my name it don't matter

When I was at university, I really became a confirmed folk music enthusiast. I mentioned to schoolmates, that, Bob Dylan was worthy of a Nobel prise; they softly ridiculed me. A while back, I read, he was nominated. To many, his voice is an obstacle. Some enjoy his work when performed by others. I knew one, whom, thought All along the watchtower, by Jimi Hendrix, was the finest rock song. I loved the voices of Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Those of my acquaintance did not. Many hours I played, listened, and sang to the records I enjoyed.

Dylan was not the only poet/lyricist, I found brilliant. There have been very, few, serious poets of the last half century, in the country, whose verses either sing or sting. Springsteen, Simon, Young and some other musicians have written gems, whilst professors and aesthetes type leaden words. Billy Collins has several delightful poems, some Richard Wilbur, and not much else. Robert Frost was a giant, Sandburg nearly and since their deaths it has fell. I know the russians have Vladimir Semjenovič Vysockij, and I have little familiarity of others.

Some of Dylan's songs took ancient folk melodies, and wedded words that had the same feel. Some lyrics struck deeply.

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest...

Dylan was a young man, and some of the lines were weary and haggard. There is the knowing desperation, the weltschmerz of the observant powerless. I also knew, that, my name it don't matter, and the land i came from is called the midwest. I, most probably, will never be recognised; and though my name means something to me, it does not to others, but i can place myself in time.

...I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

My youth was sharply earnest. I knew it then, and was not going to reject nor deny it, but with the passage of time, I have grown tired, if not wiser. I was older then, i am younger than that now. Sounds a paradox, but that which i would battle then with gusto and awareness, now still exists, and my sabre is not forged. The passage of time puts me unready for engagement, and i knew that then.

Certainly, there are other readings of Dylan, and he encourages an uncertainty as opposed to an understanding. The material after the early periods sings less to me.

Sanford declares himself King David

"What I find interesting is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily, fell in very, very significant ways, but then picked up the pieces and built from there."

"I remain committed to rebuilding the trust that has been committed to me over the next 18 months, and it is my hope that I am able to follow the example set by David in the Bible - who after his fall from grace humbly refocused on the work at hand. By doing so, I will ultimately better serve in every area of my life, and I am committed to doing so."

As I mentioned earlier, there is one standard for Republicans and another for Democrats. At first, I thought, there would not, even, be pressure for Mark Sanford to resign. Sanford is a smug Republican, who has been identified, and self identified, with “conservative family values”, fiscal conservatism and states rights. He voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton on disguised counts of adultery. He has now admitted to being an adulterer, himself. After tearfully confessing in front of cameras, he has received some negative response. This must have been surprising, even though he is an anglican, he is still a southern Republican; and among that demographic electorate, it is expected after the formality of the public, ritual drama of confession of one’s own kind, to one’s own kind, to be forgiven and continue as before; thus making full peace with religious hypocrisy, and no one is to bring it up again. And conversely, one is still allowed to attack an opponent in the same manner as before, because that judgment always stands.

Apparently, he hit a snag, and has upped the ante. He is now like King David, God’s anointed and favorite. Before this proclamation, Nate Silver made the chart supra. I still think Sanford will be governor next month, and next year. Republicans do not resign, they get promoted.

And as a further aside: I have a couple of songs in my mind,

Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

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Postscriptum: I added this to the continuing list:
54. Mark Sanford - South Carolina. There used to be a television show called, Car 54. Where are you? Mark Sanford was missing, not on the Appalachian Trail, but in Argentina after tail. Being an arrogant, self-righteous, teabagger, and a hypocritical adulterer was not enough to add him to this list, that sort of thing is just par for Republicans. The self-aggrandisement to compare oneself, in biblical terms, to King David—the archetypal ruler is. - 27 June 2009

Ballade von Cäsars Tod

To-day is the Ides of March (Idus Martias). Most of us, who, have even a rudimentary knowledge of history, know this is the day Cæsar was warned about. We know he disregarded the warning, and met a dramatic and bloody end, in 44 b.C.

The ides came every moon and, therefore, month, sometimes on the 13th, sometimes on the 15th. The ides* was, ideally, the day of the full moon. Now, March was the month of the god Mars, the god of war and a fine occasion for a military parade. Cæsar was a brilliant soldier, a man of many talents, much ability, accomplishment and ambition.

Now, Georg Kaiser [ironic] wrote a novel, Der Silbersee: Ein Wintermärchen, The silver lake: a winter tale. The title alludes to both Shakespeare and Heine†, and to a fairy tale. Often in a fairy tale, a fanciful event and characters can refer to other realities and people. Kaiser wrote a libretto from this to Kurt Weill’s music. A singspiel (operetta) Der Silbersee premiered in three german cities 18 February 1933.

In 1923 Kaiser was jailed for stealing bread. In der Silbersee, a character is shot for stealing a pineapple. He and his shooter reconcile on the frozen lake. Sometime before this, the castlekeeper’s, soprano niece (Lotte Lenya, Frau Weill) sings a song of the death of Cæsar in seven verses, Ballade von Cäsars Tod.

The song relates the famous tale. It begins:

Rom war eine Stadt, und alle Römer
hatten in den Adern heißes Blut.
Als sie Cäsar einst tyrannisch reizte,
kochte es sofort in Siedeglut.

Nicht die Warnung konnte Cäsar hindern:
"Hüte vor des Märzes Iden dich!"
Er verfolgte seine frechen Ziele
und sah schon als Herrn der Römer sich.

Immer schlimmer schlug ihn die Verblendung,
nur sein Wort galt noch im Capitol.
Und den weisen Rat der Senatoren
schmähte er gemein und höhnisch Kohl...
___________________________

Rome was a city, and all the Romans
had in their veins hot blood.
As Cæsar became tyrannical,
it boiled immediately in seething ardor.

