Topic: Commercial Folk Music Revival
People, who are fans of performing artists who never become popular, always are mystified. Peter Jones thought The “Journeymen were a mark above most knockoffs” of the Kingston Trio because they incorporated “instrumental virtuosity and jazz-vocal influence into what had largely been a singalong franchise for college parties.” [1]
Dick Weissman added: “You had one guy who could really play. You had one guy who really sing. You had another guy who could write and arrange. All the other trios were like fraternity boys playing guitars.” [2]
While both men were correct, they missed the point that the commercial folk-music revival sparked by the Kingston Trio [3] was the first genre, since the big bands, to be created by white, middle-class young men for white, middle-class audiences. College students provided entertainment that fit the needs of college students.
The identity of college students changed after World War II. In the late 1940s, older veterans eligible for tuition benefits under the G. I. Bill flooded colleges. [4] Then, as families became confident the affluence of the post-year years would last, they sent their children to public colleges and universities.
All three members of the Kingston Trio not only were college graduates, but also had degrees in business. [5] Only one member of The Weavers had completed college. [6]
Fraternities were still important in the 1950s. Even when they didn’t expand to include larger numbers of pledges, they often set the tone for campus social life. While the Kingston Trio’s Bob Shane went to a college that didn’t have Greek societies, Dave Guard joined Sigma Nu at Stanford University. [7] Nick Reynolds spent his freshman year at the University of Arizona, where he pledged Phi Delta Theta. [8] He recalled:
“I went through Hell Week, which was really degrading, and after that I didn’t really have anything to do with fraternities. The only fun part for me was being Phi Delt’s choral leader. When somebody got pinned we’d go out and serenade [9] the lucky girl at her dorm or sorority house. Sometimes the whole house would go out and sing.” [10]
College singing traditions were borrowed from Germany. [11] Male choruses were introduced into universities before the Civil War. Harvard organized the first glee club in 1858, followed by the University of Michigan (1859), Yale (1861), and the University of Pennsylvania (1862). [12] These groups emphasized four-part harmony.
Once glee clubs absorbed the aesthetics and ambitions of paying performances, students found other places to sing. The first college songsters I’ve seen published, [13] with music by commercial printers, were from Columbia (1876), Penn (1879), Princeton (1882), Rutgers (1885), and Yale (1889). They were followed by commercially produced fraternity song books. Delta Upsilon published one in 1884. Reynold’s Phi Delta Theta issued its third edition in 1886, Psi Upsilon in 1891, and Zeta Psi in 1897.
As fraternities became more important, they held annual competitions or Greek Games that included musical performances along with the tug-of-wars. In the late 1940s, George Spasyk recalled members of Lambda Chi Alpha prepared for weeks for the University of Michigan’s Interfraternity Council Sing with
“each voice part perfecting its part before all four were brought together in 4-part harmony. The beauty of it all was that very few of the brothers could read music - it was all done by memorizing the parts. Even those who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket wanted to be on stage to represent Lambda Chi Alpha. They were put in the back row and silently mouthed the words, but their very presence and enthusiasm inspired the singers, perhaps to a higher level of performance. [14]
When the Kingston Trio became popular in 1958, individuals within glee clubs and fraternities formed their own trios and quartets. At New York University, Jeff Chase was a soloist with the glee club and Allen Kaiden was in the glee club and its Varsity Quartet. Two of Kaiden’s fraternity brothers, Bob Lichtenfeld and Bill Stammer, were also in the glee club. [15] Their Heightsmen quartet began singing at campus and fraternity events in 1958. [16]
They became professional musicians in 1960, and, after they all had graduated, signed a recording contract with Imperial Records in 1962. Their performance at the Moravian College homecoming dance in October 1962, was typical of the sorts of events that used folk-singing groups. They provided “entertainment during intermission at the dance.” [17]
Their first album included “Kumbaya.” While they credited The Weavers as their source, they used Peter Seeger’s “someone’s sleeping” verse with their own “dancing.” The only religious content was the word “Lord.”
The group featured one man singing the verses, and the group singing “kumbaya” as a rhythmic counter-part. On the last line of the “sleeping” first they sang chords that rose on each syllable. During the “laughing” verse one person sang a high “la la la” while the others continued the “kumbaya” pulse. They ended by repeating “oh Lord, kumbaya,” each time softer like an amen. [18]
I said the Kingston Trio initiated a white, middle-class musical genre. That phrase did not include the other attributes often associated with the social elite in the early 1950s, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. That was the significant contribution of the G. I. Bill.
The Heightsmen’s fraternity was Zeta Beta Tau, the first Jewish fraternity in the United States. [19]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: male
Vocal Group: Bill Stammer, tenor; Allen Kaidn, baritone; Bob Lichtenfeld,, bass; Jeff Chase, bass
[20]
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar, tambourine
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Hays, Hellerman, Darling, and Gilbert [21]
BMI [22]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom (short) BY yah
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, dancing
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: two-verse song, framed by kumbaya
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxAA where A = kumbaya
Ending: repeat “oh Lord, kumbaya” four times
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic repetitions with cumulative harmonic variations
Singing Style: one syllable to one note including on final “Lord”
Notes on Performance
Cover: the album cover for The Heightsmen showed four men in a recording studio wearing white shirts and red neckties. Two had rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties.
Notes on Performers
Kaiden and Chase majored in mathematics at NYU, while Stammer was in the College of Engineering. Lichtenfeld was “studying for a degree in medicine.” [23]
The Heightsmen were signed by Imperial Records in 1962, [24] while they were in graduate school. [25] Imperial was sold in 1963. [26] The new head of 20th Century Fox Records [27] included their next album in the company’s Christmas promotion. [28]
They made two albums in 1963, then returned to their studies. None have mentioned the quartet in their professional résumés. When Stammer died in 2017, his New York Times obituary only said he was “a Graduate of NYU and NYU Law School, ROTC officer and 1st LT. US Army, High Tenor, Lawyer, Scholar, Professor, Recording Artist...” [29]
Kaiden earned a master of science in Industrial Engineering from NYU. [30] He founded Sigman/Kaiden Consultants on Long Island to design warehouses. He joined his son, Jeff, in Capacity LLC in New Jersey in 1999. [31] It specializes in e-commerce and warehousing. [32]
Chase also earned a master’s degree in mathematics from NYU in 1965. He began working as a financial consultant in 1983, and now has his own company, One Page Financial, Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. [33]
Lichtenfeld changed his plans and entered NYU’s graduate program in education. [34] He later earned a PhD in education from Teacher’s College, Columbia. He began teaching elementary school and special education in New York City, then became the principal of Rye Country Day School in 1972. After that, he was the principal of schools in Lewisboro from 1978 to 1999. After he retire, he continued to work in school administration in Greenwich, Connecticut. [35]
Availability
Album: The Heightsmen. “Kumbaya.” The Heightsmen. Imperial LP-9196. 1962.
End Notes
1. Peter Jones. “Dick Weissman Would Rather Be in Colorado.” The [Denver] Villager website.
2. Dick Weissman. Quoted by Jones. Weissman graduated from Goddard College, which did not have fraternities. He and The Journeymen were discussed in posts for 13 October 2019 and 20 October 2019.
3. The Kingston Trio was discussed in the post for 13 October 2019.
4. “Education and Training. History and Timeline.” United States. Department of Veterans Affairs website. “In the peak year of 1947, Veterans accounted for 49 percent of college admissions. By the time the original GI Bill ended on July 25, 1956, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II Veterans had participated in an education or training program.”
