I agree it's nice to know where the song originated...but why do you use the word "Negro?" Why not black or African-American? "Negro" has so many unpleasant connotations, and it can be taken to be racist, so I'm interested as to your reasoning here.
Negro folksong or spiritual is the correct technical term and I can't believe anyone would be offended by it.
http://www.google.com/search?
hl=...G=Google+Search
Okay, you're quite right.
" In current English language usage, "Negro" generally is considered acceptable in a historical context or in the name of older organizations, as in the United Negro College Fund, and is used more commonly by those born before the post World War II baby boom."
I'm going with this as historical context.
Via the Wikipedia entry.
:)
I've never really understood why Negro became a bad word. I mean "nigger" was derogatory and vulgar, but Negro should be no different than Black. I just don't get it.
I remember reading in William Helmreich's The World of the Yeshiva a description of how some yeshiva bachur was humming a Simon and Garfunkel tune, I think that it was the Sounds of Silence, and the Rosh Yeshiva overheard the tune, liked it and got everyone around the shabbos table to join in.
>I've never really understood why Negro became a bad word. I mean "nigger" was derogatory and vulgar, but Negro should be no different than Black. I just don't get it.
I don't think it has the bad cache that the other word does, but I think its probably associated with the old order of things. It was a name bestowed on people, not one chosen by themselves. Think: Jews versus Hebrews. That's just my vague impressionstic feeling.
Re: the Helmreich book. I remember it slightly less dramatic. One of the boys told Helmreich that the mashgiach heard him humming Bridge Over Troubled Waters and asked him what it was, so he told him its by "Shimon and Garfinkel," and that was about it.
S.,
I assume you heard the Hebrew before the Leadbelly? How did you react when you first heard the (I presume) original?
Also, unrelated question. Is there a good place to find a free Hebrew font like you used in the title of your post?
>I assume you heard the Hebrew before the Leadbelly? How did you react when you first heard the (I presume) original?
You assume correctly. I was very amused.
I'd gotten into the blues, and bought a cassette of Leadbelly songs to hear the original arrangement of 'In the Pines,' which Nirvana covered as 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night.' Lo and behold, Leadbelly was singing Mishenichnas Adar and I learned something new.
I'm not sure what the font is called, I actually type my Hebrew in the Virtual Hebrew Keyboard. The SBL Hebrew Font is really nice.
I heard the original before I heard it put to "mishenichnas adar." I had always assumed everyone knew the source; I'm surprised by this post, in that it has shown that I was wrong.
Stanley Crouch (b. 1945) always uses the term "Negro." I'm not sure why, though he is culturally quite conservative and critical of hip-hop.
When I was growing up in the 1960's, "Negro" was the most dignified term. There were derogatory terms, like "nigger," "coon," and "darkie," and intermediate terms, like "colored" or "black." Yes, believe it or not, "Negro" was then considered more respectful than "black." One indication of this is that it was usually capitalized.
Yeah, that's why Crouch uses it. He likes to be different, but he's also an all around retro sort of guy, as far I can tell.
Regarding "In The Pines," it predates Leadbelly by many years. See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Whe...leep_Last_Night
I never heard Leadbelly sing the song in person, but I did have the pleasure of hearing Bill Monroe sing it.
Oscar Brand has an amusing story that he likes to tell in concert about how Leadbelly took an Irish folk song that everyone hated, changed the beat, and turned it into what eventually became "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (a big pop hit in the late 1950's). He was quite an eclectic fellow, that Leadbelly.
Yeah, it's a traditional tune. There have been many, many versions of it. The first version I heard was by Nirvana, and that was the Leadbelly arrangement.
You saw Bill Monroe? Very cool.
If you don't mind my asking, are you old enough to have seen Leadbelly?
Nah, as I said, I grew up in the 1960's. Bill Monroe appeared several times at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors festival. I also heard Doc Watson there many times, most recently last summer, on a Saturday night (I went right after shul).
Nice. I saw R.L. Burnside play. :)
S, If negro spirituals are your thing there is a Shlomo Carlebach album that you must get your hands on! It's an unofficial recording of Shlomo singing "when I'm dead and buried, don't you weep after me..." and some other spirituals. It's pretty obvious that the chevre, leader included, are high as a kite... but it's a gem!
I don't know how to upload music from my own collection onto my blog--if you tell me how I'll gladly post it.
Wow, I'd love to hear that! I've heard him singing Kumbaya at the Village Gate, but this stuff sounds interesting.
Try uploading them through http://yousendit.com. It's an easy way to upload and share files. It would be great if you could do that.
Thanks, will do. I just have to wait for my husband to get home because there's no way I'm digging through all his cd's.
wow.
Better than yidden!
im going to post this.
That's good stuff!!! I've been holding off on a Leadbelly CD - at 400 blues CD's and counting the wife is still trying to figure out how recordings of dead people are basically unlimited. So no Leadbelly CD yet
Lots of good stuff lately (havent read much lately anywhere). This one is causing my sides to split with laughter...
Thanks.
"I'd gotten into the blues, and bought a cassette of Leadbelly songs to hear the original arrangement of 'In the Pines,' which Nirvana covered as 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night."
not just tom petty, hmm. interesting music tastes.
You don't know the half of it. ;)
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