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Author Topic: Songs of the WWI era  (Read 16002 times)

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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #40 on: September 18, 2015, 06:54:57 AM »

Entry #10 is among the most famous WWI songs, in this country at least: the 1918 Irving Berlin hit "Oh! How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning."

http://youtu.be/WA2v4P06OVc

One grows to appreciate Berlin's range as a songwriter: accompanied on concertina, this one could almost have come out of Colm O Lochlainn's "Irish Street Ballads." Details, as usual, are a click away:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17935&page=4#entry172380.

Bob Michel
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #41 on: September 22, 2015, 04:22:15 PM »

The eleventh song in this little anthology, "America, Here's My Boy," is a bit of pro-war propaganda from early 1917, which pointedly alludes to the 1915 anti-war classic "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be a Soldier" (recorded earlier in the series):

http://youtu.be/qKK41zQ3Puo

Additional discussion at:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17935&page=4#entry172509

Bob Michel
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #42 on: September 25, 2015, 09:36:43 PM »

Number 12: Back to the home front, and to 1915, for the irresistibly named "When It's Orange Blossom Time in Loveland, I'll Be Waiting at the Church for You."

http://youtu.be/TSPHFcUhMKU

Details at:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17935&page=5#entry172624

Bob Michel
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #43 on: September 25, 2015, 11:50:45 PM »

.

    Lovely ::)
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #44 on: September 26, 2015, 01:13:29 AM »

.

    Lovely ::)

Oh, I've heard worse songs.

Probably not all the way through. But I know I've heard them.

Bob Michel
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #45 on: September 30, 2015, 06:18:59 PM »

With entry #13 we return to some better-known repertoire, and to a timeless question, with "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm...?" (1919):

Further remarks are at:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17935&page=5#entry172785

Bob Michel
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #46 on: October 06, 2015, 07:10:16 PM »

More WWI-era concertinizing. Entry #14 is W.C. Handy's "Yellow Dog Blues" (1919):

http://youtu.be/eFm023F8I8k

First (and unsuccessfully) published in 1915 as the "Yellow Dog Rag," it marks the waning of one big popular craze and the advent of what would prove to be a much bigger (and longer-lived) one.

Further details:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17935&page=5#entry172907

Bob Michel
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jack

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #47 on: October 11, 2015, 01:12:30 PM »

Hi Bob

Here’s one you might not have heard - my singing partner Alison’s friend found in a charity shop a couple of years back! Hope you like it, here's the rest of the text..

On his second day's leave, on his second day's leave, he'd every kind of sport you could conceive!
The man next door who always met him in town at the station
Had eaten pickled onions 'til his voice had inflammation
So Tommy put his gas-mask on to hear the conversation!
On his second day home on leave!

On his third day’s leave, on his third day’s leave, he'd every kind of sport you could conceive!
He started drinking whisky till it swelled his khaki figure
He even poured it down his gun and rammed it with his jigger
Then gave it to a man and said ‘For God’s sake pull the trigger!’
On his third day home on leave!

On his fourth.. etc.
The neighbours asked him how he got his wound at Chateau Gully
So he explained they always his the part exposed most fully
They all guessed where it was, ‘cos he was stooping for his bully
On his fourth day home on leave!

On his fifth.. etc.
He wed his girl in church and then he took her to the racecourse
That night he kept his spurs on crying ‘Tally-ho!’ with great force
She said ‘Am I your wife or do you think that I’m a racehorse?!’
On his fifth day home on leave!

On his sixth day’s leave, on his sixth day’s leave, they gave a little concert to relieve!
They sang ‘The Death Of Nelson’ and a song called ‘Life Is Ending’
‘The Collier’s Dying Child’ and ‘Mother’s Grave, Sweet Flowers We’re Sending’
He said ‘Is this a concert or an inquest I’m attending?!’
On his sixth day home on leave!