5. Dave Guard’s degree was in economics, and he began graduate work in economics at Stanford. [36] Bob Shane graduated from Menlo College, [37] when its only four-year program was in business administration. [38] Nick Reynolds majored in hotel management at Menlo. [39]
6. Fred Hellerman graduated from Brooklyn College in 1949. [40] Straited finances kept Lee Hays from completing his education. [41] Pete Seeger entered Harvard on a work-study scholarship and flunked out in his sophomore year. [42]
7. Wikipedia, Guard.
8. William J. Bush. Greenback Dollar. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013. 12.
9. Fraternity serenades were common when I was living in a dormitory at Michigan State University between 1962 and 1965. There were three stages of commitment in relationships. First a man gave a woman a lavalliere. This was equivalent to a high school senior giving his class ring to a girl to signify they were going steady. Next, a college student gave his girlfriend his fraternity pin. After that, he could give her an engagement ring.
10. Nick Reynolds. Quoted by Bush. 12.
11. I haven’t been able to find a history of college glee clubs on line or on Amazon. Does anyone know what’s available?
12. Wikipedia. “List of Collegiate Glee Clubs.”
13. In 1976 and 1977, I did research in the stacks of the music room of the Library of Congress. I went through every volume in the sections that held college and fraternity/sorority songbooks.
14. George Spasyk. “Sigma Sings.” Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Zeta chapter website. 10 August 2012.
15. Liner notes. The Heightsmen.
16. “‘Heightsmen’ To Highlight Homecoming.’ The [Moravian College] Comenian. 12 October 1962. 1, 4, 6. 1.
17. Moravian College.
18. Amen endings were discussed in the post for 27 November 2017.
19. Wikipedia. “Zeta Beta Tau.”
20. Moravian College.
21. Record label. The Heightsmen.
22. Liner notes. The Heightsmen.
23. Liner notes. The Heightsmen.
24. Liner notes. The Heightsmen.
25. Moravian College.
26. Wikipedia. “Imperial Records.”
27. Wikipedia. “20th Century Fox Records.”
28. “20th Holiday Plan: 10% Off.” Billboard. 19 October 1963. 2.
29. “Stammer--William B.” The New York Times. 1 September 2017.
30. “Allen Kaiden.” Bloomberg website.
31. U.S. 1. “Life in the Fast Lane” Princeton Info website. 31 October 2007.
32. “Capacity.” Crunch Base website.
33. “Jeffry Chase.” Alumni US website for New York University.
34. Liner notes. The Heightsmen. A Whisper and a Holler. 20th Century Fox Records TFM 3108. 1963.
35. “Greenwich Schools Dir of Human Resources Announces Retirement.” Greenwich Free Press. 25 February 2015.
36. Wikipedia. “Dave Guard.”
37. Wikipedia. “Bob Shane.”
38. Wikipedia. “Menlo College.” It was originally a prep school for Stanford.
39. Michael John Simmons. “Bob Shane: Behind the Stripes.” August 2012. Fretboard Journal website.
40. Harrison Smith. “Fred Hellerman, Guitarist with Pivotal Folk Quartet the Weavers, Dies at 89.” The Washington Post. 5 September 2016. He may have been able to use the G. I. Bill since he had been in the Coast Guard when the war ended.
41. According to Doris Willens’ biography, Lonesome Traveler, Hays was in Emory Junior College when the stock market crashed in 1929. [pages 17–18] He went to College of the Ozarks, [page 29] but dropped out when Claude Williams moved and he had no place to live. [pages 31, 33] It was published in New York by W. W. Norton and Company in 1988.
42. David King Dunaway. How Can I Keep from Singing? New York: Villard Books, 2008 edition. 52, 54, 55.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The Journeymen - Kumbaya (Part 2)
Topic: Commercial Folk Music Revival
Continued from previous post dated 13 October 2019
Performers
Vocal Soloist: male
Vocal Group: Scott McKenzie, tenor; John Phillips, baritone; Dick Weissman
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar and banjo
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
McKenzie—Phillips—Weissman
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KUM by ah
Verses: kumbaya, laughing, sleeping
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: my Lordy
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: verse-burden
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxA1xA where A = two lines of kumbaya, and A1x = the full kumbaya verse
Ending: none
Unique Features: begins and ends with two-line verses
Influences: Pete Seeger
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: upbeat
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Solo-Group Dynamics: soloist in sleeping and laughing verses, with group echoing "kumbaya"
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: First line of two-line introduction lets guitar play melody and rhythm; second line is played by banjo. After that, the guitar plays a simply, unvarying, arpeggio rhythm during the singing and in the one-measure breaks between sung verses.
Influences: Kingston Trio
Notes on Audience
The most vocal members of The Journeymen, Phillips and McKenzie, were raised in northern Virginia. Weissman noticed the group was particularly popular in that state, and the Southeast in general. They also attracted a following in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [1]
This preference turned into a curse in late 1963 when they were on a bus tour exploiting the popularity of the Hootenanny television show. [2] Most of the shows were in the Southeast, [3] where audiences were testy over African-American demands for equality. The tour was scheduled to perform in Jackson, Mississippi, in November where Medgar Evers had been murdered in June. [4]
They were greeted in Jackson with a message from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee telling them the city still practiced de facto segregation, and no African Americans would be allowed near the concert. The decision by the performers on the tour to boycott the city was relayed by the news media. When they got to their next stop, the singers were met by locals carrying baseball bats ready to beat anyone who got off the bus. [5]
Phillips recalled:
"The "Hoot Tour" was never conceived as a political event, but in the south during the end of 1963, if you were white, on a bus, and played guitar and sang for a living, it didn’t matter—you were political." [6]
The Journeymen already recognized their audience was declining, and life on the road without rewards no longer held any attractions. [7] They fulfilled their final commitments, and disbanded.
Audience Perceptions
Those who remembered The Journeymen, almost always commented on their harmonies. Nate told Amazon buyers their "music represents the finest vocal harmonies and arrangements from the early ‘modern folk’ days," [8] while someone calling herself Betsey Ross said:
"I always loved the Journeymen above most other groups. I loved the way their voices blended together. Their harmony was wonderful, such a great sound. I liked them better than the Kingston Trio. They were a little more cerebral." [9]
John Yoakum generalized from the music to the general small-group social life it represented when he noted "The harmonies, the songs, the cameraderie are all good." [10]
Notes on Performers
Phillips and Weissman were born in 1935, in the middle of the Depression, and McKenzie in 1939.
Phillips is the best known member of The Journeymen. After the trio disbanded in 1964, he organized The New Journeymen with his wife, Michelle Phillips, and Denny Doherty. With the addition of Cass Elliot, it was transformed into The Mamas and The Papas. Phillips wrote his autobiography in 1988, when he was trying to rehabilitate his image after an arrest for drug use. It appeared before his daughter’s memoir accused him of incest. [11]
Weissman joined The Journeymen as a way to earn enough money to study music. He moved to Colorado, where he has written a number of books on the music industry. He published his autobiography in 2016 to create an objective chronology of the past.
McKenzie is the least known. He was born Phillip Blondhein, but changed his name when The Smoothies were working their first job in Windsor, Ontario. [12] He enjoyed singing, but not performing. He told a friend of his mother that "I have stage fright - I’m comfortable in the studio, but not on the road." [13] Both Phillips and Weissman commented on his problems with the stress of performing every night. [14] Later, McKenzie made one successful record as a soloist, [15] sometimes worked with Phillips, and spent most of his time away from the limelight.
