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Blast from the Past - 60's, 70's, 80's,90's Music (2023)


CharlieH

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Rock 'n' Roll roots.  An iconic American folksong, The Midnight Special.

 

"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South.  The song refers to the passenger train Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" (sometimes "ever-living light").

The song is historically performed in the country-blues style from the viewpoint of the prisoner and has been performed by many artists.

Leadbelly was one of the first to record the song:

 

The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs is an album by Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Quartet, recorded for Victor Records in 1940 and released a few months later.

In 1939, Lead Belly was back in jail for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan. The ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who had started to make field recordings of folk music for the Library of Congress, helped raise money for Lead Belly's legal expenses.  It was Lomax's original intent to record songs in prison, but instead a recording studio was used.  To create a "prison" feel Lomax suggested that the Golden Gate Quartet back Lead Belly. However, the Golden Gate Quartet was a polished, professional group, and Lead Belly had to teach them how to sing as a group of prisoners would sing the selected songs.
 

 

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In my travels digging into the Midnight Special I saw that Lonnie Donegan And His Skiffle Group did a cover of another iconic American blues folk song, The House Of The Riding Sun.  Now that's gotta be good, I said to myself.  And right I was.  Off of his '59 Lonnie Rides Again album.

 

 

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The Animal's rendition by well be the best, though.
 

Experience The Animals House Of The Rising Sun Music Video like never before in stunning 4K HD! We've restored, upscaled, and enhanced the original footage from 1964 using artificial intelligence. Let us know what classic songs and videos you'd like to see restored next!

 

 

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