Run .... Run, or the Pateroller song
Brad Sondahl
of this song, you could feel she was on the slave’s side. With the
line, “The slave he ran, the slave he flew, he almost tore himself in
two” one can identify with the terror of being caught by the
pateroller. Elizabeth Cotten does the tune instrumentally on her first
album, on a cut entitled Run........Run, (probably Mike Seeger
euphemistically leaving out the “nigger” which was in the original
title, “Run, nigger, run”. Unfortunately older versions of the song are
much more clearly racist. Much as I like the collection of 78 mp3's I
got from 1001tunes.com, there’s certainly some very racist lyrics in
the collection. Mostly I gloss over these, which are common in Dave
Macon’s and many other of the old timey musicians, but Run Nigger Run
was included in the collection in appalling bad taste. The musicians
are the Skillet lickers, and it sounds like Riley Puckett on vocals.
It has a few build up verses, which sound like they were intended to
frighten would be escaping slaves– (nigger run so fast, got his head in
a hornet nest, black snake caught him by the heel, etc). To me the
most objectionable verse is: Some folks say a nigger won’t steal, I
caught 3 in my corn field, One had a bushel, one had a peck, one had a
rope around his neck....
Now there’s no question the melody has redeeming social value, but
references to lynching for stealing some corn are a bit over the top,
in my estimation. So to me, this is a bit more evidence of why blacks
generally avoided old timey music in favor of the blues. It was white
music, intended for white audiences, with enough racist elements to
make it clear to black listeners they weren’t welcome. On the other
hand, getting back to Elizabeth Cotten, she spent her youth in North
Carolina, and several of the tunes on her first Folkways Album reflect
white old time music more than black (George Buck, I don’t love nobody,
and In the sweet by and by and What a friend we have in Jesus). In my
mind I’ve always put her more in the folk camp than blues or old timey,
though the categorizations are loose ones.
Brad Sondahl
--
For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage
http://sondahl.com
Pottery sales page http://sondahl.freeyellow.com
My music site at mp3.com http://www.mp3.com/stations/sondahl
To reply to me directly, don't forget to take out the "garbage" from my
address.
Kenneth
<garbage...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Now there’s no question the melody has redeeming social value, but
>references to lynching for stealing some corn are a bit over the top,
>in my estimation.
Howdy,
It is an interesting issue...
Tommy Thompson (of the Red Clay Ramblers) and I talked about this
years ago. As you may know, the RCR sang these songs with their
original lyrics.
Tommy's view was that to do otherwise was to pretend it all did not
happen.
Better to remember, he felt. (And so do I.)
All the best,
--
Kenneth
If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."
Paul Mitchell
> but Run Nigger Run was included in the collection in appalling bad
> taste. The musicians are the Skillet lickers, and it sounds like Riley
> Puckett on vocals. It has a few build up verses, which sound like they
> were intended to frighten would be escaping slaves– (nigger run so fast,
> got his head in a hornet nest, black snake caught him by the heel, etc).
yikes! Sorry Brad, but you appear to have a severe case of relative
blindness. That particular track (which first was re-issued on one of the
early Rounder LP's which Mark Wilson put together and anotated) is a
spectacular piece. Going from memory, the line I hear Riley singing is:
N*ger run, he run so fast
Over the hedge and the hornets nest
Run n*ger run, or the Pateroller will get you
Run n*ger run, oh you better get away
Now I'm not certain how you can imagine this as having an intention of
frigtening slaves into not running away (it seems contrary to this)
supportive, IMHO.
In Wilson's notes, an interview with Gid Tanner is cited where Gid is
asked (and I paraphrase) "does he know what a Pateroller is?", and he
responds "er, a bad man?" The term has no historical connotation to him.
I'd be surprised if a band consisting of a blind street singer, a man who
thinks Paterollers are crooks, and a couple of young dude fiddlers who
wanted to play uptown modern music, were primarily interested in promoting
either the cause of slavery or maintaining a strickly caucasian audience.
Somehow, or other, the Skillet Lickers, dispite their diverse ages,
repretoires and the stresses these differences introduced, managed to
preserve a rather remarkable bit of American cultural experience (It's a
great tune too, especially with Macs, I assume its McMichen, driving
fiddling).
> To me the most objectionable verse is: Some folks say a nigger won’t
> steal, I caught 3 in my corn field, One had a bushel, one had a peck,
> one had a rope around his neck....