Phillips died in 2001 from heart failure. [16] McKenzie developed Guillain-Barré syndrome and died in 2012. [17]
Availability
Single: The Journeymen. "Soft Blow The Summer Winds" / "Kumbaya." Capitol Records 4678. 1962.
Single: The Journeymen. "Ja-Da" / "Kumbaya." Capitol Records 5031. 1963.
YouTube: The Journeymen. "Kumbaya." Uploaded by oldiesrnow on 27 March 2009.
End Notes
1. Dick Weissman. The Music Never Stops. Anaheim Hills, California: Centerstream Publishing, 2016. 47 and 51.
2. The Hootenanny television program is discussed in the post for 3 November 2019.
3. John Phillips. Papa John. With Jim Jerome. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1986. 116.
4. Wikipedia. "Medgar Evers."
5. Phillips, 116—118; and Weissman, 54–55.
6. Phillips. 116.
7. Phillips, 120; and Weissman, 55.
8. Nate. Comment posted 29 January 2014. Amazon website for The Very Best Of The Journeymen.
9. Betsey_Ross. Comment posted 4 May 2013. Amazon website for The Journeymen’s New Directions in Folk Music.
10. John M Yoakum. Comment posted 24 February 2013. Amazon website for The Journeymen’s Coming Attraction - Live.
11. Mackenzie Phillips. High on Arrival. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009.
12. "A Change of Name." Scott McKenzie website. Maintained by Gary Hartman. It must have been a cultural shock for the young man raised in the South to hear Canadian English.
13. Susan Fallon. Comment on Gaestbuch page, Scott McKenzie website.
14. Phillips, 113; and Weissman, 85.
15. Scott McKenzie. "San Francisco." Ode Records ZS7-103. 1967. [18]
16. Wikipedia. "John Phillips (Musician)."
17. Wikipedia. "Scott McKenzie.
18. "Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)." Discogs website.
Continued from previous post dated 13 October 2019
Performers
Vocal Soloist: male
Vocal Group: Scott McKenzie, tenor; John Phillips, baritone; Dick Weissman
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar and banjo
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
McKenzie—Phillips—Weissman
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KUM by ah
Verses: kumbaya, laughing, sleeping
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: my Lordy
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: verse-burden
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxA1xA where A = two lines of kumbaya, and A1x = the full kumbaya verse
Ending: none
Unique Features: begins and ends with two-line verses
Influences: Pete Seeger
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: upbeat
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Solo-Group Dynamics: soloist in sleeping and laughing verses, with group echoing "kumbaya"
Vocal-Instrumental Dynamics: First line of two-line introduction lets guitar play melody and rhythm; second line is played by banjo. After that, the guitar plays a simply, unvarying, arpeggio rhythm during the singing and in the one-measure breaks between sung verses.
Influences: Kingston Trio
Notes on Audience
The most vocal members of The Journeymen, Phillips and McKenzie, were raised in northern Virginia. Weissman noticed the group was particularly popular in that state, and the Southeast in general. They also attracted a following in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [1]
This preference turned into a curse in late 1963 when they were on a bus tour exploiting the popularity of the Hootenanny television show. [2] Most of the shows were in the Southeast, [3] where audiences were testy over African-American demands for equality. The tour was scheduled to perform in Jackson, Mississippi, in November where Medgar Evers had been murdered in June. [4]
They were greeted in Jackson with a message from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee telling them the city still practiced de facto segregation, and no African Americans would be allowed near the concert. The decision by the performers on the tour to boycott the city was relayed by the news media. When they got to their next stop, the singers were met by locals carrying baseball bats ready to beat anyone who got off the bus. [5]
Phillips recalled:
"The "Hoot Tour" was never conceived as a political event, but in the south during the end of 1963, if you were white, on a bus, and played guitar and sang for a living, it didn’t matter—you were political." [6]
The Journeymen already recognized their audience was declining, and life on the road without rewards no longer held any attractions. [7] They fulfilled their final commitments, and disbanded.
Audience Perceptions
Those who remembered The Journeymen, almost always commented on their harmonies. Nate told Amazon buyers their "music represents the finest vocal harmonies and arrangements from the early ‘modern folk’ days," [8] while someone calling herself Betsey Ross said:
"I always loved the Journeymen above most other groups. I loved the way their voices blended together. Their harmony was wonderful, such a great sound. I liked them better than the Kingston Trio. They were a little more cerebral." [9]
John Yoakum generalized from the music to the general small-group social life it represented when he noted "The harmonies, the songs, the cameraderie are all good." [10]
Notes on Performers
Phillips and Weissman were born in 1935, in the middle of the Depression, and McKenzie in 1939.
Phillips is the best known member of The Journeymen. After the trio disbanded in 1964, he organized The New Journeymen with his wife, Michelle Phillips, and Denny Doherty. With the addition of Cass Elliot, it was transformed into The Mamas and The Papas. Phillips wrote his autobiography in 1988, when he was trying to rehabilitate his image after an arrest for drug use. It appeared before his daughter’s memoir accused him of incest. [11]
Weissman joined The Journeymen as a way to earn enough money to study music. He moved to Colorado, where he has written a number of books on the music industry. He published his autobiography in 2016 to create an objective chronology of the past.
McKenzie is the least known. He was born Phillip Blondhein, but changed his name when The Smoothies were working their first job in Windsor, Ontario. [12] He enjoyed singing, but not performing. He told a friend of his mother that "I have stage fright - I’m comfortable in the studio, but not on the road." [13] Both Phillips and Weissman commented on his problems with the stress of performing every night. [14] Later, McKenzie made one successful record as a soloist, [15] sometimes worked with Phillips, and spent most of his time away from the limelight.
Phillips died in 2001 from heart failure. [16] McKenzie developed Guillain-Barré syndrome and died in 2012. [17]
Availability
Single: The Journeymen. "Soft Blow The Summer Winds" / "Kumbaya." Capitol Records 4678. 1962.
Single: The Journeymen. "Ja-Da" / "Kumbaya." Capitol Records 5031. 1963.
YouTube: The Journeymen. "Kumbaya." Uploaded by oldiesrnow on 27 March 2009.
End Notes
1. Dick Weissman. The Music Never Stops. Anaheim Hills, California: Centerstream Publishing, 2016. 47 and 51.
2. The Hootenanny television program is discussed in the post for 3 November 2019.
3. John Phillips. Papa John. With Jim Jerome. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1986. 116.
4. Wikipedia. "Medgar Evers."
5. Phillips, 116—118; and Weissman, 54–55.
6. Phillips. 116.
7. Phillips, 120; and Weissman, 55.
8. Nate. Comment posted 29 January 2014. Amazon website for The Very Best Of The Journeymen.
9. Betsey_Ross. Comment posted 4 May 2013. Amazon website for The Journeymen’s New Directions in Folk Music.
10. John M Yoakum. Comment posted 24 February 2013. Amazon website for The Journeymen’s Coming Attraction - Live.
11. Mackenzie Phillips. High on Arrival. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009.
12. "A Change of Name." Scott McKenzie website. Maintained by Gary Hartman. It must have been a cultural shock for the young man raised in the South to hear Canadian English.