Not the warning could hinder Cæsar:
“Beware of the Ides of March you!”
He pursued his cheeky intention
and saw himself already the Lord of the Romans.

Evermore worse hit him the delusion,
only his word [was] valid in the capital.
And the wise counsel of the senators
he reviled [as] common and derisive nonsense...

A bit earlier, 30 January 1933, the nazis took power when Hitler became chancellor. The Reichstag fire was set the night of 27 February 1933. This event was a spectacular event of terror that was orchestrated, by Hitler, to take severe measures, and was the justification for the elimination of civil liberties, in the guise of homeland security.

The production ran sixteen times before it was banned, well before the ides. The careers of the principles were ended in Germany. Substitute Cæsar for the over reaching leader‡ of the time, as certainly people did.

Ute Lemper recorded the song, on an album, Ute Lemper Singt Kurt Weill, in 1987, Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill, in 1988. I knew of Weill and Lenya. I was very taken with the second cut on the disc. Later in 2001, and the years thereafter, I remembered the song. I wonder if other people did. The lyrics cut deeply into a tyrant, but we still have tyrants, und der Senatoren im Capitol hat getan nichts, und diese Leute hatten keines heißes Blut, als Cäsar einst tyrannisch bekommt.
________________
*and sometimes the seven days prior
†Heinrich Heine wrote a poem Deutschland: ein Wintermärchen, Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale
‡ der Führer is german for ‘the leader’

Saint Cecilia

A parish window in the Austrian Tyrol.

Saint Cecilia is one, of the seven female (all martyred), Saints of this Second Intercession in the Roman canon. The other six are: Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Anastasia. All these saints come from the period before the toleration and legalisation of the Church. A time when the Roman state would actively, though not continuously, persecute the Church, sometimes with the utmost of intensity and theatrical cruelty. These saints are remembered and celebrated during mass, for their love of Christ and constancy of faith.

She has been continuously venerated since her martyrdom. She was buried on the Appian Way in the Catacomb of Callistus. There are a few pious legends abut her life, that, the skeptical have little confidence in. Even her chronology is not settled. One thread says her martyrdom occurred in 177, after her husband, and his brother. She was of a senatorial family, and therefore, was granted dignity a plebian or slave would not have. Her death sentence was to be suffocation, which failed, then a botched decapitation by sword, which she survived, after the third blow, for a time.

At some time, at least before the modern age, she became a patron of music. During her marriage ceremony, while disinterested in the festivities and earthly music, she was enraptured with heavenly song. There are representations of Cecilia in churches with an organ or bowed stringed instruments, which certainly did not exist in those forms in ancient times. Reni, Raphaël, Rubens, Poussin, Orazio Gentileschi, and Saraceni painted her, and Donatello and Stefano Maderno sculpted her. Her tomb in the church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome was opened in 1599, and her body was incorrupt. At the base of the statue, Maderno carved, “Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for thee the same saint in the very same posture of body.”

There are in parishes, around the world, Saint Cecilia singing or music societies. The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, of Rome, Italy was founded in 1585 as a grandiose institution is but one such, even though it has had some impressive members. e.g. Palestrina, Corelli and the Scarlattis. Alessandro Scarlatti and Charles Gounod composed masses for Cecelia. Her association with music lasted in England even amongst certain of the heretics, and public concerts took place on her day.

Tangentially, in 1940 a swedish song, The Shrine of Saint Cecilia, was written and was translated into english. The next year, The Andrews Sisters and others recorded it thereafter; in 1953, an R&B group, The Royals made it to the charts. The sound of ‘Cecilia’ is pleasant and musical to the year, while ‘Cecil’, either the british or the american pronounciation, is not.

... The bells in the chapel never ring anymore
The clock in the steeple can't tell time as before
But up on the hillside, stands a place heaven blest
The shrine of Saint Cecilia

Each day at eventide
When I seek haven from my daily care
You'll find me by her side
It seems so peaceful there

I kneel in my solitude and silently pray
That heaven will protect you, dear, and there'll come a day
The storm will be over and that we'll meet again
At the shrine of Saint Cecilia ...

The last remembrance

Papaver rhoeas

As of this writing, there are about a dozen survivors, of those who wore the uniform, in the war to end all wars: the great war, the european war, world war one. These men are well into their eleventh decade of life, some the twelfth. Throughout much of the british commonwealth and France, Armistice Day is remembered and observed on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” It was then in 1918, that, hostilities ceased on the western front between the allies and the germans. The armistice, the agreement, was signed, a few hours earlier, in Compiègne, France. The word spread immediately; the shooting and killing did not stop immediately. Joseph Persico* has calculated 11,000 casualties that day. Officially, all the french, who, died that day, had died the day before.

In some of these countries, the day is informally called “Poppy Day”. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a canadian physician, penned a rondeau early on in the war, May 3, 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now, the corn poppy is scarlet and grows as a weed, in agricultural fields, in Belgium and northeastern France. These were also the fields of war, death and burial of millions. Both, Moina Michael of Athens, Georgia and Mme. Anna Guérin of Paris, found the poppy as appropriate for remembrance of the war dead. Mme. Guérin started to produce and sell artificial poppies, in order to raise funds, for the war victims. This became a charitable exercise in Britain, Canada and the US, also..

There was much brilliant and poignant war poetry, often by soldiers, whom, did not survive the war; McCrae did not. In the 1970s, Eric Bogle wrote two songs about the surviving veterans and the war dead. After visiting a military cemetery in France, Bogle eulogised, one of several, Willie McBrides (No Man's Land, The Green Fields of France). The other song, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, refers to successive ANZAC parades, where fewer and fewer veterans march.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask “What are they marching for?”
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda,”
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

_____________________
*Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax. 2004.

The Flowers of the Forest

On the ninth of September of 1513, was the day when the protestant, so called, reformation won Scotland. The event did not happen in Scotland, neither lollardy or Luther were involved; it was the Battle of Flodden Field, near Branxton, England. It was a critical moment, that, changed the future, in ways that one could not see at the time.

