Music has long been used to document the emotion of a certain era. But, all too often, we forget what story it can tell about the emotional struggle of the age. And, more importantly, how people were able to use music to express emotion through their or another person’s story. Sometimes these songs will only be shared within a family, community, or just another person. The creation of folk music, in particular, told a great story through much of the 1930s
1.Though we understand how people can process through another, we have to question, what role does “artistic credit” play in folk music of the 1930s?
It’s clear that music has done its job of showing joy and sorrow of a time, but John A. McCready challenged this idea through a set of songs about a drunkard. However, these songs, though performed by McCready, are written by different people. And, without clear distinctions, we can interpret the recordings as his original work if not for a description to follow.
The Drunkard’s Dream
2is an interesting example. There are many versions of this song that were created before McCready and many versions that would follow. However, there are many names by the same title but don’t hold the same tune or lyrics. But, some truly are covers that mirror the original. Most recently, a 1966 version by the Stanley Brothers. We have to wonder, which is the original? Or, has it never been published?
McCready croons out another tune, The Drunkard’s Child
3that tells more of the drunkard from before. Through the metadata we learn that the original song was by J.W. Ferrell. Yet, in the description, Sidney Robertson Cowell discusses the significance of the dog barking in the background. Robertson Cowell explains, that dog belongs to the “drunken mother” the song preaches about. So again, we are left wondering, did McCready know Ferrell? Is that Ferrell’s dog? Or, does McCready sing about his own mother simply through Ferrell’s lyrics? The 1930s isn’t the first time songs have been covered. But, they weren’t reprimanded for the lack of credit that the 1930s singers or a more modern 1966 singers did not give credit to so, today, a copyright attack has been put on the singers of the 2000s, questioning their every move, demanding original content
4. But, how original can we be? There’s only so many options and permutations of music that one can create. But, musicians who are redoing the work of someone before them should certainly give credit where credit is due. It allows us to cycle back and see the original creator and how it made them feel first.
- Seeger, Peggy, et al. “FOREWORD.” Sounds of the New Deal: The Federal Music Project in the West, by PETER GOUGH, University of Illinois Press, 2015, pp. xi-xiv. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt130jtfw.3.
- “The Drunkard’s Dream, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017701509/
- “The Drunkard’s Child”, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017655315/
- Ferguson, Kirby, director. Everything Is a Remix. Youtube, Youtube, 16 May 2016, youtu.be/nJPERZDfyWc.
