Bringing the classics back to the common man again

There’s a chance to take an aural trip into the history of American folk music with the latest offering from Bruce Springsteen. Just released Tuesday, was “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” a wonderful tapestry of classic American folk music from the Pete Seeger song book.

Seeger in an American icon, his music has spanned the decades as he gave voice to the troubles and dreams of the common man, literally thousands of musicians, composers and lyricists have been influenced by his music over the years, none more so than Bruce Springsteen.

Now first off, a bit of disclosure here, I am perhaps one of the biggest Springsteen fans around. The guy could read off a pizza menu or a telephone book and I would probably rush out and buy the album. He has long represented the cause of the average person, those with the regular jobs, looking to escape the madness of a world seemingly gone wrong for them.

He's not afraid to take chances with his music, past experiments included the acoustically dark at times Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, both collections in which he left his powerful E Street band on the sidelines. Most recently he changed directions a bit with his Devils and Dust recording, another solo project that shows that as he ages he still can provide relevant music for his fans.

His music through the years has been laced with equal parts of great hope and great disappointment; he certainly has an understanding of the troubles facing those on the fringes of society. Through the decades since his launchto stardom with Born to Run, Springsteen has reflected America back to itself through a musical prism.

From his earliest days of the Wild, Innocent and the E street shuffle, Springsteen has been a touchstone between the classes. A trip through his catalogue of music is like a living historical tour, from the heady days of young ambition and carefree concern, to the fall out and foreboding sense from September 11th on the Rising, Springsteen is able to succinctly divine the worries and hopes of ordinary people looking for a break, or at least a way to understand what we have gone through over the years.

Perhaps that is why he seems to understand the nuances of the songs selected for “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions”. There probably is no other American singer on the scene today that could faithfully hold the candle of Seegers’ classic interpretations, Springsteen has done a remarkable job of recapturing the feeling of Seeger, helped out wonderfully by a very tight collection of musicians who excel to provide the desired sound.

Upon release date I downloaded five songs from the iTunes site, to tide me over until I buy the album. (In an era of downloadable music, Springsteen is still one of the few artists of whom I willingly look to part with my money, for a hard copy version of his work).

The five I chose, give a nice cross section of what it available in the entire thirteen song volume. They range from sea shanties, to protest songs to Negro spirituals, a wonderful cross section of music that for many is long forgotten. For five bucks on iTunes, I took a journey into the past and discovered the genesis of many of today’s musical leaders. You can hear the inspirations for Neil Young, U2, Steve Earle and John Mellencamp to name a few in some of the corners of these songs, the art of the song begins in the story telling. So let the stories begin.


An Irish tinged protest song called "Mrs. McGrath", which originally dates back to the Napoleonic era gained great acceptance in Ireland of the early 1900’s (there is perhaps no better ode against war) “have you heard from my son Ted, is he living or is he dead?”, brings out the futility of war from the perspective of a mother’s voice. It’s a moving song and is considered one of the very earliest of protest songs.

The civil rights standard “We shall overcome” comes alive with tales of hurt, hope, pain and pride. It perhaps provided its most moving renditions during the turbulent days of the sixties, freedom riders, lunch counter protests and the fight for equality all marched to the gospel tones of We Shall Overcome, Springsteen is faithful to the original tone and timbre of the song and its message.

The haunting vocals of “Eyes on the Prize”, with their gospel backing give one cause to ponder what cost freedom will take for us to preserve. The sense of spirit undefeated comes through in this track quite well, for as far as we sometimes think we’ve come, there is still quite a ways to go. You can sense the feeling of both hope and despair as the song builds its momentum to its end.

“Shenandoah” is a lovelorn lament, as with much of the folk music of the past its history is rather confusing. Some portray it as a sea shanty, others as the tale of love for an Indian chief of the Missouri River Valley. Over its course it has been sung by French Canadian voyageurs, US Cavalry soldiers and sailors plying the trade of the clipper ships.

There is an interesting sound to “Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep No More”, Part Dixie land band and part gospel revival song, it’s a lively interpretation of biblical times. The Mary in question not the Mother of Jesus, but instead Mary of Bethany, who begged Jesus to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. It’s one of the great Negro spirituals that can be traced back before the Civil War. It gained popularity through the years as a standard of the “freedom songs” of the 1960’s.

For those unfamiliar with the wide ranging library of Pete Seeger, this makes a wonderful primer and should send you scrambling to the library looking for back issues of the Seeger originals.

The songs have stood the test of time as their lineage shows; Springsteen has brought his own personal interpretation to each, while keeping true to their original theme and Seegers masterful reworking of them through the fifties and sixties.

It’s a great introduction to a part of American music that is long overdue for its honours. The singer songwriter era tends to get trashed in today’s pop culture tidal wave of one hit wonders. He examines his latest work with an interview and feature on National Public Radio, you can learn more about his process on the project here.

Springsteen has done a terrific job of bringing back some of American musical history, for those looking for something a little deeper than the formula pop tunes of today, check this out. You will be taking a wonderful journey into music that should leave you wanting much more!