The King of the Scots, James IV Stewart, invaded Northumberland, England, while, the future heresiarch, Henry VIII was at war, against France, on the continent. The english were led by Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey. It was the largest confrontation between the two nations. It was a wet and windy day, that had men battle in mud, so muddy, that many men unshod themselves, so as to have some control of mobility. The scot army was reduced by desertions, but still greater. Scot heavy cannon and pike, were outdone by the english light cannon, bill and longbowmen and better command.

Jamie had position, Jamie had numbers, Jamie had bravery. Jamie had two hours. The engagement began at 4 in the afternoon, it stopped with the fall of darkness. It was not seen until day broke, the extent of the english victory.

Jamie was dead, his son Alexander, the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Lord Chancellor was dead, many men of high social rank were dead, ten thousand scots were dead; seven times greater than the english dead. The scots remembered the event with the song and tune, The Flowers of the Forest.*

I’ve heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking,
Lassies a-lilting before dawn o’ day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning;
“The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede† away”.

Dool and wae for the order sent oor lads tae the Border!
The English for ance, by guile wan the day,
The Flooers o’ the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The pride o’ oor land lie cauld in the clay.

I’ve heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking,
Lassies a-lilting before dawn o’ day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning;
“The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away”.

So many scots were dead, that the nation could not hold against the Tudors and heresy, when they challenged during the next generation. English gold bought the Douglas family and other nobles. The next Jamie was king at 17 months, and a prisoner, as a child, to his Douglas stepfather. Henry invaded and Solway Moss was another scottish defeat, James V Stewart died soon after that battle in 1542. His daughter, Mary Stuart, was Queen of Scots at six days of age. Edinburgh was burned in1544. John Knox was supported by the english. Cardinal Beaton was murdered in 1546. The english, had at this point, made Scotland a protestant client state.

“It came wi’ a lass, it’ll gang wi’ a lass.” — James V

________________________
*Jean Elliot’s mid-eighteenth century version. The tune is a mediæval pentatonic modal tune.
†withered

My bugle calls for peace ...

Sometime in the early fifties, the troubadour, Woody Guthrie wrote, Peace Call. It took over 50 years for anyone to release a recording. Eliza Gilkyson joined Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iris Dement and Patty Griffin, on Gilkyson’s 2004 album, in a sweet plaintive chorus:

Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace.
I can hear the bugle sounding,
Roaming around my land, my city and my town;
Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace.
I can hear the horn and voices ring louder,
While my bugle calls for peace.

The bugle developed from an animal horn blown to signal. Postmen, in some countries, blew their horn to announce mail. Norway, traditionally, had stamps issued with the posthorn pictured. But, its more stereotypical use was for communication on the battlefield. There were calls for: assembly, attention, charge, mess, retreat, reveille, taps, to arms and others. Guthrie added one for peace, one that the army had not.

How can I keep from singing?

One of many versions undergoing continual editing:

1.) My life goes on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentations,
I hear the real, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

2.) While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness ’round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

3.) When tyrants tremble in their fear
And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?

In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging,
When friends by shame are undefiled
How can I keep from singing?

The provenance of this song is slightly murky. I would sleuth it in the following manner. The original lines were written by Anne Warner, circa 1864. The Baptist preacher and writer, and sometimes collaborator with Ira Sankey, Robert Lowry, published it in 1869, and has, sometimes, been credited as its author. Doris Plenn learned it in a North Carolina familial setting, surmising it to be a Quaker* song. In 1956, she added the new topical lyrics. It was then introduced to folk music by Pete Seeger in 1957. It has been recorded by several notable folk singers (Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Noel (of PP&M) Stookey, Eva Cassidy) and by Enya and by Bruce Springsteen. Finding it on radio would be quite difficult. It has been recently performed by Martin Sheen on Prairie Home Companion.

A version appears in the missal and hymnal at my parish church. The book is printed anew each year, with it being there for many years. I do not recall it, ever being sung, there. A pity, it is a beautiful tune and song.

I have highlighted the anti-Joe McCarthy, anti-fascist words of Doris Plenn, whom, added on to a religious song of constancy and joy in faith, which was written during a time of war. That war between the Union and the confederates is the fulcrum of american history. No division in this country has ever been greater, nor bloodier. But, Ms. Warner sang with a serene and certain joy. Truly, the words peel off the voice wonderfully.

The tune is both sweet and forceful. With the addition it is triumphant, the wicked leviathan is at death’s rattle and the surviving persecuted are to be redeemed. The celebration of justice is marked.

The original celebrates the paradise, of the New Jerusalem, that will prevail over the present, wretched, destruction of war. That destruction does not whelm, and certainly not overwhelm the faith. The faith is kept, the witness is made, the reward exists, none-the-less. The powers of the world do not win. Love and Truth, the attributes of Our Lord Jesus Christ are irresistible.
________________________________
*Apparently, it is now in several hymnals. People will confuse Quaker with Shaker. It has become an indeterminate christian hymn, and since it rarely says Jesus, the unitarians can sing it too. Some librarian could chart its publication appearances. I would guess, it may have not seen much ink between 1870 to 1955. The folkies have resurrected a hymn, a song too good not to be sung.

Saint Dominic *1170, †1221

El Greco. Saint Dominic in Prayer. c.1590. Madrid.

