Using Folk Songs and Ballads in an Interdisciplinary Approach to American History

By: Linda Dzuris (Clemson University)

EVERY SONG HAS ITS STORY. The folk songs and ballads of early America describe life as experienced by the common people. They were sung within the family; mothers to daughters, fathers to sons, husbands and wives to each other. They were sung by neighbors and at gatherings of larger communities. The stories told were carried in the memories of those who heard them. In time, the listeners became the tellers and the cycle continued. What we have are records of moments in time, snapshots taken by people who were there. Once a strictly aural and oral tradition, the words came to be written down, and the surviving lyrics deserve increased attention as valuable historic documents.1
     At Clemson University in South Carolina, the Honors Program sponsored research efforts directed toward the development of new interdisciplinary courses for the Calhoun Honors College. Calhoun College is a University-wide program that includes students enrolled in nearly 70 degree programs. I developed and taught a class that explored “truth” in song. The class consisted of 19 undergraduates who met three times a week for fifty-minute sessions. The discussion-based seminar focused on aspects of American history, communication, and sociology represented in the rich tradition of folk songs and ballads. Exaggeration is a common technique used in the genre of folk music. Deciphering a middle ground of likely reality was a fascinating journey for both my students and me. We compared American history textbook and other traditional accounts to folk songs and ballads from the same time period. What emerged was a sense of perspective, a realization that a deeper understanding of history may be gained when previous boundaries are left behind.2
     Let us first establish common definitions. This course was not a history of music. Typically, music history courses divide the study of music into geographic areas and time periods. While any history course might make the same divisions, the focus of a traditional music history course would be the music itself. The textbook prose, lectures, and class discussion might touch on contemporary social issues, but the emphasis would be placed on understanding and identifying the basic elements of music: beat vs. rhythm, dynamics, tempo, melody, harmony, texture, and form. As with any course having history in its title, significant people or developments that had an impact would be noted, but Music history highlights musically significant people and musical developments that had an impact. It is a chronicle of musical evolution. In the course I taught, we were no longer in the realm of the history of music, where Mozart-like genius is the textbook norm. As America was forming, extraordinary Western European composers dominated the classical music scene. The primary source material in this course was folk music, which in the broadest of terms is music of and by the common people. The words in such music reveal hope, joy, fear, sorrow, and many other reactions to current events. A ballad is a type of folk song. Though it can be quite lengthy, incorporated elements such as simple rhyme, incremental repetition, dialogue, and common phrases make these songs memorable and easily passed on. The goal of a ballad writer is to tell the story. As with the audiences of the time, our job in this course was to listen.3
     In his book The Ballad (1979), Alan Bold states, “Ballad stories tend to be autonomous—that is, they contain in themselves the information they explore. They do not seek historical […] accuracy.” Considering this admission made by ballad scholars, one might question the validity of a folk song or ballad as a reliable source of American history. To treat them as a source, a historian must simply look at the pieces and put forth the same series of questions one would with any other document. Take, for example, the written correspondence from a civil war officer to his retired military father. The letter provides only the information the author chose to reveal. It certainly contains a point of view that is biased, though true to the experience of the author. Even thus flawed, the snapshot image is worth looking at. Like diaries and letters, antiquated maps and period photographs, ballads are significant sources of information. The famous team John A. and Alan Lomax traveled all over America recording examples of folk music. In their introduction to American Ballads and Folk Songs (1994), Lomax and Lomax wrote, “the gamut of human experience has been portrayed through this […] literature of the people.” History, indeed.4
     Choosing the history text was a big task for a professor of music like myself. I wanted a survey that started at the beginning and would bring us back to the present. That narrowed my prospects. A History of the American People (Johnson, 1999) caught my eye. Staring out at me from the title was the word people. On the back cover is this quote by Henry A. Kissinger, “His [Johnson’s] theme is the men and women, prominent and unknown, whose energy, vision, courage and confidence shaped a great nation.” It was the unnamed people I was after. This perspective also needed to be written in a style accessible to the average (possibly not very enthusiastic about history) person. This book was listed as a National Bestseller; and to me this meant that many others had found it worth reading. Further, Paul Johnson is British. That guaranteed viewpoints that would challenge my students’ preconceived notions.5
     The basic music resource was the unabridged and unaltered republication of American Ballads and Folk Songs by Lomax and Lomax (1994). This was chosen for a few important reasons. It establishes the authenticity of each piece in the collection by noting its origin, adds information, and notes alternate verses that were encountered in the field. Each ballad is presented with a transcription of the melody as recorded on location. The musical notation was included as necessary for group singing in cases in which recordings were not available. (For your reference, a sample course outline is provided in Appendix A.)6
     To present a clearer understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of what we did in the course, I offer the example of the Great Depression Era. Students immediately recalled the stock market crash on Wall Street and concluded that people lost a lot of money, but the fact is that the price drops that occurred on 1987’s Black Monday were considerably larger. So, what were the circumstances of common people back in 1929 that made life so difficult? We found songs which humanized the facts we read, making history come alive. For example, from The American History Songbook (Silverman), we have these lyrics:7

