That's Why We're Marching: WWII and the American Folk Song Movement

by THAT'S WHY WE'RE MARCHING / VAR

Overview

Fifteen of the 25 tracks on this 71-minute disc are previously unreleased and the rest are not easily available. That's no reflection on their quality, but it is a clue to their limited typicality: these are songs written and recorded in the first half of the 1940s in response to world events before and during World War II; after the war, they dated fast. In fact, some of them became obsolete even before the U.S. entered the war. The earliest songs are three tracks by the Almanac Singers (who included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others) from the spring of 1941 decrying the actions of the Franklin Roosevelt Administration that inclined the country toward the war. When the songs were recorded, they expressed a commonly held sentiment. But only a couple of months later, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the singers themselves repudiated their sentiments, and another six months later, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they seemed positively treasonous. The rest of the album's songs are patriotic, pro-war expressions of the need to overcome Hitler and win the war. But even amid such mainstream sentiments, the left-wing folksingers slip in lyrics in support of unions and civil rights, more long-standing views for them. They also find space to praise U.S. ally the Soviet Union in songs that became politically unacceptable after the war. Fifty years later, of course, all of this makes for a musical, historical curiosity, and a listener's primary interest is likely to be the opportunity to hear previously unissued music by Guthrie, Seeger, Leadbelly, Josh White, Burl Ives, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and a host of other excellent folksingers. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	02/20/1996
Label:	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
UPC:	0093074002124
Rank:	143422

Tracks

1. Freedom Road  - Emerson Harper  - Langston Hughes  - Josh White
2. Talking Sailor Blues  - Woody Guthrie
3. Ballad of October 16  -  Almanac Singers  - Lee Hays  - Millard Lampell
4. Billy Boy  -  Almanac Singers  - Lee Hays  - Pete Seeger
5. Plow Under  -  Almanac Singers  - Lee Hays  - Pete Seeger
6. I'm Gonna Put My Name Down  - Tom Glazer  - Woody Guthrie  - Baldwin Hawes
7. What Are We Waiting On (What Are We Waiting For)  - Woody Guthrie
8. Citizen C.I.O.  - Tom Glazer  -  Union Boys  - Josh White
9. Sinking of the Reuben James  - Woody Guthrie
10. You Better Get Ready  - Woody Guthrie  - Burl Ives  -  Union Boys
11. If You Want to Do Your Part  -  Lead Belly  - Huddie Ledbetter
12. Move into Germany  - Brownie McGhee  - Sonny Terry  -  Union Boys
13. So Long (It's Been Good to Know You)  - Woody Guthrie
14. Martins and the Coys  -  Almanac Singers  -  Union Boys
15. Mr. Hitler  -  Lead Belly  - Huddie Ledbetter  - Alan Lomax
16. Sally Don't You Grieve  - Woody Guthrie  - Cisco Houston
17. Jimmy Longhi Story  - Vincent "Jimmy" Longhi
18. When the Yanks Go Marching In  - Woody Guthrie  - Cisco Houston  - Sonny Terry
19. Round and Round Hitler's Grave  -  Almanac Singers  - Woody Guthrie  - Millard Lampell  - Pete Seeger
20. The Fuhrer  - Josh White
21. Miss Pavlichencko  - Woody Guthrie
22. National Defense Blues  -  Lead Belly  - Huddie Ledbetter  - Brownie McGhee  - Sonny Terry  - Champion Jack Dupree
23. Gee but I Want to Go Home  -  Lead Belly
24. Looking for a Home  - Pete Seeger
25. Now That's It's All Over  - Pete Seeger

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Champion Jack Dupree   Primary Artist
Almanac Singers   Primary Artist
Cisco Houston   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Vocal Harmony
Lead Belly   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar (12 String)
Pete Seeger   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus,Banjo,Vocals
Josh White   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Vocal Harmony
Woody Guthrie   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Mandolin,Choir/Chorus
Tom Glazer   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica,Choir/Chorus
Brownie McGhee   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Choir/Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Union Boys   Primary Artist
Vincent "Jimmy" Longhi   Primary Artist,Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
Sonny Terry   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Burl Ives   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Bess Lomax Hawes   Mandolin,Vocals
Butch Hawes   Guitar,Vocals
Millard Lampell   Vocals
Alan Lomax   Vocals
Willie "The Lion" Smith   Piano
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee   Harmonica
Lee Hays   Vocals
Arthur Stern   Choir/Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Doc Reese   Vocals
Pops Foster   Guitar (Bass)
Hally Wood   Vocals
Agnes "Sis" Cunningham   Accordion,Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

Millard Lampell   Composer
Sonny Terry   Performer
Almanac Singers   Composer,Performer
Cisco Houston   Performer
Langston Hughes   Composer
Lead Belly   Composer,Performer
Emerson Harper   Composer
Huddie Ledbetter   Composer
Burl Ives   Performer
Guy Logsdon   Liner Notes,Compilation Producer
Woody Guthrie   Composer,Performer
Tom Glazer   Composer,Performer
Alan Lomax   Composer
Brownie McGhee   Composer,Performer
Union Boys   Performer
Jeff Place   Liner Notes,Compilation Producer
Baldwin Hawes   Composer
Vincent "Jimmy" Longhi   Performer
Pete Seeger   Composer,Performer
Lee Hays   Composer
Josh White   Composer,Performer
Dupree   Performer