13. Susan Fallon. Comment on Gaestbuch page, Scott McKenzie website.
14. Phillips, 113; and Weissman, 85.
15. Scott McKenzie. "San Francisco." Ode Records ZS7-103. 1967. [18]
16. Wikipedia. "John Phillips (Musician)."
17. Wikipedia. "Scott McKenzie.
18. "Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)." Discogs website.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
The Journeymen - Kumbaya (Part 1)
Topic: Commercial Folk Music Revival
The commercial folk-music revival began on 19 June 1958 when Paul Coburn played "Tom Dooley" [1] on his Salt Lake City, Utah, radio program. The response to the Kingston Trio song goaded Capitol Records into releasing it as a single from their album in August. [2] The album reached the Billboard sales charts in October, and "stayed there for nearly four years." [3]
The taboo against American folk music, which was constructed by the FBI, was broken by an Appalachian murder ballad [4] that some thought was about a naval surgeon recruited by the CIA to spy in Vietnam. [5] Ironically, Dr. Dooley contributed to the fear of communism in southeast Asia in that led to the war in Vietnam and the repoliticalization of the folk-music revival. [6]
The three young men in the Kingston Trio were very different from The Weavers [7] and other New York City-based folk singers. They hadn’t know the familial and financial insecurities of the Depression. As a younger generation, they were affected by World War II. Two members, Dave Guard and Bob Shane, were living on Oahu when it was bombed by the Japanese in 1941. [8] Guard’s father was a civil engineer for the army, [9] while Shane’s father soon joined the naval reserve. [10] The father of the third member, Nick Reynolds, was a career navy man. [11]
Even though Reynolds had listened to bootlegged tapes of the Weavers as a teenager, [12] the group’s musical influences were more Harry Belafonte [13] than rural Southern singers. They heard local music as adolescents: mariachi bands in México [14] and tourist and seamen’s music in Hawaii. [15] Their music was not in the tradition of any of the current popular genres: big bands, African-American rhythm and blues, Southern rockabilly associated with Elvis Presley, or Italian-American styles promoted by Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Philadelphia.
Record companies and booking agencies had problems finding similar groups to promote because they were they first of their kind. The main employers at the time were night clubs that often hired jazz-influenced groups. The Trio’s manager, Frank Werber, had spent years working backstage at the hungry i in San Francisco, [16] and prepared them to entertain that type of audience. [17]
When the group was still relatively unknown, Werber was able to sign a one-year contract with a national booking agency. Within the year, he and two men from that company formed International Talent Associates. [18] Dick Weissman remembered ITA soon dominated the college concert circuit. [19] By representing so many folk-revival music groups, it was able to offer artists for any budget or schedule. [20]
Werber’s intertwined interests helped the Trio when Guard left the group in 1961. He looked for replacements among groups handled by ITA. [21] John Phillips claimed Werber tried to recruit him as a singer and songwriter. Since Phillips had just formed his own group that was handled by ITA, Werber suggested the other vocalist in The Journeymen become a solo opening act for the Trio, and the instrumentalist take Guard’s place as the guitar and banjo player. [22]
Before the Kingston Trio selected John Stewart to replace Guard, Werber’s subordinate got The Journeymen a recording contract with the Trio’s label, Capitol, [23] and moved them from ITA to a booking agency that didn’t compete with his most important performers. The Journeymen noticed they lost interest in them after the future of the Trio was assured. [24] The three had to extricate themselves from Werber’s managerial control. [25]
Phillips began his professional career with a quartet modeled on popular groups from the early 1950s. When the Smoothies failed to attract an audience, [26] he decided to add some elements of the Kingston Trio sound. Phillips asked people in a New York folk-music store to recommend some session musicians. [27]
Weissman was hired to work on some demos, [28] and he and Phillips became friends. When Phillips’ group returned from its final tour, two of the members quit. Phillips then proposed a trio with the remaining member, Scott McKenzie, and Weissman. [29]
Weissman was the only one who knew any folk songs. He had become involved with the New York City scene when he was a student at Goddard College, and lived in the city after he graduated. [30] He remembered:
"the three of us rehearsed for six weeks, six days a week, ten hours a day, until we had an albums worth of material. The songs were a blend of traditional songs that I brought into the group, some things John wrote, and another song I had written." [31]
The three grew frustrated when other acts they believed were less talented were more successful. Phillips was particularly incensed by the success of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," [32] which was Billboard’s top selling record in September 1961. [33] Weissman recalled "we worked out an arrangement of the old chestnut Kumbaya." [34]
Their version was based on Pete Seeger’s. [35] They used his pronunciation and his "sleeping" verse, which they paired with "laughing." Weissman adopted the Caribbean rhythms of the Kingston Trio, and the group sang "Oh Lordy" instead of "Oh Lord."
Their melodic development followed that of Seeger on his Carnegie Hall album. On the third line of the full "kumbaya" verse, one person went high. The final repetition of "kumbaya" must have been overdubbed. [36] The group sang the lines in harmony, and, while they were holding the final note, they echo the phrase in harmony.
Their version "began to hit the charts in Minneapolis, Vancouver, and it even got into the top ten records in Boston," where it upset the sensibilities of a minister who thought it "anti-religious." Weissman said, "he counted the number of times that we sang Oh Lordy, and began a campaign to get it off the radio. Unfortunately for us, he succeeded. Our attempt to capitalize on Michael sank in to oblivion." [37]
(To be continued in next post)
End Notes
1. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. Recorded February 1959, released June 1958.
2. Ronald D. Cohen. Rainbow Quest. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002. 131.
3. Wikipedia. "The Kingston Trio (Album)."
4. Gilliam Banmon Grayson and Henry Whitter recorded the song in 1929. [38] In 1940, Frank Warner transcribed a version from Frank Proffitt that appeared in an anthology published by Alan Lomax in 1947. [39] Lomax and Warner sued for copyright infringement and negotiated rights to the royalties for the Kingston Trio’s version of "Tom Dooley" in 1962. [40]
5. Cohen. 131. You have to wonder if these people actually listened to the Kingston Trio record.
6. Wikipedia. "Thomas Anthony Dooley III." His book, Deliver Us from Evil, was as truthful as Harvey Matusow’s reports on Pete Seeger that were discussed in the post for 18 August 2019. It was published in New York by New American Library in 1956.
7. The members of The Weavers were discussed in the posts for 12 October 2017, 14 July 2019, 28 July 2019, 11 August 2019, 18 August 2019, and 6 October 2019.
