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Folk Songs Quotes

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Folk Songs Quotes

“And her brother John set her on her horse.'Now you are high and I am low,Give me a kiss before ye go.’She leaned down to give him a kiss,He gave her a deep wound and did not miss.And with a knife as sharp as a dart,Her brother stabbed her to the heart.”

Cassandra ClareSiblingsThe Mortal InstrumentsClockwork PrincessFolk SongsClockwork AngelTmiClockwork PrinceThe Infernal DevicesTidThe Clockwork AngelThe Clockwork PrinceThe Clockwork Princess
Book:Clockwork Prince
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“Little of beauty has America given the world save the rude grandeur God himself stamped on her bosom; the human spirit in this new world has expressed itself in vigor and ingenuity rather than in beauty. And so by fateful chance the Negro folk-song—the rhythmic cry of the slave—stands to-day not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side the seas. It has been neglected, it has been, and is, half despised, and above all it has been persistently mistaken and misunderstood; but notwithstanding, it still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people.”

ArtAmericaBeautyMusicAfrican AmericansBlacksFolk Songs
Book:The Souls of Black Folk
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“They staggered and stumbled, wounded but triumphant, singing the old Welsh folk song “Ar Lan y Môr.” And if there was something odd about returning from battle singing about lilies, rosemary, rocks, and—for some reason he’d never fathomed—eggs, of all things, by the sea, well, then the three of them made it sound pretty good and only he and Beauclaire knew Welsh.”

HumorSingingFolk SongsFair GameAlpha And OmegaCharles CornickAlistair Beauclaire
Book:Fair Game
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“But the most radical act, really, is the preservation of memories in the telling itself. A folk story or song is often extremely local—reflected in the many Arabics in this issue. A folk story or song can charm, delight, warn, lament, celebrate—it can do all that and more. With each retelling, it reasserts itself. The name of the original storyteller may be lost, but their love for people and place, their deep humanity, is passed onto new audiences time and again.”

ArabicFolk SongsFolk Story
Book:ArabLit Quarterly - Winter 2021 - FOLK
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“St Clairs Defeat" "Was November the fourth in the year of ninety-one We had a sore engagement near to Fort Jefferson Sinclair was our commander, which may remembered be But we left nine hundred soldiers in that Western Territory At Bunker’s Hill and in Quebec, where many a hero fell Likewise out on Long Island, it is I the truth can tell But such a dreadful carnage, never did I see As happened all out on the plains, near the River St. Marie Our militia was attacked, just as the day did break And soon were overpowered, and forced into retreat They killed major Ouldham, and major Briggs likewise While horrid yells of anguished souls resounded through the skies Major Butler he was wounded the very second fire His manly bosom swelled with rage they forced him to retire Like one distracted he appeared, when thus exclaim-ed he Ye hounds of Hell shall all be slain but what revenged I’ll be We had not very long been broke, when General Butler fell He cries my boys I’m wounded, pray take me off this field My word says he, what shall we do, we’re wounded every man Go charge your valiant heros and beat them if you can He leaned his back against a tree, and there resigned his breath And like a valiant soldier, sunk into the arms of death When blessed angels did await, his spirit to convey Into celestial fields, he did quickly bend his way We charged again and took our ground, which did our hearts elate But there we did not tarry long, they soon made us retreat They killed our major Ferguson, which caused his men to cry Stand to your guns says valiant Ford, we’ll fight until we die Our cannon balls exhausted, artillery men all slain Our musketeers and riflemen, their fire they did sustain Three hours more we fought like men, and they were forced to yield While three hundred bloody warriors lay stretched across the filed Says colonel Gibson to his men, my boys be not dismayed I’m sure that true Virginians were never yet afraid Ten thousand deaths I’d rather die, than they should gain this field With that he got a fatal shot, causing him to yield Says major Clark, my heros, we can no longer stand We shall strive to form in order, and retreat the best we can The word retreat being passed around, they raised a dreadful cry Then helter skelter through the woods like wolves and sheep they fly We left the wounded on the field, O heavens what a shock! And many bones were shattered, and strewn across the rock With scalping knives and tomahawks, they robbed some of their breath While raging flames of torment, tortured other men to death Was November the fourth in the year of ninety-one We had a sore engagement near to Fort Jefferson Sinclair was our commander, which may remembered be But we left nine hundred soldiers in that Western Territory”

Folk Songs
Author:Unknown Author
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“Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it).”

KindHas BeensIdeasSongCenturyNew YorkTraditionEssenceFolksSpread20th CenturyPhenomenalPopular MusicGershwinFolk SongsOral Tradition
Author:George Gershwin
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“A professional entertainer who allows himself to become known as a singer of folk songs is bound to have trouble with his conscience provided, of course, that he possesses one. As a performing artist, he will pride himself on timing and other techniques designed to keep the audience in his control ... his respect for genuine folklore reminds him that these changes, and these techniques, may give the audience a false picture of folk music.”

