical second strain, was quickly absorbed into the repertoire of amateur musicians, including rural fiddlers and guitarists in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Listen here (the second strain is at 44 seconds in the YT below)



Here's the probably oldest recorded (instrumental) version of "Creole Belles" by the Metropolitan Orchestra from 1901.

(o) The Metropolitan Orchestra (1902) (as "Creole Belles")
Recorded November 22, 1901 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Released on Victor Monarch 1023


Also released on Improved Berliner Gram-O-Phone 552
 


Listen here: (the "Rubber Dolly" strain begins at 28 sec in the YT below)




About the same time George Sidney wrote the words to this tune, which was published by the Whitney-Warner Publishing Co in Detroit.
 
 

Here's the sheetmusic: Creole Belle



Here's a vocal version by Mr Arthur Collins from around 1902.
Collins sings about a single "Creole Belle" rather than several "Creole Belles"

(c) Mr Arthur Collins (1902) (as "Creole Belle")
Recorded before May 1902 in New York
Released on Zon-O-Phone 855
 


Listen here:  Library at i78s



BTW: That second strain from "Creole Belles" is also present in "Midnight Special".






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