Dominique by The Singing Nun, Souer Luc-Gabrielle, Jeanine Deckers

Refrain: Dominique, nique, nique S’en allait tout simplement, Routier pauvre et chantant En tous chemins, en tous lieux Il ne parle que du bon Dieu, Il ne parle que du bon Dieu. Verses: A l’époque où Jean-Sans-Terre D’Angleterre était roi, Dominique, notre père, Combattit les Albigeois. Certain jour un hérétique Par des ronces le conduit, Mais notre Père Dominique Par sa joie le convertit. Ni chameau, ni diligence, Il parcourt l’Europe à pied. Scandinavie ou Provence Dans la sainte pauvreté. Enflamma de toute écoles Filles et garçons pleins d'ardeur, Et pour semer la Parole Inventa les Frères Prêcheurs. Chez Dominique et Ses Frères Le pain s’en vint à manquer Et deux anges se présentèrent, Portant deux grands pains dorés. Dominique vit en rêve Les prêcheurs du monde entier, Sous le manteau de la Vierge En grand nombre rassemblés. Dominique, mon bon père, Garde-nous simples et gais Pour annoncer à nos frères La Vie et La Vérité.

Refrain: Dominique, nique, nique Goes along very simply Traveling in poverty and singing. On every road, in every place, He just talks about the good God, He just talks about the good God. Verses: In the age when John Lackland Was the king of England, Dominique, our father, Fought the Albigensians. A certain day an heretic Led him through the brambles, But our father Dominic, Through his own joy converted him. Without a camel, nor diligence, He travelled Europe on foot, Scandinavia or Provence, In saintly poverty. He enflamed all the schools Boys and girls full of ardor, And by sowing the word He founded the Order of Preachers. In the home of Dominic & his brothers, Bread started becoming scarce, And two angels presented themselves, Bearing two great golden loaves. Dominic saw in a dream The preachers of the whole world Under the mantle of the Virgin In great number assembled. Dominique, my good Father, Keep us simple and merry By announcing to our brothers The Way and the Truth.

Who would think that the following verse would be at the top of the radio and ecord charts in an anglo-saxon protestant land? On one certain day, a heretic led through the brambles our Father Dominic, whom joyfully converted him [the heretic].

Certain jour un hérétique
Par des ronces le conduit,
Mais notre père Dominique
Par sa joie le convertit.

There is a parochial humor, a humor of rivalry within the faith, between parts of the church, between orders. Often it is the Jesuit, who is in the punch line. We had essay questions that often began, “Compare and contrast”. Well, this certain one begins: Compare and contrast the Dominicans and the Jesuits.

Student: They were both founded by Spaniards. St. Dominic de Osma founded the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius de Loyola, the Jesuits. An early mission was to combat heresy — the Dominicans: the Albigensians; the Jesuits: the Protestants.

Teacher: Ok, good. Now, how were they different?

Student: When was the last time, anyone saw an Albigensian?

The song also tells us Dominic travelled through Provence and Scandinavia. He did, and he encountered the cathar heresy in the Occitan (southern France) . He was surprised that the heretical preachers were educated and even eloquent. Dominic wanted to confront and defeat them intellectually. He publicly debated them several times. He wanted to start a movement, and a religious order, to combat the heresy.

The area about Toulouse (Prouille, Fanjeaux, Montpellier, Servian, Béziers, Carcassonne) was a center of his activity, and so was the university town of Bologna. He devoted himself to severe poverty, and mortification to his body. And this was the serious programme that he believed would achieve success. Many miracles were wrked in his life. He was quickly recognised as a saint, officially in 1234.

Final confirmation of the establishment of the Ordo Praedicatorum, Order of Preachers, O.P. was granted 22 December 1216. Pope Honorius III supported the preachers greatly. In 1217 Dominic preached, in Rome, during Lent. He was named to the office and title of Master of the Sacred Palace, theologian to the pope, which has remained with the Order of Preachers. The order was established at the University of Paris, the foremost centre of theology, and at many other sites. The order maintains a preferred rôle in biblical studies in the Holy Land.

The two great mendicant orders were beginning contemporaneously. Dominic and Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Ordo Fratrum Minorum (OFM), met each other in Rome. The Franciscans lived the spirit of the Beatitudes, and the Dominicans the zeal of the Apostles.

It is not by the display of power and pomp, cavalcades of retainers, and richly-houseled palfreys, or by gorgeous apparel, that the heretics win proselytes; it is by zealous preaching, by apostolic humility, by austerity, by seeming, it is true, but by seeming holiness. Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth. — Dominic 1208.

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*albigensian=cathar, Albi is a town in Provence=Languedoc=Midi=Occitan near Toulouse, where one of the debates took place. The cathars were gnostic dualists, who devalued the body since it was the evil creation of an evil god. In their schema: There were two gods. The crucifixion did not happen, reincarnation was possible, the Eucharist was denounced and so on. The Old Testament tells of the evil god. Only the cathars were the true christians, catholics were corrupt. There were two classes of believers. Secret knowledge was denied to the inferior believers. Pregnancy was evil, marriage was too, all sexual activities were permitted by the inferior believers. The superior believers, the perfect, would pretend to extreme asceticism. Frequent preaching with novel, twisting exegeses were employed.
They have been promoted and eulogised by those who hate catholicism: masons, atheists, and extreme protestants. Whom have made them martyrs for enlightenment, or proponents of free thought and “biblical christianity”. They are far, more similar to a new age cult.

Saint Christina & Saint Christina the Astonishing

As a young girl she became a catholic. Christina could not have been her given name. Her father, an officer of government, threw her in Lake Bolsena, she survived. She was tortured and executed during the Diocletian pogroms in 297.

There were many roman, virgin martyrs. It is a form of female certitude, assertiveness and independence, this ‘feminist’ age in America can not fathom. Juvenile girls, all women, had no legal standing in pagan Rome. They had biological and economic utility in family and marriage and outside of that as slaves and concubines, but totally dependent on fathers and husbands or masters and owners. Choosing virginity was opting out. This was not appreciated, and the empire crushed rebels.