> Now there’s no question the melody has redeeming social value, but
> references to lynching for stealing some corn are a bit over the top, in
> my estimation.
Well, perhaps you're right on this one (I never actually thought about
this verses and what it might possibly mean). I personally like John
Hartfords' rewrite of it anyways (if I have this right, it's:
Some folks say a hippy won't steal
I caught three in my cornfield
One had a flag and one had a bomb
And the third old boy was a gettin-on home.
> So to me, this is a bit more evidence of why blacks generally avoided
> old timey music in favor of the blues. It was white music, intended for
> white audiences, with enough racist elements to make it clear to black
> listeners they weren’t welcome.
That isn't how it appears to me, though I'm fortunate to live in the
Durham/Cedar Grove/Mebane/Haw River/Bynum area where blacks continued
playing old time music into the present.
> On the other hand, getting back to Elizabeth Cotten, she spent her youth
> in North Carolina, and several of the tunes on her first Folkways Album
> reflect white old time music more than black (George Buck, I don’t love
> nobody, and In the sweet by and by and What a friend we have in Jesus).
> In my mind I’ve always put her more in the folk camp than blues or old
> timey, though the categorizations are loose ones.
Loose is the word. Joe Thompson plays the best version of Georgie Buck
I've ever heard, undoubtably learned from his father and uncle. HE sings
Oil in my Vessel and segues into Amazing Grace. Elizabeth Cotton comes
from Carrboro, in Orange county, and her playing reflects the set of
shared tunes and styles which existed in this region.
I guess my fear, watching the movement to pull down statues of Confederate
soldiers in public places, the renaming of college dorms (because the
politics of the donor no longer square with modern moral balances) will
result in a collective loss of memory. Better to have the truth, warts
and all (end of historical rant) and as I said before, that tune rocks,
and I love Rileys' singing.
Paul
Joseph Scott
On the other
> hand, getting back to Elizabeth Cotten, she spent her youth in North
> Carolina, and several of the tunes on her first Folkways Album reflect
> white old time music more than black (George Buck, I don?t love nobody,
> and In the sweet by and by and What a friend we have in Jesus).
When "black" folk musicians who were recorded didn't play boring
generic c. '30s-style blues, it's common for people to note that they
were reflecting "white" old-time pre-blues music, but it's worth
noting that a lot of the time they were reflecting "black" old-time
pre-blues music. Personally when I think of Elizabeth Cotten I think
first of the rich tradition of pre-blues-style, non-blues traditional
"black" music that the Carolinas and Virginia had, longer than some
other regions. As I see it, it wasn't so much that these musicians
wanted to make "white"-influenced music (although I'm sure many of
them had nothing against that) but that they didn't reject the "black"
_non-blues_ music of their parents as inferior to the most commercial
styles of "black" blues of the '20s on. The kinds of musicians I'm
talking about are Cotten, Etta Baker and her family, Joe Thompson and
his family, the Foddrell family, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Thomas
Burt, Clarence Waddy, Isaac Curry, Luke Jordan, Daniel Womack, Jake
Staggers, Belton Reese, John Jackson....
Best,
Joseph Scott
Jim Holland
> and all (end of historical rant) and as I said before, that tune rocks,
> and I love Rileys' singing.
>
> Paul
That truth may just include African Americans as the source some
lyrics, including the title, while other lyrics may have been added
later. Either way, I agree, the truth is always best, savory or not.
LukeHiNite
=09N*ger run, he run so fast
=09Over the hedge and the hornets nest
stove his head in a hornet's nest
Ericplatt
>In Wilson's notes, an interview with Gid Tanner is cited where Gid is
>asked (and I paraphrase) "does he know what a Pateroller is?", and he
>responds "er, a bad man?" The term has no historical connotation to him.
Okay, I'm showing my ignorance here. I've always assumed that Pateroller is a
variant of "patroller" or a person who walked/rode roads (and maybe fields
and/or forests?) around plantations looking for runaways.
Is this anywhere near the mark?
If so, wouldn't it make the person a "bad man"? At least from a slave's point
of view?
Eric Platt
Lyle Lofgren
>
> In Wilson's notes, an interview with Gid Tanner is cited where Gid is
> asked (and I paraphrase) "does he know what a Pateroller is?", and he
> responds "er, a bad man?" The term has no historical connotation to him.
