songs about inprisonment & immigration brainstorm
- Thread starter ayres
- Start date
No one's mentioned Slick Rick "Behind Bars"? Come on, now!
And Daze: I loooove John Prine's first album. "Hello In There" gets me every time.
And Daze: I loooove John Prine's first album. "Hello In There" gets me every time.
Seems like a lot of obvious things have been missed.
Nina Simone - I shall Be Released I would kick things off with that.
Dylan has another song with the refrain "pity the poor immigrant", but I don't know of any good versions.
Woody Guthrie - Deportees, Sweeet Honey In The Rock did an accapela you can mash. I always liked the way Judy Collins did it. I can't imagine you doing this project with out this song. Another must.
Woody Guthrie - Pastures Of Plenty.
Woody Guthrie - Do Ray Me, about coming to California.
Blind Alfred Reed - How Can You Keep On Moving, again about American migrants, Ry Cooder covered it.
Violionaires - Salt Of The Earth, doesn't mention immagrants or jail directly, but a better Rolling Stones penned song than Gimme Shelter. Better captures the immagrant experience I think. The Violinaires version will make you cry.
By The Rivers Of Babylon - The ultimate coming to a new land song (though it is about slavery of course). Melodians are the classic, no? I heard Sweet Honey In The Rock do this live, if it is on lp there is your accapela.
Georgia Sea Island Singers - The one with the refrain "Before I'll be a slave I will be buried in my grave". I've heard Sweet Honey do this one as well. Either version would be accapela.
There are so many blues and country prison songs. The blues one I would look for is Parchment Prison Blues (also known as Baby Please Don't Go and Another Man Done Gone). The Folkways site should have some accapelas.
I think it is Keb Mo who does a mournful version of Cash's Fulsom Prison Blues (Johnnys might be a little celbratory). Mama Tried is about deserved imprisonment and might not be what you are looking for. I think a rapper needs to take that sentiment (mama tried but I fucked up anyway) and make a song out of it.
On the edge of my conciousness is a Texas songwriter's song about crossing the Rio Grande.
There are some really moving Irish folksongs about coming to America. I wish I could remember this one I heard Martin Carthy (or was it John Renbourne) do with some female singer (Maddy Prior?) in concert 25 years ago, but it is another memory just out of reach.
I should also be able to come up with a Jewish immagrant song, but I can't right now.
Check that Smithsonian Folkways site everyone was talking about a few weeks ago. I don't know how easy a subject search is, but there should be lots of stuff and lots of accapelas.
If it were me I would look for songs that say, "I've been kicked around, but I am not down". I would want the overall message to be one of hope in triumph in the faces of struggle.
It took me 2 hours to write this so I am sure other have said some of the same things in the interum.
Dan
Nina Simone - I shall Be Released I would kick things off with that.
Dylan has another song with the refrain "pity the poor immigrant", but I don't know of any good versions.
Woody Guthrie - Deportees, Sweeet Honey In The Rock did an accapela you can mash. I always liked the way Judy Collins did it. I can't imagine you doing this project with out this song. Another must.
Woody Guthrie - Pastures Of Plenty.
Woody Guthrie - Do Ray Me, about coming to California.
Blind Alfred Reed - How Can You Keep On Moving, again about American migrants, Ry Cooder covered it.
Violionaires - Salt Of The Earth, doesn't mention immagrants or jail directly, but a better Rolling Stones penned song than Gimme Shelter. Better captures the immagrant experience I think. The Violinaires version will make you cry.
By The Rivers Of Babylon - The ultimate coming to a new land song (though it is about slavery of course). Melodians are the classic, no? I heard Sweet Honey In The Rock do this live, if it is on lp there is your accapela.
Georgia Sea Island Singers - The one with the refrain "Before I'll be a slave I will be buried in my grave". I've heard Sweet Honey do this one as well. Either version would be accapela.
There are so many blues and country prison songs. The blues one I would look for is Parchment Prison Blues (also known as Baby Please Don't Go and Another Man Done Gone). The Folkways site should have some accapelas.
I think it is Keb Mo who does a mournful version of Cash's Fulsom Prison Blues (Johnnys might be a little celbratory). Mama Tried is about deserved imprisonment and might not be what you are looking for. I think a rapper needs to take that sentiment (mama tried but I fucked up anyway) and make a song out of it.
On the edge of my conciousness is a Texas songwriter's song about crossing the Rio Grande.
There are some really moving Irish folksongs about coming to America. I wish I could remember this one I heard Martin Carthy (or was it John Renbourne) do with some female singer (Maddy Prior?) in concert 25 years ago, but it is another memory just out of reach.
I should also be able to come up with a Jewish immagrant song, but I can't right now.
Check that Smithsonian Folkways site everyone was talking about a few weeks ago. I don't know how easy a subject search is, but there should be lots of stuff and lots of accapelas.
If it were me I would look for songs that say, "I've been kicked around, but I am not down". I would want the overall message to be one of hope in triumph in the faces of struggle.
It took me 2 hours to write this so I am sure other have said some of the same things in the interum.
Dan
I think this is a good topic for a music thread, but I don't see much creativity or energy here. I mean Johnny Cash is great, but isn't that just a little obvious?
Ok, I just got back from dinner with friends and have these suggestions.
Richie Havens - Pity The Poor Immigrant, cover of Bob Dylan song.
Los Super 7 - Deportees, hip Tex-Mex version of the Woody Guthrie song.
Leadbelly - Hangman, another one you can pick up at the Folkways site. With the Refrain "hangman hangman slacken your rope, slacken for a while, under comes my..."
New Lost City Ramblers - When First Unto This Country (or something like that). Another one from the Folkways site. This might be a version of that Irish song I was talking about. I heard it done by the John Renbourne Group I think, a friend is checking his records for you.
Tish Hinaojas does do that song about crossing the Rio Grande, a friend is checking her cds for that song.
The advantage of working with the Folkways catalog is less insturmentation. Also getting clearence to use a Dylan song or Jagger/Richards is much harder than clearence on a song that is in the public domain.
Good Luck, keep us updated.
Dan
Not sure if that last was aimed at me or not. Personally I thought your classic rock selections kinda sucked. I think if you want to express the immigration experience then looking to people who have been kicked around a little more than Phil Collins has might be a good idea.
So I did suggest some hillbilly songs. I was under the impression you had a enough talent to give them hip-hop, reggaeton, bhangra, reggae remixs. I guess I took that "all kinds of stuff" part a little to seriously.
If you think there are classic rock songs that express the emotion you want better than Deportees, then I will be of no help.
Dan
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