Raised by folkies

More songs from my childhood

I am (hopefully) starting to recover from my first case of COVID, which I say in a transparent bid for sympathy¹ because I’m writing again on a set of music which is unfamiliar (and perhaps uninteresting) for many of my readers; continuing my reflections on childhood memories of music.

My parents were involved in the local folk music scene. When I was growing up it was common, when friends would visit, that they would chat for a while and then start playing music. I appreciated it, but I wasn’t really involved. I wasn’t particularly musically inclined and, I think, having it as such a central part of life made me develop other interests that gave me my own space. So I would hang out for a while, on the edge of the rug, listening, and then head back to my room to read 3-2-1 Contact magazines.

It wasn’t until High School (somewhat) and (even more so) college that I started listening to more music on my own. I felt like I had space to explore my own tastes without feeling like I was in the shadow of other people. I hadn’t spent much time listening to music on the radio (why would I) so at that point I was more-or-less starting from scratch when it came to popular music. I happily picked up a lot of Rock and Pop classics and enjoyed getting into them.

But, the older I get the more I find myself being drawn back to those childhood memories. So a few weeks ago I created a playlist of songs that reflect that music. A couple of them came out after that time period, but most of them are songs I have specific memories of and they all take me back to that spirit of sitting on the rug listening to my parents’ friends².

I have made an effort to sequence the playlist to provide a good flow. In general it starts with more fun/clever songs and moves to lullabies at the end. It’s a mix of traditional songs and ones that were in that folk scene in the early 80s (the opening track proves that there’s nothing new about complaints that children are attracted to devices; though it has an optimistic ending).

There are a couple of specific children’s songs (“the shirt song”, “skin”) but mostly they fit my sense of folk music crossing age ranges. Many of these are songs that are fun to sing, and that’s true for children or adults. There are some joking references to nuclear war (”Their Brains Were Small”) or murder and cannibalism (”The Ballad of Alferd Packer”) just to keep it entertaining.

A few additional notes about specific tracks:

Track 1:“Hi-Fi Stereo Color TV” — This didn’t start out as the opener. I knew this playlist would be a stretch for some listeners, I wanted to start out with something engaging and “Place In The Choir” had the advantage of offering a performer that people have heard of, but I liked this song, and Rosalie Sorrels performance so much it pushed it’s way to the front.

Track 3: “Ballad Of Alferd Packer” — This one also displaced another song; I’d planned to include “Days Of ‘49” but they were similar enough it didn’t make sense to use both, and I had to keep this one to show a light-hearted side of Phil Ochs. The recording is from a collection of demos for Broadside magazine. You can tell that the song isn’t fully polished, but his is writing is still so fluid.

Tracks 5/6: A thematic connection between “Shirt” and “Skin”

Tracks 7/8: Another thematic connection; two songs about appreciating community.

Track 10 “Train On The Island”: It’s been a long time since I’ve made a playlist and it’s always interesting how the process reveals elements of the music that I wouldn’t think about otherwise. In particular paying attention to the transitions means that some songs, which are otherwise good, just don’t play well with others — the create an emotional space that’s hard to transition out of. By contrast this is both an excellent recording and a song I found very helpful in sequencing. It’s good enough to stand up to following a great song, and also easily pass the listener on to the next track.

Tracks 13/14/15: The one part of the sequence I have some qualms about. I wanted to include all of these songs, the recordings are all good, but they’re each slightly more “professional” than the mood I had in mind. These are songs which one could easily sing along with, but the recording doesn’t invite that. I’m still glad to share all of them.

Tracks 16/17/18: Hopefully a treat for anyone who makes it to the end, three lovely lullabies. I have strong memories of all of them, and I think they’re beautiful.

1. My case has felt like a serious flu. I’ve been this sick before, but it’s been a while, and it’s unpleasant.

2. I have felt free to pick whichever recording feels most interesting, or reflects that mood since, in most case, I didn’t learn the song from a recording.