The Panic Is OnWhat is this country coming to,
Some would like to know,
If they don’t do something bye and bye,
The rich will live and the poor will die,
Doggone, I mean the panic is on.Can’t get no work, can’t draw no pay,
Things are worse, each day,
Nothing to eat, no place to sleep,
All night long, folks are walking the street,
Doggone, I mean the panic is on.All them landlords done raised the rent,
Folks are badly bent,
Where they gets the dough from, goodness knows,
But if they don’t prouce it—in the street they go…
Some play numbers, some read your mind,
Rackets of all kinds.
Some trimming corns offa people’s feet,
They gotta do something to make ends meet…Some women selling apples, some selling pie,
Selling gin and rye,
Some selling socks to support their man,
In fact, some are selling everything they can…I’ve pawned clothes, pawned my everything,
Pawned my watch and ring.
Pawned my razor but not my gun,
So if luck don’t changem there’ll be some stealing done
From Songs of Work and Protest (Fowke & Glazer) we found8

The Soup Song(sung to the tune of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”)I’m spending my nights in the flophouse,
I’m spending my days on the street.
I’m looking for work, and I find none.
I wish I had something to eat.Chorus: Soo-ooop, Soo-ooop,
They give me a bowl of soup.
Soo-ooop, Soo-ooop,
They give me a bowl of soup.I spent twenty years in the fact’ry
I did everything I was told,
They said I was loyal and faithful,
Now, even before I get old: (chorus)I saved fifteen bucks with my banker,
To buy me a car and a yacht,
I went down to draw out my fortune,
And this is the answer I got: (chorus)I fought in the war for my country,
I went out to bleed and to die,
I thought that my country would help me,
But this was my country’s reply: (chorus)I fell on my knees to my Maker;
I prayed every night to the Lord,
I swore to be faithful forever,
And now I’ve received my reward. (chorus)
From these two pieces, the chain reaction that occurred following the stock market crash can be followed with real-life scenarios. One sees how people were affected even if they personally did not make market investments. Your bank may have been directly impacted. Those who didn’t trust banks and stashed money under the mattress still had to pay their landlord who lost assets. Desperate measures such as thievery and prostitution are represented in song as well.9
     The plight of farmers is often underrepresented in general history accounts of the Depression Era. Students who believed a landowner able to grow his own food was not affected during this time, learned differently from Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads. This entire cycle of 13 songs is an eye witness account of the great dust storms of the southwest. In the original liner notes (RCA Victor 1940), Guthrie wrote: “This bunch of songs… They are ‘Oakie’ songs, ‘Dust Bowl’ songs, ‘Migratious’ songs, about my folks and my relatives, about a jillion of’em, that got hit by the drouth, the dust, the wind, the banker, and the landlord, and the police, all at the same time….” The picture painted in these songs is about drifters, but drifters out of necessity rather than deadbeats hopping trains for the sake of adventure.10
     Preparation (assigned readings/listening), discussion, and writing were equally important aspects of this seminar. Students were required to keep a journal throughout the course, which had to be brought to each class meeting. The writing consisted of reactions to the reading assignments, in-class writing exercises, and their own ballad attempts. Journal keeping was not busy work, but a tool meant to help students gain insights into the material the class was focusing on and one that would enable each to confidently participate in class discussion. The journals were collected on random dates during the course to ensure students kept up with their writing. Instructors who might not want to use journals might assign the writing of reaction statements that address specific topics and key issues brought up in the reading, the ballads, or class discussion. Reaction statements would still give students who are less verbal the opportunity to demonstrate their comprehension.11
     I also required group presentations. Each group chose a ballad or folk song from selections placed on reserve in the library. The group analyzed the lyrics for historical content. Their job was to offer the class comparisons or contrasts present between what was portrayed in song and what has been documented in other sources about the time period. They were instructed to present their findings in a way that would engage the class in discussion. Posing questions and voicing varying viewpoints could do this. Each member of the group had an equal role in the presentation and discussion leadership. To ensure fair evaluation of the presentation, a portion of the grade was based on peer evaluations.12
     Two analysis papers were also assigned. Each had a specified minimum length. Additionally, students were responsible for posing in-class discussion questions based on points summarized in their papers.13

