Top 5 American Folk Songs - Any suggestions?

[Optimohats]

I am working on a film and I would like some input from the experts - you guys.
I would like a few suggestions on the all time most
popular/outstanding/controversial folk tunes of the past 40 years.

Please mark in subject area: For Graham T

Thanking you in advance

[ChezDre]

The fisrt song that came to mind for me, is This Land is Your Land.
Second is, and I'm not sure if it's the title... but "The Banks are Made of
Marble...

Both Woody Guthrie tunes, right?

Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, might be up there?

If it were my list, it might have Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

I dunno.

Andre

[JesiAna]

I'd have to agree with Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." I would also
suggest Woody's "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya," Pete Seeger's "Where Have
all the Flowers Gone," Phil Ochs' "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore," Dylan's "Times
They Are a-Changing," and Tom Paxton's "I Can't Help But Wonder." And I'd like
to perhaps add John McCutcheon's "Water From Another Time," not as widely
known, but a very significant song, IMHO.

Jesiana

"If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing."

[Stephen Suffet]

Greetings:

I take it, since you mention the past 40 years, you don't want
_traditional_ songs such as "John Henry," "Willow Garden," or the
American version of "Lily of the West." I also assume you are looking
for Anglophonic songs, not songs in Spanish, French, or any of the
Native languages.

Having made those assumptions, let me offer the following:

1. "If I Had a Hammer" by Lee Hays & Pete Seeger. (First song published
in the first issue of "Sing Out!", 1950.)

2. "We Shall Overcome" by Zilphia Horton, Guy Carawan, Frank Hamilton,
Pete Seeger, & others (Based on a traditional theme. Horton adapted the
song for her work with the tobacco workers union at Highlander Folk
School circa 1947, but it really became associated with the civil rights
movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s, thanks in large part to the
work of Messers. Seeger, Carawan, and Hamilton.)

3. "Blowing In the Wind" by Bob Dylan.

4. "Just a Little Rain" by Malvina Reynolds.

5. "Deportee" by Woody Guthrie & Martin Hoffman. (Guthrie penned the
words in 1948, but Hoffman did not add the well known tune until 1959.
Before that the song was virtually unknown. So I consider this to be a
song of the last 40 years, but just barely.)

Regards,
Steve

[Frank Hamilton]

This is a tough request. Top 5 to whom? There are so many great folk
songs. Some terrible ones too. And which variants of these songs are
we talking about?

And why do this? What you will come up with is five top songs that
are popular amoung a subgroup of people who do not even agree on what
a folk song is.

What is the purpose of such a film or idea?

Frank

[Faux B. Ersatz, Jr.]

This list just isn't going to go.
We need something like the "American Film Institute". Then an
"official list" could be started. Then the bitching could begin.

Incidentally.
I'd name "This land is your land", probably because its the first folk
song most of us ever heard and its the American idiom of a folk song,
but don't ask me to name four more.
carver

[mudflat muse]

Will The Circle Be Unbroken has to be one of the most popular....Mr
Tambourine Man by Dylan.....Both Sides Now....Joni Mitchell or Judy
Collins?....City of New Orleans performed by Arlo Guthrie but written by
Steve Goodman....Guantanamera (since This Land Is Your Land has already
been mentioned).....just a quick subjective 5 for your consideration....

[Al Christians]

Folk relates to a grass-roots culture. Trying to find the top 5 of
anything in this culture is like trying to find celebrities no one has
ever heard of. It is impossible for such to exist.

