Hi all,
I have an interest in songs and instrumentals that have had an active life in both the Black and White American traditions, like "Buckdancer's Choice", "Spanish Fandango" and "Reuben", and it occurred to me recently that songs about the sinking of the Titanic definitely fell into that category. I thought I would round up as many of them as I could, and see what we had.
* Blind Willie Johnson--"God Moves On The Water". This version was recorded in 1929, and is one of the earlier recorded versions, at least among the sample group I found. Willie Johnson does the song at a tremendous clip, and his playing on it is notable for its simultaneous extreme force and extreme accuracy and finesse. How did he do that? Like many or most of the versions of "The Titanic" it suggests that the Titanic's fate was at least partially due to Man's hubris in imagining that he could construct a boat that could not be sunk--I guess we were shown otherwise!
* Dixon Brothers--"Down With The Old Canoe". Dorsey and Howard Dixon hailed from Darlington County, South Carolina, and sang in close harmony, accompanying themselves on Hawaiian guitar played lap-style and finger-picked guitar (almost always in D). Dorsey was rediscovered in the '60s and appeared at at least one Newport Folk Festival, as well as recording an album (for Testament?) entitled "Babies In The Mill". This version of the song, from 1938, is particularly preachy, but is made more palatable by the smooth instrumental and vocal sound of the Dixons and the inexplicably jolly melody. It can be found on an old RCA Vintage Series LP, "Smoky Mountain Ballads", that might be available in libraries, as well as Document DOCD-8048, "The Dixon Brothers, Vol. 3", if it is still available.
* William and Versey Smith--"When That Great Ship Went Down". This husband/wife duo recorded their version in Chicago in 1927. Their slant on the subject is quite religious, as you would expect based on the rest of their repertoire, and their sound was all their own, with a simple guitar accompaniment in Spanish tuning, William's lead singing, and the very aggressive tambourine and almost monotonic shouted response lines of Versey Smith. Their version can be found on "America Primitive, Vol. 1" on Revenant, or Document DOCD-5045, "The Songster Tradition".
* Leadbelly--"The Titanic". Leadbelly's version, from his "Last Sessions", available on Smithsonian/Folkways, has probably the least religious slant of the bunch. He uses a happy ragtimey melody for his version, and in it rejoices at then-heavyweight champion Jack Johnson first being denied passage on the Titanic because of his race and then, as a result being spared from the ensuing disastrous collision with the iceberg.
* Hobart Smith--"The Great Titanic". This version from the great Appalachian musician came out on a 1964 Folk-Legacy recording. Hobart accompanies himself in C, standard tuning, with the drive you hear in all his playing, and interestingly, like Henry Thomas, when going to the IV chord of C, F, chooses to leave the first string open, not fretting the F note found at the first fret.
* Mance Lipscomb--"God Moves On The Water". Taken from his "Texas Sharecropper and Songster, Vol. 2" album on Arhoolie, this is a terrific version. Based on Willie Johnson's version (or a source shared in common with it), Mance's version is also played knife-style in Vestapol, but at a considerably slower tempo than Willie's. Mance's version is an eerie one, and he sings it beautifully, with an impressive gravity.
* New Lost City Ramblers--"The Titanic". The Ramblers' version, from their album "Remembrance Of Things To Come", on Verve/Folkways, is from a late recording by the Carter Family from the '50s that I have never heard. The melody of this version is exceptionally beautiful, and the words odd, alternating between dreamy images and concern over the fate of surviving family members of those who were lost in the sea. The final verse concludes, "Oh surely somebody, somewhere, will raise the Titanic someday."!
* Pink Anderson--"The Titanic". Pink's version is from his album "The Blues Of Pink Anderson--Ballad & Folksinger, Vol. 3", until recently available on Original Blues Classics OBCCD-577-2. The CD may still be available from Red Lick. Pink's version, played in G, standard tuning, clocks in at 4:04, and has a lot of verses not found in any of the other versions, just as Pink's version of "The Wreck Of The Old 97", from the same recording does. Pink's version, while not exactly jolly, benefits from his droll delivery. He sounds like it took a lot to make him feel really serious.
* John Miller--"The Titanic". I recorded this on my first Blue Goose album. I used Leadbelly's melody and many of his lyrics, but wanted to do an accompaniment that was more closely influenced by Mance Lipscomb's sound, with a driving monotonic bass. I played it out of dropped D in standard tuning. It is fast, as I did most things back then.
I'd be interested in hearing about other versions of "The Titanic" that I didn't mention, and where I could find them. There is something about the story of the Titanic that still exerts an imaginative tug on many of us, I think.
