Saturday, November 8, 2008

Hobo's Lullaby

Words and Music by Goebel Reeves
Rise Up Singing chapter: Lullabies, p.133
D G / A D ://
or, as played in the video:
G C / D G ://

This is the second episode in my project of recording all of the songs in the Rise Up Singing songbook, which was conceived, developed and edited by Peter Blood and Annie Patterson, illustrated by Kore Loy McWhirter, and given a lovely introduction by Pete Seeger.
I have a well-cherished copy bought by my mother, and I'm a big fan, even though I occasionally find myself frustrated when the chords they give for a song I know don't seem to fit the way I expect them to. I can't really complain. I just switch them up and play them like I feel like. And so should you.

Also, if you know any songs in Rise Up Singing, you should record them yourself and put them on YouTube! It doesn't matter if you can't play an instrument. Rise Up Singing has the chords and lyrics, all you need to do is hum the tune. Or whistle, or anything. The more versions of good folk songs we get on up on the Internet, the richer the slice of musical culture we spread. Otherwise hard-to-find albums from a few decades ago are still not that hard to order online, but that might not be the case 20 years from now, and these songs shouldn't stop getting sung because no one wants to pay to publish them anymore.

ALTHOUGH....... here's an update:
I just found out that Annie Patterson, who co-edited Rise Up Singing, sells her own lovingly made CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . I hope if I direct you to her site, she won't feel like I'm trying to undercut her business.

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