Posted on 09/03/2016 9:50:23 AM PDT by EveningStar
Fred Hellerman, a singer, guitarist and songwriter and the last surviving member of the Weavers, the quartet that in the 1950s helped usher in the folk music revival, died on Thursday at his home in Weston, Conn. He was 89...
With songs like “If I Had a Hammer,” “Goodnight Irene” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” the Weavers brought folk music to a mass audience, paving the way for singers like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary, who galvanized a young, politically conscious audience in the 1960s.
Mr. Hellerman’s mellow baritone, rock-steady guitar and songwriting talent made him a pillar of the group, whose other members were Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Ronnie Gilbert. Mr. Hays died in 1981, Mr. Seeger in 2014 and Ms. Gilbert in 2015...
After Mr. Seeger was labeled a Communist by the influential publication “Red Channels in 1952, and an F.B.I. informant made the same charge against Mr. Hellerman and Ms. Gilbert, it became impossible for the group to perform on radio and television, or at most concert halls...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“With songs like “If I Had a Hammer,” “Goodnight Irene” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” the Weavers brought folk music to a mass audience,”
They butchered Leadbelly’s Goodnight Irene! It was not a love song! Not even close!
I asked your mother for you
She told me that you was too young
I wish to the Lord I’d never seen your face
or heard your lying tongue
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene
I’ll see you in my dreams
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in the town
Sometimes I have a great notion
to jump into the river and drown
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene
I’ll see you in my dreams
Stop ramblin’, stop your gamblin’
stop stayin’ out late at night
Go home to your wife and your family
sit down by the fireside bright
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene
I’ll see you in my dreams
I love Irene God knows I do
love her till the sea run dry
And if Irene turns her back on me
I’m gonna take morphine and die
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene
I’ll see you in my dreams
Songwriters:
Publisher:
Powered by LyricFind
Harvey Matusow testified to the Feds about the Weavers and identified about 75 other commies. In England he and his friends recorded an album called War Between Fats and Thins Harvey Matusow’s Jews Harp Band. 1969. They were tripping on acid and played what are now called Jaws Harps while speaking what could be called poetry. In terms of London counter culture the album was reasonably funny. On a Christmas Eve day in London, the hookers decided to quit work for a day and go over to Harvey’s apartment to watch a Jesus Christ special on Harvey’s TV. And supposedly the commies in the States forgave Harvey for the truth telling concerning the U.S. Congressional testimony. I wonder what Frank Zappa would have said about the commies in the USA!
From Reason magazine, October 2016:
"On being offered a lot of money to play an event hosted by French Communists, he said, 'F*** the Communists. I don't like those people.' "
I guess there won’t be a reunion now.
He liked Susie Creamcheese.
She started out as just a voice on the albums, but the concert-goers kept calling for her, so he took along a girl to play her on tour.
May the angels sing him home
Thanks MUDDOG, I am glad to hear that FZ did not like the commies. FZ always did seem to admire the spirit of the individual.
I doubt angels would want anything to do with any of them. They were anti-church communists.
Kinda macabre, like hixploitation.
“Stop ramblin’, stop your gamblin’
stop stayin’ out late at night
Go home to your wife and your family
sit down by the fireside bright”
Advice to the men in the general audience, or is this Irene something that we don’t quite understand?
Oh, how we at the NYT revere our aged communist forecomrades....
And like so many American communists he grew up in comfortable circumstances, in his case in Chevy Chase.
LOL
Id i had a hammer i’d smash Hillary’s cell phones...
Neither you nor I know I’m whate state he passed
\Edit:
If i had a hammer i’d smash hillary’s cell phones.
Are they the ones who sang that song that says something about, “I don’t give a damn about the Yankee dollar”?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.