Al

[CHERYLMHVA]

>Subject: Re: Top 5 American Folk Songs - Any suggestions?
>From: napl...@webtv.net (mudflat muse)
>Date: 4/3/99 8:55 PM EST
>Message-id: <27295-37...@newsd-213.iap.bryant.webtv.net>

Wow, great list! I'd add Pete Seeger too. You can't have folk without Woody,
Pete & Arlo! Was glad to see Uncle Arlo in there! If they do a film it'd be
nice to see Arlo & Pete in it. Just a neat idea! Anyway, peace to all! Happy
Easter!
Peace & have a nice day! Cheryl Harrell
Personal Quote: "Cheryl, huh?" By: My folksinger friend ADG
"Support Finding A Cure For Diabetes". By: ME
****NO SPAM PLEASE! THANK YOU! **** :)

[Oldfrat]

You really pose an interesting question. The difficult part of it is that popular,
outstanding, and controversial don't really fit when it comes to superlatives in
the last 40 years of folk music. If it was controversial, it tendied not to be
popular. And much of the most outstanding either wasn't controversial or failed to
be popular.

If you asked for three lists, you'd get a much better response.

As for trying to hit all three, here are my suggestions.

Goodnight Irene -- Composer Ledbetter was certainly controversial. The Weavers
also become controversial during the McCarthy era. Their version of the song made
it immensely popular and touched off a brief period of folk popularity.

Tom Dooley -- The song wasn't controversial, nor were the Kingston Trio. But this
song was so hugely popular that it sent masses of teens off to buy acoustic guitars
and start singing folk music in the early 60's. If it hadnb't been for the KT, I
doubt there would be much of a folk music following today. And many of those
guitar players ended up plugging into amps and becoming rock stars. Probably hard
to believe today, but the guitar was a minor and way off to the side instrument
prior to this song.

Green Fields -- Just as the KT fad was dying, along came this Brothers Four song.
The whole thing picked up again. It probably doesn't sound very controversial
today, but listen to the lyrics in the context of a generation that was worried
that we might encounter a nuclear WW III at any moment.

Blowing In The Wind -- This Dylan tune probably comes the closest to meeting all
three requirements.

Paradise -- This John Prine tune fits best against your criteria. I'd also suggest
his "Sam Stone". but its greater controversy, is more than offest by the higher
popularity Paradise got by virtue of a John Denver recording. It was an entry
point for the green movement.

Post another message if you can define your question more precisely.

[Mike Regenstreif]

mudflat muse <napl...@webtv.net> wrote in article
<27295-37...@newsd-213.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...

> Will The Circle Be Unbroken has to be one of the most popular....Mr
> Tambourine Man by Dylan.....Both Sides Now....Joni Mitchell or Judy
> Collins?....City of New Orleans performed by Arlo Guthrie but written by
> Steve Goodman....Guantanamera (since This Land Is Your Land has already
> been mentioned).....just a quick subjective 5 for your consideration....
>
>

Cubans would no doubt be annoyed and/or amused that "Guantanamera" was
being described as an American folk song.

--
Mike Regenstreif
Folk Roots/Folk Branches -- CKUT 90.3 FM -- Montreal
mre...@vax2.concordia.ca
http://www.dejanews.com/~ckutfolk/

[Brett Weiss]

Hmmm...

1. This Land Is Your Land
2. City of New Orleans
3. Blowing in the Wind
4. I Ain't A Marchin'
5. We Shall Overcome
5a. If I Had A Hammer (I had to fit it in someplace!)

--
Brett

[Stephen Suffet]

Mike Regenstreif wrote:
>
>
> Cubans would no doubt be annoyed and/or amused that
> "Guantanamera" was being described as an American folk song.
>

Why? After all it was what the bands played in the Havana whore
houses to entertain the Gringos waiting their turn. They sang different
words than José Martí's, however. :-)

---Steve

[high...@zipcon.net]

For the sake of anyone trying to look up this song (I agree that is is
both important and magnificant, probably the most sophisticated lyrics
Guthrie ever wrote), the "official" title was "Place Wreck at Los
Gatos".
As a side note, it's curious how so many performers leave out the best
stanza, beginning with "Is this the best way ...". I like Joan Baez's
version, she includes all the lyrics.

Bob B.

