Smithsonian Folkways Children's Music Collection

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
26 songs, play-party games, and poems selected from over 200 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Folkways Records present a panorama of music performed for and by young children. Includes notes, song texts, and a complete list of recordings for children. Well-loved songs and unexpected treasures from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Ella Jenkins, Suni Paz, Pete Seeger, and others.

Tracks:

Riding In My Car (Car Song) - Woody Guthrie
Mary Mack - Ella Jenkins
All Around The Kitchen - Pete Seeger
Ha-Ha This-A-Way - Lead Belly
Merrily We Roll Along - Lord Invader With The Calypso Orchestra
Miwoe Nenyo - W.K. Amoaku
Pole Pole - Ella Jenkins
'Dreams'/'Youth' - Langston Hughes
Why, Oh Why - Woody Guthrie
I Had A Rooster - Pete Seeger
'Oksn' - Ruth Rubin
Sur Le Pont D' Avignon - Alan Mills
Benjamin Franklin (Jump Rope Rhyme) - Illinois School Children
Los Pollitos/The Chicks - Suni Paz
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - Ella Jenkins
ABC's - Ella Jenkins
Animal Alphabet Song - Alan Mills
Whoopie Ti Yi Yo - Cisco Houston
A La Vibora De La Mar/Serpent Of The Sea - Mexican Children
Wolf Song/Turtle Song - Irene Poolaw
'Bedbug' - Arna Bontemps
Skip To My Lou/Four Pence A Day - Pete Seeger
Hey, Coal Miner - Larry Long & Mrs. Side's 6th Grade Class
Among The Little White Daisies - Jeanne Ritchie
Old Bell Cow - New Lost City Ramblers
One Grain Of Sand (Excerpt) - Pete Seeger

Album Description

26 songs, play-party games, and poems selected from over 200 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Folkways Records present a panorama of music performed for and by young children. Includes notes, song texts, and a complete list of recordings for children. Well-loved songs and unexpected treasures from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Ella Jenkins, Suni Paz, Pete Seeger, and others.

Customer Reviews:

90% good with a few clunkers.......2007-07-13

As a parent who is trying to get his kids into older American folk music, this is a good fit. There are lots of good, fun songs on here like Woody Guthrie's "Car Song" (or whatever it's called) and Leadbelly's song that my 1 year old likes. There are some really ho-hum songs as well which I personally can't stand, but it beats the Wigglez any day.

There are a few songs about working in a coal mine which some people might see as a "downer", but facts is facts and it's an interesting point for older listeners who might be interested in hearing that they used to make kids work in the mines.

Overall, I like this collection as it's a good representation of early American music that's easy on parents' ears.

Great CD to introduce children to folk music!.......2007-07-03

With all the mediocre or product-pandering commercial music for kids out there, this was such a relief. My 4-year-old loves it, thinks that sound Woody Guthrie makes in "Riding in the Car" is a scream, knows all the words to the songs, and it's introduced her (and me) to some great traditional folk songs. Highly recommended.

Amazing CD!.......2006-08-25

I love this CD. It has a folksy tone with some interesting lyrics. I enjoy the history, the variety and the quality of the recordings. My babies like it, and dance to some of the songs. I highly recommend this CD.

Gentle lull to sleep.......2006-03-25

This collection does run hot and cold, I agree. There are a lot of songs about toiling in coal mines, too. But these gentle old fashioned songs are great for settling my boy to sleep. The first few are fun to sing together ("Let's go riding in the car", "All around the kitchen" (cock a-doodle oodle oo!)) then they calm down and it works perfectly for nodding off. I also appreciate that my son is getting some exposure to these American classics. Recommended, at least as a change of pace from those migraine-inducing "kid's Bop" CDs.

Runs hot & cold.......2003-11-21

I was initially quite disappointed with this CD - I felt that it wasn't a particularly good representation of international music (yes, when I read the label closer, I realized it was intended more as an American music collection, but some of the reviews and summaries were misleading).

I was also disappointed that there were multiple songs by the same artists - 4 by Ella Jenkins alone - really not the variety I was looking for. There are far too many "slow" songs (including the unforgivably boring "One Grain of Sand"), several informative and historic but depressing songs about coal mining, and a poetry reading in the middle of the CD that my son invariably requests we skip.

To be fair, my 16-month-old does enjoy about half the songs on this CD - especially "Riding in the Car" and "I Had a Rooster." I personally think "Old Bell Cow" is a hoot. But if you have a toddler that loves to dance and boogie, this isn't the CD for you. I heartily recommend the World Playground CD produced by Putumayo Kids instead.

Headlines and Footnotes: Collection of Topical Songs
Average customer rating:

Wonderful collection of story songs

An essential album by an essential artist.

