Category Archives: Musical

Hearse Song

Nationality: White
Age: 22
Occupation: Screenwriter
Residence: Los Angeles (from Glendale, CA)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

Hearse Song

Did you ever think when a hearse goes by, that some day you are gonna die?

They’ll wrap you up in a big white sheet and throw you down about 500 feet.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play peaknuckle on your snout.

And after a while, the snot comes out, and you spread it on bread, cuz that’s what you eat, when you’re dead!

 

My informant remembered this song, which she described as “a classic, grim piece of oral tradition,” and said that it brought back a lot of memories from her childhood. When she was little, the informant’s mother would sing this song whenever they passed a hearse, and the informant said it was always a very visceral for her, and that ‘the part about the snot coming out and eating it really disgusted me’. She learned it from her mom, and she thinks her grandfather used to sing it, because her mother said that it reminded her of her dad whenever a hearse drove by.

 

As my informant stated, this song is a ‘classic, grim piece of oral tradition,’ but also a particularly interesting one. Not only is it a song sung in America that openly addresses mortality and the fact that death is inevitable, but the intended audience is children. America is one of the countries that shuns, fears, and stigmatizes death the most—possibly why horror movies are one of the topmost grossing genres of film in the US—so it’s interesting that this song is a non-romanticized and very explicit recounting of what happens when you die (no heaven or angels here). Further, the lyrics and the major key of the song makes light of death altogether, making jovial and silly what Americans consider one of the most sorrowful and somber occasions ever. What else is interesting about this song, which coincides with the lyrics and the major key, is that the song is targeted for children. The song, which sounds very much like a camp song children would sing to laugh and gross each other out about a particularly macabre subject, could have been used as a fun and entertaining way to let children participate in something seemingly transgressive while also familiarizing them with the concept of death.

Down By the River Game and Song

Nationality: African-American
Age: 8
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/27/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: n/a

My informant taught me this game in the context of our Forms of Folklore JEP class. My teaching partner and I brought up the game I know as “Down by the Banks,” when she shared this oicotype. She says that she learned this game from her friend, a fellow second grader. She says that she plays this game when she is bored, outside, or when her teacher gives her class free-time. She says she likes it because it is fun, and that is also why she plays it.

Material:

The students sit in a circle (with 3+ people), legs crossed and hands palms up. Each person should have one palm on top of one neighbor’s palm, and one palm beneath the other neighbor’s palm. So, for example, one’s right hand is above one’s right-hand neighbor’s left hand and one’s left hand is below one’s left- neighbor’s right hand. Then, one person is chosen to start. This person moves his/her hand (whichever hand is on top, in this case the right), and makes contact with his/her neighbor’s palm (in this case, the person’s right). This next person then makes contact with his/her neighbor’s right hand, and the pattern continues around the circle.

While this occurs, the students sing a song. The song can vary in speed, and is often primarily led by one student but sung by all. It goes as follows: “Down by the river with the Hanky Panky, with the bullside jump from bank to banky, with the east side, west side, suicide, pop!”

At the last word, “pop,” the person whose hand is last touched has lost and so must sit outside the circle while the other children continue to play on and eliminate others. In the final round, the students take one hand (again, the right) and hold the other student’s hand and pull their hands toward one student, and then toward the other. Whichever student’s hand is extended by the last word (again, “pop”) is eliminated, and the other student wins the game. You can see an example of this here: Down By The River.

Analysis:

This game is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it is intriguing that there is a clear understanding of spatial realms: the “east” and “west side.” Clearly, there is a sense of differentiation and an awareness of neighborhood identity. Also interesting is the phrase “hanky panky.” This phrase usually connotes sexual content, but the rest of the song does not follow up with this theme.

Then, the most interesting part of this piece of folklore is certainly the way it presents violence. The word “suicide” is certainly violent, as is the word “pop” in this situation. The chance mention of suicide points to its existence and prevalence in this neighborhood. Moreover, the use of the word “pop” as a signal of elimination seems especially intriguing, especially directly after the word “suicide.” Clearly, the person who loses is also killed, with a “pop,” a clear reference to the sound of a gun firing.

Considering the neighborhood in which this piece of folklore was collected and in which my informant lives (the USC surrounding area), it is not terribly surprising to note the prevalence of violence. Even at this young age, my informant and those that play this game with her are aware of the violence surrounding them.