Stephen Suffet wrote:
>
> 5. "Deportee" by Woody Guthrie & Martin Hoffman. (Guthrie penned the
> words in 1948, but Hoffman did not add the well known tune until 1959.
> Before that the song was virtually unknown. So I consider this to be a
> song of the last 40 years, but just barely.)
>
> Regards,
> Steve

--
========
Explore the Folk Music Revival of the late 50's thru early 60's at:
http://www.zipcon.net/~highroad/folkscare.html

[Steve Senderoff & Trish Vierling]

In article <7e5gtd$v90$1...@camel25.mindspring.com>,
ms30...@atl.mindspring.com wrote:
(Frank Hamilton)

> This is a tough request. Top 5 to whom? There are so many great folk
> songs. Some terrible ones too. And which variants of these songs are
> we talking about?
>
> And why do this? What you will come up with is five top songs that
> are popular amoung a subgroup of people who do not even agree on what
> a folk song is.
>
> What is the purpose of such a film or idea?
>

__IMHO___ Modern american commercial culture likes to make lists (top
ten 20th century dictators...buy my magazine) as sales tools. The making
of meaningless lists has been hammered into todays culture. Saturation
advertisement rams the lists down folks throats and suggests knowledge of
these lists signifies superior knowledge of the subject, People
unknowledgable in the subject matter repeat the lists to each other to
demonstrate superior knowledge. A howling feedback loop is generated that
prevents local communities from having its own opinions or developing its
own culture (e.g.songs). Everyone gets ripped off, advertising execs and
CEO's of corporations making products make money, retire and die. End of
story.

Top 5 reasons capitalism sucks....:)

s.

--
Steve Senderoff and Trish Vierling

Oh, ya run your E string down, I don't know, about three frets,
anyway, it corresponds to the third note on the A string...
here's ya tuning...
Tommy Jarrell

[Richard L. Hess]

On Sat, 3 Apr 1999 20:55:59 -0500 (EST), napl...@webtv.net (mudflat
muse) wrote in part:

>Both Sides Now....Joni Mitchell or Judy Collins?

As you probably know, written by Joni Mitchell, made popular by Judy
Collins who has recorded at least three different versions.

Please look at my Judy Collins web pages.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard L. Hess rlh...@mindspring.com
Glendale, CA USA http://rlhess.home.mindspring.com/
Web page: folk and church music, photography, broadcast engineering, and more

[Ron Viers]

On 3 Apr 1999 05:56:18 GMT, optim...@aol.com (Optimohats) wrote:

>I am working on a film and I would like some input from the experts - you guys.
>I would like a few suggestions on the all time most
>popular/outstanding/controversial folk tunes of the past 40 years.
>

I may get disagreements on whether this should be called folk but IMO
"American Pie" is one of the best songs ever written.

[Tom King]

 

Ron Viers wrote 

 

>I am working on a film ...I would like a few suggestions on the all time most

> >popular/outstanding/controversial folk tunes of the past 40 years.

 

Here are my top 5 based on "the campfire test". Go to any state park or national forest in the USA, find a campfire with at least one guitarist at it and see if he or she knows all or part of any of these songs or thinks he or she can "figure it out".  Denver got on the list twice, once on his own and once through the career kick in the pants given to him early on by Peter, Paul & Mary.  Dylan only landed once, because, while he's the best known folk singer, few non folkies can identify more than one of his songs.

 

1. Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan

2. Country Road - Danoff, Nivert, Denver et al

3. Leavin' on a Jet Plane - John Denver (thanks to PP&M)

4. City of New Orleans - Steve Goodman (made immortal by Arlo Guthrie)

5. The Wedding Song - Paul Stookey (has become a standard like the Birthday Song and the man put it in the public domain like the true folk-singer he is!)

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES

 

* If I Had a Hammer - Seeger, Hayes et al (written in the 50's, but immortalized in the 60's by, who else?, PP&M)
* La Bamba - as done by everyone who ever learned to do barre chords and say "pie la bomba -- bomba bomba!".  The guitar chords also double for "Twist and Shout", a fact pointed out by Cheech Marin in his movie "Born in East L.A."