8. William J. Bush. Greenback Dollar. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013. 25.
9. Bush, Greenback. 23.
10. Bush, Greenback. 20.
11. Wikipedia. "Nick Reynolds."
12. Bush, Greenback. 6. The group later saw them perform at the San Francisco Opera House. [41] Dick Weissman said "Guard had attended a Weavers concert in 1957 and then learned to play banjo from Pete Seeger’s instruction book." [42]
13. William J. Bush. "Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio." Lazyka website.
14. Bush, Greenback. 4–5.
15. Bush, Greenback. 4–5 and 26–27.
16. Bush, Greenback. 52–53.
17. Bush, Greenback. 58–59.
18. Bush, Greenback. 124.
19. Dick Weissman. The Music Never Stops. Anaheim Hills, California: Centerstream Publishing, 2016. 39.
20. Weissman, Music. 47.
21. Weissman, Music. 40. ITA suggested Rene Cardenas become their manager. He was an associate of Werber. Weissman remembered: "Werber and Cardenas were interested in us as an insurance policy, in case the trio was unable to find a replacement." John Phillips later said: "Werber had us believing we couldn’t fail to make it. We soon learned that he planned to sign us as insurance against the imminent—but still secret—breakup of the Kingston Trio." [43]
22. John Phillips. Papa John. With Jim Jerome. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1986. 101. The chronicler of the Kingston Trio, said none of the Trio members remembered auditioning Phillips. [44] Given the duplicity of Werber and Cardenas, everyone’s memory may be accurate. There is evidence Phillips got ensnared: he and his family lived in an apartment owned by Shane, [45] and he began writing songs for the group to pay debts. [46]
23. Phillips, 97; and Weissman, Music, 41.
24. Weissman, Music. 44. "By this time we had become thoroughly skeptical about what Rene Cardenas and Frank Weber were going to be able to do for us. They had dragged us out of the one booking agency that seem to have a lock on pop-folk gigs and college concerts, and put us in an old line booking agency that was best known for booking Louis Armstrong. We regretted leaving ITA, and we also realized that Weber and Cardenas had lost interest in us when the Kingston Trio re-formed."
25. Weissman, Music. 45.
26. Phillips. 95.
27. Phillips, 95; and Weissman, Music, 35.
28. Weissman, Music. 35.
29. Weissman, Music. 36.
30. Weissman, Music.
31. Dick Weissman. Which Side Are You On? New York: Continuum, 2006. 84.
33. Wikipedia. "The Highwaymen (Folk Band)."
34. Weissman, Music. 52.
35. Pete Seeger’s version was discussed in the post for 6 October 2019.
36. Weissman said they overdubbed on their first album. [48] He probably also did that on the instrumental introduction to "Kumbaya."
37. Weissman, Music. 52.
38. Grayson and Whitter. "Tom Dooley." Victor 40235.
39. "Tom Dooley [Laws F36A]." The Traditional Ballad Index. California State University-Fresno website. Version 4.5. The anthology was John Avery Lomax and Alan Lomax. Folk Song U.S.A. New York: Duell, 1947. 82.
40. Michael John Simmons. "Bob Shane: Behind the Stripes." August 2012. Fretboard Journal website.
41. Bush, Greenback. 61.
42. Weissman, Side. 74–75.
43. Phillips. 97.
44. Bush, Greenback. 161.
45. Phillips. 101.
46. Weissman recalled in his autobiography, "desperate for some source of income, John started writing songs with John Stewart, Guard’s replacement," [page 43] while Phillips simply admitted "I was writing songs with John Steward after he replaced Dave Guard in the Kingston Trio." [page 106]
47. "The Highwaymen – Michael / Santiano." Discogs website.
48. Weissman, Music. 42.
The commercial folk-music revival began on 19 June 1958 when Paul Coburn played "Tom Dooley" [1] on his Salt Lake City, Utah, radio program. The response to the Kingston Trio song goaded Capitol Records into releasing it as a single from their album in August. [2] The album reached the Billboard sales charts in October, and "stayed there for nearly four years." [3]
The taboo against American folk music, which was constructed by the FBI, was broken by an Appalachian murder ballad [4] that some thought was about a naval surgeon recruited by the CIA to spy in Vietnam. [5] Ironically, Dr. Dooley contributed to the fear of communism in southeast Asia in that led to the war in Vietnam and the repoliticalization of the folk-music revival. [6]
The three young men in the Kingston Trio were very different from The Weavers [7] and other New York City-based folk singers. They hadn’t know the familial and financial insecurities of the Depression. As a younger generation, they were affected by World War II. Two members, Dave Guard and Bob Shane, were living on Oahu when it was bombed by the Japanese in 1941. [8] Guard’s father was a civil engineer for the army, [9] while Shane’s father soon joined the naval reserve. [10] The father of the third member, Nick Reynolds, was a career navy man. [11]
Even though Reynolds had listened to bootlegged tapes of the Weavers as a teenager, [12] the group’s musical influences were more Harry Belafonte [13] than rural Southern singers. They heard local music as adolescents: mariachi bands in México [14] and tourist and seamen’s music in Hawaii. [15] Their music was not in the tradition of any of the current popular genres: big bands, African-American rhythm and blues, Southern rockabilly associated with Elvis Presley, or Italian-American styles promoted by Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Philadelphia.
Record companies and booking agencies had problems finding similar groups to promote because they were they first of their kind. The main employers at the time were night clubs that often hired jazz-influenced groups. The Trio’s manager, Frank Werber, had spent years working backstage at the hungry i in San Francisco, [16] and prepared them to entertain that type of audience. [17]
When the group was still relatively unknown, Werber was able to sign a one-year contract with a national booking agency. Within the year, he and two men from that company formed International Talent Associates. [18] Dick Weissman remembered ITA soon dominated the college concert circuit. [19] By representing so many folk-revival music groups, it was able to offer artists for any budget or schedule. [20]
Werber’s intertwined interests helped the Trio when Guard left the group in 1961. He looked for replacements among groups handled by ITA. [21] John Phillips claimed Werber tried to recruit him as a singer and songwriter. Since Phillips had just formed his own group that was handled by ITA, Werber suggested the other vocalist in The Journeymen become a solo opening act for the Trio, and the instrumentalist take Guard’s place as the guitar and banjo player. [22]
Before the Kingston Trio selected John Stewart to replace Guard, Werber’s subordinate got The Journeymen a recording contract with the Trio’s label, Capitol, [23] and moved them from ITA to a booking agency that didn’t compete with his most important performers. The Journeymen noticed they lost interest in them after the future of the Trio was assured. [24] The three had to extricate themselves from Werber’s managerial control. [25]
Phillips began his professional career with a quartet modeled on popular groups from the early 1950s. When the Smoothies failed to attract an audience, [26] he decided to add some elements of the Kingston Trio sound. Phillips asked people in a New York folk-music store to recommend some session musicians. [27]
Weissman was hired to work on some demos, [28] and he and Phillips became friends. When Phillips’ group returned from its final tour, two of the members quit. Phillips then proposed a trio with the remaining member, Scott McKenzie, and Weissman. [29]
Weissman was the only one who knew any folk songs. He had become involved with the New York City scene when he was a student at Goddard College, and lived in the city after he graduated. [30] He remembered:
"the three of us rehearsed for six weeks, six days a week, ten hours a day, until we had an albums worth of material. The songs were a blend of traditional songs that I brought into the group, some things John wrote, and another song I had written." [31]
The three grew frustrated when other acts they believed were less talented were more successful. Phillips was particularly incensed by the success of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," [32] which was Billboard’s top selling record in September 1961. [33] Weissman recalled "we worked out an arrangement of the old chestnut Kumbaya." [34]
Their version was based on Pete Seeger’s. [35] They used his pronunciation and his "sleeping" verse, which they paired with "laughing." Weissman adopted the Caribbean rhythms of the Kingston Trio, and the group sang "Oh Lordy" instead of "Oh Lord."
Their melodic development followed that of Seeger on his Carnegie Hall album. On the third line of the full "kumbaya" verse, one person went high. The final repetition of "kumbaya" must have been overdubbed. [36] The group sang the lines in harmony, and, while they were holding the final note, they echo the phrase in harmony.
Their version "began to hit the charts in Minneapolis, Vancouver, and it even got into the top ten records in Boston," where it upset the sensibilities of a minister who thought it "anti-religious." Weissman said, "he counted the number of times that we sang Oh Lordy, and began a campaign to get it off the radio. Unfortunately for us, he succeeded. Our attempt to capitalize on Michael sank in to oblivion." [37]
(To be continued in next post)
End Notes
1. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. Recorded February 1959, released June 1958.