> I'd be surprised if a band consisting of a blind street singer, a man who
> thinks Paterollers are crooks, and a couple of young dude fiddlers who
> wanted to play uptown modern music, were primarily interested in promoting
> either the cause of slavery or maintaining a strickly caucasian audience.
> Somehow, or other, the Skillet Lickers, dispite their diverse ages,
> repretoires and the stresses these differences introduced, managed to
> preserve a rather remarkable bit of American cultural experience (It's a
> great tune too, especially with Macs, I assume its McMichen, driving
> fiddling).
To be precise, Gid replied, "a bad man, I reckon." His voice on the
tape does not indicate his answer was in the form of a question. It's
true he apparently had no idea of the history of the paterollers, but
there's also no indication he was thinking of a crook, which is a
specific type of bad man.
>
> > Now there s no question the melody has redeeming social value, but
> > references to lynching for stealing some corn are a bit over the top, in
> > my estimation.
The Skillet Lickers sing:
" One had roastin' ears 'round his neck."
The thief wouldn't have a rope around his neck until later, although
offhand I can't recall any southern OT songs about lynching. (Billie
Holiday doesn't count).
>
> I guess my fear, watching the movement to pull down statues of Confederate
> soldiers in public places, the renaming of college dorms (because the
> politics of the donor no longer square with modern moral balances) will
> result in a collective loss of memory. Better to have the truth, warts
> and all (end of historical rant) and as I said before, that tune rocks,
> and I love Rileys' singing.
As I've said before, I've always been puzzled as to why the Holocaust
Museum is in Washington DC. It should be in Berlin, and Washington
should have a Slavery Museum. And, yes, we shouldn't forget the war or
any of the events that led up to it or that have transpired since. But
then again, who cares about History, except to wheel out some incident
to make a current political point.
Lyle
Brad Sondahl
call it as I see it, and I value the learned responses of the participants in
this newsgroup.
I don't have any qualms myself about bowdlerlizing lyrics to suit modern
sensibilities, but then I'm an adherent to the "living tradition," rather than
a strict re-creationist when it comes to old time music, meaning I like to
reinterpret the old songs, figuring out new verses, etc.
Dan Gellert
>
> The Skillet Lickers sing:
>
> " One had roastin' ears 'round his neck."
>
Yes, and IMO the verses about "blacksnake grabbed him by the heel" and
"stove his head in a hornet's nest" weren't ever a warning by white folk to
runaway slaves, but fragments of even earlier songs which have been patched
onto various dance tunes over the centuries-- in this context, mouth music
spiked with a shot of slapstick violence.
My guess is that the song itself was originally sung by slaves, in which
case those particular verses would have been grimly ironic in their humor--
and there is a lot of grimly ironic humor in the african-american song
tradition....
Dan
Joseph Scott
> of view?
Yes, but what Paul is getting at is that if Gid Tanner didn't happen
to know much about what an old song was originally about, then there's
no point judging Gid's choice to sing the song as if he did.
Joseph Scott
Ericplatt
>Yes, but what Paul is getting at is that if Gid Tanner didn't happen
>to know much about what an old song was originally about, then there's
>no point judging Gid's choice to sing the song as if he did.
This I understand. I do not have the interview, unless it is the one
transcribed in the OTH a number of years ago.
I was mainly asking about the linguistic origins of the term. Sorry.
Eric Platt
Lyle Lofgren
> Joseph Scott wrote:
> >Yes, but what Paul is getting at is that if Gid Tanner didn't happen
> >to know much about what an old song was originally about, then there's
> >no point judging Gid's choice to sing the song as if he did.
>
> This I understand. I do not have the interview, unless it is the one
> transcribed in the OTH a number of years ago.
As far as I know, that's the only interview with Gid. I have a tape
copy of it, and some of the words were mistranscribed, mostly minor
points, such as the one I mentioned. A more serious mistake in the OTH
(winter 1993-94) transcription: Riley Puckett was actually blinded
when an eye infection was treated with Sugar Of Lead, which is an
old-time term for lead acetate, a popular remedy of the 19th century.
The OTH transcription has "sugar and lead," which to me has grotesque
connotations.
> I was mainly asking about the linguistic origins of the term. Sorry.
Don't apologize. Cousin Emmy once gave this advice about performing
(and, by extension, about life) to the New Lost City Ramblers: "Never
admit to no mistakes."