* We Shall Overcome - as led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (this is actually an old hymn that became the anthem for the civil rights movement

* The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot (everybody knows it from the radio and the documentaries on the Discover Channel)

* Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Gordon Lightfoot (a hit for PP&M)

* Last Thing on My Mind - Tom Paxton (also a hit for PP&M)

* Catch the Wind - Donovan Leitch (a flower child anthem)

* The Times They are A' Changin' - Bob Dylan (I'm not crazy about it, but it was influential to say the least - the title being quoted in about ten zillion television news specials over the past 40 years.

* Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag - Country Joe & the Fish (anti-Vietnam War anthem: big at Woodstock)

* American Trilogy - Elvis' version - a combination of civil war era folk songs

* American Pie - Don McClean (meets all the qualifications of a good folk song and it really gets stuck in your head - also stimulated discussion for years and everybody wishes they could play it on the guitar).

* The Boa Constrictor Song - Shel Silverstein (sung at summer camps across the land - hear it once, you'll never forget it!)

* In the Ghetto - Elvis' shot at developing a 60's style social conscience

* Amazing Grace - Judy Collins and every Scottish Bagpiper in the world (you could make an excellent living as a piper playing just this one song at funerals)

 

SONGS EVERYBODY TRIES TO PLAY ON THE GUITAR (THEY ALWAYS TRY TO TAKE YOUR GUITAR AWAY SO THEY CAN DEMONSTRATE THEIR GUITAR PLAYING PROWESS EVEN THOUGH THEY CAN'T PLAY ANYTHING ELSE).  This is the "I wish he'd learn to play just one other tune" category:

 

* House of the Rising Sun - Dum, dum, dum, dum, dee, dum; Dum, dum, dum, dum, dee, dum...... on and on and on...... (heaven help you if he sings.....)

* Stairway to Heaven - Let me show you the way to it kid......

 

 

This list is the result of a 30 year fascination with the folk music process and interminable campfire renditions of House of the Risin' Sun and several hundred impromptu jam sessions in my living room. There is a lot of "radio" folk music on here because those are the ones that have been remembered best across the broadest range of people and musical tastes.  If we'd included the past 50 years you'd absolutely have to add:

 

* This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie (probably in the top 2 or 3)

* The Battle of New Orleans - Jimmy Driftwood (made famous by Johnny Horton 40 years ago)

 

and possibly

 

* Love Me Tender - The Elvis version of "Aura Lee"

 

Just one man's considered opinion.

 

Tom King

 

 

 

 

[Mike Regenstreif]

Tom King <tk...@tyler.net> wrote in article
<92393826...@news.remarQ.com>...

> Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Gordon Lightfoot (a hit for PP&M)

Actually, that's a Bob Dylan song that I don't recall ever hearding
Lightfoot do. But just the other day I thought I heard a horse singing it.

MR

[Mike Regenstreif]

Mike Regenstreif <mre...@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote in article
<01be8522$98050280$a007cd84@default>...

>
>
> Tom King <tk...@tyler.net> wrote in article
> <92393826...@news.remarQ.com>...
>

> > Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Gordon Lightfoot (a hit for PP&M)
>

> Actually, that's a Bob Dylan song that I don't recall ever hearding
> Lightfoot do. But just the other day I thought I heard a horse singing
it.
>

Actually, the horses were herding as they sang. But I still don't recall
*hearing* Lightfoot do "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."

MR

[Sackett17]

I'd have to say Tom Rush's "The Circle Game", Fairport Convention/Sandy Dennis'
"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", Janis Ian's "Light a Light", Simon &
Garfunkel's "The Boxer", and you may laugh at the un-traditionalness, but Led
Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" (If you haven't heard it, listen to
it...100% Folkish Zeppelin!!!)

