Voices and Music of Both World Wars

October 17, 2008 5:26 PM

Voices and Music of World War I and Voices of World War II: Experiences From the Front and at Home both feature spoken word, sheet music and songs galore (all audio RealPlayer). The Great War site has plenty of stuff, but the core is the collection of songs, anti-war, patriotic, France-themed, Kaiser-knocking and so forth. The WWII site also has a whole bunch of music, demonstrating the changing mood of the US, from conflicted feelings about the start of the war to conflicted feelings about the atomic bomb. Among the artists are Nat King Cole, Leadbelly, Benny Goodman and Fats Waller. But in addition the wonderful songs there are newscasts, speeches, propaganda and other radio broadcasting of all kinds.
posted by Kattullus (10 comments total)

Oh, forgot... both sites were put up by The University of Missouri-Kansas City library, most of the audio coming from the vaults of the vast Marr Sound Archives.
posted by Kattullus at 5:42 PM on October 17, 2008

Oh wow, what great sites! Muchas gracias.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:43 PM on October 17, 2008

The fact that all this content is in RealPlayer format makes me want to weep.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:43 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Definitely worth installing RealPlayer for... Thanks! (First I hit "Oui, Oui, Marie, Will You Do Zis For Me" and now I'm listening to Leadbelly's "Roosevelt Song"...)
posted by not_on_display at 7:46 PM on October 17, 2008

Er, sites are still using RealPlayer for audio? If it's still 1999 I need to get out of the stock market pronto.
posted by crapmatic at 10:28 PM on October 17, 2008

Media Player Classic is a perfectly suitable alternative to Real Player if you're on Windows. In fact it's my player of choice for all audio and video. MPlayer is reportedly the Mac equivalent, at least for Real Player stuff.
posted by christopherious at 11:35 PM on October 17, 2008

Are you ready for that Great Atomic Power?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:43 AM on October 18, 2008

Sites with old music seem to love Real Player. It's probably part of appreciating old things.
posted by ersatz at 6:32 AM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I keep returning to the page with songs about the atom bomb. It's incredibly fascinating. Songs about nuclear armageddon (or using it as a metaphor) were an incredibly resilient strain in popular music in the 20th Century, everything from Wanda Jackson's Fujiyama Mama to Alphaville's Forever Young. Fear of impending nuclear armageddon has lost its cultural currency, which is a good thing, to the point that it sometimes slips the mind how prevalent it once was.
posted by Kattullus at 8:46 AM on October 18, 2008

Sheldon Allman's Plutonium Based Folk Songs

Radioactive Momma, hold me tight! Radioactive momma, treat me right!
posted by The Whelk at 9:19 AM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]