All best,
Johnm
I have an interest in songs and instrumentals that have had an active life in both the Black and White American traditions, like "Buckdancer's Choice", "Spanish Fandango" and "Reuben", and it occurred to me recently that songs about the sinking of the Titanic definitely fell into that category. I thought I would round up as many of them as I could, and see what we had.
* Blind Willie Johnson--"God Moves On The Water". This version was recorded in 1929, and is one of the earlier recorded versions, at least among the sample group I found. Willie Johnson does the song at a tremendous clip, and his playing on it is notable for its simultaneous extreme force and extreme accuracy and finesse. How did he do that? Like many or most of the versions of "The Titanic" it suggests that the Titanic's fate was at least partially due to Man's hubris in imagining that he could construct a boat that could not be sunk--I guess we were shown otherwise!
* Dixon Brothers--"Down With The Old Canoe". Dorsey and Howard Dixon hailed from Darlington County, South Carolina, and sang in close harmony, accompanying themselves on Hawaiian guitar played lap-style and finger-picked guitar (almost always in D). Dorsey was rediscovered in the '60s and appeared at at least one Newport Folk Festival, as well as recording an album (for Testament?) entitled "Babies In The Mill". This version of the song, from 1938, is particularly preachy, but is made more palatable by the smooth instrumental and vocal sound of the Dixons and the inexplicably jolly melody. It can be found on an old RCA Vintage Series LP, "Smoky Mountain Ballads", that might be available in libraries, as well as Document DOCD-8048, "The Dixon Brothers, Vol. 3", if it is still available.
* William and Versey Smith--"When That Great Ship Went Down". This husband/wife duo recorded their version in Chicago in 1927. Their slant on the subject is quite religious, as you would expect based on the rest of their repertoire, and their sound was all their own, with a simple guitar accompaniment in Spanish tuning, William's lead singing, and the very aggressive tambourine and almost monotonic shouted response lines of Versey Smith. Their version can be found on "America Primitive, Vol. 1" on Revenant, or Document DOCD-5045, "The Songster Tradition".
* Leadbelly--"The Titanic". Leadbelly's version, from his "Last Sessions", available on Smithsonian/Folkways, has probably the least religious slant of the bunch. He uses a happy ragtimey melody for his version, and in it rejoices at then-heavyweight champion Jack Johnson first being denied passage on the Titanic because of his race and then, as a result being spared from the ensuing disastrous collision with the iceberg.
* Hobart Smith--"The Great Titanic". This version from the great Appalachian musician came out on a 1964 Folk-Legacy recording. Hobart accompanies himself in C, standard tuning, with the drive you hear in all his playing, and interestingly, like Henry Thomas, when going to the IV chord of C, F, chooses to leave the first string open, not fretting the F note found at the first fret.
* Mance Lipscomb--"God Moves On The Water". Taken from his "Texas Sharecropper and Songster, Vol. 2" album on Arhoolie, this is a terrific version. Based on Willie Johnson's version (or a source shared in common with it), Mance's version is also played knife-style in Vestapol, but at a considerably slower tempo than Willie's. Mance's version is an eerie one, and he sings it beautifully, with an impressive gravity.
* New Lost City Ramblers--"The Titanic". The Ramblers' version, from their album "Remembrance Of Things To Come", on Verve/Folkways, is from a late recording by the Carter Family from the '50s that I have never heard. The melody of this version is exceptionally beautiful, and the words odd, alternating between dreamy images and concern over the fate of surviving family members of those who were lost in the sea. The final verse concludes, "Oh surely somebody, somewhere, will raise the Titanic someday."!
* Pink Anderson--"The Titanic". Pink's version is from his album "The Blues Of Pink Anderson--Ballad & Folksinger, Vol. 3", until recently available on Original Blues Classics OBCCD-577-2. The CD may still be available from Red Lick. Pink's version, played in G, standard tuning, clocks in at 4:04, and has a lot of verses not found in any of the other versions, just as Pink's version of "The Wreck Of The Old 97", from the same recording does. Pink's version, while not exactly jolly, benefits from his droll delivery. He sounds like it took a lot to make him feel really serious.
* John Miller--"The Titanic". I recorded this on my first Blue Goose album. I used Leadbelly's melody and many of his lyrics, but wanted to do an accompaniment that was more closely influenced by Mance Lipscomb's sound, with a driving monotonic bass. I played it out of dropped D in standard tuning. It is fast, as I did most things back then.
I'd be interested in hearing about other versions of "The Titanic" that I didn't mention, and where I could find them. There is something about the story of the Titanic that still exerts an imaginative tug on many of us, I think.
All best,
Johnm