 

German Folksong: Horch, was Kammt von Draussen Rein/ Hark Who’s Rapping at my Door

Nationality: German
Age: 65
Occupation: Professor of literature, then a mom
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: March 17, 2012
Primary Language: German
Language: English

Link to audio recording of song: Horch, was Kammt von Draussen Rein

Background on German Folksongs:

Q. Do you know how old these songs are?

A. No, and I think that’s part of folklore—you don’t really know where it comes from, it wasn’t written by anyone in particular. My mother must have taught me some, and at school, I imagine I learned some.

Q. When would people sing folksongs?

A. While we were walking places in a group, we would sing. And singing while walking, you know, is kind of fun. You can walk to the beat, and it gives you something to do. And I remember that they were calling on me because I used to know all the words. And I was the littlest one on the group, I was only five years old, but I used to know all the words, so whenever they didn’t remember the words, the older kids would call me, “Eva, what are the words again?” so I would come running and tell them the words, and it made me feel good, it made me feel important because here are these older kids, and I have to tell them the words. Those are some of my earliest memories.

Songs were often sung while working. If you had some menial work to do, and you’d get bored doing that, you would sing. For example, when spinning—women used to do a lot of spinning—they would sing, just to amuse themselves. Or when they were ironing; my mother used to tell me, “this is an ironing song,” because they had to do a lot of ironing, and it’s boring work. And my mother and I would sing when we did the dishes because that, too, was boring, menial work. She would do the dishes, and I would dry them, and we would sing together. And we would harmonize. You sing when you work or you walk, and you don’t use any machines, because machines make noise and then there’s no room for singing…so it’s kind of part of the preindustrial age.

Q. People don’t sing as much as they used to?

A. We sing in certain contexts, like at school in choir, but just while doing stuff, not very much anymore. It’s really sad—it’s kind of a dying tradition.

Q. Do you know if German folksongs are very different from other folksongs?

A. Well, you will see that most German songs are in the major key, which sets them apart from eastern European folk music, which is usually minor.

Horch, was Kammt von Draussen Rein/ Hark Who’s Rapping at my Door:

Informant’s Explanation: “It’s very simply a story of someone’s in love with someone, he or she marries someone else, and he or she dies young, and on the grave, they plant forget-me-nots. It’s very simple, you know, in strophic form. It’s very easy, anyone can sing it, you don’t need to have any singing education or musical talent.”

Analysis: Interestingly, the song combines a weighty theme with a lively, upbeat melody. The music does not quite seem to match the story—from the notes alone, you could never guess at the speaker’s misery. According to my informant, almost all German folksongs are in major keys; so, apart from this tradition of writing cheerful folksongs, it is difficult to explain why such a disconnect would exist between the words and the melody. Perhaps, the lyrics and music were written by different people with different visions for this song.

Multiple versions of the song can be found online, including at the following links:

http://www.singenundspielen.de/id136.htm

http://www.karaoketexty.cz/texty-pisni/traditional/horch-was-kommt-von-draussen-rein-346045

German Folksong: Wenn alle Brünlein Fliessen/ When all the Wells are Running

Nationality: German
Age: 65
Occupation: Professor of literature, then a mom
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: March 17, 2012
Primary Language: German
Language: English

Link to audio recording of song: Wenn alle Brunlein

Background on German Folksongs:

Q. Do you know how old these songs are?

A. No, and I think that’s part of folklore—you don’t really know where it comes from, it wasn’t written by anyone in particular. My mother must have taught me some, and at school, I imagine I learned some.

Q. When would people sing folksongs?

A. While we were walking places in a group, we would sing. And singing while walking, you know, is kind of fun. You can walk to the beat, and it gives you something to do. And I remember that they were calling on me because I used to know all the words. And I was the littlest one on the group, I was only five years old, but I used to know all the words, so whenever they didn’t remember the words, the older kids would call me, “Eva, what are the words again?” so I would come running and tell them the words, and it made me feel good, it made me feel important because here are these older kids, and I have to tell them the words. Those are some of my earliest memories.

Songs were often sung while working. If you had some menial work to do, and you’d get bored doing that, you would sing. For example, when spinning—women used to do a lot of spinning—they would sing, just to amuse themselves. Or when they were ironing; my mother used to tell me, “this is an ironing song,” because they had to do a lot of ironing, and it’s boring work. And my mother and I would sing when we did the dishes because that, too, was boring, menial work. She would do the dishes, and I would dry them, and we would sing together. And we would harmonize. You sing when you work or you walk, and you don’t use any machines, because machines make noise and then there’s no room for singing…so it’s kind of part of the preindustrial age.

