What Were Their Names?

AVI has a post up about the Kingston Trio. I mentioned that a particular favorite of my father's was the following song.



On a similar token, we went to see "12 Strong" this afternoon. A few Hollywoodisms aside, it's not bad. My wife said that she appreciated that they avoided the usual heavy-handed attempts to manipulate our emotions common to Hollywood films. When you start the film with 9/11, I guess you don't need them so much.

7 comments:

Texan99 said...

I knew "Reuben James" very well as a kid.

And I'll take a look at "12 Strong."

Gringo said...

My childhood introduction to Ruben James came from Cisco Houston.
Woody Guthrie, who wrote the lyrics of Ruben James, often used the melody of other folk tunes. The melody from Ruben James came from Wildwood Flower. The song has been recorded numerous times, but none, as far as I can tell, surpass the Carter Family's version.

Texan99 said...

Right, you had that same 1950's 4-album set from the Newport Folk Festival or whatever it was? Such a great set. I played it to death. Lots of good Cisco Houston songs. It's a shame he died so young. That's the version of "Reuben James" I know, too.

Gringo said...

Texan99: Yup. I didn't remember its title, but a search on YouTube turned up an album picture- which I remembered. @ Youtube: pete seeger east virginia. "Folk Song and Minstrelsy."

Anonymous said...

My folks were very interested in folk music, and have the Kingston Trio, new Christie Minstrels, Pete Seeger, The Limelighters, Woodie Guthrie, Odetta, and others on LP. Along with lots and lots of classical music. So I grew up with "Ruben James" and others.

LittleRed1

ColoComment said...

https://strategypage.com/military_photos/20180120193619.aspx

The book by Doug Stanton was excellent.

Grim said...

I bought a copy on my way home, ColoComment, but my wife immediately absconded with it. I’ll try to read it when she’s finished, I guess.