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

[buhrger]

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.
the existence (and, by this point the proliferation) of recorded music has changed (is changing) the ways that people interact with music in HUGE ways, many of them deletirious

[ironymaiden]

the other thing that caught my attention today is that there's a commercial for Rhapsody right now that is mostly an interview with Eric Clapton. he talks about how he and his friends would sit and listen to entire albums. no talking, no doing other stuff. a rarity now. of course, not many folks listening to LPs anyway.

Legitimate Pharmaceuticals. Leprous Perjurers. Long Protrubances.

[buhrger]

indeed. i still own two or three vinyl platters, but (a) i have no idea where they are and (b) i lack proper playback technology. (and (c), they're crappy stuff i bought when i was 13, and i wouldn't want to listen to them now.)

Re: Legitimate Pharmaceuticals. Leprous Perjurers. Long Protrubances.

[ironymaiden]

i have a nice turntable, but the cover is all dusty from lack of use. i have a variety of mostly curiosities, like my brother's copy of In Through the Out Door where he let preschool me do the paint-with-water inner jacket.