On his seventh day’s leave, on his seventh day’s leave, he'd every kind of sport you could conceive!
He couldn’t find his trousers and the train, he daren’t detain it
His wife said ‘I know what to do!’ and whispered to explain it
So he went back with silk stockings with suspenders and a bay’net!
On his seventh day’s home on leave!
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Theo

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #48 on: October 11, 2015, 01:48:02 PM »

Is there any free reed content on this topic now?
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Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

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Chris Ryall

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #49 on: October 11, 2015, 02:05:35 PM »

Aaaw, Theo!   ::)  Just click the links …  any of Bob's posts ;)

Singing with Melodeon or any squeezebox isn't easy, as I've found out and many threads here have attested.
It would be a shame IMO to lock out something that offers success in this field of 'free reed' artistry :|glug
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #50 on: October 11, 2015, 03:11:00 PM »

Is there any free reed content on this topic now?

It's a concertina thing (as explained in the original post), the teens of the last century being to my mind a sort of high-water mark for that instrument. The point is not just to recreate the old songs (as enjoyable as that is), but to do so while exploring the possibilities of free reed accompaniment, as it might have been used in that day.

I've only cross-posted here from www.concertina.net to encourage discussion (and maybe even participation) among members who might also be concertinists, period enthusiasts or both. If that initiative seems too remote from this forum's more proper concerns, then please feel free to delete the thread.

Bob Michel
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #51 on: October 11, 2015, 03:23:40 PM »

Here’s one you might not have heard

Jack--

Many thanks for that; no, I've never heard it, in fact. Do you know of a period source and/or tune for it?

It's not lost on me that my own little repertoire of WWI songs draws heavily on home front material, as opposed to authentic soldiers' songs (though there are a few of the latter in the pipeline). Obviously the bellicose fantasies of Tin Pan Alley had nearly nothing to do with the experience of the men who fought. In fact much of the popular songs' poignancy, for me, derives from their cluelessness. But to my mind a song that actually came out of the trenches is worth fifty of the Tin Pan Alley sort.

Bob Michel
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jack

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #52 on: October 11, 2015, 03:40:49 PM »

Hi Bob

Sorry should've said - the tune, chords, verse and first chorus are on the attached pdf file.
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Bob Michel

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #53 on: October 11, 2015, 03:44:34 PM »

Hi Bob

Sorry should've said - the tune, chords, verse and first chorus are on the attached pdf file.

Got it; thanks! The tablet I'm using had balked at opening that file. But I'll check it out on the computer at the first opportunity.

Bob Michel
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jack

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #54 on: October 11, 2015, 03:52:28 PM »

The source btw was a published song sheet of the era, that I haven't seen. Alison and I did it a couple of times with a D/G.
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Scotty Gring

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #55 on: February 13, 2019, 02:56:21 AM »

This might be my favorite new thread (hell, they're all new to me).  I am addicted to 1920s early jazz, dixieland and tin pan alley stuff.  I listen to the 40s junction on satellite radio and it amazes me how so much of the big band stuff of the late 30s/early 40s was just amped up early 20th century stuff.  I hear it and always think about how it would translate to the accordion.  Definitely staying tuned on this one...
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Phil Howard

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #56 on: February 15, 2019, 08:30:36 AM »

John Kirkpatrick’s “Songs from the trenches” covers similar ground, with plentiful free reeds to accompany the singing, so may be of interest to those who’re unfamiliar.
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Jesse Smith

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #57 on: February 15, 2019, 02:07:40 PM »

John Kirkpatrick’s “Songs from the trenches” covers similar ground, with plentiful free reeds to accompany the singing, so may be of interest to those who’re unfamiliar.

I definitely second the recommendation; it's a great record. A bit less "folk/trad" than his usual repertoire but maybe not so far from the music hall stuff that he did with Umps and Dumps, etc. Some very funny songs on this record, too.
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Frank Pallister

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #58 on: February 15, 2019, 06:59:31 PM »

one of the best known parodies was the moon shines bright on charlie Chaplin to the tune of red wing
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Peadar

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Re: Songs of the WWI era
« Reply #59 on: February 16, 2019, 02:41:27 PM »

Quote
Lillibulero (sp?) is a tune of the era (and probably older)  and was sung to by the WWI soldiery,

Lillibulero? wasn't that was the marching song of Butcher Cumberland's red army? c.1745.
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