Song lyric websites anyone?

[Johnny Lloyd]

To ya'll:


I have had a search going for websites with period WBTS and earlier song lyrics with samples of music. Anyone know of any good websites offhand? So far, I have found lyrics only or samples only on websites.
Also, I'm not offended by correct historical lyrics... embrace history!

Thanks!

[Danny]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

Johnny -

Worthwhile quest. One source is:

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/genre_overview.asp?genreId=3

that one has some digital scans of period songsheets by well-known period composers.

Another source is an inexpensive book available from Dover Publications, consists of reproduced period sheet music of popular composers of the CW period:

http://web1.doverpublications.com/cgi-bin/toc.pl/0486234223

Some other sites have at least good source info:

http://parlorsongs.com/search.asp

http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/guitar.htm

but not the scans of the sheet music, but armed with some titles from those you can search for the scans of the music sheets at good 'ol

http://www.archives.gov/

One more may be of interest. I have made a pdf copy of the sheet music pages from the Buckley's 1868 banjo tutor -- you can download it from the Minstrel Banjo supplement site at

http://groups.google.com/group/Albert-Baur?hl=en

Hope these help.


- Dan Wykes

[Dan Munson]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

Here are a couple of sites that have lyrics and sound files. These cover your run-of-the-mill, everyday "Civil War" songs:

http://www.civilwarmusic.net/index.php

http://pdmusic.org/civilwar.html

A couple of additional searchable web sites which have collections of period sheet music are:

A) The Lester Levy Collection : http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/index.html
B) The Duke University Collection: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/
C) Library of Congress collection of sheet music about Lincoln, emancipation or the Civil War: http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/scsmhtml/scsmhome.html

I have a link....somewhere...to a site with a selection of period "minstrel" songs, including sound files. I'll see if I can find that link -- if so, I'll post it here later.

Dan Munson
Co. K, 100th Penn'a
The Roundhead Regiment

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

Mr. Lloyd,

This site contains original African American Sheet music from 1820-1920

http://dl.lib.brown.edu/sheetmusic/afam/index.html

And of course the Library of Congress Music for a Nation American Sheet Music 1820-1860. I think this is the same site Dan Munson recommended

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sm2html/sm2home.html

[Dan Munson]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

Here are the links I mentioned yesterday that will take you to web sites with period "minstrel" songs.

http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/minstrel/misohp.html

http://www.pdmusic.org/minstrel.html

A lot of very un-PC stuff there. Use wisely! I perform some of these songs occasionally (with guitar -- haven't tackled the banjo yet!). Even when I play some of these tunes during a complete "immersion" scenario, surrounded by folks who "know" what I am doing, and why, I can almost hear some teeth grinding.

Dan Munson
Co/ K, 100th Penn'a. V.I.
The Roundhead Reg't.

[Dan Munson]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

I might have added that some of that teeth-grinding is probably my own (does get in the way of enunciating the lyrics....) :)

Dan Munson

[Danny]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

_____________________________________________
RE: "...A lot of very un-PC stuff there. Use wisely! I perform some of these songs occasionally... Even when I play some of these tunes during a complete "immersion" scenario, surrounded by folks who "know" what I am doing, and why, I can almost hear some teeth grinding..."
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Well if it comes to that, you can always substitute with "fellas" instead of "n------s" or "d-----s" without skipping a beat.

And don't even bring up the genuine lyrics thing until after the entire performance is finished. The explanation only becomes a distraction from the minute you mention it, and for every song that comes after it. It's "did he say it again?" instead of "I liked that tune". The period spell is broken.

Keep in mind it's not incorrect for the period to substitute words for the audience anyway -- witness "Buffalo Gals*" which could be "Charlestown Gals" or "Morristown Gals" whatever the location. And of course for every Union hit song there was a Southern lyric version and vice versa.

Dan Wykes

(*I realize "Buffalo Gals" had a double meaning on it's own, but again I don't bring it up but neither will I shy away from such discussions if they are initiated by someone who is truly interested in historical perspective).

[blackhattertuck]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

This site has a good selection of ante bellum songs from the UK with fairly good documentaion. Most have a MIDI track that will give you a good feel for the tune. The selection from the US is somewhat slim, however.

http://www.contemplator.com/folk.html

[Danny]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

And another, for good downloads of original sheet music and listen files of 7 Steven Foster pieces:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/gallery/index.html

Dan Wykes

[Dan Munson]

Re: Song lyric websites anyone?

Regarding Dan Wyckes' comments in Post #7 above:

I agree completely about not going into long explanatory prologues about "the words you're about to hear," because it just kills a LH moment. I generally don't put all that many "d_____y" songs into my active "program" anyway, and I usually save most un-PC stuff for situations when its just me and fellow LHs. But I occasionally trot out "d_____y" song when I know modern listeners are within listening distance, because those songs are a part (albeit an ugly one) of our history as a people, and I believe our history should be shown "warts and all"...not like some canned and sanitized school textbook. If one of my songs happens to prompt a parent to explain to their children about the blatant racism of the period (yes, even among Northerners), or to engage me afterward in a conversation on the same subject, I feel I'm doing a little bit of what LH is supposed to be about.

Switching out words in songs? Absolutely correct - it was done all the time back then. A lot of the word-switching happened simply because performers were copying a popularized song, but felt they could "improve" the lyrics or otherwise put their own distinctive "stamp" on it. My own research into antebellum sheet music, using among things the links posted above, showed me that performers back then felt very free to re-arrange -- almost re-write -- previously popularized songs. The "Buffalo Gals" of CW and later vintage was an altered version of the black-face song "Lubly Fan," made popular in the early 1840s by a minstrel performer named Cool White. In another example, the "Home Sweet Home" song, which historians tell us was so popular with soldiers on both sides, had a number of different versions published in the U.S. between the 1820s and the war period, with differing word arrangements and even somewhat differing melodies. As I recall, the storied "battle of the bands" (AOP vs. ANV) supposedly ended with soldiers of both sides joining in singing "Home Sweet Home" -- which, if true, raises the probability that the singers literally weren't all "on the same page"!

Dan Munson
Co. K, 100th Penn'a V.I.
The Roundhead Reg't