In the 18th century her catacomb remains were found and disinterred. In 1925 her relics came to Cleveland, Ohio. She lay in a crypt chapel at the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, until one day, in February 1992, she was stolen. A few days later she was found on the parking lot of Saint Sava’s (Broadview Heights, there are 2 Serbian churches in Cleveland, both Saint Sava) . To-day she is back in the cathedral. There is some more story there, but I have not been privy to it.
above
St Christine at St. Christine’s.1889. Moriz Schlachter. Ravensburg, Germany.
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Christina The Astonishing Lyrics by Nick Cave

Christina the astonishing
Lived a long time ago
She was stricken with a seizure
At the age of twenty-two
They took her body in a coffin
To a tiny church in Liege
Where she sprang up from the coffin
Just after the Agnus Dei
She soared up to the rafters
Perched on a beam up there
Cried "The stink of human sin
Is more that I can bear"
Christina the astonishing
Was the most astonishing of all
She prayed balanced on a hurdle
Or curled up into a ball
She fled to remote places
Climbed towers and trees and walls
To escape the stench of human corruption
Into an oven she did crawl
O Christina the astonishing
Behaved in a terrifying way
She would run wildly through the streets
Jump in the Meusse and swim away
O Christina the astonishing
Behaved in terrifying manner
Died at the age of seventy-four
In the convent of St Anna

Cave sings in a haunted chant. He is a most melancholy artist. He occasionally touches on specifically Catholic subjects, he has one song on Brompton Oratory, for example. This song, virtually, reads every word in a short encyclopedia article, that, would quickly limn every detail that has survived over many centuries

Christina Mirabilis *1150, †1224 was a Belgian woman who experienced, in medical terms, false death and a variety of epileptic seizures. She exhibited behaviors that startled the populace then, and would now. Some of the actions would be seen as paranormal or supernatural manifestations and occurrences.

Her life can pose questions on the nature of madness and holiness, certainly she was touched by God in some ways, that, most of us are not. Was her life akin to a prophet’s? Does what appears to be a seizure mask something greater?

Republican Slogans

Being a Republican means, NEVER saying you’re sorry.

I have maintained, that the foundation of the Republican party is hypocrisy. There is some fluff in the press, that they are looking for a new slogan to market themselves as a product. It seems, that, their brand has faltered. The Depression of the 1920s should have ended their run. The party of established money proved they could wreck the economy. The Watergate, and other, scandals of the law and order party, in the 1970s, proved they could not be trusted to run government within the rule of law The Iran-contra affair re-confirmed that. Now, Bush junior and crew have proven they can be trusted for nothing. When will America learn?

There have always been two major parties in the United States: a democratic and an anti-democratic party. This one began in 1854, and with the success they enjoyed with the Civil War, and have been the party of the moneyed establishment. They have won through fraud, fiction and fear mongering ever since. Family values they trumpet.

#1 -- Vito Fossella, a Republican congressman from Staten Island and a wedge of Brooklyn, New York, has been recently stopped for drunken driving. Vito had his mistress get him out of jail. She had been a military liaison to Congress and they share parentage of a child. Nothing much there, but he also has a wife and children in New York. Double good family values, how is that for a campaign slogan?, or something to the gum company’s tune.

There is a folk song, The Mormon Engineer, that I am reminded of.

Old Zack, he came to Utah, way back in seventy three,
A right good Mormon gentleman and a bishop too was he.
He drove a locomotive for the D. and R. G.,
With women he was popular, as popular as could be.

#2 -- Mike Erickson, had been the Republican party’s candidate for Congress in Oregon in ought-six. He was supported by Oregon Right to Life that time. He is now running in this year’s primary. It has come to print that he paid for a girlfriend to terminate their pregnancy in 2000. Oregon Right to Life was aware of this when they endorsed him.

I am against abortion. I am a democrat. I am a Democrat. I do not approve of hypocrisy. The Republicans only use right to life as a campaigning device, though some are sincere. Some people, who say they are pro-life, are Republicans first and foremost. Jesus taught us, that, we can not be loyal to two masters.

I am sure that there are many instances of this that are not widely known. Perhaps, one day soon, some historian or biographer will detail a story from the hypocrite-in-chief.* Hypocrisy, you say that like it’s a bad thing.
_______________________
noto bene: Apologies to Erich Segal, who had Oliver Barrett IV, say in 1970, Love Story, “Love means never having to say you're sorry.” But, then again, amongst Republicans that is très gauche, n’est pas?
*1971 Texas
postscriptum: 21May. At this point in time, the Oregon races have been called. Erickson took his primary 5:4. Fossella has posted a letter, dated 20 May, where he states, he is not seeking election in November. He has reversed his previous position.

May Day

Avanti popolo, alla riscossa
Bandiera rossa, bandiera rossa
Avanti popolo, alla riscossa
Bandiera rossa trionferà

Bandiera rossa trionferà
Bandiera rossa trionferà
Bandiera rossa trionferà
Evviva la pace e libertà *

Many working agreements have similar language to “eight hours shall be the normal working day.” This has not always been true. Many martyrs were made for advocating that idea. The welshman Robert Owen proposed the slogan, Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest, in 1817. It had became a chief demand of labor. Ship carpenters in Boston had it in 1842, the building trades in New York City in 1872, federal employees, theoretically, in 1868, an extremely weak law in 1867 was passed in Illinois in1867 to that purpose. There were Eight Hour Leagues across the country.

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, soon to be the A. F. of L., in 1884 pushed for an eight hour work day. A parade and strike would be organised for the 1st of May 1886 centered in Chicago, Illinois, but nationwide. The strike would last till that demand was met. The moneyed interests were alarmed. The newspapers were in league with the money. The police were also on board to crush such a thing. The establishment had their solidarity with all the power of the state and their own full coffers.

