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The Midnight Special And Other Southern Prison Songs
''The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs'' is an album by Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Quartet, recorded for Victor Records in 1940 and released a few months later. In 1939, Lead Belly was back in jail for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan. The ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who had started to make field recordings of folk music for the Library of Congress, helped raise money for Lead Belly's legal expenses. It was Lomax's original intent to record songs in prison, but instead a recording studio was used. To create a "prison" feel Lomax suggested that the Golden Gate Quartet back Lead Belly. However, the Golden Gate Quartet was a polished, professional group, and Lead Belly had to teach them how to sing as a group of prisoners would sing the selected songs. The album was issued with extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activist, oral historian, and film-maker. Lomax produced recordings, concerts, and radio shows in the US and in England, which played an important role in preserving folk music traditions in both countries, and helped start both the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. He collected material first with his father, folklorist and collector John Lomax, and later alone and with others, Lomax recorded thousands of songs and interviews for the Archive of American Folk Song, of which he was the director, at the Library of Congress on aluminum and acetate discs. After 1942, when Congress terminated the Library of Congress's funding for folk song collecting, Lomax continued to collect independentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1941 Albums
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here. * January 1 – Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months). * January 3 – A decree (''Normalschrifterlass'') promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua. * January 4 – The short subject ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card. * January 5 – WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian and British troops defeat I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alabama Bound
"I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman dedicated it to an M. T. Scarlata. The cover of its first edition, published by Robert Ebberman, New Orleans, 1909, advertises the music as "Also Known As The Alabama Blues" which has led some to suspect it of being one of the first blues songs. However, as written, it is an up-tempo rag (Rag Time Two Step) with no associated lyrics. The song has been recorded numerous times in different styles—both written and in sound recordings—with a number of different sets of lyrics. Two recording artists claimed composing credits for the tune under two different titles and both with differing lyrics: Trixie Smith for "Railroad Blues" (Paramount 12262, 1925) and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton for "Don't You Leave Me Here" (Bluebird 10450, 1939). In addition, Lead Belly also recorded another well-known version of "I'm Alabama Bound", in 1940. History The earliest lyrics expressing the sentimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pick A Bale Of Cotton
"Pick a Bale of Cotton" is a traditional American folk song and work song first recorded by Texas inmates James "Iron Head" Baker (1933) and Mose "Clear Rock" Platt (1939) and later popularized by Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter). Lyrics and criticism The song, particularly its original lyrics, has been criticized as racist and reminiscent and glorifying of the slavery period in American history. The original lyrics contained the racial slur ''nigger'' multiple times. One of the verses, according to John Lomax's ''American Ballads and Folk Songs'', includes: Dat nigger from Shiloh Kin pick a bale o' cotton Dat nigger from Shiloh Kin pick a bale a day Amended better-known lyrics are: Gonna jump down, turn around Pick a bale of cotton Gonna jump down, turn around Pick a bale a day Oh lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh lordy, pick a bale a day The song is sung with increasing speed as it progresses, with ensuing verses having references to "me and my wife" replaced with the likes of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skewball
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song. History The horse was foaled in 1741 and originally owned by Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, and later sold. His name has been recorded as "Squball", "Sku-ball", or "Stewball". He won many races in England and was sent to Ireland. The Irish turf calendar states that he won six races worth £508 in 1752, when he was eleven years old, and was the top-earning runner of that year in Ireland. His most famous race took place on the plains of Kildare, Ireland, which is generally the subject of the song of the same name. The early ballad about the event has Skewball belonging to an Arthur Marvell or Mervin. Based on the horse's name, Skewball was likely a skewbald horse though he was listed in stud books as a bay. Songs There are two major different versions of the sporting ballad, generally titled either "Skewball" or "Stewball"; the latter is more p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Goose (folk Song)
"Grey Goose" is a traditional United States, American folk music, folk song. Its subject is a preacher who hunts and captures a grey goose for dinner on a Sunday. He tries to kill the goose prior to eating it, but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot kill it, the implication being that he had not properly observed the Sabbath in Christianity, Sabbath (however, there are other folk songs which may or may not have existed before this song that feature a Grey Goose, but not a preacher, that have a similar theme of the grey goose being indestructible). The various methods the preacher used to unsuccessfully kill the grey goose were, in order according to the song: * Shooting it * Boiling it * Feeding it to a hog * Cutting it with a mill-saw It was recorded by Lead Belly in the 1930s. An instrumental version of this song was covered by members of the American band Nirvana (band), Nirvana and the Screaming Trees under the band name Kurt Cobain#Other collaborations, the Jury in Seatt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midnight Special (song)
"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South. The song refers to the passenger train ''Midnight Special'' and its "ever-loving light" (sometimes "ever-living light"). The song is historically performed in the country-blues style from the viewpoint of the prisoner and has been performed by many artists. History Lyrics appearing in the song were first recorded in print by Howard Odum in 1905: However, these lyrics are known to be floater lines, appearing in various African-American songs of that period, notably in the "Grade-Songs", which are about prison captains and have nothing to do with a train or a light. The first printed reference to the song itself was in a 1923 issue of ''Adventure'' magazine, a three-times-a-month pulp magazine published by the Ridgway Company. In 1927 Carl Sandburg published two different versions of "Midnight Special" in his ''The American Songbag'', the first published versions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940 Lead Belly Victor Record
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gramophone Record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. Starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common, hence the name vinyl. The phonograph record was the primary medium used for music reproduction throughout the 20th century. It had co-existed with the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880s and had effectively superseded it by around 1912. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as the compact cassette were mass-marketed. By the 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the record left the mainstream in 1991. Since the 1990s, records con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages." Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnomusicologist
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts of musical behavior, in addition to the sound component. Within musical ethnography it is the first-hand personal study of musicking as known as the act of taking part in a musical performance. Folklore studies, Folklorists, who began preserving and studying folklore music in Europe and the US in the 19th century, are considered the precursors of the field prior to the World War II, Second World War. The term ''ethnomusicology'' is said to have been coined by Jaap Kunst from the Greek language, Greek words ἔθνος (''ethnos'', "nation") and μουσική (''mousike'', "music"), It is often defined as the anthropology or ethnography of music, or as musical anthropology.Seeger, Anthony. 1983. ''Why Suyá Sing''. Lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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