2. Ronald D. Cohen. Rainbow Quest. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002. 131.
3. Wikipedia. "The Kingston Trio (Album)."
4. Gilliam Banmon Grayson and Henry Whitter recorded the song in 1929. [38] In 1940, Frank Warner transcribed a version from Frank Proffitt that appeared in an anthology published by Alan Lomax in 1947. [39] Lomax and Warner sued for copyright infringement and negotiated rights to the royalties for the Kingston Trio’s version of "Tom Dooley" in 1962. [40]
5. Cohen. 131. You have to wonder if these people actually listened to the Kingston Trio record.
6. Wikipedia. "Thomas Anthony Dooley III." His book, Deliver Us from Evil, was as truthful as Harvey Matusow’s reports on Pete Seeger that were discussed in the post for 18 August 2019. It was published in New York by New American Library in 1956.
7. The members of The Weavers were discussed in the posts for 12 October 2017, 14 July 2019, 28 July 2019, 11 August 2019, 18 August 2019, and 6 October 2019.
8. William J. Bush. Greenback Dollar. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013. 25.
9. Bush, Greenback. 23.
10. Bush, Greenback. 20.
11. Wikipedia. "Nick Reynolds."
12. Bush, Greenback. 6. The group later saw them perform at the San Francisco Opera House. [41] Dick Weissman said "Guard had attended a Weavers concert in 1957 and then learned to play banjo from Pete Seeger’s instruction book." [42]
13. William J. Bush. "Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio." Lazyka website.
14. Bush, Greenback. 4–5.
15. Bush, Greenback. 4–5 and 26–27.
16. Bush, Greenback. 52–53.
17. Bush, Greenback. 58–59.
18. Bush, Greenback. 124.
19. Dick Weissman. The Music Never Stops. Anaheim Hills, California: Centerstream Publishing, 2016. 39.
20. Weissman, Music. 47.
21. Weissman, Music. 40. ITA suggested Rene Cardenas become their manager. He was an associate of Werber. Weissman remembered: "Werber and Cardenas were interested in us as an insurance policy, in case the trio was unable to find a replacement." John Phillips later said: "Werber had us believing we couldn’t fail to make it. We soon learned that he planned to sign us as insurance against the imminent—but still secret—breakup of the Kingston Trio." [43]
22. John Phillips. Papa John. With Jim Jerome. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1986. 101. The chronicler of the Kingston Trio, said none of the Trio members remembered auditioning Phillips. [44] Given the duplicity of Werber and Cardenas, everyone’s memory may be accurate. There is evidence Phillips got ensnared: he and his family lived in an apartment owned by Shane, [45] and he began writing songs for the group to pay debts. [46]
23. Phillips, 97; and Weissman, Music, 41.
24. Weissman, Music. 44. "By this time we had become thoroughly skeptical about what Rene Cardenas and Frank Weber were going to be able to do for us. They had dragged us out of the one booking agency that seem to have a lock on pop-folk gigs and college concerts, and put us in an old line booking agency that was best known for booking Louis Armstrong. We regretted leaving ITA, and we also realized that Weber and Cardenas had lost interest in us when the Kingston Trio re-formed."
25. Weissman, Music. 45.
26. Phillips. 95.
27. Phillips, 95; and Weissman, Music, 35.
28. Weissman, Music. 35.
29. Weissman, Music. 36.
30. Weissman, Music.
31. Dick Weissman. Which Side Are You On? New York: Continuum, 2006. 84.
33. Wikipedia. "The Highwaymen (Folk Band)."
34. Weissman, Music. 52.
35. Pete Seeger’s version was discussed in the post for 6 October 2019.
36. Weissman said they overdubbed on their first album. [48] He probably also did that on the instrumental introduction to "Kumbaya."
37. Weissman, Music. 52.
38. Grayson and Whitter. "Tom Dooley." Victor 40235.
39. "Tom Dooley [Laws F36A]." The Traditional Ballad Index. California State University-Fresno website. Version 4.5. The anthology was John Avery Lomax and Alan Lomax. Folk Song U.S.A. New York: Duell, 1947. 82.
40. Michael John Simmons. "Bob Shane: Behind the Stripes." August 2012. Fretboard Journal website.
41. Bush, Greenback. 61.
42. Weissman, Side. 74–75.
43. Phillips. 97.
44. Bush, Greenback. 161.
45. Phillips. 101.
46. Weissman recalled in his autobiography, "desperate for some source of income, John started writing songs with John Stewart, Guard’s replacement," [page 43] while Phillips simply admitted "I was writing songs with John Steward after he replaced Dave Guard in the Kingston Trio." [page 106]
47. "The Highwaymen – Michael / Santiano." Discogs website.
48. Weissman, Music. 42.
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Pete Seeger - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Commercial Folk Music Revival
Pete Seeger was responsible for introducing "Kumbaya" to the commercial folk music revival. It had begun to seep into the repertoire earlier, [1] but his performances were the ones that moved it from the periphery.
Lynn Rohrbough had begun publicizing the common version in 1956. He ran a small company in Delaware, Ohio, that had been producing customized songbooks for churches and youth groups since 1940. [2] He incorporated in 1954, [3] and began expanding the business.
In 1955, "interested agencies" gave his Cooperative Recreation Service a thousand dollars to promote the business with a Song Sampler. [4] The first issue, published in January 1956, contained "Kum Ba Yah," along with the international and religious songs for which he was known. [5]
By 1957, Rohrbough was considering supplementing his songbooks with some illustrative recordings. [6] Tony Saletan, a folk-music revival artists based in Boston, went to Delaware in 1957 to discuss the project. [7] He said he learned "Kumbaya" from Rohrbough. [8] He then sang it at the Swarthmore College folk festival [9] where Joe Hickerson learned it. [10]
Rohrbough apparently also gave a copy to Larry Eisenberg, an old friend who had worked in the Methodist Church’s Youth Department. [11] He taught it at Davidson College in North Carolina in late 1956. [12] That was where Pete Seeger learned it. [13]
Sometime that year, Seeger added it to his repertoire. He was recorded singing "Kumbaya" in October 1957 at a concert sponsored by the Folklore Society of the University of Chicago. [14] In December 1957, Seeger included "Kum Ba Yah" in a commercial recording made of a concert with Sonny Terry at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
By then, Seeger had been aware of the implications of the copyright law for years. To create a version that did not run foul of someone’s copyright, it was necessary to make minor changes to a text or tune.
In October, Seeger used the three CRS verses ("crying," "singing," "praying") in his own order, with his own verse, "sleeping." He first sang the "kumbaya" verse, then told the audience "we ought to get some harmony on this one," and repeated "kumbaya." He paused to recount the song’s origins. After singing the four verses, he ended with "kumbaya."
In December, he did not mention the song’s history. Instead, that appeared in the album’s liner notes. He dropped the "crying" verse and inserted an extra repetition of the "kumbaya" verse between the second and third verses.
Five years later, in Australia, he started with "kumbaya," then told the story about the song’s origins. He added "it does need some harmony" and asked them to make up their own. He then sang three verses and "kumbaya." This time he dropped the religious "praying" and changed "crying" to "weeping," which rhymed with "sleeping."