That first May Day parade in Chicago had 80,000. Others marched in Cincinnati, New York and elsewhere. At a demonstration and lockout at the McCormick Reaper†, on the 3rd, the police fired into the crowd and people were killed. The next day, the 4th of May, at Haymarket Square a bomb was thrown. A policeman was killed by the bomb. Other police were shot by police as they fired into the crowd. The crackdown by the state went full force in Chicago and nationwide. It ended with show trials and hangings. Worldwide protest was ignored. Men were hanged for rioting, who were, not present at the riot.

At an international labor conference, the Second Internationale in Paris, May Day was adopted as a day of commemoration. Beginning in 1890, the world recognised Labor Day as May 1. In the United States and Canada a day at the end of summer is marked, which began in New York City as an annual celebration in 1882. It is now not much more than a three day weekend.

We have the eight hour day, minimum wage and some other guarantees, because of Franklin Roosevelt and the heavily Democratic Congress of 1938 (Fair Labor Standards Act). It was one of the many programmes that came from the New Deal, that made life livable in this country; one of the things the moneyed interests and their lackeys in the Republican party have continually tried to strip from us. Unfortunately, we have members in union leadership, and in the ranks, that have given in to employers’ demands and requests that have weakened and betrayed that commitment. Too many men have died, had their heads cracked and bodies jailed so that men, women and children can have an eight hour day instead of a ten, eleven, twelve or sixteen. The May Day parade is a pure representation of the First Amendment.
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* The original, though often and widely adapted, lyrics were written by Carlo Tuzzi, in 1908, as a workers’ anthem. It has been used as a marching song, particularly by anti-fascists, whom, sometimes, interposed a ribald insult to Mussolini.
†A strike for an eight hour day was held there 1 May 1867. McCormick also owned the Chicago Times paper. He was a very tight fisted robber baron, who cut wages and always wanted more gain. He had come to Chicago early, and became a partner with the city’s first mayor, Wm. Ogden, and his money. McCormick had the largest factory in town and it was the first to be rebuilt after the fire of ’71. The Chicago police, Pinkerton agency thugs, national guard and federal troops were engaged to control, kill and battle workers several times in the city in the 19th century. McCormick reaper became International Harvester in 1902.

noto bene: May Day had previously been a rustic celebration.

The last word with Shakespeare

Tempest Epilogue―Prospero’s Prayer
Spoken by Prospero (the actor – Will Shakespeare’s last appearance, last word)

Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint: now, ’tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

Loreena McKennit edits this and sings it with a haunting and lovely tune.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,
I must be here confined by you,

[Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;] skipped

But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,

[Which was to please] twice Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

Purgatory, a concept that bothered and continues to bother protestants, the soul’s or humanity’s eschatological dilemma must be alluded in this. After this, Shakespeare retired to exile in Stratford, away from London. A fair question is why was this his last statement? He appears on stage alone, the play is ended. There is a recurring metaphor for Shakespeare that the actor on the stage is all men in their own lives. We all must recognize that the word ‘indulgence’ was a politically/religiously loaded term, c.1612, after the Age of Faith and before the Age of Enlightenment. Here the actor is concerned for the fate of his soul and he begs for intercessory prayer, if not that, what else could it refer to? He is asking for mercy of Mercy, God in the person of Jesus. The divine arbiter of justice, who grants pardon and who had been pierced and is still being pierced.

George Abbot was Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, he had strong ‘puritan’ leanings and disapproved of both theatre and catholicks. James I was no friend to catholics, and this was after the Guy Fawkes hysteria. Shakespeare was not free to be a publick figure, yet he needed to speak, when it was perilous to do so. He spoke on multiple layers and not everyone receives every reference. Then as to-day, non-catholics are tone deaf to catholic words and misunderstand catholic concepts.

The english were still using the Julian calendar. William Shakespeare died on Saint George’s Day (and may have been born on that patronal feast of the english), 23 April 1616 (O.S.) (3 May N.S.). His public life was forced to end with this play, and though, not truly an elderly man, he had less than a handful of years left. His mind was considering the last years and the last four things. I believe, he says this in his last speech. He was a catholic. People knew he died as a ‘papist’. The sentiments of this last word fit catholic belief, theology and devotion.

Recently (1993), the Sunday immediately after the Resurrection has been named for the Divine Mercy*. The icon of this has two streams of light, red and white, emanating from the heart of Jesus. Our Lord grants mercy for our sins, and pardons our faults.

An older devotion is that to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It became fixed in the 17th century, but had existed for centuries before. The Sacred Heart is pierced by a crown of thorns and His heart bleeds for us.

Jesus at the end of His life is in torment, yet He prays for us, His fellow men. He asks for their forgiveness. He hears the confession of the penitent thief and promises him paradise. The last of the Seven Words of Jesus on the cross is said to his Father, Our Father:

et clamans voce magna Jesus ait Pater in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum et hæc dicens exspiravit

And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.― Luke xxiii. 46.

_______________________
*In the vision granted to Saint Faustina *1905,†1938, Jesus says to her,

“I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.”

Of course, this is centuries after Shakespeare, but it is of the same spirit and spirituality. Catholicism has the same flavor in the first century as the twenty first.

Titanic Failure

I was going to write on Father Damien the Leper of Molokai; but then I was watching television, and Craig Ferguson mentioned that 98% of historians viewed bush junior as a failure. I used to watch Johnny Carson, before, to get the news. Comedians will brave to tell a national audience what news programmes are scared to, or self-censored not to announce. Well, the network political shows and commentators, other than Keith Olbermann, have consistently given bush junior an extremely, unjustified credence and undeserved respect; finally a blunt and truthful analysis and judgment is out in public, albeit not broadly diffused.

