The songfinder: a reader-assisted song search service

ANSWERS

Henry Finkelstein has submitted an additional reference for WOODY GUTHRIE'S APPEARANCES ON RADIO requested by John (v.49#3), namely a 1982 Radiola LP #1133 entitled Folk Music Radio (Music Series #16, Release #133). Included are (1) a 10/10/47 Hootenanny program with Woody, "Beanpole" Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Hally Wood, Sidney Bechet, Cisco Houston and others, hosted by John Henry Faulk and produced by Alan Lomax; and (2) an 8/19/40 Back Where I Come From program with Woody, The Golden Gate Quartet, Josh White and Burl Ives, hosted by Clifton Fadiman and written in part by Alan Lomax. The address for Radiola at that time was Box C, Sandy Hook, CT 06482. My brother, Jay Hickerson, has identified Dave Golden as the owner of Radiola and suggests that Dave Siegel (<otrdsiegel@verizon.net>) might know of his current whereabouts.

Brin Joy Swank has added the answers for Kathy Carder's quest for TOMORROW (v.49,#1,#2,#3) with a sighting of the song performed on an episode of The Muppet Show starring Rita Marino. "It's available on VHS and DVD, and you can find their version of the lyrics at <members.tripod.com/ tiny_dancer/train.html>." And I was delighted to hear the Irish version sung at Common Ground on the Hill this past July by Scottish singer Paul Creighton.

QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

Michael Spear seeks the words of DIDN'T (Didn') OLD (OI') JOHN (Cross the Water On His Knees) which he has from a Pete Seeger Concert at Town Hall recording from the 1960s. I located them in The Bells of Rhymney and Other Songs and Stories from the Singing of Pete Seeger (Oak Publications, 1964), as well as in John A. and Alan Lomax's Our Singing Country (Macmillan, 1941), where it is transcribed from the singing of "Negro convicts, Reed Camp, S.C., 1934." In autumn 1957 I saw Pete perform it at a concert at Oberlin College where he actually chopped a log during the process. (Fortunately, no one was injured by flying chips.) And guess who got to help him carry the log to the concert from a nearby wooded area? Yep, none other than yours truly.

Debra wants a song with the following: "I got those worried blues / Oh, I got trouble on my mind." These lines hark back to THE WORRIED BLUES, which we described in the v.47#2 edition of this column as recorded by Aunt Samantha Bumgarner on 4/23/24 and issued on a 78 rpm disc by Columbia in October of that year. The flip side, "Georgia Blues," appears to be further verses of the same song, or vice-versa. Guthrie Meade's superbly annotated biblio-discography of such items lists both sides as variations of "Lonesome Road Blues." Art Rosenbaum, from whom I learned the song in part some 40+ years ago, reports that it is on his relatively new CD The Georgia Banjo Blues (Global Village #313). Bill recalls its appearance on a Michael Cooney LP, which Bennet Zurofsky identifies as The Cheese Stands Alone on Folk-Legacy (#35). Manfred Helfert reports a Bob Dylan version on an April 1962 outtake which was later issued on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, and learned from the book 110 American Folk Blues, which in turn references a Stinson LP by Hally Wood. A full discussion of these matters can be found on pp. 124-126 of Todd Harvey's The Formative Dylan: Transmission and Stylistic Influences, 1961-1963 (Scarecrow Press, 2001). The second line cited above has led Dottie Gutenkauf to mention another song, "Trouble in Mind," recorded by Chippie Hill and others, and by Aretha Franklin in more recent times (this last comes from Gerben de Vries).

Jack Beard sent in a plea for SONGS ABOUT WOODY GUTHRIE to play on his radio program. He already had a new one by Son Volt beginning, "The words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head," as well as Steve Earle's "Christmas in Washington" with the line "Come back Woody Guthrie." The following suggestions arrived by e-mail (from the following contributors): Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody" (Dan Morgan); Phil Ochs' "Bound for Glory" (Scott Atkinson); "Ashes on the Sea" by Utah Phillips (Rob Lopresti); two CDs by Joel Rafael Band, Woodeye on Inside Recordings (2003) and Woodyboye on Appleseed (2005); and the new Tom Russell CD (Ken S.). Jack sent his thanks to all and reported that he also ended up playing the following: "Where Have All the Heroes Gone" by Carl Cacho; "Talkin' New York" by Bob Dylan; "Snow Outside the Mill" by Bill Morrissey (early live version); "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen; "Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce and Dan Blues" by Dan Bern; and "Troubadour Blues" by Mark Erelli.

The above request led to Bea Lieberman's query for a recording of Utah Phillips' ASHES ON THE SEA. Sing Out! Editor Mark Moss cut to the source with <utahphillips.org/ audiosongbook.html>. Jack Beard recalled it recorded by Rosalie Sorrels and Mike Regenstreif specified it as being on her Miscellaneous Abstract Record No. 1 (Green Linnet) and added Kendall Morse on Beginner's Luck (Outer Green) and Ed Trickett on People Like You (Folk-Legacy).