Headlines and Footnotes: Collection of Topical Songs

by Pete Seeger

Overview

Like the prior compilation If I Had a Hammer, this focuses a little loosely on topical songs, concentrating on (but not limited to) ones that deal with specific events. At a glance this might seem like a less essential anthology, since If I Had a Hammer contained major songs identified with Seeger like "If I Had a Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn," "We Shall Overcome," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." It's actually on the same musical and lyrical level, however, and again has versions of some of the most famous tunes written or popularized by Seeger: "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," "Wimoweh," "Guantanamera," "Wasn't that a Time," Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes," "I Come and Stand at Every Door," and "The Bells of Rhymney" (the last two of which were covered by the Byrds in the mid-'60s). About half of these are taken from Folkways Recordings, but about half are previously unreleased live versions or studio outtakes, so from a collector's point of view this disc is pretty interesting as well. Of course with a Seeger recording, the educational and inspirational values are about as important as the musical ones, and the lesser-known songs usually also have something to make one think, whether it's a narrative of the Titanic disaster or the anti-racist "Listen Mr. Bilbo." Almost all performances were recorded in the '50s and '60s; three songs recorded between 1994 and 1999 find Seeger's voice fading and shaky, though his heart's intact. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	05/18/1999
Label:	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
UPC:	0093074011126
Rank:	181101

Tracks

1. Peg and Awl
2. The Titanic (When That Great Ship Went Down)
3. Sinking of the Reuben James
4. Listen Mr. Bilbo
5. Hold the Line
6. Passing Through
7. Coal Creek March/Payday at Coal Creek/Roll Down the Line
8. I Come and Stand at Every Door
9. Time's A-Getting Hard
10. Little Boxes
11. From Way Up Here
12. The Battle of Maxton Field
13. Get Up and Go
14. The Bells of Rhymney
15. Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
16. Guantanamera
17. There Once Was a Woman Who Swallwed a Lie
18. Wasn't That a Time
19. Viva la Quince Brigada
20. Wimoweh
21. English Is Cuh-Ray-Zee
22. Odds on Favorite (A Long Story Terse)
23. A Little of This and That

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pete Seeger   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Mark Greenberg   Compilation Producer,Producer
Pete Seeger   Composer
Joseito Fernandez   Composer
Ronnie Gilbert   Composer
Woody Guthrie   Composer
Alan Lomax   Composer
Malvina Reynolds   Composer
Bart VanDerSchelling   Composer
Fred Hellerman   Composer
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg   Composer
Lee Hays   Composer
Solomon Linda   Composer
Nazim Hikmet   Composer
Bob Claiborne   Composer
Dick Blakeslee   Composer
Mary Monseur   Production Coordination
Irwin Silber   Composer
Diane Davis   Photography
Walter Lowenfel   Composer
David Gahr   Photography
Idris Davies   Composer
Richard Lederer   Composer
Adrienne Claiborne   Composer
Charlie Pilzer   Mastering