''American Folk Songs for Children'' is a studio album released by
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
in 1953 by
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.
History
The Folkways Records & Service ...
. It was Seeger's first solo album.
Track listing
#"Bought Me a Cat"
#"
The Blue Tailed Fly (Jimmie Crack Corn)"
#"Train is A-Coming"
#"
This Old Man
"This Old Man" is an English language children's song, counting exercise and nursery rhyme with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3550.
Origins and history
The origins of this song are obscure. The earliest extant record is a version noted ...
"
#"
Froggie Went A-Courting"
#"Jim Along Josie"
#"There Was a Man and He Was Mad"
#"Clap Your Hands"
#"
She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain"
#"All Around the Kitchen"
#"Billy Barlow"
Background
Seeger selected the eleven songs for the album from an anthology of folk songs for children that had been published by his stepmother,
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Ruth Crawford Seeger (born Ruth Porter Crawford; July 3, 1901 – November 18, 1953) was an American composer and folk music specialist. Her music was a prominent exponent of the emerging modernist aesthetic and she became a central member of a g ...
, in her 1948 book titled ''American Folk Songs For Children'', , a book of
musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...
s and notated guides. The
album's liner notes included a subject index for parents and teachers, complete lyric sheet, and recommended activities for each song. The album was re-released in 2000 by
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...
with an expanded track list.
Critical reception
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
wrote that "Seeger renders them plainly and simply, singing and playing banjo, on a program designed especially (but not solely) for children between three and seven years of age."
[ ''About Entertainment'' rated the album five stars and said, "This is a great album for family sing-alongs, for classroom use, and for children's entertainers who need a solid performance catalog."][
]
See also
*Old American Songs
''Old American Songs'' are two sets of songs arranged by Aaron Copland in 1950 and 1952 respectively, after research in the Sheet Music Collection of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, in the John Hay Library at Brown Universit ...
*Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
References
External links
The Power of Pete Seeger's Songs and Stories
School lesson plan
Pete Seeger for children
Collection of 26 songs at YouTube.
{{Authority control
1953 debut albums
Children's music albums by American artists
Pete Seeger albums
Folkways Records albums