  Analysis Paper 1: Your historical period is the Civil War. Does the music that survives (in print, recording, or passed down as tradition) paint the same picture as accounts in the history texts that you have read? Please choose at least three ballads/folksongs and bring in outside historical accounts (in addition to Johnson) to support your argument.
  Analysis Paper 2: You may choose to write about the Civil Rights Movement or War Protests. Please examine the significance of music during these times of change and turmoil. Incorporate information from other historical accounts and if possible, bring recorded musical examples to class.
     The culmination of the course was an outreach project that required students to interact with members of the community. A retirement center is located just off campus. Transportation arrangements were made for members to attend one of our early class meetings. Before the session, the senior volunteers were asked to think about a significant event or time in their lives that they would not mind sharing with a student. Students had also prepared a list of questions that could be used if the conversation needed some prompting. Each student then took the information gathered and created the lyrics to a ballad. We were fortunate enough to have had a seventh-generation ballad singer in residence for one week to help them refine their texts. (A more accessible option for technical support might be a colleague from the English department.) Later in the semester, the students presented the final versions to the community at the retirement center. This process led the students through a role reversal. The listeners became the ballad creators and passed their stories on to others, allowing them to experience the full cycle of this oral tradition.14
     I enjoyed my experience with this course and think that historians might try, if not a fully interdisiplinary course (see example in Appendix A), at least some enrichment of their teaching by using folk music. A wealth of American ballads and folk songs is available, and a small-scale first attempt is possible. An instructor may choose to use music as source material only during the study of a particular historic period, such as the Revolution. (See appendix B for video resources and Appendix C for sound recordings for various periods of American history). Another option is to incorporate the interdisciplinary approach by means of a group project or paper assignment. If you are not comfortable presenting music, collaborate with a colleague from the music department. Ideally, a team-teaching situation would bring the two fields into the classroom with equal emphasis and instructor expertise. Should the experience be a positive one, a full semester course can easily be planned.15

Appendix ASample Course Outline     The following topics are based on chapters from Johnson and Lomax & Lomax.