He usually sang the melody on the first iteration. When the audience started to sing with him, he made some comment about needing harmony. In Chicago and Australia he began singing a lower counter-melody that was like a woman’s alto part. In New York, he went higher on some notes.
If one wonders if a performer was influenced by Seeger’s performances, there are three traits unique to him. One was the use of "sleeping." Second was the lower counter-melody. Third was his pronunciation of "koom bye ah." Anyone who dropped the "y" sound on the last syllable either copied him or was from that part of the New England where that was a typical pronunciation pattern.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Pete Seeger
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: Pete Seeger, banjo
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
"The song was published in one of the small camp songbooks put out by that remarkable man, Lynn Rohrbough, who in his Ohio barn prints millions of songbooks and recreation handbooks for churches, Y’s, and camps throughout the world." [15]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom bye ah
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Form
Ending: none
Unique Features: sleeping verse
Chicago, October 1957
Basic Form: four-verse song, framed by kumbaya
Verses: kumbaya, praying, crying, sleeping, singing
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxxxA where A = kumbaya
New York, December 1957
Basic Form: almost verse-burden
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, praying, singing,
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxAxA where A = kumbaya
Australia, October 1963
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, weeping, singing
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxxA where A = kumbaya
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: In Chicago he varied the tempo of the accompaniment. He slowed it during the "crying" verse and speeded it up during the "singing" verse.
Basic Structure: vocal solo with instrumental accompaniment
Ending: Seeger slowed the last line of the last verse
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Notes on Performance
Chicago
Occasion: concert, 13 October 1957
Location: Folklore Society of the University of Chicago
Microphones: recording was made
New York
Occasion: concert, 27 December 1957
Location: Carnegie Hall, New York City
Microphones: commercial recording was made
Australia
Occasion: concert, 24 October 1963
Location: someplace with a flat floor
Microphones: two floor mikes, one for his voice and one for his banjo
Clothing: light-colored long-sleeved shirt, with sleeves roll up; no tie and top button undone; medium dark slacks. The video was in black-and-white.
Notes on Movement
Australia
Seeger stood still in the aisle at the front of an audience seated on folding chairs.
Notes on Audience
Chicago and New York
Audiences were heard singing.
Australia
Audience was dressed for an occasion: most of the young men were wearing suits, white shirts, and ties. They could be seen singing. Often, Seeger stopped singing so they could be heard.
Notes on Performers
Seeger’s life through the initial success of The Weavers was discussed in the posts for 11 August 2019 and 18 August 2019. As mentioned in the latter post, Harvey Matusow denounced Seeger as a communist in 1952. The Weavers lost their recording contract with Decca, and had so many tour dates cancelled they stopped performing in the spring of 1953. [16]
Between 1953 and 1955, Seeger supported his family by touring small colleges like Oberlin [17] and Swarthmore, [18] working for Norman Studer at Camp Woodland and the Downtown Community School, [19] and recording for Moses Asch on Folkways. [20]
Then, in 1955 Seeger was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, [21] and his bookings again were cancelled. [22] This time, his new business manager engineered a reunion concert in Carnegie Hall for The Weavers. [23] It was after this concert that Seeger performed at Davidson College.
In April of 1957, Vanguard Records issued an album from the Carnegie Hall performance. [24] Bookings for the group increased, but Seeger preferred his revived solo career and left the group [25] on 3 March 1958. [26] It was in this period that he was singing "Kum Ba Yah" on college campuses.
Availability
Album: Pete Seeger. "Kum Ba Ya" in "Goofing Off Suite." Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry. Folkways Records FA2412. 1958. Uploaded to YouTube many times.
Concert Tape: Pete Seeger. "Kumbaya." Pete Seeger Live ’57. Goldenland Records MP3. 2013. No longer available on Amazon or YouTube.
Concert Tape: Pete Seeger. "Kumbaya." Uploaded to YouTube by Kálmán Tóth on 18 May 2014.
End Notes
1. The Weavers, without Seeger, recorded a variant based on his version in 1958. See the post for 3 October 2017 for details.
2. Larry Nial Holcomb. "A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service." PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, 1972. 102.
3. Holcomb. 112–113.
4. "Who Pays." Song Sampler. Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service: January 1956 issue. B.
5. "Come By Here/Kum Ba Yah." Song Sampler. 15.
6. Rohrbough finally issued Songs of Many Nations in 1962. It did not contain "Kumbaya." [21] This may not have been the only CRS recording. Does anyone know of others?
7. Anthony Saletan. Email, 3 May 2016.
8. Anthony Saletan. Letter, 25 February 1977.
9. Saletan was on the festival schedule for Sunday, 14 April 1957. [22]
10. Joseph C. Hickerson. Letter, 8 November 1977.
Chee Hoo Lum. "A Tale of ‘Kum Ba Yah’." Kodaly Envoy 33(3): 5–11:2007.
Joe Hickerson. "Joe’s Jottings #10: The Folksmiths Summer of 1957." Local Lore, January and February 2016. Republished on Portland Folk Music website.
11. Larry Eisenberg. "It’s Me, O Lord." Tulsa: Fun Books, 1992. 51–52.
12. Larry Eisenberg. Letter to Lynn Rohrbough, 29 January 1957.
13. Pete Seeger. Liner notes. Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry.
14. Thomas Stern identified this as a tape from a performance for the Folklore Society of the University of Chicago, 13 October 1957. He was replying to the query "Pete Seeger Live '57" on Mudcat Café website, 2 May 2016.
15. Seeger, liner notes.
16. David King Dunaway. How Can I Keep from Singing? New York: Villard Books, 2008 edition. 188.
17. Dunaway. 190.
18. "Swarthmore College Folk Festival 1953 Setlists." Set List website.
19. Dunaway. 192.
20. Dunaway. 193–194. Asch was discussed in the post for 14 October 2017. Dick Weissman said Asch paid Seeger a $15 weekly retainer in lieu of royalties. [23]
21. Lynn Rohrbough. Songs of Many Nations. World Around Songs LP/2. Delaware, Ohio. February 1962. Contents listed on Discogs website.
22. "Swarthmore College Folk Festival 1957 Setlists." Set List website.
23. Dick Weissman. Which Side Are You On? New York: Continuum, 2006. 88.
Pete Seeger was responsible for introducing "Kumbaya" to the commercial folk music revival. It had begun to seep into the repertoire earlier, [1] but his performances were the ones that moved it from the periphery.
Lynn Rohrbough had begun publicizing the common version in 1956. He ran a small company in Delaware, Ohio, that had been producing customized songbooks for churches and youth groups since 1940. [2] He incorporated in 1954, [3] and began expanding the business.
In 1955, "interested agencies" gave his Cooperative Recreation Service a thousand dollars to promote the business with a Song Sampler. [4] The first issue, published in January 1956, contained "Kum Ba Yah," along with the international and religious songs for which he was known. [5]
By 1957, Rohrbough was considering supplementing his songbooks with some illustrative recordings. [6] Tony Saletan, a folk-music revival artists based in Boston, went to Delaware in 1957 to discuss the project. [7] He said he learned "Kumbaya" from Rohrbough. [8] He then sang it at the Swarthmore College folk festival [9] where Joe Hickerson learned it. [10]
Rohrbough apparently also gave a copy to Larry Eisenberg, an old friend who had worked in the Methodist Church’s Youth Department. [11] He taught it at Davidson College in North Carolina in late 1956. [12] That was where Pete Seeger learned it. [13]
Sometime that year, Seeger added it to his repertoire. He was recorded singing "Kumbaya" in October 1957 at a concert sponsored by the Folklore Society of the University of Chicago. [14] In December 1957, Seeger included "Kum Ba Yah" in a commercial recording made of a concert with Sonny Terry at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
By then, Seeger had been aware of the implications of the copyright law for years. To create a version that did not run foul of someone’s copyright, it was necessary to make minor changes to a text or tune.
