steel drivin' man

[ironymaiden]

a week or two ago, we went to happy hour at People's Pub, and were surprised to hear John Henry playing. the vocalist seemed familiar, but we couldn't quite place it. C tracked it down: Bruce Springsteen recorded an album of Pete Seeger tunes.

i never liked Springsteen much (overexposure to Born in the USA as a sprout) but most of these songs are ones my father sang to me or part of my early schooling. i loved the John Henry story as a child, and today i found a tear in my eye as i listened to the ballad.

i wonder what will become folk songs in fifty years, or if our reliance on recordings will have entirely erased this part of American culture.

Comments

[pixxelpuss.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Folk has essentially become just another genre rather than sort of the defacto genre of the people (although, is it possible to have anything be defacto of the people with such a heterogenous society?).

I think sailors still sing sea shanties, but I could just be deluding myself.