Schmidt Folk

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December 5th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Schmidt Folk
What are the meaning of these folk songs?

I need very briefly some of the songs by the following as well as the songs meaning:
Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Alan Lomax,Huddie Ledbetter, Judy Collins, Jim Rooney, Tom Paxton, Eric von Schmidt, Carolyn Hester, Jim Rooney and Eric von Schmidt.
ANY of these would greatly help me in my paper…

Woody Guthrie wrote of the Depression and Dust bowl — one of his songs about “Pretty Boy Floyd” –Collins — a bank robber And Mama don’t want no Bush-Wahs Round here. Pete Seeger was a member of the Weavers . . . Koom-bi-ah was one of their hits.

I just found this. It might be some help.

Sydney, Australia, Sept. 4, 1963
The experience none of us will ever forget was a performance put on for us by the students at the agricultural college. About 30 of them, Samoans, and some from neighboring islands, put on an hour and a half of the most spectacular dancing and singing … I’lll never forget the “welcome song” -as a matter of fact, I wish I could learn it some day to teach campers at home.
One leader stands up in front of the group, seated in a tight semi¬circle on the floor about him. He suddenly crouches and rubs his hands, flat-palmed, vigorously before him. They all do likewise. Then comes a thunderous unison handclap and the song begins. In rich sonority, three or four parts, with hand-clapping in certain parts, and soft drumming by one man. The leader would put most of our choral directors to shame. He was a dancer, lithe, graceful. His dance was part of the “welcome song.”
After their performance they sat back expectantly, and I realized that I was expected to contribute to the evening. I wondered what on earth I could do that would not be an anti-climax. So I started with Huddie’s (Leadbelly’s) “Fannin Street.” I’m proud to say that they loved it. We sang several songs together then, and I wound up with “Tzena” and “Wimoweh” (which they latched right on to) and some banjo breakdowns. They stayed seated on the floor. The few white people got up to go, and one student whispered to me, “Could you teach us some of the things you do on the guitar and banjo?”

Pete

Eric von Schmidt – Joshua Goes Barbados