Week 1:Course Introduction: Looking for History in Song
Songs of ChildhoodWeek 2:Colonial America 1580-1750
Revolutionary America 1750-1815Week 3:Expansion South
The Louisiana Purchase
Expansion West
Songs from the Mountains
Breakdowns and Play PartiesWeek 4:Spread of the Religious Sects
White Spirituals
Emergence of the South and the King of Cotton
Negro Spirituals
Week 5:Jackson and the Destruction of the Indians
Songs of the Overlanders
Week 6:America’s Agricultural Revolution
Revolution in Transportation and Communication
Week 7:Sailors and Sea Fights
The Erie Canal
Working on the Railroad
The Great Lakes
Week 8:Indians and Settlers, Cowboys and Desperadoes
Cowboy Songs
White Desperadoes
Vaqueros of the Southwest
Week 9:Library Research Week
Week 10:Civil War America
Wars and Soldiers
Week 11:Women Stroll onto the Scene
Women’s Rights
The Wall Street Crash
The Great Depression
Week 12:The Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights and Campus Violence
Week 13:Getting into the Vietnam Quagmire
Protest Songs
Week 14:Folk Artists and Music of Today
Week 15:Public Presentations/Conclusions
Appendix BVideo ResourcesBob Dylan: the American troubadour. Arts & Entertainment Cable Network. New York: A&E; Home Video. (2000).One woman, one vote. A production of the Educational Film Center; written and produced by Ruth Pollak; co-producer and writer, Felicia M. Widmann; edited by Patty Stern, A.C. Warden; PBS. Alexandria, VA: PBS Video. (1995).Pure Pete Seeger. A production of Public Affairs Television, Inc.; producer/director, Betsy McCarthy; executive editors, Bill Moyers, Judith Davidson Moyers.Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (1994).A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle. Directed and produced by Tom Davenport, with Allen Tullos, Daniel Patterson. Chapel Hill, NC: Davenport Films and the Curriculum in Folklore of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (1987).The Songs of the Civil War. A production of American Documentaries, Inc. and Ginger Group Productions, Inc. New York: Sony Music Video. (1991).
Appendix CSound RecordingsColonial & Revolutionary AmericaAllison, John. Witches and War-Whoops: Early New England Ballads. New York: Folkway Records. (1962).Glazer, Tom, The Musical Heritage of America. New York: CMS Records. (1973).Ritchie, Jean and Tony Kraber, Ballads in Colonial America. Society for the Preservation of the American Musical Heritage. (1959).Robert De Cormier Folk Singers, Heritage Sound Recording: American Ballads and Songs, 1750-1840. New York: Command. (1965).Early to Middle Nineteenth CenturyBelafonte, Harry, The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music. New York: Buddha Records. (2001).Flatt, Lester and Earl Scruggs, The Golden Hits of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Dearborn, MI: Highland Music. (1987).Lomax, Alan, Southern Journey. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Records. (1997-1998).

        v. 1. Voices from the American South
        v. 2. Ballads and breakdowns
        v. 3. 61 Highway Mississippi
        v. 4. Brethern, we meet again
        v. 6. Sheep, sheep don’tcha know the road
        v. 9. Harp of 1000 strings
        v. 10. And glory shone around
        v. 11. Honor the lamb
        v. 12. Georgia Sea Islands
        v. 13. Earliest times.Male Ensemble Northwest, Promised Land: Songs of America. Olympia, WA: Sound Preservers Co. (1992).Monroe, Bill, Bill Monroe At His Best. Dearborn, MI: Highland Music. (1989).Robert De Cormier Folk Singers, Heritage Sound Recording: American Ballads and Songs, 1750-1840. New York: Command. (1965).Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music, Volumes 1-4. New York: Folkway Records. (1927-1932).Various, Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings in association with Sony Music Special Products. (1991).Civil War & Late Nineteenth Century AmericaBelafonte, Harry, The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music. New York: Buddha Records. (2001).Burns, Ken, Original Soundtrack Recording—The Civil War. New York, NY & Beverly Hills, CA: Elektra Entertainment. (1990).Fennell, Frederick, The Civil War: Its Music and Its Sounds. New York: Mercury Records. (1961-63).Lomax, Alan, Southern Journey. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Records. (1997-1998).

