Comments on: Songs we wish were ours

Songs we wish were ours

danep — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:24:08 -0800

Songs we wish were ours l 2 l 3 l 5 l bootleg Great idea, no? I thought the series was over but it looks like they kept it going.

By: nola

nola — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:37:08 -0800

I enjoyed that, here is another cover of Dixie.

By: danep

danep — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:40:33 -0800

I had this strange feeling I had heard that song before. Don't even get me started about masked and anonymous. I think I watched it 3 times in 3 days when I rented it.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:43:17 -0800

Er, "made famous by Gerry Garcia"? Dudes--it's on Bob Dylan's first album! About 10 years before the Grateful Dead had a crack at it.

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:58:08 -0800

The song "Peggy-O" is just plain famous yoink. Turns out the The Grateful Dead performed it more than 260 times. Heres more about the Scottish folk song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennario

By: Knappster

Knappster — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:02:58 -0800

Dudes--it's on Bob Dylan's first album! Also on Simon & Garfunkel's first album.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:04:51 -0800

(Takes long meditative drink of something or other) Er, captainsohler, wasn't that, you know, my point? Yes, The Grateful Dead performed it a lot, that doesn't mean that they "made it famous"--because it was already famous (witness Dylan's performance) before they started performing it. Not that any of this would matter if these guys were good. They don't sound very good to me, but I will admit that I'm not listening to this on proper speakers.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:08:41 -0800

(Takes another long meditative drink--pulls out drumsticks)--hey, captainsohler, according to the Wikipedia page you linked me to, Dylan's is the first American recording of the song. So I think it's probably fair to say that he "made it famous" if anybody did.

By: marsha56

marsha56 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:11:35 -0800

Also on Joan Baez's Ballad Book ("Fennario"). It's listed as "Traditional". I don't think Jerry Garcia wrote this.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:12:03 -0800

Dylan's is the first American recording of the song. So I think it's probably fair to say that he "made it famous" if anybody did. That doesn't follow at all. Not even a little bit.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:21:14 -0800

That doesn't follow at all. Not even a little bit. Well, it's not exactly watertight, but surely it follows "even a little bit"? Becoming famous in America in the mid-C20th meant reaching an exponentially larger audience than in almost any market. Even though Bob Dylan's first album was far from a huge hit, Dylan himself quite rapidly achieved widespread notoriety in the early 60s. If the song was in any sense "famous" before Dylan recorded it (and, let's face it, it's not even "famous" now--not in the sense that, say, "Oops I Did It Again" is "famous") it was "famous" amongst a tiny little circle of folk-song enthusiasts. Being recorded by Dylan must have brought it to an audience incomparably wider than that original small circle of "folkies"? Right?

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:30:32 -0800

No, Dylan's is not the first American recording. The Wiki post references a Cecil Sharp version as an "early" English version. I agree that Dylan's arrangement of the song is important, just as is The Grateful Dead perfoming it up until 1995 is. When I came upon this post I was hoping for different genres of "songs we wish were ours", but I'm glad to have revisited some folk standards.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:35:12 -0800

I guess it depends what you mean by famous. Yeah, sure, if Dylan recorded a song it became known more widely than among a tiny little circle of folk-song enthusiasts, but I don't call that famous, and I think to call "Peggy-O" "just plain famous" is ridiculous. Here's the track listing of Bob Dylan: 1. You're No Good 2. Talkin' New York 3. In My Time of Dyin' 4. Man Of Constant Sorrow 5. Fixin' To Die 6. Pretty Peggy-O 7. Highway 51 Blues 8. Gospel Plow 9. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down 10. House Of the Risin' Sun 11. Freight Train Blues 12. Song To Woody 13. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean Of these, "House Of the Risin' Sun" is famous, no ifs ands or buts, and "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is marginally famous—famous if you know anything about blues. The rest are "famous" only among Dylan fans, which, come on, that's not famous. An obvious counterexample to the "Dylan's is the first American recording of the song so he made it famous" theory: "Mr. Tambourine Man" (made famous by the Byrds). But don't mind me, I'm just cranky today.

