Listen to the Mockingbird : American Folksongs and Popular Music Lyrics of the 19th Century

by Messerli, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9781892295200
• ISBN10: 1892295202
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-18
• Publisher: Green Integer Books

Summary

In this important new collection, editor Douglas Messerli has collected 78 lyrics of American folksongs and popular music from the 19th century. Some of these songs, particularly the African-American spirituals, the chanteys, and the cowboy songs, are beautiful paeans to the American way of living. But the vast majority, especially the minstrel songs and the Civil War ballads, are often perverse in their racial humor and sexual undertones. These lyrics reveal that some of our favorite American song classics are highly representative of the wild and open wilderness - both energizing and more than a little frightening - of the American landscape. From the patriotically conceived "America" of 1832 to the rebelliously insistent "I'll Marry the Man I Love" of 1897, the songs in this volume reveal the vast range of the American people and their ways of living. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Folksongs (anonymous and traditional)
All God's Chillun Got Wings	19	(2)
Bought Me a Cat	21	(4)
Carry Me Back to Green Pastures	25	(1)
Coming 'Round the Mountain	26	(2)
The Drunken Sailor	28	(2)
Ezekiel's Wheel	30	(1)
Go Down, Moses	31	(4)
I've Been Working on the Railroad	35	(2)
Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho	37	(1)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen	38	(1)
The Old Chisholm Trail	39	(4)
Polly Wolly Doodle	43	(3)
Red River Valley	46	(2)
Roll Jordan, Roll	48	(1)
Shenandoah	49	(3)
Short'nin' Bread	52	(2)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot	54	(1)
Popular Music
America (1832)	55	(3)
Zip Coon (Turkey in the Straw) (1834)	58	(4)
Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep (1840)	62	(2)
We Won't Go Home Till Morning (1842)	64	(2)
Buffalo Gals (1844)	66	(2)
Jim Crack Corn (1846)	68	(3)
Simple Gifts (1848)	71	(2)
Susanna (Oh! Susanna) (1848)	73	(3)
De Camptown Races (1850)	76	(3)
Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) (1851)	79	(2)
Wait for the Wagon (1851)	81	(2)
My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night (1853)	83	(3)
Hard Times Come Again No More (1854)	86	(3)
Listen to the Mockingbird (1855)	89	(3)
Some Folks (1855)	92	(2)
Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh (1857)	94	(3)
The Yellow Rose of Texas (1858)	97	(3)
Dixie (1859)	100	(2)
Old Black Joe (1860)	102	(2)
Aura Lee (1861)	104	(3)
The Battle-Cry of Freedom (1861)	107	(3)
Battle Hymn of the Republic (1862)	110	(3)
Grafted into the Army (1862)	113	(3)
Beautiful Dreamer (1862)	116	(2)
Just Before the Battle, Mother (1862)	118	(2)
Kingdom Coming (Year of Jubilo) (1862)	120	(3)
Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground (1863)	123	(4)
All Quiet Along the Potomac (1863)	127	(4)
The Arkansas Traveler (1863)	131	(2)
Kissing in the Dark (1863)	133	(4)
My Wife Is a Most Knowing Woman (1863)	137	(3)
There Are Plenty of Fish in the Sea (1863)	140	(2)
When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1863)	142	(2)
Der Deitcher's Dog (1864)	144	(2)
Shall We Gather at the River? (Beautiful River) (1864)	146	(3)
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (1864)	149	(2)
Jeff in Petticoats (1865)	151	(4)
Marching Through Georgia (1865)	155	(3)
Goober Peas (1866)	158	(3)
The Little Brown Jug (1869)	161	(3)
Shew Fly Don't Bother Me (1869)	164	(2)
Sweet Genevieve (1869)	166	(2)
Reuben and Rachel (1871)	168	(2)
Silver Threads Among the Gold (1873)	170	(3)
Bringing in the Sheaves (1874)	173	(3)
Grandfather's Clock (1876)	176	(4)
Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (1878)	180	(4)
Oh, Dem Golden Slippers! (1879)	184	(3)
In the Evening by the Moonlight (1880)	187	(2)
Ring Dem Heavenly Bells (1883)	189	(3)
My Thoughts Are of Thee (1884)	192	(2)
Clementine (1885)	194	(6)
Johnny Get Your Gun (1886)	200	(3)
There Is a Tavern in the Town (1891)	203	(2)
After the Ball (1892)	205	(3)
Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two) (1892)	208	(3)
The Sidewalks of New York (1894)	211	(3)
The Band Played On (1895)	214	(3)
A Hot Time in the Old Town (1896)	217	(3)
Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1896)	220	(2)
I'll Marry the Man I Love (1897)	222