Lyle
P Stamler
>generally avoided old timey music in favor of the blues. It was white
>music, intended for white audiences, with enough racist elements to
>make it clear to black listeners they weren’t welcome.
I'm afraid this is a bit of an over-generalization. Gid Tanner & crew were only
a small part of old-time music, although very popular. And yes, they could
occasionally be racist in their language (and there were rumors they'd played
for KKK rallies, although I've never seen any of the evidence so have to be
agnostic on the subject). Plenty of old-time musicians were, and plenty
weren't, at least overtly so.
Someone made an interesting observation, I think in this newsgroup, a year or
so ago, about the perception of the southern rural audiences, white and black,
by the record company executives who chose the recording artists and
participated in the choice of material. This person said that the rec. company
people thought that white record-buyers were primarily interested in nostalgia
and "old familiar tunes", whereas the black record buyers wanted the latest and
hippest thing, which was the blues. So they geared their choice of material to
those perceived tastes.
Peace,
Paul
wayne1082@charter@charter.net
rope around his neck....
I've always heard this verse as "roasting ear," instead of "rope."
Wayne Erbsen
*************************************************
Native Ground Music
~ Historic American Music & Folklore~
ba...@nativeground.com
http://www.nativeground.com
"Brad Sondahl" <garbage...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3FA7CD04...@earthlink.net...
> Run slave run, or the Pateroller song: When Hedy West sang her version
> of this song, you could feel she was on the slave's side. With the
> line, "The slave he ran, the slave he flew, he almost tore himself in
> two" one can identify with the terror of being caught by the
> pateroller. Elizabeth Cotten does the tune instrumentally on her first
> album, on a cut entitled Run........Run, (probably Mike Seeger
> euphemistically leaving out the "nigger" which was in the original
> title, "Run, nigger, run". Unfortunately older versions of the song are
> much more clearly racist. Much as I like the collection of 78 mp3's I
> got from 1001tunes.com, there's certainly some very racist lyrics in
> the collection. Mostly I gloss over these, which are common in Dave
> Macon's and many other of the old timey musicians, but Run Nigger Run
> was included in the collection in appalling bad taste. The musicians
> are the Skillet lickers, and it sounds like Riley Puckett on vocals.
> It has a few build up verses, which sound like they were intended to
> frighten would be escaping slaves- (nigger run so fast, got his head in
Brad Sondahl
and while there's a kind of logic to what you say (sticking with the food
motif), no one I've ever heard of slings ears of corn around their neck to
carry them.
Brad Sondahl, musician and gardener
--
For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage
http://sondahl.com
Pottery sales page http://sondahl.freeyellow.com
To reply to me directly, don't forget to take out the "garbage" from my
address.
tony goldenberg
rope for someone on the run. tonyg
----------
In article <3FEC4733...@earthlink.net>, Brad Sondahl
Peter Feldmann
Brad,
I believe you are under a misaprehension re. the Skillet
Lickers' version of "Run Nigger Run". Of course, it is a racist
song, and dates from times when it was considered acceptable by
many persons to be blatantly racist. If such songs offend you, I
would suggest you not listen to them. You cannot expect a band
recording in the late 1920s to anticipate the change of tastes
in the next century. A 78 (or any recording) is a frozen moment
in time. Try to remember that when you listen to such things.
These songs and tunes, apart from the musical content (which you
may or may not enjoy), offer other bits of information to the
contemporary listener. The title under discussion is a good
example.
I haven't heard the 1001tunes cut of this 78, but I have a
fairly clean copy of the 78. On my copy, Riley sings:
"One had a bushel, one had a peck,
One has a roastin' hen around his neck."
It was common practice in those days to tie fowl, wild or
domestic, together with twine to make them easy to carry. This
not only makes more sense with the message in that stanza
(stealing food, not rope), but it scans better than "rope".
Secondly, I would strongly doubt that the song calls for a
lynching. Runaway slaves (which is what this song is about, and
thus dates the song as pre-1865) were property, and mightly
valuable property at that. An aprehended slave would bring a
hefty reward from its owner. It is also a matter of legal
record that anyone hanging a runaway slave was subject to a
lawsuit form the owner for the value of that slave. Lynchings
became much more common _after_ slavery was abolished, when
there were no "owners" around to loose money on the deal.