By: danep

danep — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:40:23 -0800

umm...or we could just sit back and enjoy the songs for what they're worth?

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:41:57 -0800

I agree that Dylan's arrangement of the song is important, just as is The Grateful Dead perfoming it up until 1995 is. I think the important date re The Grateful Dead is not when they stopped performing it, but the fact that they didn't start until 1973 (according to Wiki and according to the Grateful Dead Family Discography. You're right that there are a couple of earlier American recordings than Dylan's (that Grateful Dead site is amazingly detailed!), but they tend to confirm my point--they're niche recordings for Folkways and suchlike. The most famous act to record the song before Dylan would be, by my estimation, The Journeymen. Now, "songs made famous by the Journeymen" is going to be a pretty small category, don't you think?

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:44:20 -0800

Languagehat, I think you're mixing up two different people. It wasn't me who called the song "just plain famous." If your beef is that the song "isn't really famous" then, well, I already made that point before you did.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:46:28 -0800

umm...or we could just sit back and enjoy the songs for what they're worth? What, you think pointless arguments about who made a not-very-famous song a teensy bit more famous than it otherwise would have been will just conduct themselves> I think not!

By: nosila

nosila — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:52:32 -0800

Wow...yeah...go to the huge collection of old tunes posted today. Listen. They're nice. :::fanning myself due to the hotness that is Gene Krupa's band doing 'How High the Moon'

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:54:23 -0800

I dont know, I have always known and enjoyed the song in all its forms. I don't really know how to gauge its popularity. (It does have its own wiki post) Seems to always pop up in bluegrass circles and pick ups. (At least around Portland, OR) I'm glad to have heard this version.

By: danep

danep — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:25:48 -0800

What, you think pointless arguments about who made a not-very-famous song a teensy bit more famous than it otherwise would have been will just conduct themselves> I think not! I heart metafilter.

By: EarBucket

EarBucket — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:11:12 -0800

This guy does a pretty darn good version of "Peggy-O," and of a number of other songs. Largely Dylan covers, but he's got some Grateful Dead, Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and traditional stuff in there as well. I particularly liked his takes on "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" and "Shelter From The Storm," both under-covered Dylan gems.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:54:32 -0800

Less harmonica. Less lead vocals. More banjo.

By: M Edward

M Edward — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:02:58 -0800

Less harmonica. Less lead vocals. More banjo. That's what I say about Steve Martin's comedy. luv's me some good banjo

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:59:16 -0800

banjo, yeah, like Elliott Brood's O Alberta./ and Second Son [no, not CCR's].

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:39:41 -0800

umm...or we could just sit back and enjoy the songs for what they're worth? ah, once released, the trajectory of a post can take strange twists and turns - there's no helping it danep - resistance is futile. And you made one posting faux pas - you used a superlative - "great." You got off easy. Superlatives normally bring out the contrarians in droves ;-) I thought it was a fun post, so thanks. The acoustics of the recordings aren't the best, but I bet they are very enjoyable live.

By: danep

danep — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:59:25 -0800

You know I thought the same thing about 'great' when I read it online. I got a comment once on one of my science things regarding the use of the word 'dramatic'. I used it to say that one year was different from another and a reviewing scientist said something like, 'lots of things in this world illustrate a heightened sense of drama, this is far from that'. I should have learned my lesson.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:48:24 -0800

Languagehat, I think you're mixing up two different people. No, just firing wildly in all directions. But hey, pointless arguments about who made a not-very-famous song a teensy bit more famous than it otherwise would have been are what MetaFilter is all about! Don't worry, danep, I liked the post a lot, I just felt like being picky.

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:21:27 -0800

All right, I concede, Peggy-O is not exactly famous; but it is well known. Thanks to madamjujujive and languagehat for shedding light on how a MetaFilter thread can sometimes dissolve into a lesson on semantics. Brand new to MetaFilter

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:58:33 -0800

I hope you enjoy it! Don't worry, pickiness and associated squabbling should never be taken personally.

By: SampleSize

SampleSize — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:32:30 -0800

Where's episode 4?