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Tuesday, 21 November 2006 14:59 |
| John North
Editor & Publisher |
"If I had a hammer
Iëd hammer in the morning
Iëd hammer in the evening
All over this land
Iëd hammer out danger
Iëd hammer out a warning
Iëd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land."
ÇƒÓ "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)"
By Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
ï
BREVARD
ÇƒÓ "The Work oë the Weavers," featuring a quartet performing the songs
of The Weavers, the popular and influential leftist folk music group of
the 1940s and ǃÚ50s, skillfully juxtaposed a repertoire of mostly
high-spirited labor and protest songs with a recounting of a
particularly dark period in American history.
Despite
monsoon-like rains and wind, about 150 people packed the sanctuary of
Brevardës Unitarian Universalist Congregation for the sold-out
performance last Wednesday night. After the encore ÇƒÓ "Goodnight Irene"
ÇƒÓ the tribute group received a rousing standing ovation from the mainly
older audience.
The Weavers,
founded by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in 1947, were placed under FBI
surveillance and blacklisted by the U.S. government during the Joseph
McCarthy era of the early ǃÚ50s, going from the top of the charts to
losing their record contract and eventually breaking up.
The group
reportedly was targeted because of its history of singing protest songs
and folk songs favoring labor unions, as well as for the leftist
political beliefs of the individuals in the group. In 1955, the band
regrouped and, with anti-communist concerns ebbing, regained its
popularity.
Today, the songs
of Seeger and The Weavers remain highly influential in the music world
ÇƒÓ most recently evidenced by the release last spring of a Bruce
Springsteen album, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions."
The Weavers are
credited with introducing traditional folk and labor songs to a popular
audience. The name came from an 1892 drama of the same name by Gerhart
Hauptmann. The Weavers helped to inspire the commercial folk music boom
that followed them in the 1950s and ǃÚ60s, including groups such as the
Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary.
Seeger has
described "The Work oë the Weavers" as "four wonderful people whoëve
picked up where The Weavers left off. Fantastic!"
However, despite
generally rousing lead vocals, tight harmonies and sometimes impressive
musicianship, the tribute band seemed a tad too well-rehearsed, too
stiff and too old to accurately portray The Weavers, who, the joke
went, often held their rehearsals on stage in front of their audience.
As is usually
the case in such tribute shows, the audience received a history lesson
that struck me as a pointedly one-sided depiction of The Weavers. Were
they really flawless, pure-hearted lovers of humanity who were
victimized by a misguided government for their idealistic beliefs?
The Weavers, as
good as they were, surely were not gods, but those attending this
traveling show would never know otherwise, without a little research on
their own.
Jean Rowe of
Brevardës UUC introduced the group, noting that "The Work oë The
Weavers" has toured the nation and the planet for four years, including
a performance in Israel in May. "When Brevard made the list" of venues
at which the show would perform, she said, "I think thatës great!"
The tribute band
includes James Durst (vocals and guitar), David Bernz (vocals, banjo
and guitar), Mark Murphy (vocals and upright bass) and Martha Sandefer
(vocals). Bernz was absent and an understudy, for whom I failed to
catch the name, filled in for him.
The show began with "When the Saints Go Marching In," followed by a sing-along, "On Top of Old Smokey."
The narration,
which rotated among the group members, noted that the band that
popularized the aforementioned two songs eventually got blacklisted by
the government, although it now "seems hard to believe.
"The story of
how it all began for The Weavers goes back to the 1930s, when the
nation was in the midst of the Great Depression, with breadlines in New
York and Chicago and marches in Washington."
Seeger dropped
out of Harvard University and went to work at the Library of Congress,
categorizing folk songs. While there, Seeger learned from Woody Guthrie
"how to put words to music" and, eventually, "how to ride the rails."
Seeger and Hays
formed the Almanac Singers in 1941, with Guthrie and Millard Lampell.
The group sang about peace and labor unions. Alas, after Adolf Hitler
attacked his neighboring countries, the group lost half its repertoire
ÇƒÓ its peace songs, a narrator recounted.
When the
Alamanac Singers broke up, Seeger and Hays founded The Weavers, with
Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman. Their first big hit came in 1949
with Leadbellyës "Goodnight Irene," backed by the 1941 Israeli folk
song, "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena."
Interestingly,
the showës narration noted that Seeger and Hays were near-opposites.
While Seeger could envision people around the world holding hands, Hays
would say that, if that were to happen, "clearly three-fifths would
drown." Seeger was described as having a New England puritanical
streak, while Hays was a prodigal son of the South.
Of the 40 or so
songs performed, I was most moved by "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "The
Lion Sleeps Tonight," "If I Had a Hammer," "Wasnët That a Time!" and
"This Land Is Your Land."
Having recently
written a column here about the saga of the song, "The Lion Sleeps
Tonight," I enjoyed the narration that took to task The Tokensë 1960së
megahit that included 10 words that were not in the original ÇƒÓ "In the
jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight." There are no
jungles in South Africa, where the song was set, and lions are not
jungle animals, a narrator noted.
Also, I learned
from the show that "This Land Is Your Land," written by Woody Guthrie
in 1940 and made popular by The Weavers in the mid-1950s, was a
response to Irving Berlinës "God Bless America," which Guthrie
considered unrealistic and complacent.
Despite a few
flaws, this revue of The Weavers made for a musically entertaining
evening, with a slant on history worth examining further.
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