Yes, this song can make us uncomfortable with its lyrics. At
the same time, the Skillet Licker band members would also be
horrified to listen to lyrics of contemporary pop songs, dertain
of which include much more blatant violence, sex, etc. than any
songs to be found in their repertoire.
__Peter
--
Peter Feldmann
http://www.bluegrasswest.com
Bands, bookings, & etc. for old time and
neo-classic country music.
Joel Shimberg
>Yes, this song can make us uncomfortable with its lyrics. At
>the same time, the Skillet Licker band members would also be
>horrified to listen to lyrics of contemporary pop songs, dertain
>of which include much more blatant violence, sex, etc. than any
>songs to be found in their repertoire.
A good point, Peter. I would also guess, if it's not too psych-ic,
that the source of the discomfort that some feel is their own
unresolved racism, with which they struggle.
Dr. Joel. Diagnoses free and worth every penny!
Joseph Scott
[...]"Run Nigger Run". Of course, it is a racist
> song[...]
Some people would say it's a racist song because it has the word
"nigger" in it. Period. (If so, there are lots of "black" singers of
that general era who sang "racist songs" too.) Some would say it's
racist because it's worded in a way that (allegedly, depending on
which lyrics) takes the side of the pateroller, and not the side of
the slave. Or because after slavery, continuing to sing it at all
(allegedly) constituted being pro-slavery, or insensitively
mind-back-in-the-slavery-era, or (allegedly) constituted being
pro-"black"-people-running-away-in-fear-from-where-a-"white"-person-singing-that-song-is.
Or something else.
Anyway, it's more complicated than it really is a racist song or it
really isn't a racist song, full stop, because the word "racist"
properly describes personal intent, and this is a folk song that lived
for many decades through people hearing and mishearing and
reinterpreting and whose tastes regarding many social matters we
largely don't approve of and largely don't understand. Any particular
person who c. the '20s was performing this already old song might or
might not have personally believed it was a "racist" lyric (by the
standards of the time, which were different from our standards),
depending on what s/he subjectively believed the meaning of the old
folk lyrics was, if s/he cared what they meant at all, and if s/he
cared at all whether the performance was perceived as "racist." For
comparison, how many times do you reckon Lead Belly pondered whether
any lyrics he sang were too "sexist"?
Does anyone here think the person who taught Elizabeth Cotten "Run
Nigger Run" was trying to teach her something that was racist?
I'm skeptical that it serves much intellectual purpose as a music buff
to apply our rightly high ethical standards, based in part on
scientific advances in knowledge about "race" during the 20th century,
in direct judgment of people who weren't familiar with those
standards. If we're going to judge them fairly (e.g. if someone is
curious, "Who was more racist, John Carson or Riley Puckett" or
whatever) we need to understand what the standards of the day were
regarding language and social matters, which means in turn we need to
do research on what the standards of the day were.
Moreover, you have to break that research down by decade or so.
Standards regarding what words and sentences were generally perceived
as expressing hatred were also in flux _during_ the old-time era;
e.g., rural "black" singers born around 1885 were more apt to sing the
word "coon" than rural "black" singers born around 1905. It's
complicated.*
Joseph Scott
*Hmm. Seymour said that in Ghost World. Couldn't sit still for the
whole thing but they did a pretty good job with his ragtime vs. blues
speech, I thought, for a movie. Shouldn't he have sold most of the
records and then taken care of a plant and a pet for two years before
trying to get into a relationship? Buscemi seemed like a collector,
Cusack didn't in whatsit. But I digress.
Peter Feldmann
wrote:
>Peter wrote:
>
>[...]"Run Nigger Run". Of course, it is a racist
>> song[...]
< ... >
>Anyway, it's more complicated than it really is a racist song or it
>really isn't a racist song, full stop,
>
Yes, I agree. I was attempting to respond to someone who
couldn't understand why that song was included on an old time
CD. I was attempting to make a point on some of the reasons it
might be of interest.
>Moreover, you have to break that research down by decade or so.
>Standards regarding what words and sentences were generally perceived
>as expressing hatred were also in flux _during_ the old-time era;
>e.g., rural "black" singers born around 1885 were more apt to sing the
>word "coon" than rural "black" singers born around 1905. It's
>complicated.*
>
That doesn't keep people who should know better from trying to
simplify things. The esteemed Richard K. Spotswood himself, in
the notes to the Library of Congress' last Lp record set (a 15
disc anthology of folk musics recorded in the USA and released,
as I remember, in the late 1970s) chose to describe "coon" songs
(at least one was included in the set) as songs about
_racoons_, and how they indicated a close touch w/ wild animals!