GivingMayArtistSongCoursesKnownAudienceTroublePrideConscienceBoundsFolksTechniqueSingersGenuinePerformingTimingEntertainersFolkloreFolk MusicPerforming ArtsFolk SongsPerforming Artist
Author:Sam Hinton
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“He [Alan Lomax] started right off trying to find people who could introduce folk songs to city people. He found a young actor named Burl Ives and said, "Burl, you know a lot of great country songs learned from your grandmother, don't you know people would love to hear them?" He put on radio programs. He persuaded CBS to dedicate "The School of the Air" for one year to American folk music. He'd get some old sailor to sing an old sea shanty with a cracked voice. Then he'd get me to sing it with my banjo.”

PeopleKnowsTryingYearsSaidCountrySchoolYoungSongActorsFoundVoiceCitiesAirSeaProgramFolksRadioGrandmotherIntroducingSailorCrackedFolk MusicGreat CountryYoung ActorsBanjosYour GrandmotherFolk Songs
Author:Pete Seeger
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“Folk songs are evasive-the truth about life, and life is more or less a lie, but then again that's exactly the way we want it to be. We wouldn't be comfortable with it any other way. A folk song has over a thousand faces and you must meet them all if you want to play this stuff. A folk song might vary in meaning and it might not appear the same from one moment to the next. It depends on who's playing and who's listening.”

IfsWayWantPlayMomentsMightFacesLife IsLyingSongNextStuffListeningDependsThousandComfortableFolksVaryFolk SongsTruth About Life
Book:Chronicles
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“One of the songs that stayed in my head that I really considered a lot was an old folk song called 'John Brown' - not the abolitionist John Brown, but the one that Bob Dylan has covered and sung before. It's about a boy coming home from the Civil War, or maybe World War I even, and about his Mother seeing him all destroyed.”

WorldWarHomeMotherSongBoysSeeingFolksDestroyedWar Of The WorldsCivil WarBrownComing HomeCoveredBobWorld War IDylanAbolitionistFolk SongsJohn Brown
Author:Quentin Tarantino
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“Peace is not just a colored ribbon. It's more than a wristband or a t-shirt. It's not just a donation or a 5 K race. It's not just a folk song, or a white dove. And peace is certainly more than a celebrity endorsement. Peace is a fulltime job. It's protecting civilians, overseeing elections, and disarming ex-combatants. The UN has over 100,000 Peacekeepers on the ground, in places others can't or won't go, doing things others can't or won't do. Peace, like war, must be waged.”

WarJobsSongPeaceWhiteRaceElectionFolksShirtsExesT ShirtCiviliansDoveDonationRibbonsEndorsementsPeacekeepingDisarmingFolk SongsPeacekeepersOverseeingWristbands
Author:George Clooney
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“Songwriters I've always been drawn to are people who deal with something of depth in the lyric writing. ...I've always been influenced by the folk song, the storytelling tradition in folk music. And so for years I wrote mostly story songs. I still do that, but as I've gone on, it's gotten a little more personal. I used to write mostly in the third person. I write a little more in the first person now.”

PeopleWritingYearsFirstsLittlesPersonsStillsStoriesUsedSongDealsGoneTraditionThirdsDepthFolksStorytellingSongwritingSongwritersFirst PersonFolk MusicThird PersonFolk Songs
Author:Bruce Hornsby
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“Yes, I heard my people singing!-in the glow of parlor coal-stove and on summer porches sweet with lilac air, from choir loft and Sunday morning pews-and my soul was filled with their harmonies. Then, too, I heard these songs in the very sermons of my father, for in the Negro's speech there is much of the phrasing and rhythms of folk-song. The great, soaring gospels we love are merely sermons that are sung; and as we thrill to such gifted gospel singers as Mahalia Jackson, we hear the rhythmic eloquence of our preachers, so many of whom, like my father, are masters of poetic speech.”

PeopleSoulSongFatherMorningHeardAirSweetMastersSpeechSummerSingingHarmonyFilledFolksSingersRhythmMy SoulSundayPoeticPreacherGiftedThrillCoalSoarSermonsEloquenceChoirPorchStovesSunday MorningParlorLilacFolk Songs
Book:Here I Stand
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“Well, at first the band were simply called Horsepower, but a lot of people thought that was something to do with heroin. That really pissed me off, so I decided to put something in front of it to distract them. “I got '16' from a traditional American folk song, where a man is singing about his dead wife and 16 black horses are pulling her casket up to the cemetery. I liked the image of 16 working horses.”

PeopleMenFirstsWellsSongBlackWifeFrontsBandSingingDecidedHorseFolksTraditionalPullingHeroinCemeteryCasketsFolk SongsHorsepower
Author:David Eugene Edwards
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