Sunday Singalong - Native American Heritage Month

As a genealogist, I'm often told,  by someone who told them, that an ancestor was a Native American. We talk about what was initially told and by whom (often a grandparent), tribes or regions of the country where the ancestor is believed to have lived, how to trace the lineage and some basic basics of DNA research when it comes to determining ethnicity. I don't do Native American research outside of my region (Southern California and the Mission Indian Tribes) and it's interesting to note how many folks don't realize that there are different record collections for the various regions and tribes in them or moved into or out of them. It is not an easy type of research if one wanted to be versed in Native American Research as a whole. Specializing is most likely to be what a NA researcher chooses to do. 

It being Native American Heritage month, I started thinking the other day about the various songs that deal with that ethnicity in one way or another (if we go way back into the annals of American folk music, we find some songs that are not altogether sensitive to the ploits of the first peoples of this continent where I live, but more recent poems and songs tend to highlight many of the civil struggles of the American Indian). 

A favorite song of my husband's is "Indian Song," by Hoyt Axton, where he talks about the inhumane treatment his grandparents experienced and how that left impressions on his parents because, as children, they were admonished never to to reveal that they had Native American ancestry. (FYI, that becomes one of the biggest stumbling blocks for genealogists since many records - e.g., Census records for the US or the particular states where "race" is to be filled in; around here, those who had Indian blood often listed themselves as Mexican, but they were also found to claim ethnicity as White, Negro, or Mulatto - the last of these isn't exactly wrong, unless one has a full quantum of Native American blood. Often the term used is one that fits best considering the reporting person's skin tone and/or facial structure.)   

So, here I want to share Hoyt's "Indian Song" recording, from YouTube; I'm just sorry that it's not from a live concert. But the 1971 album has a great sound. Hoyt's music and stories, etc. can be enjoyed more at the website of Ray Kawal.  

Photo below is of the cover of the very first Hoyt Axton album I ever got - totally impossible to play now, the needle wore clear through the vinyl on some cuts! But I have the CD!

Any songs that fit the Native American theme?

Sunday Singalong - potpourri

 

Another week, another Sunday, another time of unbelievable sadness and mayhem in the world. People say they are moving to this place or that in hopes of finding peace and a good location for their families. And then the violence or other horrible event occurs "in their own back yard."

It's sad, but true, that some of the worst disasters spawn songs that are sung for years, decades, or even centuries beyond the initial action. I would venture to say that some folks singing about a war in Ireland are completely unfamiliar with the event, but the song has a good melody and the words are easy to sing.

This one has elicited many a laugh, but those that remember some of the uncertain times during the Cold War years, "The Button Pusher" is less than funny.

Any disaster songs that come to mind?

Sunday Singalong - On a Sunday! Who'd-a thought?

 Yes, it has been awhile.

But I have an excuse.

So, on Sept. 18 I had my knee replaced. Now, that was 58 years after the initial injury! I looked it up in my mother's diaries (another time I am thankful for that reference material) and discovered that, while I was incorrect in the diagnosis "I heard" from the doctor so long ago, I was correct in the basic injury. And I'm surprised that the problem didn't surface in this manner until 5+ decades later. The human body, and, more specifically, mine, never ceases to amaze me! 

That brings to mind, no surprise, I know, a song! Of course, the one most of us learned as children, about the bones all connecting, is the first to pop into my heard, largely because when the knee started to really cause me trouble, other body parts started to be affected (most logically, the knee and hip of my right, the non-injured, leg . . . it was taking on additional responsibility since I couldn't really put weight on the left leg). So I looked it up. I'd forgotten the filler, I mean, the entire inspiration for the song (Ezekial's proclamation about the resurrection and the bones becoming "alive" again, conjuring up images of dancing skeletons - appropos for this time of year, being just 3 days from Hallowe'en). So, do you remember the song (beyond the skeletal connections)? check it out!

Wikipedia, "Dem Bones,"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dem_Bones

Want to hear it? So many versions to come up with! Let's check out this one, by one of my most favorite groups: Alvin & the Chipmunks!

OK, that's what might be called "sanitized," though that's not exactly what one might think of when considering dancing skepetons. Let's look at the "original" version (not by author, but not PC version, for sure, thought it might give some readers a sort of flash back): Delta Rhythm Boys on the Ed Sullivan Show 9 November 1952 (soon after Hallowe'en?). OK, we wouldn't be able to find that on TV done in 2021, but it may take us to some memories (not all great, probably). And that link will take you to others. Such as this one by Cathedrals Quartet, singing it as "Dry Bones." I love those harmonies. It was posted in 2008 and the quality tells me it was not all that old at the time (they gave their last public performance in 1999), so it's more recent and closest to the original for that version. And it gave me a new appreciation for an old song. Not a bad thing to take my mind off of my knee bone (including the one made of titanium).

Happy Hallowe'en!