Not a trace of a reference to anything else.
So the dumbing-down of America continues....
P Stamler
>the notes to the Library of Congress' last Lp record set (a 15
>disc anthology of folk musics recorded in the USA and released,
>as I remember, in the late 1970s) chose to describe "coon" songs
>(at least one was included in the set) as songs about
>_racoons_, and how they indicated a close touch w/ wild animals!
>Not a trace of a reference to anything else.
Dare I suggest that Mr. Spottswood's tongue was embedded firmly in his cheek,
and none of the higher-ups at the LoC caught it?
Peace,
Paul
Gregg Kimball
review the numerous compilations of the so-called ex-slave narratives.
These are interviews of former slaves done in the 1930s as part of
the WPA programs. Quickly checking "Weevils in the Wheat," a book
compilation of the Virginia narratives, I see two interviews
recounting this song and quoting lines from it. One, by Robert
Williams (born 1843), prefaces the song with this statement: "We could
have dances on Saturday nights. A banjo player would be dere an' he
would sing. One song dey used to sing was . . ."
A great deal of this material is also online. Our collection of WPA
life histories, including the ex-slave narratives, is accessible
online and is described at:
http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/gov/wpalhabout.htm
It would be interesting to do an analysis of the evolution of the
lyrics from the ex-slave narratives forward. Perhaps it has already
been done.
Gregg Kimball
Peter Feldmann
Paul,
I still wonder why that reference was made. I could perhaps see
such an approach used by a small, private lable. However, we
are speaking of the Library of Congress, whose purpose is to
provide accurate information ... or at least it used to be.
I'm a big fan of US history and folklore, but I'd like to get as
close to the real facts as possible, pretty or not as they may
be. In this case, R.S. seemed to have failed future students in
what seems to be an early case of political correctness, or the
"Disneyfication" of American History.
LukeHiNite
So the dumbing-down of America continues....
__Peter
Wow , that is awfully hard on a guy
who has spent nearly half a century
exploring music and disseminating
it to tens of thousands of people or more. You can't be serious. Do you think
records are just added as a bonus to liner notes you are buying? The LofC has
plenty of free study aids to anyone investigating any music they have presented
to the public, including "coon songs".
Liner notes are only intended to be a sketch, not exhaustive presentations. I
can understand being disappointed at
what seems to be an erroneous sentence in set, but what about the set itself?
Do you really mean to
say it is "dumbing down" to have the
opportunity to hear and own such a
batch of fragile sounds otherwise
almost completely unavailable? And
aren't listeners just a tad more resourceful than relying on mere
liners or some editorial opinion?
pvc
Peter Feldmann
wrote:
>
>So the dumbing-down of America continues....
>
>__Peter
>
>Wow , that is awfully hard on a guy
>who has spent nearly half a century
>exploring music and disseminating
>it to tens of thousands of people or more.
It is _because_ of his reputation that I hold him to a higher
standard. Sure, the set is great, but in a case such as this,
the liner notes are a very important component of the
experience.
One of the pleasures, to me, of the Harry Smith anthology as
released on Folkways vinyl, were the notes written by Smith to
accompany the 78 transfers. My copy is very dog-eared, believe
me. Someone once told me of a project to collect and publish
the best liner notes from a batch of similar records as a bound
volume. When I was learning about and acquiring my collection
of old time and bluegrass music, there were few books out on the
subject, and those liner notes (like the one written by folks
such as Mike Seeger, John Cohen, Ed Kahn, DK Wilgus, Stu
Jaimeson, etc.) were a treasure trove of information.
Other sources, back then, were hard-to-find publications such as
"Sing Out!", "Little Sandy Review", etc. As far as the actual
records went, you had to scour junk shops, trade reel to reel
tapes, and do the best you could to interpret what you could
find.
Joel Shimberg
>Sure, the set is great, but in a case such as this,
>the liner notes are a very important component of the
>experience.
And this is supported by the extraordinary care Dick took with the
notes. My recollection is that they were pretty revolutionary at the
time. They're still a model for that sort of thing.
Joel