[Valerie L. Magee]

Well, associating those two songs isn't far fetched at all. In recent years,
Lightfoot, commenting that his For Lovin' Me was perhaps a bit chauvenistic, has said
that he probably wouldn't have written his song if Dylan hadn't first written Don't
Think Twice. And I think that Lightfoot did sing Dylan's song back in the 60s, but
never recorded it. It appeared on a bootleg Lightfoot LP titled Yellow Bird (released
by Koala in '78), one of several tracks that were sung by an imitator (a very poor
one). The Lightfoot tracks on that album were recorded at La Cave in '64 and include
a wonderful recording of Turn, Turn, Turn.

Who was the horse?

Mike Regenstreif wrote:

> Mike Regenstreif <mre...@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote in article
> <01be8522$98050280$a007cd84@default>...
> >
> >
> > Tom King <tk...@tyler.net> wrote in article
> > <92393826...@news.remarQ.com>...
> >

> > > Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Gordon Lightfoot (a hit for PP&M)
> >

> > Actually, that's a Bob Dylan song that I don't recall ever hearding
> > Lightfoot do. But just the other day I thought I heard a horse singing
> it.
> >
>
> Actually, the horses were herding as they sang. But I still don't recall

> *hearing* Lightfoot do "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."
>
> MR

--
Visit my Gordon Lightfoot web site at:

http://gordonlightfoot.com

[Tom King]

You're right, Mike. I had a momentary mental lapse there. I've been having
computer problems lately and I'm still not quite myself yet.

Tom

Mike Regenstreif <mre...@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote in message
news:01be8522$98050280$a007cd84@default...

>
>
> Tom King <tk...@tyler.net> wrote in article
> <92393826...@news.remarQ.com>...
>

> > Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Gordon Lightfoot (a hit for PP&M)
>

> Actually, that's a Bob Dylan song that I don't recall ever hearding
> Lightfoot do. But just the other day I thought I heard a horse singing
it.
>
>

> MR

[Tom King]

The Circle Game is a good song, but hard to remember for some reason and
isn't on a lot of campfire guitarists' repertoire. Paul Simon probably
deserves a place and I can't explain why I left him off my personal list.
I'd have to pick "Sounds of Silence" or "Bridge Over Troubled Water", though
as more widely reproduced by the "folk". I'll look up the Zepplin number
though. Intriguing idea ---Led Zepplin/folk music. I'm experiencing severe
cognative dissonance over that one.

Just one man's opinion!

Tom

Sackett17 <sack...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990413024214...@ng156.aol.com...

[Jack Cullen]

I've been reading this thread since the start (this time!), and with
each posting I become more and more curious as to whether folks are
actually listing their favorite American Folk Songs or their favorite
performer of American Folk Songs?
If it's your favorite American Folk Song then whoever it's performed by
should, theoretically, be immaterial (granted, with some exceptions;
i.e.: Donald Duck attempting your favorite song while suffering from a
cold could easily make you hate the song.)
And, if indeed, the folk process is working properly then the version
you, again theoretically, should like best is the one floating around in
your own memory banks -- which then makes *you* the performer.

No flames, please; it's just a thought that could launch a thousand
discussions.
--
Jack Cullen
West Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
-------------
Please send all replies to: JJoeJack1 "at" aol "dot" com

[Doug Porter]

These five stand a chance, surely (in no special order):
Blues Run The Game - Jackson C Frank
When They Closed The Minstrel Show - Bob Coltman
Pirate Looks at Forty - Jimmy Buffett
Darcy Farrow - Gillette/Cambell
Peace Will Come - Tom Paxton
The list of truly great American "folk" songs is huge; anyone fancy 'Love
at the Five and Dime' Nancy Griffiths, 'Something Fine' Jackson Browne,
'Bummer' Harry Chapin, 'Spoon River' Michael Peter Smith, 'Geronimo's
Cadillac' Michael Murphy, 'Mr. Bojangles' JJ Walker, 'Death of Stephen Biko'
T Paxton, .......
Doug Porter, English (ex) folk singer.