GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME

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GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME “Green Green Grass of Home”, written by Claude “Curly“ Putman Jr., is a country song originally made popular by Porter Wagoner in 1964 and Bobby Bare in 1965. Later by Tom Jones in 1966 when it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 1 December staying there for […]

GREEN GREEN ROCKY ROAD

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GREEN GREEN ROCKY ROAD Back in the 60’s in Greenwich Village there was a rumor going around that someone didn’t know this song. It seemed like everyone new it. Dave Van Ronk used to do it, among many, many others. This song is based on a religious song of the same name called “Rocky Road”. […]

GREEN GROW THE LILACS

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GREEN GROW THE LILACS This ballad is based on a similar song, “Green Grows the Laurel’, that was popular in 17th century Scotland. The American ballad tells the story of an American soldier’s love for a Mexican lass. One story of the songs origin speculates that Cowboys in South Texas loved to sing the song. […]

GREENBACK DOLLAR

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GREENBACK DOLLAR Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer–songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960’s, establishing himself as a well- known folk singer on the West Coast with a unique earthy style and powerful voice when compared to more traditional folk artists. As he matured, many […]

GREENLAND WHALE FISHERIES

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GREENLAND WHALE FISHERIES “Greenland Whale Fisheries” is a traditional sea shanty. In most of the versions collected from oral sources, the song opens up giving a date for the events that it describes (usually between 1823 and 1853). However, the song is actually older than this and a form of it was published as a […]

GREENSLEEVES

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GREENSLEEVES “Greensleeves” is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a “romanesca”. Many surviving sets of lyrics were written to this tune. A widely-believed (but completely unproven) legend is that it was composed by King Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Anne, the daughter […]

GUANTANAMERA

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GUANTANAMERA Guantanamera” (“girl from Guantánamo“) is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country’s most noted patriotic song. The music for the song is regularly attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joselíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates, and who used it regularly in one of his radio programs. […]

HALLELUJAH I’M A BUM

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HALLELUJAH I’M A BUM “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a tramp. The song’s authorship is uncertain, although it may have been composed in 1897 by Harry McClintock. Sung to the tune of “Revive Us Again“, the song was […]

HAMMER SONG

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“If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)” is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and […]

HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE

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HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE James A. Bland was an entertainer and a prolific composer who wrote sentimental songs about the American South for use in minstrel shows. He briefly studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., but inspired by the spirituals and folk songs he heard performed by ex-slaves working on the Howard […]