Five Fabulous Folk Songs (OT)

"When I Get Home" by Pentangle (1971); "Hammond Song" by The Roches (production and guitar by Robert Fripp of King Crimson) (1979); "A Chance Counsel" by Richard Buckner (2004); "My Autumn's Done Come" by Lee Hazelwood ("...Quite possibly the best retirement song ever written," —Dylan Jones) (1966 version recorded when he was 37; there's a more recent version Kim sent me, recorded when he was much older, but I can't find it online); and "Gabriel's Mother's Highway Ballad #16 Blues" by Arlo Guthrie (1970, remastered 2004).

(It's raining today and Butters and I are in a no-ball-fetching-right-now, rainy-day mood.)

Mike
(Thanks as ever to Kim)

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Dop: "I was never a fan of Folk, but have to second Benjamin's recommendation of Kate Rusby, whose songs I love. Here's Kate duetting with Laura Cantrell on a cover of Iris DeMent's 'Our Town.' Then this is the saddest song ever...."

Comments

[Bob]

The Roches....I've been a fan since the first album by Maggie and Terre. It had a huge influence on my 19 year old mind. Powerful lyrics and superb harmonies. Nice to see them mentioned here and I hope some of your readers check them out.

[Andrew]

Thanks for the list! I'm always pleased to see music posts on TOP. I'll cue up the selections to be played through my AudioEngine D1 DAC and A2+ speakers (both bought on your recommendation -- thanks for that too).

Rough Trade has an excellent playlist on Apple Music called "An Acid Folk and Mushroom Rock Adventure" featuring Pentangle, the Incredible String Band, Fresh Maggots, etc. Highly recommended.

[Benjamin Marks]

Yup. Moxie and I were feeding the woodstove over across Lake Champlain, until she barked the clear message that a bit of spring snow doth not dampen a puppy's need to chase sticks. Now that we are dried off:

My offerings (less classic, with a bit less funk, but no less appropriate to the day):

Paul Brady's "The Ballad of Arthur McBride" (perhaps a bit political, but a nice tune, and funny to me as I don't have dog in the fight, so to speak).

Arthur McBride

Less political . . Garnet Rogers' "Rolling Home to Caledonia"

Garnet Rogers, Rolling Home

Anything at all by Kate Rusby:
For instance, "The Lark"

Kate Rusby, The Lark

or "The Game of All Fours" (!)

Kate Rusby, The Game of All Fours

The Wild Goose

Kate Rusby, The Wild Goose

Iron & Wine's The Boy With A Coin (no idea what it means, but the rhythm is catchy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHw7gdJ14uQ

Iron&Wine, Boy With A Coin

And while we are on rhythm, how about The High King's "Marie's Wedding"?

The High Kings, Marie's Wedding

And to bring it full circle:

Pure Prairie League's "Aimee"

Pure Prairie League, Aimee

[jim]

For me the best retirement song is the great John Hartford's Tall Buildings.....

https://youtu.be/VSWLm2wRHSA

[Rod Graham]

My reply to "My Autumn's Done Come":

Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[c.d.embrey]

Wildwood Flower is like pizza, there is no such thing as a bad version. Here's my favorite:
Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent and Randdy Scruggs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eCfTzcNfV0

[Darin Boville]

Another Roches fan here. Discovered them years ago when Philip Glass's "Songs from Liquid Days" came out, of all places.

[Franz Josef]

Whoa... you obsess over expensive and exotic stereo equipment to listen to scratchy old records by? Does not compute!

[KageyC]

OK, OK. After years of hiding in the bytes, you finally got me to add a comment. The following is not remotely in the style of any of the above. But I've been inflicting it on friends for a while now, and none have left me for the offense. I do not hear from some as often, but they haven't actually left.

Anyway, some West African Highlife music I think it is good.

Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band - Gyae Su

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7S0mnaPNnI

Enjoy !

[KageyC]

So, if folk music is the topic, then Charlie Maguire is your man. Charlie Maguire: Grew up in in upstate New York; longtime resident of Minnesota. Why, sort of the opposite of our dear leader !

Maybe you heard of Charlie while in Wisconsin. I first heard him in college back in 1982 (oh, that hurts!). Many of his songs are based on historic events. Some songs are serious; some humorous. All are good at a minimum. Two of my favorite tunes are "Peter Esko" and "Rainfall Has Turned to Snow". The only LPs I have left are my three Charlie Maguire recordings.

Charlie has a web site where you can hear snippets of some songs. (Unfortunately the site does not seem to be kept updated too well.)

http://charliemaguire.com/

I see his "Good Eye Blind" album is on YouTube in its entirety (and I have not heard it yet, but will soon!).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjGKq2SxLqm4GuH2K8PiSyURNTkLa3kfB

Charlie's "Harbour Lights" is my favorite album, but that's like picking your favorite child. Just make life easy and begin by buying his first 3 albums: "Long Way to Another Friend", "Biography", and "Harbour Lights".

See him in concert if you ever get the chance. Captivates an audience.

[Alan Carmody]

A nice list. Thank you, Mike. But it's kind of hard to label Lee Hazlewood as 'folk'.

He was very much sui generis and respected by his peers in a musically fertile time but 'folk music' had a specific connotation, especially in 1966, and 'My Autumn's Done Come' doesn't fit the category. He's been labeled as country, and more often, as lounge music, thanks to the heavy string arrangements in those records, but like I said Lee Hazlewood was his own thing.

And as a personal preference, 'Some Velvet Morning' is truer to the heart of Hazlewood's mystical obsessions.

All IMHO, of course.

[Robert]

Northern Europe: rain, snow, wind, cold. Lea, our Labrador loves it. Chasing Rabbits, Foxes, Deer, ducks, birds -yes: balls - no.

[Jon Leatherwood]

Elliot Smith's, "Waltz No. 2"

[robert e]

I'm not much of a "folk" music fan, but this is indeed a wonderful set of rainy-day music, and I'm going to save it for the next time my plans get washed out.

Thanks, Mike!

P.S. I enjoy these random "playlist" posts (they remind me of when FM radio was a lot more fun to listen to), and listening to music on youtube, and I wonder if you "publish" actual youtube playlists as well. I come across some nice ones once in a while that also remind me of "good old" FM. (Hm... maybe that radio nostalgia is the reason I never think to bookmark them...)

[Jon Leatherwood]

Oh, Good Lord, how could I forget Fred Neil: "The Dolphins" and "The Water is Wide"