        v. 1. Voices from the American South
        v. 2. Ballads and breakdowns
        v. 3. 61 Highway Mississippi
        v. 4. Brethern, we meet again
        v. 5. Bad man ballads
        v. 6. Sheep, sheep don’tcha know the road
        v. 7. Ozark frontier
        v. 8. Velvet voices
        v. 9. Harp of 1000 strings
        v. 10. And glory shone around
        v. 11. Honor the lamb
        v. 12. Georgia Sea Islands
        v. 13. Earliest times.Luboff, Norman, Songs of the West. New York: Columbia. (1955).Male Ensemble Northwest, Promised Land: Songs of America. Olympia, WA: Sound Preservers Co. (1992).Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music, Volumes 1-4. New York: Folkway Records. (1927-1932).Various, Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings in association with Sony Music Special Products. (1991).Early Twentieth CenturyBelafonte, Harry, The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music. New York: Buddha Records. (2001).Guthrie, Woody, Dust Bowl Ballads. New York: Buddha Records. (2000).Harold Courlander Cooperation, Negro Folk Music of Alabama. New York: Folkway Records. (1950).Leadbelly, Huddie, Leadbelly. New York: Folkway Records. (1964).Lomax, Alan, Negro Prison Songs from the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Los Angeles, CA: Everest Records. (1947).Lomax, Alan, Southern Journey. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Records. (1997-1998).

        v. 1. Voices from the American South
        v. 2. Ballads and breakdowns
        v. 3. 61 Highway Mississippi
        v. 4. Brethern, we meet again
        v. 5. Bad man ballads
        v. 6. Sheep, sheep don’tcha know the road
        v. 7. Ozark frontier
        v. 8. Velvet voices
        v. 9. Harp of 1000 strings
        v. 10. And glory shone around
        v. 11. Honor the lamb
        v. 12. Georgia Sea Islands
        v. 13. Earliest times.Luboff, Norman, Songs of the West. New York: Columbia. (1955).Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music, Volumes 1-4. New York: Folkway Records. (1927-1932).Various, Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings in association with Sony Music Special Products. (1991).Middle to Late Twentieth CenturyBelafonte, Harry, The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music. New York: Buddha Records. (2001).Chafe, William H., Editor, Remembering Jim Crow : African Americans tell about life in the segregated South. New York: New Press. (2001).Dylan. Bob, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. New York: Columbia. (1983).Lightfoot, Gordon, Summertime Dream. USA: Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. Records, Inc. (1976).Lomax, Alan, Southern Journey. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Records. (1997-1998).

        v. 1. Voices from the American South
        v. 2. Ballads and breakdowns
        v. 3. 61 Highway Mississippi
        v. 4. Brethern, we meet again
        v. 5. Bad man ballads
        v. 6. Sheep, sheep don’tcha know the road
        v. 7. Ozark frontier
        v. 8. Velvet voices
        v. 9. Harp of 1000 strings
        v. 10. And glory shone around
        v. 11. Honor the lamb
        v. 12. Georgia Sea Islands
        v. 13. Earliest times.Seeger, Pete, Carry It On: Songs of America’s Working People. Chicago, IL: Flying Fish. (1987).Smith, Harry. Anthology of American Folk Music, Volumes 1-4. New York: Folkway Records. (1927-1932).Various, Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings in association with Sony Music Special Products. (1991).
BibliographyAllen, William with Lucy Garrison and Charles Ware, compilers, Slave Songs. Bedford, MD: Applewood Books. (1867)Bold, Alan, The Ballad. New York: Methuen. (1979).Bregman, Adolph and Satis N. Coleman, Songs of American Folks. New York: The John Day Co. (1942).Dwyer, Richard and Richard Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush.Fife, Alta and Austin, Cowboy and Western Songs. New York: Crown Publishers. (1969).Fowke, Edith and Joe Glazer, Songs of Work and Protest. New York: Dover Publications. (1973).Lomax, J.A. and Lomax, A., American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: Dover Publications. (1994).Lyle, Katie Letcher, Scalded to Death by the Steam. New York: Workman Publishing Co. (1991).Johnson, Paul, A History of the American People. New York: Harper Perennial. (1999).Scott, John Anthony, The Ballad of America: The History of the United States in Song and Story. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. (1983).Silverman, Jerry, The American History Songbook. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications. (1992).Wheeler, Mary, Steamboatin’ days, folk songs of the river packet era. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. (1944).

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