Songs of America and Before
Voices of explorers, cross-dressers, soldiers, piccolo-players, truck drivers, cowboys, and coal miners are set to an underlying accompaniment of haunting fiddle tunes, in this concert about the birth of American folk music, and America itself.
My aim is to show how modern ballads stay true to their form and even their chord structure, as I curate the art of the ballad through the decades with a solid mash up of old time tunes.
Lord Bateman/Queen’s Jig
Lord Bateman was a noble lord
He thought himself of a high degree
He could not rest nor be contented
‘Til he had sailed the old salt sea
Oh, he sailed east and he sailed to the westward
He sailed all over to the Turkish shore
There he got caught and put in prison
Never to be released anymore
There grew a tree inside of this prison
There grew a tree both broad and high
And there they took and bound him prisoner
‘Til he grew weak and like to die
Instrumental
Now the Turk he had one only daughter
And she was fair as she could be
She stole the keys to her father’s prison
And declared Lord Bateman she’d set free
She took him down to the deepest cellar
She gave him a drink of the strongest wine
She threw her loving little arms around him
Crying oh, Lord Bateman if you were mine
They made a vow, they made a promise
For seven long years they made to stand
He swore he’d marry no other woman
She vowed she’d marry no other man
Instrumental
Well seven long years has rolled around
Seven years and they seem like twenty-nine
Yes, she’s packed up all of her gay clothing
And declared Lord Bateman she’d go find
Well she sailed east and she sailed to the westward
She sailed all over to the England shore
She rowed ’til she come to Lord Bateman’s castle
And she summonsed his porter right down to the door
Oh is this not Lord Bateman’s castle
And is his lordship not within?
Oh yes, oh yes cried the proud young porter
He’s just now bringing his new bride in
Instrumental
Go bid him to send me a slice of bread
Go bid him to send me a drink of wine
And not to forget the Turkish lady
That freed him from his close confines
What’s the news, what’s the news, you proud young porter
What’s the news, what’s the news that you’ve brung to me
There stands a lady outside of your castle
She’s the fairest one I ever did see
She bids you to send her a slice of bread
She bids you to send her a drink of wine
And not to forget the Turkish lady
That freed you from your close confines
Instrumental
Oh up and spoke that new bride’s mother
She never was known to speak so free
Well what’s to become of my only daughter
She has just been made a bride to thee
Oh I’ve done no harm to your only daughter
And she is the none of the worse for me
She came to me with a horse and saddle
And she shall go home in coacharie
Lord Bateman he pounded his fist on the table
And he broke it in pieces one two three
Says I’ll forsake all for the Turkish lady
She has crossed that old salt sea for me
Jewel of Paris/Conme un Souffle Fragile
There were rough seas and rain
On the day that I came
To the new world, this year of our lord
I’d barely made land
When a Papal command
Insisted that I stay on board
I was given a child
Born in the wild
Long and distant from Ville Quebec’s hold
He was brown in the shade
when billowed sails made
and barely a month or two old
We are borne ‘cross the sea
To the council of good king Louis
There is hot bread and tea
For my bébé and me
And the wonder of all of Paris
Conme un Souffle Fragile
And there’s strong drink in hand
On the on the day we made land
Our arrival was met with such joy
I was taken to work
From morning ’til dark
And erstwhile I cared for the boy
So quickly he grew
Before he was two
He was bigger than boys twice his age
A marvel for sure
A heart brave and pure
Impressing both subject and sage
So mon petit
You were born ‘cross the sea
In a country beyond Acadie
And though your people were free
They were destined to be
In bondage, the slaves of Paris
Conme un Souffle Fragile
But the boy grew up tall
A wonder to all
In the court of Louis XIV
There was hot bread and tea
In the court of Louis
And a wonderfully rare human being
In becoming aware
He’d soon understand
That he was not born like the rest
He was tall, brown, and lean
His eyes dark and clean
And a different heart beat in his chest
So mon petit
You were born ‘cross the sea
To the heron of Ville Sainte-Marie
You just happened to be
Entrusted to me
To bring you as the jewel of Paris
Conme un Souffle Fragile
There was terror inside
On the day that she died
The first time that he’d been alone
He knelt by her bed
And picked up her head
And with her last breath she made known
That through all of her days
And from each of her pays
She’d committed near half what she’d made
And she put it away
So that on this day
The price of his freedom was paid
And she said, no, mon petit
You were not born to me
But I have loved you as though you might be
I have saved, mon petit
So that you can be free
Return you to Ville Sainte-Marie
Conme un Souffle Fragile
And so mon petit
Took a boat ‘cross the sea
To the countries beyond Acadie
To the Ville Sainte-Marie
In heron country
The young man arrived proud and free.