In October, Seeger used the three CRS verses ("crying," "singing," "praying") in his own order, with his own verse, "sleeping." He first sang the "kumbaya" verse, then told the audience "we ought to get some harmony on this one," and repeated "kumbaya." He paused to recount the song’s origins. After singing the four verses, he ended with "kumbaya."
In December, he did not mention the song’s history. Instead, that appeared in the album’s liner notes. He dropped the "crying" verse and inserted an extra repetition of the "kumbaya" verse between the second and third verses.
Five years later, in Australia, he started with "kumbaya," then told the story about the song’s origins. He added "it does need some harmony" and asked them to make up their own. He then sang three verses and "kumbaya." This time he dropped the religious "praying" and changed "crying" to "weeping," which rhymed with "sleeping."
He usually sang the melody on the first iteration. When the audience started to sing with him, he made some comment about needing harmony. In Chicago and Australia he began singing a lower counter-melody that was like a woman’s alto part. In New York, he went higher on some notes.
If one wonders if a performer was influenced by Seeger’s performances, there are three traits unique to him. One was the use of "sleeping." Second was the lower counter-melody. Third was his pronunciation of "koom bye ah." Anyone who dropped the "y" sound on the last syllable either copied him or was from that part of the New England where that was a typical pronunciation pattern.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Pete Seeger
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: Pete Seeger, banjo
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
"The song was published in one of the small camp songbooks put out by that remarkable man, Lynn Rohrbough, who in his Ohio barn prints millions of songbooks and recreation handbooks for churches, Y’s, and camps throughout the world." [15]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom bye ah
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Form
Ending: none
Unique Features: sleeping verse
Chicago, October 1957
Basic Form: four-verse song, framed by kumbaya
Verses: kumbaya, praying, crying, sleeping, singing
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxxxA where A = kumbaya
New York, December 1957
Basic Form: almost verse-burden
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, praying, singing,
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxAxA where A = kumbaya
Australia, October 1963
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, weeping, singing
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxxA where A = kumbaya
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: In Chicago he varied the tempo of the accompaniment. He slowed it during the "crying" verse and speeded it up during the "singing" verse.
Basic Structure: vocal solo with instrumental accompaniment
Ending: Seeger slowed the last line of the last verse
Singing Style: one syllable to one note
Notes on Performance
Chicago
Occasion: concert, 13 October 1957
Location: Folklore Society of the University of Chicago
Microphones: recording was made
New York
Occasion: concert, 27 December 1957
Location: Carnegie Hall, New York City
Microphones: commercial recording was made
Australia
Occasion: concert, 24 October 1963
Location: someplace with a flat floor
Microphones: two floor mikes, one for his voice and one for his banjo
Clothing: light-colored long-sleeved shirt, with sleeves roll up; no tie and top button undone; medium dark slacks. The video was in black-and-white.
Notes on Movement
Australia
Seeger stood still in the aisle at the front of an audience seated on folding chairs.
Notes on Audience
Chicago and New York
Audiences were heard singing.
Australia
Audience was dressed for an occasion: most of the young men were wearing suits, white shirts, and ties. They could be seen singing. Often, Seeger stopped singing so they could be heard.
Notes on Performers
Seeger’s life through the initial success of The Weavers was discussed in the posts for 11 August 2019 and 18 August 2019. As mentioned in the latter post, Harvey Matusow denounced Seeger as a communist in 1952. The Weavers lost their recording contract with Decca, and had so many tour dates cancelled they stopped performing in the spring of 1953. [16]
Between 1953 and 1955, Seeger supported his family by touring small colleges like Oberlin [17] and Swarthmore, [18] working for Norman Studer at Camp Woodland and the Downtown Community School, [19] and recording for Moses Asch on Folkways. [20]
Then, in 1955 Seeger was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, [21] and his bookings again were cancelled. [22] This time, his new business manager engineered a reunion concert in Carnegie Hall for The Weavers. [23] It was after this concert that Seeger performed at Davidson College.
In April of 1957, Vanguard Records issued an album from the Carnegie Hall performance. [24] Bookings for the group increased, but Seeger preferred his revived solo career and left the group [25] on 3 March 1958. [26] It was in this period that he was singing "Kum Ba Yah" on college campuses.
Availability
Album: Pete Seeger. "Kum Ba Ya" in "Goofing Off Suite." Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry. Folkways Records FA2412. 1958. Uploaded to YouTube many times.
Concert Tape: Pete Seeger. "Kumbaya." Pete Seeger Live ’57. Goldenland Records MP3. 2013. No longer available on Amazon or YouTube.
Concert Tape: Pete Seeger. "Kumbaya." Uploaded to YouTube by Kálmán Tóth on 18 May 2014.
End Notes
1. The Weavers, without Seeger, recorded a variant based on his version in 1958. See the post for 3 October 2017 for details.
2. Larry Nial Holcomb. "A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service." PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, 1972. 102.
3. Holcomb. 112–113.
4. "Who Pays." Song Sampler. Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service: January 1956 issue. B.
5. "Come By Here/Kum Ba Yah." Song Sampler. 15.
6. Rohrbough finally issued Songs of Many Nations in 1962. It did not contain "Kumbaya." [21] This may not have been the only CRS recording. Does anyone know of others?
7. Anthony Saletan. Email, 3 May 2016.
8. Anthony Saletan. Letter, 25 February 1977.
9. Saletan was on the festival schedule for Sunday, 14 April 1957. [22]
10. Joseph C. Hickerson. Letter, 8 November 1977.
Chee Hoo Lum. "A Tale of ‘Kum Ba Yah’." Kodaly Envoy 33(3): 5–11:2007.
Joe Hickerson. "Joe’s Jottings #10: The Folksmiths Summer of 1957." Local Lore, January and February 2016. Republished on Portland Folk Music website.
11. Larry Eisenberg. "It’s Me, O Lord." Tulsa: Fun Books, 1992. 51–52.
12. Larry Eisenberg. Letter to Lynn Rohrbough, 29 January 1957.
13. Pete Seeger. Liner notes. Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry.
14. Thomas Stern identified this as a tape from a performance for the Folklore Society of the University of Chicago, 13 October 1957. He was replying to the query "Pete Seeger Live '57" on Mudcat Café website, 2 May 2016.
15. Seeger, liner notes.
16. David King Dunaway. How Can I Keep from Singing? New York: Villard Books, 2008 edition. 188.
17. Dunaway. 190.
18. "Swarthmore College Folk Festival 1953 Setlists." Set List website.
19. Dunaway. 192.
20. Dunaway. 193–194. Asch was discussed in the post for 14 October 2017. Dick Weissman said Asch paid Seeger a $15 weekly retainer in lieu of royalties. [23]
21. Lynn Rohrbough. Songs of Many Nations. World Around Songs LP/2. Delaware, Ohio. February 1962. Contents listed on Discogs website.
22. "Swarthmore College Folk Festival 1957 Setlists." Set List website.
23. Dick Weissman. Which Side Are You On? New York: Continuum, 2006. 88.
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