Aragon Mill

[vja65]

this is a Great version...and i am a great admirer of Planxty's rendition. very much different but equally beautiful.

[karimaisgorgeous]

Well put, daeusto.

[1977SS396]

Taking an interest in the "purity" of music, I have come to admire music from the hills. Anyone referring to it as sounding like dying cats just doen't get it. As I experience more of this music, which began with the Carter Family, what I hear is wonderful, as it describes the lives of people that didn't have it as easy as many do now. Its different than the Vegas shows and stadiums that are venues for shows now. I can only hope that others realize what is in front of them before its gone.

[94757598494309438]

Hazel Dickens has a good version, I'm guessing it wouldn't pass Debra-muster either tho. Whatever crumbles your cornbread.

[creativehandsnc]

@94757598494309438 Hazel is my favorite version.

[94757598494309438]

I Love it, think it is the best version I ever heard,but I am guessing I am a wee bit biased ,having been raised on Red Clay Ramblers music.

[captainkayos1]

Try out The Fureys version of this called 'Belfast Mill'.....superior in every way original concept....

[ununhexium]

nice

[shimmy1952]

Great song and version.I'm from the south where the textile industry once thrived.The mills are basically all gone now.

[McGrenzer]

Thank God and Si Kahn for this song! Jim Watson makes it his own persona lament, I think, full of sadness and regret for things long gone or disappearing right before our eyes. Two versions, two points of view, but both great! We can listen to each, prefer one or the other and appreciate both. The message remains the same!

[netterstyl]

Love this rendition of the tune, and I've always loved Jim Watson's voice.

[LakesideArt]

@daeusto This is a wonderful version of this magnificently moving song.

I learned this song as a teen...some 30+ years ago and I've heard LOTS of performers local and national perform it. This though is the closest to 'real' that I've heard. A lot of heart went into this performance of it.

[davcreed]

Its hard to beat Si Kahn, the writer of the song, doing it solo (its on YouTube) . Simple and direct..

[ejgiv]

@DebraDownSth I beg to differ. A good version - originally sung and with feeling.

[alderbaran1]

Stunningly beautiful performance. So true in spirit to the song.

[alderbaran1]

What a stunningly beautiful performance, so appropriate to the song.

[julanenova]

A true grass roots version ... mournful and plaintive. So sad that progress leaves such a void behind it ... it's happened everywhere. On rare ocassions will you see an old building restored .. when they are, they look great! Love the pics and drawings.

[blugras32]

And, anyhow, when I think of a southern town that has closed down because the mill has pulled out I much prefer to hear it sang about by a big-city, classically-trained, high-dollar vocalist than by some backyard band that probably can't even read music. Forget it sounding REAL, I like it to sound sophisticated! (AGAIN PLEASE NOTE MY MAJOR SARCASM).

[blugras32]

I agree DebraDownSth. (PLEASE NOTE MY MAJOR SARCASM) This song would be so much better if it had a high-dollar vocalist singing it.........maybe even a Pavarotti-esque opera singer. That way every syllable would be pronounced properly and the pitch would be absolutely perfect. If this song was only being performed with enunciation instead of all that inflection it would be a classic for sure.

[kdwyermedia]

no roots, no tree ...

[daeusto]

@kdwyermedia

I do not understand your meaning.. please explain.

[McGrenzer]

@kdwyermedia Cryptic, sir, but I certainly agree.

[DebraDownSth]

Love the song, but this cover is worse than cats fighting. horrific singer... grating.

[daeusto]

@DebraDownSth

I see you do not like string band music. Personally I think the vocal has more soul and characterizes the lyric than any version I have heard. I wonder how Lady Gaga would interoperate the song. You are a fan of pop music, I prefer roots music.

[mobilechief]

@daeusto They will never understand , 4 plus years of explaining and I gave up.

[mobilechief]

@mobilechief Dam ment40 plus years.

[LakesideArt]

@DebraDownSth

As a former performer and one who has studied music of the Appalachians for 35+ years, I'm sorry but I must disagree with you.

I think the singer's voice is 'true' to the style and the area that stringband music comes from.

[DebraDownSth]

@LakesideArt LOL, I have lived in and been part of Appalachian music for 54 years and we'll have to agree to disagree. Appalachian doesn't mean sounds like dying cats.

[kobbsno10]

Lovers of this song, what do you think of Befast Mill by the fureys? Nice to hear the original!

[misterczeus]

this is the Red Clay Ramblers. I have it on beta tape- that's how long ago it ran, shown on PBS. Like other old musical things I have on Beta, they're almost impossible to play. I HEAR about working Beta machines but haven't had access to one. Yet! Many thanks for posting it. Hard song to find as their only recording of it was so long ago.

[angkanabode]

This is so beautiful and what a tresure! Thanks Jessica.

[SonofLEH]

Aragon Mill (Si Kahn, Joe Hill Music, ASCAP). Si has been an inspirational figure, as folksinger, songwriter, and particularly as an activist and organizer. His music reflects his life work in the labor and social justice movements. Aragon Mill, built and chartered in 1898, was once one of the largest in the state; so large in fact, that in 1979, when it closed down, Si wrote the song "Aragon Mill" to mourn the loss of one of Georgia's main employers.

[SonofLEH]

Lovely video, wonderful song, long sad history of working people.

[SonofLEH]

ARAGON, Ga.(AP 2002) - More than 100 firefighters converged on this

rural northwest Georgia town Tuesday to battle a raging blaze at an

old former textile mill.

The fire was still burning out of

control three and a half hours later. Firefighters from nearby

Rockmart and Polk counties assisted the

Aragon Fire Department at the 102-year-old Aragon mill.

The old mill, built in 1900 by the A.D. Julliard company, has

been used primarily in the production of textiles throughout its

long history.

[robhowe88]

Please tell everyone who is playing on this. This is the Red Clay Ramblers, right? Forgive me. It's very very wonderful.