Week 2: You Are My Sunshine / Down in the Valley

LAND and HOME‏

Work last night was wonderful, the discussion was good, and the first part of the evening came together in lots of ways I'd hoped for! So--a great class all around. Let's aim for more. I liked that several of you were joining in on the conversation! And some good visitors from afar! All that we missed was Good Night Irene at the end!

The starting points for the second week are Down in the Valley and You Are My Sunshine. I'll encourage you to work from Down in the Valley because of the way the verses are evocative, and relate to place. That said, You Are My Sunshine is also one of our best songs. You can choose. The guiding words: LAND and HOME. They'll help you connect the songs to your own experience, psychological and physical. With Down in the Valley, pay particular attention to the subtle changes of voice--and to the juxtapositions of space. Where is this valley? Where is your valley?

And remember that I encourage you to do both a creative version and to show evidence of where that came from...  Your visual starting points. Kyra's project last night handled this particularly well...

Reading: In the reader, do the first two chapters (Alan Lomax and John Lomax) pps. 1-32. They're taken from two of the Lomax books of folksongs, 1947 and 1960. It's important that you know when they were written because that will give some perspective on what's said. Remember, this is before the folk revival of the early-sixties really got going--and before all the social changes that took place later in that decade. Also--you're reading as much for how folk songs are discussed as for content and history. Voice.

Project. Below--the songs in multiple versions. Yes, this is a lot of material--best go through it first so that you have a sense of the range--then concentrate on the versions that most engage you. Consider social history and where the songs come from. Also--the notion of Song Trails...

Down in the Valley. Here are some different versions.   (The search was made using <down in the valley + folksong> By the way, our own "anonymous" version on the S&P CD that you've download is still the best... think about WHY--and let's discuss in class. Also, check out the recorded versions on the Max Hunter Archive (I'm giving you links).

Burl Ives - 08 - Down in the Valley - YouTube    
The classic folkways master... also an actor--something we should discuss
Andy Griffith - Down In The Valley - YouTube  
1950s American tv. Consider... You Angelinos, see also Gene Autry on Okeh...
Down in the Valley - YouTube  
I get impatient, but there's something here...where she takes it...
Lex and Lor Performing Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail) - YouTube  
Little girls with musical bells
 Slim Whitman - Down In The Valley - YouTube  
A country-western version, steel-guitar

YouTube - Solomon Burke - Down in the valley  (this one's been pulled, so see below)
The song returned to it's souce--by the EMPEROR... Solomon Burke passed away two years ago--and a lot of his material is no longer up on YouTube. Nevertheless, his version of the song is really worth paying attention--how he re-incorporated Down In the Valley into his own soul-singer world. He also tells a powerful story about  performing the song in Louisiana at what  turned out to be a Ku Klux Klan event. (Last thing Solomon Burke expected--he told his band--"No matter what happens, just keep on playin'...") Look into this to see another aspect of American social history--a difficult one--and its connection to the music...  Otis Redding does a similar version... Here are some of Solomon Burke's versions that are still posted:
Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley - YouTube
Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley (Tradução) - YouTube

And here are the Max Hunter Archive recordings (Ollie Gilbert apparently did not record this song!)
http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=264  
Rev. Harold Hunter and Max Hunter, Max Hunter Folk Song Collection
http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=489  
Jimmy Morris, Max Hunter Folk Song Collection
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You Are My Sunshine. The version on S&P CD is by Norman Blake.   Also listen to the original Jimmy Davis--who recorded it in 1940, and made the song famous en route to becoming Lousiana's "Singing Governor." But also listen to the gospel original, Heavenly Sunshine--Laura Henton's version on American Song streaming archive (and others verisions there) or J. Robert Bradley's more sedate version on youtube:  J. Robert Bradley "Heavenly Sunshine" YouTube )
Also remember Ollie Gilbert's version (on Max Hunter Folk Song Collection) and Blind Roosevelt Graves' Happy Sunshine (on American Song, UCB Music Library streaming audio database) from the early 1930s. Some of these precede Jimmie Davis' version, of course (!). That's how the songs get borrowed back and forth. Question of what is an original and what is  authentic! To find these archive versions, go to the RESOURCES post on my S&P blog and follow the links. Make your own exploratory searches to see how both the American Song Archive and the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection archive work!

You Are My Sunshine--Davis - YouTube  
Jimmy Davis   this was his song--or...was it...?  song trails notion...
You Are My Sunshine by Mississippi John Hurt - YouTube  
Always beautiful
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash You Are My Sunshine - YouTube 
Outrageously and beautifully non-enthusiastic
The Soggy Bottom Boys: You are my sunshine - YouTube  
A contemporary, very skilled musician, from Oh Brother Where Are't Thou. This is the one with Norman Blake (on our S&P CD)
You Are My Sunshine - Max Hunter Folk Song Collection - Missouri State University  
Ollie Gilbert's version, on Max Hunter Archive. 
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For the new people--Feiya, and Alon and maybe Dylan. CD download on rapidshare, link in Week I: Notes on the Class. Read what to do there. Also read other entries on blog archive to catch up--and see book purchase under Books on Reserve. Write me if there are questions.