Customer Reviews

That's Why We're Marching: World War II and the American Folksong Movement

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This collection offers a unusual insight into the attitudes and arts of the American left and trade union movement just before and during WWII. Especially interesting are the few songs recorded prior to the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union which reflect the left opposition to the draft, which would change as the nature of the war changed. These are, however, some of the weakest songs musically on the CD.

Some my favorites are "Freedom Road" by Josh White, "Reuben James" and "Sally Don't You Grieve" by Woody Guthrie, and "Citizen CIO" by Tome Glazer and Josh White. The story by Jim Longhi of his efforts with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston to effect some racial justice while serving in the Merchant Marine Liberty ships most inspiring.

There is only one set of lyrics out of the 25 on this disc which has a life in the repertoire of modern folk performers, and that is Woody Guthrie's "Sinking of the Reuben James." Although it tells about the real-life sinking of a Naval ship near Iceland in the North Atlantic five weeks before the USA declared war against Germany and Japan, Woody and his Almanac Singer members made a tune and verses that still inspire listeners, and invite singing along. The rest of the compilation is by comparison, woefully weak. The first five tracks are songs by the Almanacs from early in 1941 opposing American involvement against Hitler's Nazis, because at the time, Hitler was friends with Stalin's Russia, and most of the Almanacs were socialists or communists. When Hitler betrayed Stalin and invaded Russia, all of a sudden sending American men to fight against Germany was fine, and the Almanacs songs reflected the political change. After Pearl Harbor, of course, almost no folk singers dared protest our involvement in WW II. The second highlight of the CD is Jimmy Longhi's telling of an incident involving himself, Woody, and Cisco Houston when they were civilian kitchen workers and entertainers on a Merchant Marine troop ship. This is better told in Longhi's superb book, "Woody, Cisco and Me." Get a copy from inter-library loan and read it if you care at all about this time in history, involving these characters. It is a lot better than this music item, and you might find a copy of the book for about the same price as this CD. On here, you will find some rarities...Woody altered the lyrics of his famous songs "Sally Don't You Grieve" and "So Long" to fit war themes, but the original peaceful lyrics are much better. Many of these songs were probably never heard by even a thousand people during the war...recordings were limited by the defense needs for the raw materials, and the Almanacs, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Cisco, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Burl Ives, Tom Glazer and Josh White all catered to minority tastes, no matter the race of their listeners. True, all of them were featured on numerous radio shows, but those were live "one-shots" and had limited listeners as well. The tracks on here, with one or two exceptions, were not being hummed in defense plants by large numbers of workers, and there are no love songs that could endure past the war, expressing the pain of separation no matter the cause of it. The best WW II pop songs had that going for them. Music historians, lovers of all things Woody, labor movement and communist party USA scholars...those are the potential buyers of this album. More casual folk fans can leave this alone and not have missed much at all.