Q. People don’t sing as much as they used to?

A. We sing in certain contexts, like at school in choir, but just while doing stuff, not very much anymore. It’s really sad—it’s kind of a dying tradition.

Q. Do you know if German folksongs are very different from other folksongs?

A. Well, you will see that most German songs are in the major key, which sets them apart from eastern European folk music, which is usually minor.

Informant’s Explanation: “This is about a girl, and supposedly a young man, who sings about her, and how he found her, and how blue her eyes are, and how red her cheeks, and that there’s no other girl like that under the sun. Very simple again, four verses and a very simple melody—it’s all in one octave, and is very easy to sing.”

Analysis: The informant characterizes this song as simple. In fact, however, it is actually very important for folksongs to be simple, so that most people will be able to sing them—folksongs are meant to be sung by everybody, rather than exclusively by professionals. This particular song is also very upbeat and cheerful, but has a comforting tone at the same time.

German lyrics can be found online on numerous websites, including this one:

http://www.volksliederarchiv.de/text574.html

German Folksong: Auf du Junger Wandersmann / Get Up, Young Wanderer

Nationality: German
Age: 65
Occupation: Professor of literature, then a mom
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: March 17, 2012
Primary Language: German
Language: English

Link to audio recording of song: Auf du Junger Wandersmann

Background on German Folksongs:

Q. Do you know how old these songs are?

A. No, and I think that’s part of folklore—you don’t really know where it comes from, it wasn’t written by anyone in particular. My mother must have taught me some, and at school, I imagine I learned some.

Q. When would people sing folksongs?

A. While we were walking places in a group, we would sing. And singing while walking, you know, is kind of fun. You can walk to the beat, and it gives you something to do. And I remember that they were calling on me because I used to know all the words. And I was the littlest one on the group, I was only five years old, but I used to know all the words, so whenever they didn’t remember the words, the older kids would call me, “Eva, what are the words again?” so I would come running and tell them the words, and it made me feel good, it made me feel important because here are these older kids, and I have to tell them the words. Those are some of my earliest memories.

Songs were often sung while working. If you had some menial work to do, and you’d get bored doing that, you would sing. For example, when spinning—women used to do a lot of spinning—they would sing, just to amuse themselves. Or when they were ironing; my mother used to tell me, “this is an ironing song,” because they had to do a lot of ironing, and it’s boring work. And my mother and I would sing when we did the dishes because that, too, was boring, menial work. She would do the dishes, and I would dry them, and we would sing together. And we would harmonize. You sing when you work or you walk, and you don’t use any machines, because machines make noise and then there’s no room for singing…so it’s kind of part of the preindustrial age.

Q. People don’t sing as much as they used to?

A. We sing in certain contexts, like at school in choir, but just while doing stuff, not very much anymore. It’s really sad—it’s kind of a dying tradition.

Q. Do you know if German folksongs are very different from other folksongs?

A. Well, you will see that most German songs are in the major key, which sets them apart from eastern European folk music, which is usually minor.

Informant’s Explanation: “This is a song about the journeymen, the craftspeople that used to walk. Once they finished their apprenticeship—there was a very tough system for craftspeople. They would have three years of apprenticeship, and you start that when you’re young. So you would have three years of apprenticeship, and then pass some kind of exam, and then you became a journeyman. And the journeymen journeyed throughout Europe. So they would come, and walk from town to town, and come into a town, and find a master craftsman in that town and ask them, “Do you need someone?” And they would work for this guy for a while, and then they would journey on. So, this is how they broadened their horizons and learned more about their trade. It’s a great system, really—they got to see the world. And there are songs that these people would sing as they walked from town to town.

“The story is about a young man who goes and carries his belongings on his back and says, ‘Sometimes it’s painful and it’s tiring, but it’s worth it, I’m getting to see the world, I’m in Innsbruck now’—Innsbruck is a town in Austria—’and they have good wine there. And anyone who hasn’t been out in the world, I couldn’t recognize as a journeyman or as a master; you have to go out into the world.’”

Analysis: This song’s rhythmic pattern, in which shorter notes lead into longer notes, gives it a strong beat which certainly makes it well-suited for walking. In terms of tone, the song feels confident and almost heroic. Thus, the melody fits the song’s subject well; we can feel the speaker’s sense of adventurousness and excitement at travelling to new and exotic places.

German lyrics can be found online on numerous websites, including these ones:

http://www.volksliederarchiv.de/text1182.html

http://www.singenundspielen.de/id93.htm