The story is basically this: A soldier is dying, evidently of venereal disease he contracted from a young woman, and he requests a funeral. Hear how this story has been spun over centuries into a whole collection of similarly themed songs, the earliest possibly dating to 1790. In this recording we are essentially witnessing the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon ballad tradition.
13 I Once Was a Carman - I Once Was a Carman in the Big Mountain Con
14 The Lineman's Hymn
15 The Wild Lumberjack
16 A Sun Valley Song
17 The Ballad of Bloody Thursday
18 Streets of Hamtramck
19 The Ballad of Sherman Wu
20 The Professor's Lament
The story is basically this: A soldier is dying, evidently of venereal disease he contracted from a young woman, and he requests a funeral. Hear how this story has been spun over centuries into a whole collection of similarly themed songs, the earliest possibly dating to 1790. In this recording we are essentially witnessing the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon ballad tradition.