Isabella Gunn/Farewell to Ireland
My name it is Isabella Gunn, I’m a woman both true and strong
From Orkney’s rugged Isles I come, but now listen unto my song
When I was young I had a lad, as I loved, so he loved me
Poverty made him sell his land to travel across the sea
It was in the summer of eighteen and six, my lover and I set sail
To stay with him I used my wits and my courage it did not fail
In men’s atire I stowed away to join that jolly crew
Side by side we worked each day and only my lover knew
And oh how I loved those rocky cliffs and that windy and treeless shore
And oh how it broke my heart to leave, but I loved my dear one more, one more
But I loved my dear one more.
My love was signed by the Hudson Bay for to be a Voyageur
To map and explore the northern ways, to trade and to transport fur
And if you think I’d be left behind, it’s little you understand
For on the very next line I signed for to do the work of a man
And O how I loved the life we led, though my love and I worked apart
But adventure delighted my very soul and the forest had healed my heart
The company signed me to work three years, and well had I proved my worth
But eighteen months fulfilled my fears and I found that I’d soon give birth.
I hoped that the trees would give me rest but they found me where I lay
With my newborn baby at my breast there was little that I could say.
They sent me downriver to wash the clothes of the men I had worked beside
And though I did well enough I suppose, I felt that I’d rather have died.
The only thing that gave me joy, the baby grew strong and hale
And I looked for the day I’d take my boy and we’d follow that northern trail
Oh how I loved those rocky lakes and the stands of birch and pine
And oh in the spring how my heart turned north for to search out this land of mine
My name it is Isabella Gunn and it’s many long miles I’ve roamed
From Orkney’s rugged Isles I come, now Canada is my home.
For it’s here I’ve come and here I’ll be and Here I’ll find my rest
And my son’s son’s and daughters will follow me in the land that I love the best
Soldier, Soldier, won’t you marry me?/Angelina Baker
Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
With your musket, fife, and drum?
Oh no, sweet maid, I cannot marry thee
For I have no coat to put on
Then up she went to her grandfather’s chest
And got him a coat of the very, very best
She got him a coat of the very, very best
And the soldier put it on
Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
With your musket, fife, and drum?
Oh no, sweet maid, I cannot marry thee
For I have no hat to put on
Then up she went to her grandfather’s chest
And got him a hat of the very, very best
She got him a hat of the very, very best
And the soldier put it on
Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
With your musket, pipe, and drum?
Oh no, sweet maid, I cannot marry thee
For I have no boots to put on
Then up she went to her grandfather’s chest
And got him boots of the very, very best
She got him a pair of the very, very best
And the soldier put them on
Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
With your musket, fife, and drum?
Oh no, sweet maid, I cannot marry thee
For I have no gloves to put on
Then up she went to her grandfather’s chest
And got him gloves of the very, very best
She got him a pair of the very, very best
And the soldier put them on
Now soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
With your musket, fife, and drum?
Oh no, sweet maid, I cannot marry thee
For I have a wife of my own
Tecumseh Valley/Farewell to Whisky
Instrumental
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her
She came from Spencer
Across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
’cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter
She said she’d come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She’d turn those hands to labor
But the times were hard, Lord,
The jobs were few
All through Tecumseh valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally’s
She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her pa had died
The word come down from Spencer
So she turned to whorin’ out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her
They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally’s
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well
Tecumseh valley
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her
Spanish is a Loving Tongue/Santo
With flute
Spanish is the loving tongue,
Soft as music, light as spray:
‘Twas a girl I learned it from,
Living down Sonora way.
I don’t look much like a lover,
Yet I say her love words over,
Often when I’m all alone —
“Mi amor, mi corazón.”
With fiddle
Nights when she knew where I’d ride
She would listen for my spurs,
Fling the big door open wide,
Raise them laughin’ eyes of hers;
And my heart would nigh stop beating
When I heard her tender greeting,
Whispered soft for me alone —
“Mi amor, mi corazón.”
With recorder
Moonlight in the patio,
Old Senora nodding near,
Me and Juana talking low
So the Madre couldn’t hear;
How those hours would go a-flyin’!
And too soon I’d hear her sighin’
In her little sorry tone —
“Adios, mi corazón!”
With all vocals
But one time I had to fly
For a foolish gamblin’ fight,
And we said a swift goodbye
In that black unlucky night.
When I’d loosed her arms from clingin’
With her words the hoofs kept ringin’
As I galloped north alone —
“Adios, mi corazón!”
Everyone
Never seen her since that night —
I can’t cross the Line, you know.
She was Mexican and I was white;
Like as not it’s better so.
Yet I’ve always kind of missed her
Since that last wild night I kissed her;
Left her heart and lost my own —
“Adios, mi corazón!”
