Pete Seeger & Margot Mayo's American Square Dance Group - Old Joe Clark medley

1947 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww....

Featuring "Sally Ann" / "Flop-Eared Mule" / "Old Joe Clark"

"Old Joe Clark" is a folk song, a mountain ballad that was sung during World War I and later by soldiers from eastern Kentucky. An early version was printed in 1918, as sung in Virginia at that time. Joe Clark was born in 1839, a mountaineer who was murdered in 1885. There are about 90 stanzas in various versions of the song. The tune is in mixolydian mode.

As a self-described "split tenor" (between an alto and a tenor), Pete Seeger was a founding member of two highly influential folk groups: The Almanac Singers and The Weavers. The Almanac Singers, which Seeger co-founded in 1941 with Millard Lampell and Arkansas singer and activist Lee Hays, was a topical group, designed to function as a singing newspaper promoting unions, racial and religious inclusion, and other progressive causes. Its personnel included, at various times: Woody Guthrie, Bess Lomax Hawes, Baldwin "Butch" Hawes, Sis Cunningham, Josh White, and Sam Gary. As a controversial Almanac singer, the 21-year-old Seeger performed under the stage name "Pete Bowers" in order to avoid compromising his father's government career.

In 1950 the Almanacs were reconstituted as The Weavers, named after the title of a 1892 play by Gerhart Hauptmann about a workers' strike (which contained the lines, "We'll stand it no more, come what may!"). Besides Pete Seeger (performing under his own name), members of the Weavers included charter Almanac member Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman, and later, Frank Hamilton and Erik Darling. In the atmosphere of the 1950s red scare, the Weavers' repertoire had to be less overtly topical than that of the Almanacs had been, and its progressive message was couched in indirect language—arguably rendering it even more powerful. The Weavers even on occasion performed in tuxedos (unlike the Almanacs, who had dressed informally) and their managers refused to let them perform at political venues. Because of this, the somewhat hokey string orchestra and chorus arrangements on a few of their hit numbers, and, no doubt also because of their considerable, if temporary, financial success, the Weavers incurred criticism from some progressives for supposedly compromising their political integrity. It was a tricky dilemma, but Seeger and the other Weavers felt that the imperative of getting their music and their message out to the widest possible audience amply justified these measures. The Weavers' string of major hits began with "On top of Old Smokey" and an arrangement of Lead Belly's signature waltz, "Goodnight, Irene," which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950 and was covered by many other pop singers. On the flip side of "Irene" was the Israeli song "Tzena, Tzena". Other Weaver hits included, "So Long It's Been Good to Know You" (by Woody Guthrie), "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (by Hays, Seeger, and Lead Belly), the South African Zulu song, "Wimoweh" (about "the lion", warrior chief Shaka Zulu), to name a few.

The Weavers's performing career was abruptly halted in 1953 at the peak of their popularity when blacklisting prompted radio stations to refuse to play their records and all their bookings were canceled. They briefly returned to the stage, however, at a sold-out reunion at Carnegie Hall in 1955 and in a subsequent reunion tour, which produced a hit version of Merle Travis's "Sixteen Tons" as well as LPs of their concert performances. "Kumbaya", a Gullah black spiritual dating from slavery days, was also introduced to wide audiences by Pete Seeger and the Weavers (in 1959), becoming a staple of Boy Scout and Girl Scout campfires.

In the late fifties, the Kingston Trio was formed in direct imitation of (and homage to) the Weavers, covering much of the latter's repertoire, though with a more button-down, uncontroversial and mainstream collegiate persona. The Kingston Trio produced another phenomenal succession of Billboard chart hits, and, in its turn spawned a legion of imitators, laying the groundwork for the 1960s commercial folk revival.

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[thefilmarchive]

I just listened to both "Sally Ann" and "Old Joe Clark" by Pete Seeger and the tune here is definitely "Old Joe Clark." You can hear samples on Amazon or iTunes.

[haikumathieu]

Well, it's actually a 3-tune medley.

They start with "Sally Ann", then switch to "Flop Eared Mule" and finish with "Old Joe Clark" (where Pete is singing)

[thefilmarchive]

Thanks - I've updated this in the description.

[MrMimbreno]

J4ADORE CETTE MUSIQUE

[jakethefiddle]

good old pete a tutor of mine made of vinal!

[oacmre]

@nllipman wow , that must have been a lot of fun back in the days, i love that style of music

[colindominy]

@haikumathieu : Thanks for your contribution, friend .. you're correct in your comment on the 3 part break-up of songs in the footage here. Sure is a mighty good excerpt here !! Bust Down !!

[dreyfusfunkt]

That's pretty obviously Sally Ann at the beginning  and then they bring out Old Joe Clark (the song, not the moonshine). Shortly after this they played "The Greatest Song Ever" but no one was recording and everyone has since forgotten the way it goes.

[vvhoopie]

Where's Lil Wayne?

[RutherfordClubb139]

Dowwnload the audio from this tune at soundnabber doht cohm.

[theuc]

@banjostead True, Pete didn't write his slogan on his banjo untill the 1950's, this is also a different banjo. But does anyone know the lyrics that they sing in the old joe clark part?

[nllipman]

Another thought: Margo and Pete and many others in the group were called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committe, listed in the infamous Red Channels, and blackballed in the McCarthy era--a sad chapter in American history.