Summary

A history of American folk songs and their origins, written and staged by Bob Herget under the musical direction of John Lesko, narrated and performed by Al Carmines and a group of musicians: eight singers, two pianists, bass and drums. Traces the influence of British, of blacks, and of the effect of the Westward expansion and wars. Includes: "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Suzanna Don't You Cry," "St. Louis Blues", "Barbara Allan", Merle Haggard's song on the death of Elvis Presley "Faith in Jesus", "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", "I Am Going to Glory", "I'm Talkin' about Devil Crabs", "Here Come de Honey Man", "A Tisket a Tasket", "Ole Stewball", "Turkey in the Straw" changed by the blacks into "Ole Zip Coon", "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord", "Green Grow the Lilacs", "Yellow Rose of Texas", "Love, Oh Careless Love", "If I was Whiskey", "Oh Didn't He Ramble", "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", "I Saw the Light", "Jesus is a Soul Man", "Salty Dog", Medley of sailor's songs: "The Prettiest Girl I Ever Saw", "What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor", "It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song", "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". 1978. Al Carmines as narrator and performer, along with eight singers, bass, drums, performs and dramatizes various ballads and folk songs from America's past and still present. 2:00 Carmines gives history of American folk songs. 3:00 Medley of Lullabies (first sounds the baby hears.) 0:33, 0:13, 0:09, 0:20, 0:34 "Yankee Doodle Dandy" written in 1755 by British Army officer to ridicule Americans is sung in five versions. "Comin' Through the Rye" 1:00 "Suzanna Don't You Cry" (Stephen Foster). All the singers and dancers perform this "production number." 4:00 Handy's St. Louis Blues. Al Carmines sings and plays the piano; a black woman dramatizes the words; the sequence turns into a medley of blues -- "Let my Jelly Roll," "Blonde Headed Woman", and "Ashes to Ashes." 4:22 "Barbara Allan" medley of different words to same traditional tune, dramatized with sets and costumes. (Point of this section is to show how the "penny broadside" was a musical news sheet.) 2:50 Merle Haggard's song on the death of Elvis Presley "Faith in Jesus" (The point here is to tie the folk song into the news broadside and current events.) Al Carmines, Patti Allison, Reathel Bean, Judy Gibson, Gwendolyn Nelson Fleming, Karl Heist, Vickie Patik, Gene Varrone, Ronald Young