Headlines and Footnotes: Collection of Topical Songs
Pete Seeger
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000IWNA
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Tracks:

Peg And Awl
The Titanic
Sinking Of The Reuben James
Listen Mr. Bilbo
Hold The Line
Passing Through
Coal Creek March/Payday At Coal Creek/Roll Down The Line
I Come And Stand At Every Door
Times A-Getting Hard
Little Boxes
From Way Up Here
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My Get Up And Go
The Bells Of Rhymney
Waist Deep In The Big Muddy
Guantanamera
There Once Was A Woman Who Swallowed A Lie
Wasn't That A Time
Viva La Quince Brigada
Wimoweh
English Is Cuh-Ray-Zee
Odds On Favorite
A Little Of This And That

Amazon.com

The broadsides found on Folkways' second collection of Pete Seeger topical tunes are less broad than those found on its predecessor, If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle. Where the earlier collection was laden with sweeping civil rights, labor, and antiwar songs, Headlines & Footnotes' selections are often drawn from specific events. "The Titanic" is a 1957 recording of the famed ode to the great ship. Woody Guthrie's "The Sinking of the Reuben James" was inspired by the sinking of a U.S. destroyer by the Nazis. "The Battle of Maxton Field" chronicles a confrontation between Klansmen and Native Americans. The generously annotated 23-song anthology contains a number of Seeger standards, including "Little Boxes," "The Bells of Rhymney," "Guantanamera," and "Wimoweh." Folkways controls a vast store of Seeger recordings made between the '40s and '70s. Headlines & Footnotes indicates they're in good hands. --Steven Stolder

Album Description

For nearly 60 years Pete Seeger, with his banjo and 12-string guitar, has made music which inspires people to improve their lives and world. Selections on this anthology, culled from the hundreds Seeger recorded for Folkways Records between 1955 and 1999, include concert and studio recordings about prominent events and themes of the twentieth century: the Spanish Civil War, union organizing, and the civil rights and antiwar movements. Eleven previously unreleased tracks (one recorded in 1999). 74 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful collection of story songs.......2003-08-11

This may be considered as a companion volume to another fine Pete Seeger compilation, If I had a hammer - songs of hope and struggle, which I've already reviewed. Whereas that compilation was firmly focused on political songs, this one is billed as a collection of topical songs, but many of the topics on these songs are political anyway.

Of course, there are a few non-political songs, like The Titanic, perhaps the most famous sunken ship. It's not the only sunken ship to get a song here, but unlike the Titanic, the sinking of the Reuben James is a political story, as it was the first American ship torpedoed by the Germans in World War II.

Little boxes was inspired by urban sprawl. Its writer, Malvina Reynolds, had offered the song to several other folk singers and groups before it came to Pete's attention. Pete loved it immediately and it has become one of his most famous recordings. Sadly, it is even more relevant today than it was forty years ago, as urban sprawl continues to eat up the countryside. Unlike so many of Pete's political songs, Little boxes is a song that many people can relate to, whatever their political believes, because it merely states the problem and offers neither cause nor solution.

There are many other excellent songs here. All the essential Pete Seeger songs can be found here or on the other compilation, If I had a hammer - songs of hope and struggle.

An essential album by an essential artist........2000-07-05

There are many albums out there by Pete Seeger, and this one is one of my favorites. It has songs written by Woody Guthrie and others, but also features many Seeger staples, such as "Guantanamera" "Bells Of Rhymney" "Wimoweh" and "Little Boxes." Seeger is an artist that needs to be heard and he is getting that respect by the release of this and other Seeger classics.

Been In The Storm So Long: A Collection Of Spirituals, Folk Tales And Children's Games From Johns Island, South Carolina

Average customer rating:

It doesn't get rawer than this

Been In The Storm So Long: A Collection Of Spirituals, Folk Tales And Children's Games From Johns Island, South Carolina
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings

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Tracks:

Remember Me - Moving Star Hall Singers
See God's Ark A-Moving - Moving Star Hall Singers
Ask The Watchman How Long - Moving Star Hall Singers
Meet Me In Galilee - Moving Star Hall Singers
Talking 'Bout A Good Time - Benjamin Bligen
That's All Right - Laura Rivers
Jesus Knows All About My Trouble - Moving Star Hall congregation
Esau Jenkins Talking - Esau Jenkins
Lay Down Body - Bertha Smith
Welcome Table & Prayer - Alice Wine
Ezekial In The Valley - James Mackey
Been In The Storm So Long - Mary Pickney
Jack And Mary And The Three Dogs - Janie Hunter
You Got To Move - Janie Hunter
Moon Light In Glory - Ruth Bligen
Mary Rolled The Stone Away - Janie Hunter
Ezekial In The Valley - Janie Hunter
Down On Me - Mary Pinckney, Janie Hunter
Reborn Again - Benjamin Bligen
Row Michael Row - Been In The Storm So Long
Johnny Cuckoo - Janie Hunter
Old Lady From Booster - Been In The Storm So Long
Shoo Turkey - Been In The Storm So Long
Mr. Postman Die - Been In The Storm So Long
Water My Flowers - Been In The Storm So Long
Rabbit And Partridge - Janie Hunter
Improvised Blues - Janie Hunter, Mary Pinckney
Jack & Mary And The Devil - Janie Hunter

Album Description

An extraordinary sound portrait of one of the oldest African American communities in the western world. Collectors Guy and Candie Carawan's document of Johns Island, South Carolina reveals a community full of music and life. "Virtuoso performances of the song and shout congregational traditional singing." -- National Museum of American History

Customer Reviews:

It doesn't get rawer than this.......2005-12-22

This is a rare Cd of recordings among the Gullah culture of Johns Island, South Carolina in 1966-67. Being that the Gullah speakers were (and to a degree, still are) among the most unassimilated Black cultures of America, this gives you a chace to hear what is usually only described in books on the subject. This is thus as raw a recording on Black American culture as you can get. Janie Hunter's stories represent something of a lost art, and the Moving Hall Gospel Singers gives you actual "Praise House" singing stripped of all the sophistication you often hear in gospel you hear today. Civil Rights and South carolina historians will also be pleased to hear the voice of legendary civil rights leader Esau Jenkins (1910-1972) who did much to improve the life of his community and Martin Luther King's man in Charleston. Overall, a great documenary CD.

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