Yesterday, in 1912, the greatest ship afloat and in existence (to that moment) was on its maiden voyage; but during that night, the ship had a collision with an iceberg and sank that new morning. Of some 2200+, 1500+ died and just over 700 survived. One infant then, is now alive, the last survivor.

When I was a small boy, riding a rocking horse, there came by the house a woman, whom was also aboard. She had been a small child, and had saved her father. She would not go onto the lifeboat, she cried and carried on, until they put, also, her father into the boat. With me, not knowing that moment, she did a wonderful act. History, tells that the lifeboats were not filled, and that the class of passenger ticket factored into survival, more so, than gender and age.

The Titanic was seen, by the world, as a great tragedy; but also as an act of God. A spirit of arrogance was met by disaster. The press, as they often do, oversell, overstate, shill and hype commercial interests. Historical and engineering studies point to the old adage: you get what you pay for. The fatal and catastrophic failure was caused by water rushing in, due to the popping of weak rivets, after the collision. As so often in construction, cheaper materials were used. Steel is stronger than iron. The rivets were of mixed content, from different manufacturers. Uniform and universal use of steel rivets, may have, prevented most of the disaster. In addition to cheaper materials, there were not enough and skilled workers hired, and the job was rushed — standard business practices were maintained.

Popular songs, throughout history, have commemorated sad events: battles, train wrecks, murders, ship wrecks and such. The sinking of the Titanic certainly did. One such version was Ernest Stoneman’s in 1924, which I remember reading, was the first, million selling hillbilly record. Below, there are two verses and the chorus:

Oh, they built the ship Titanic to sail the ocean blue,
And they thought they had a ship that the water would never leak through,
But the Lord's almighty hand said this ship would never land
Oh it was sad when the great ship went down!

Chorus
Oh, it was sad, Oh, it was sad; Oh,it was sad, Oh, it what sad;
It was sad when the great ship went down, to the bottom of the ...
Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives,
It was sad when that great ship went down.

Oh, they sailed away from England, and were almost to the shore,
When the rich refused to associate with the poor,*
So they put them down below, where they were the first to go.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

A folklore quickly developed: The builders, Harland and Wolff, had their shipyard in Ireland and were not in the habit of hiring catholics. The White Star Line would not allow negroes on board. A few, famous millionaires were on board and perished, Mollie Brown was unsinkable. The eight man band played while sinking to the end, and there is great interest in their final tune.

A decade ago, an extremely, successful movie was made and shown throughout the world; and everyone knew the ending before seeing the picture — the ship sank! Clearly, people still have a fascination.

Tom Paxton wrote a song about the Chrysler handout with the final verse lines:

If you're a corporate Titanic,
And your failure is gigantic,
Down in Congress there's a safety net for you.

And that brings us to the gigantic failure — george bush junior.
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*Third class was steerage, where the poor immigrants would be stored. That night gates were kept closed, while orders were being awaited for their opening.

Campaign Song for the Democracy

Hard Times Come Again No More

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh Hard times come again no more.

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.

― music and lyrics of Stephen C. Foster
________________________________

There is more than likely the prospect of regaining the republic. We are entering the eighth year of the usurpation. John McCain would gather the most votes for his party, if he becomes their candidate. The fascist wing dislikes him intensely, but it is impossible that they would prefer a candidate from the Democracy. It is doubtful, that they would cheat on his behalf, to the degree and zeal, they did for the candidacy which smeared him eight years ago. Surely, if he had worn the presidential sash, America would not be in the ugly state it is in, nor would the world look upon the United States as a brutish Gargantua. McCain is a militarist and a true believer in capitalism, and yet this is too moderate of a position. The american people must some day call "enough and no more". After the debacle of the Harding/Coolidge/Hoover period, a reasonable man would think that the Republicans would never haunt us again, but moneyed arrogance and the refusal to admit truth is invincible, so it seems. We are being visited by the worst, ever, collection of enemies to the Constitution, that America has known.

I have often chose the losing side. It is true, I would prefer John Edwards. I am satisfied with Barack Obama. I see that a cascade of fortune is with him. We do not fully know him, neither did we know enough of John Kennedy. There is a similarity of strong and vibrant youth. The man has promise and ability, and he can present a handsome mien to the world, especially in comparison to that of the simian buffoon which occupies the office currently. The support of Teddy and Caroline Kennedy certainly suggest this.

I propose this song, from the mid 1850s, by the historically, most, prominent, american, song composer. It was a favorite of Stephen Foster, and it is a very lyrical and poignant song sung by folk singers, though it was a pop tune in the 19th century. Whenever, we are out of office and are trying to come back, this should be our song. Look at the damage the twelve years of Reagan/Bush did and now the reign of bush the lesser.

Franklin Roosevelt appropriated Happy Days Are Here Again. Perhaps, soon we can hit the refrain again. I remember, the shock when Reagan had this used during his convention. As now, all of his party, grandiosely revere him in public, it must be remembered, that Ronald Reagan again and again always quoted dead Democrats. Well, it is with great difficulty that one could find a good Republican to quote. There was Lincoln and some Progressives that left the party, a generation plus beyond, such as La Follete, even Eisenhower only said something great on his last day in office, when it could effect nothing but only act as a warning for those that would not listen. Try to find those Republicans who inveigh against the military-industrial complex, they are all at the unicorn ranch.

