Bob Dylan & Joan Baez In Concert, Convention Hall, Philadelphia. March 5, 1965. By John Rudoff.

Bob Dylan & Joan Baez In Concert, Convention Hall, Philadelphia. March 5, 1965. By John Rudoff.

little song rec for this morning

Elizabeth Cotten - Euphoria Tavern, Portland, Oregon, February 19, 1975

American genius Elizabeth Cotten was born at the tail-end of the 19th century, but she thankfully lived a long life. And in 1975, at the age of 82, she was in Portland, playing her guitar and banjo and singing her classic songs for a small-but-very-appreciative crowd. Originally broadcast on KBOO-FM, this show features plenty of Cotten's hugely influential fingerpicking, charmingly rambling monologues and singalongs that will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.

Elizabeth Says: I just loved to play. That used to be all I’d do. I’d sit up late at night and play. My mama would say to me, “Sis, put that thing down and go to bed.” “Alright, Mama, just as soon as I finish—let me finish this.” Well, by me keep playing, you see, she’d go back to sleep and I’d sit up thirty minutes or longer than that after she’d tell me to stop playing. Sometimes I’d near play all night if she didn’t wake up and tell me to go to bed. That’s when I learned to play, ’cause then when I learned one little tune, I’d be so proud of that, that I’d want to learn another. Then I’d just keep sitting up trying. I tried hard to play, I’m telling you. I worked for what I’ve got. I really did work for it.

PS - A snippet of this performance was released a while back on a 7-inch with the great Marisa Anderson on the flipside. Go grab the digital version to support KBOO!

“This is one thing I feel is a driving force: that I get so repelled by certain things -- or they strike me as funny -- or weird or strange -- or ridiculous -- and my response comes out in the form of a song. And there is one thing that helps carry me through: this close identification with the problems of the world where things like Vietnam go on. And as I said before, it's not enough to know the world is absurd and restrict yourself merely to pointing out that fact. To me this was the essential flaw of the fifties, great perception leading to inaction. If there is to be any hope for the world this perception must lead to action. [...] I often laugh at myself and many times consider my role ridiculous, but still I am forced to go on. Because the ugly fact is ingrained in my mind that if I don't go on the world will be left to the hands of the Hitlers, the McCarthys and Johnsons. I like to bring in the great Greek writer Katzenakis to illustrate this point. He says it is wrong to expect a reward for your struggle. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. In other words, even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.”

– Phil Ochs in an interview with Broadside Magazine (issue #63, Oct. 15, 1965)

Song of the day

do you want to know the history of a folk song? submit an ask or dm me and I'll cover it

"Irene (Goodnight, Irene)"

Lead Belly, 1933

this song was covered by many artists, but my favorite is the most notable cover: this one by the Weavers

The Weavers' version is incredibly important to the history of folk music, as it was their most popular song in 1948 (and the first no. charting single in the folk music genre), and helped kick them off into popularity before they were blacklisted just 2 years later.

'Wool waulking is a traditional Scottish process of finishing and strengthening newly woven woolen fabrics. It is a significant social and cultural activity, often carried out by women in the Highlands of Scotland. The Gaelic songs that are sung during waulking have a distinctive rhythmic pattern that aids in synchronising the work.'

(Video and text via Inverness Outlanders)