The Sinking Of The Reuben James

Arguably the best vocal group of the popular folk revival of the late 1950s through the mid 1960s was the Chad Mitchell Trio. Each member of the group - Chad Mitchell, Mike Kobluk, and Joe Frazier - was a formally trained singer with chorale/vocal experience prior to their assembling as a trio. They received the most notice for their trenchant satirical and political songs, and for introducing the compositions of songwriter Tom Paxton to a wide audience. But the CMT also had a wonderful way with traditional folk material, as this rendition of the Woody Guthrie classic set to "Wildwood Flower" stirringly attests. Kobluk, Mitchell, and Frazier still do concerts and recordings as of 2009, one of the few groups from that era that still performs with its original members.

A complete discussion of the song with other recorded versions appears in the blog associated with this YT channel, Comparative Video 101, here:

http://compvid101.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-were-their-names-woody-guthries.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ChadMitchellTrio
• Guthrie
• ReubenJames
• folk

[muayen]

lovely banjo...

[CompVid101]

@muayen - That would be Paul Prestopino, who still plays with the group when they perform today, as they do a dozen times or so a year.

[crazyman8472]

What the devil is a Reuben James?

[CompVid101]

@crazyman8472 - LOL Crazy! There's a full explanation on the website listed in the song notes. Short version - RJ was a badass sailor during the War of 1812 who has had three destroyers named after him. The one in this song was sunk by a U-boat in the North Atlantic a few weeks before Pearl Harbor.

[jmark50]

Thanks for posting this! I Iike the Kingston Trio's version better too, but I think that was the KT's best song.

[CompVid101]

I completely agree - the version on Close Up is the ultimate KT number - uptempo, banjo, great vocals- the works.

[PippyT1]

The Kingston Trio were great, but The Chad Mitchell Trio were FANTASTIC!  Thanks for a chance to hear them. I don't have a record player anymore.

[s3dh3k]

Super version of this classic folk song. Love their voices, great blend. Something you don't hear anymore.

[highlandpaddy1]

The USS Reuben James was DD-245. I'm sure the captain of the guided missle frigate (FFG-57) named for the first Reuben James knows about his ship's namesake.

As for the liberal business, Woody Guthrie was a "card-carrying" liberal who wrote this song for the purpose of encouraging America to fight the Nazis. The Reuben James was sunk BEFORE Pearl Harbor. It was the first American warship sunk during WWII.

[capt777737]

USS Reuben James is a US Navy Destroyer FFG-57

I sent the captain of the ship the KT version of the song.

[newbiemodder]

....the last day of October when they saved the 44...

[duvessa2003]

Tannenberg, I love your sarcasm. I don't think the problem is liberalism, per se, or even pacifism. Living in fear is the problem. Free country? Hah! Everything has turned so, well GAY!. No, folks, I have zero problem with homosexuals-before I get a bunch of angry responses- but I truly don't know any more politically correct expression that cuts it. And that's another problem: People using political correctness to veil their contempt. I'd rather just have it out in the open...

[Tannenberg71410]

Yeah, how many kids nowadays will ever have heard of the Good Reuben James? I doubt that the powers-to-be in our public school system would ever allow the story of the heroic sailors of the Reuben James to be told. After all, they were on a WAR ship, and had real GUNS to FIGHT the BAD GUYS. You tell stories like this to our kids and the next thing you know they'll want to play DODGE BALL, or BATTLE BALL or throw SNOWBALLS, and how can you raise nice pacifistic liberals like that?

[azindn]

Thank you for posting this great rendition.

[jefffing]

The best of the bunch!

[RPenta]

Beautiful clean singing by my favorite American folk group of all time; ah, if they only would have had a concert with the Dubliners!