Lord of the Dance (Tomorrow will be my dancing day)/Liberty
Steve and Monica:
I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem
I had my birth.
CH: Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he
Laurel:
I danced for the scribe
And the pharisee,
But they would not dance
And they wouldn’t follow me.
I danced for the fishermen,
For James and John
They came with me
And the Dance went on.
CH
Jan:
I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.
CH
Wendy:
I danced on a Friday
When the sky turned black
It’s hard to dance
With the devil on your back.
They buried my body
And they thought I’d gone,
But I am the Dance,
And I still go on.
CH
Paul
They cut me down
And I leapt up high;
I am the life
That’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you
If you’ll live in me –
I am the Lord
Of the Dance, said he.
Travelling Soldier/Lonely Mountain Ways
(In)Two days past eighteen
He was waiting for the bus in his army green
Sat down in a booth in a café there
Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair
He’s a little shy so she give him a smile
And he said would you mind sittin’ down for a while
And talkin’ to me, I’m feeling a little low
She said I’m off in an hour and I know where we can go
So they went down and they sat on the pier
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don’t care
I’ve got no one to send a letter to
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?
CH: I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin’ for the love of a travelin’ soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin’ for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone when the letter said
A soldier’s coming home
So the letters came from an army camp
In California then Vietnam
Ad he told her of his heart
It might be love and all of the things he was so scared of
He said when it’s gettin’ kinda rough over here
I think of that day sittin’ down at the pier
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile
Don’t worry but I won’t be able to write for awhile
CH
One Friday night at a football game
The Lord’s Prayer said and the anthem sang
A man said folks would you bow your heads
For a listed local Vietnam dead
Crying all alone under the stands
Was a piccolo player in the marching band
And one name read and nobody really cared
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair
CH x2
Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang
Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T’was the witch of November come stealin’
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’
Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya
At seven p.m., a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it’s been good to know ya
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors’ cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
Someone to call when I go to bed/ Sonny’s Mazurka
I hit the highway, never done much with my life
Nothing I took to ever stuck for too long
Like an angel she came to this beaten down, done for
Light came from shadows, from darkness a dawn
I was a loner, a leaver, an ugly mistreater
Whoever I knew once had left me for dead
She came in and gave me a reason for living
And someone to call before I go to bed.
Instrumental
I never knew much about Saviors above me
The one thing I knew was I was alone
But then I learned something, that someone could love me
And I’m made of more than just flesh and bone
As I made amends for things I’d done need for
A weight was lifted with each prayer I said
I’m forever grateful for each day and plateful
And someone to call before I go to bed
Instrumental
Now my living is honest and I’m doing my best
Still on the long road down the narrow and straight
My work makes me travel but I keep my tank full
And humbly give thanks for the life that I’ve made
Cause my wife, she gave me a sweet little baby
Three years ago and she looks like her dad
I could be no more proud of the little one I love
And someone to call before I go to bed
Instrumental
Wounded hearts cry, neglected souls die
The sun also rises and the spirit can too
My body is weary, I’m an old man and I see
A lifetime has passed me, I’m leaving here soon
A full life did I have – I am a granddad
Clouds open up, and these last words I said
Tell my family I love them, I’m headed above and
There’s someone to call before I go to bed
Instrumental
Maria Diez/Somos El Barco
Maria Diez was only 9, yet she’s seen enough hard times to last a hundred lifetimes, maybe more
Seen the children die so young, peasants fall beneath the gun
Heard a nation cry for justice in a war
Maria cries to sleep at night, she says she dreams in black and white
Her mother says that colored dreams won’t come before
There is (the stream) freedom in the land
Tyrants are forever banned, and they let us build a nation without war
(The stream sings it to the river, the river sings it to the sea
The sea sings it to the boat that carries you and me)
Somos el barco, somos el mar,
Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi
We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me
Late one night a shot did sound, there were soldiers all around and they searched the village houses for their prey
Maria’s mother did protest, she felt a shot run through her breast
Maria stared in horror where her mother lay
In magazines and on the air they all talk of war down there
Who the reds support and who the yanks are for
But was she (the boat) left or was she right when her mother died that night?
Or was she just another orphan in a war?
(The boat we are sailing in was built by many hands
And the sea we are sailing on, it touches every land)
Somos el barco, somos el mar…
Don’t look for God up in the sky, you can’t see God with closed eyes
They must open to the wounds that ache below
To see that they too have a chance, a chance to live, a chance to dance
A chance to dream in colors bright with freedom’s glow
Somos el barco, somos el mar…
So with our hopes we set the sails
And face the winds once more
And with our hearts we chart the waters never sailed before
Somos el barco, somos el mar,
Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi
We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me
Mennofolk Music 