Bruce Springsteen was rightly piqued that Born in the USA was ripped off, and so was Bobby McFerrin about Don't Worry Be Happy when it was used against his wishes, by the Republicans. Taking and benefiting, from what is not rightly theirs, is their nature. So: Let us pause ...
________________________________
Postscriptum: 14 August 2008. Jackson Browne, in 1986, sang against Reagan and his group’s transgressions in Central America, in Lives in the Balance. He has campaigned against nuclear arms and other political and humanitarian issues. He has given no indication of being in tune with Republicans. The Republicans are using his song, Running on Empty, against Obama. The party of owner’s rights, is transgressing the copyright of an artist. Theft, hypocrisy and entitlement; that makes for an, apt, party slogan. Earlier in this campaign, they stole from Mellencamp (another whom certainly doesn’t share their views), ABBA and Frankie Valli. Why can’t Republicans campaign without theft and distortion? Snakes have the nature of snakes. But, it must seem to them, that it is so unfair that honest, creative talent is always in the camp of Democrats.
Postscriptum 2: During their convention, they did it again, this time they stole Barracuda from Heart. This was a nickname for Palin, when she was Sarah Heath in high school. Typical Republican theft, arrogance, meanness and ultimate cluelessness; do they not realise, that, that nickname is not complimentary.
Postscriptum 3: 9 October. The Foo Fighters discovered that their song, My Hero, was being appropriated by McCain’s campaign. “To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song.” The Republicans maintain they have the right to use it, so there.
Postscriptum 4: 15 October. To-day, it is Sarah Palin’s campaign appropriating, without consent the work of the Democrat, Bon Jovi’s, Who Says You Can't Go Home. Same Republican behavior: everyone’s labor is subject to their ownership and use, without consent. Is this the sort of ownership society, Repubicans have in mind? How many more additions before 4 November?
Postscriptum 5: 21 July 2009. Browne wins court case, is reported to receive compensation and the Republican party “pledges” to seek musicians’ permission, in the future. Justice was won in court, we will wait to see it lived.

The lies of gwbush junior

Float in Rosenmontag parade 2004.

Bush and his gang of seven (Colin Powell, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ari Fleisher, Scott McClellan), "waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq". False Pretenses, a report by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism, was made available 22 January. It tallied 935 lies made by "the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003". Its verdict was: "The cumulative effect of these false statements amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war.". Now, days have passed, how much has been seen or heard in the papers and on broadcasts about this?

When one robs a gas station, it may take a minute. Local television will repeat the video and the story. If it is particularly interesting it will make it nationally. Locally the apprehension and trial and sentencing may be followed. Here a vast network of co-ordination took place and was made on the world stage. So far the aftermath, a false and unjust war and its fallout continues, but virtually nothing on this clear and invincible verdict.

The magnitude of the lies was astronomical. One early, bald and boldface lie was Cheney's, on August 26, 2002, to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."

The count began on Sept. 11, 2001. The lies never stopped. It was not prudent or comfortable for any resident of this country to not mouth the lies. The New York Times and the Washington Post, papers that the Republicans complain continuously about, supported and lied for bushjr.

Bush lied on the State of the Union address in 2003. Nothing was going to prevent the attack and invasion. Monday, he will give his last State of the Union address. Additional lies will follow.

Other complicit in his lies are his speechwriters, whoever they may be at any moment, for he cannot speak an unscripted sentence coherently. David J. Frum, Michael Gerson (now employed by the Washington Post), Matthew Scully, William McGurn and others who will be welcomed on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal are minions of the father of all lies.

Pinocchio was a pleasant character for children. The lies of this creation are of a different magnitude.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
― from Masters Of War by Bob Dylan

______________________
*noto bene: People have complained of the lies of Bill Clinton, the last elected president. Clinton lied in order to hide his shame. Those who do this complaining, say nothing of bushjr. I put this question to you ― how is an ounce of fluff heavier than a ton of dross and dreck?
** postscriptum: Monday, Congressman Dennis Kucinich will try to begin the proper and necessary process to call for impeachment of Bush, he tried twice to introduce impeachment proceedings for Cheney.

The 8th of January

The United States tried to take advantage, of a Britain engaged with Napoleon, to expand militarily. With mostly failed endeavors: Canada repulsed an invasion and the District of Columbia was attacked and the Executive Mansion burned, the man who commanded that campaign, Admiral George Cockburn, would later be Napoleon's jailer at St. Helena.

After the peace treaty was signed, but a month before the news reached the field, Andrew Jackson, a man without military training, commanded a great victory over a superior force at New Orleans on the 8th of January 1815. A fiddle tune, which came to be called, Jackson's Victory, and later, The 8th of January, was played.

James Corbett Morris was born in Mountain View, Arkansas. Nicknamed Driftwood as an infant [remember we are talking Arkansas here] grew up within a lively musical culture. His father was a local folk singer, and his grandfather gifted him a carved fiddle by his own hand. Jimmy graduated Arkansas Teachers College and taught history to the disinterested. He came to write the song, Battle of New Orleans, to teach his high schoolers history in 1941. The tune he used was The 8th of January. This was before Summerhill and inquiry, discovery and other John Dewey folderal. He blended his talents with historical accuracy and poetic creativity. After a time he came to notice in Nashville and his first album, Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs, came out in 1958. Johnny Horton heard Driftwood's song, on the radio in 1959, and went on to cover it and reached number one with his version. Jimmy Driftwood went on to a successful musical career.

Battle of New Orleans

Well, in eighteen and fourteen we took a little trip
along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,
And we caught the bloody* British near the town of New Orleans.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, I see'd Mars Jackson walkin down the street
talkin' to a pirate by the name of Jean Lafitte
He gave Jean a drink that he brung from Tennessee
and the pirate said he'd help us drive the British in the sea.

The French said Andrew, you'd better run,
for Packingham's a comin' with a bullet in his gun.
Old Hickory said he didn't give a damn,
he's gonna whip the britches off of Colonel Packingham.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, we looked down the river and we see'd the British come,
and there must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
while we stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
if we didn't fire a musket til we looked 'em in the eyes.
We held our fire til we see'd their faces well,
then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave hell.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, we fired our cannon til the barrel melted down,
so we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind,
and when they tetched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

We'll march back home but we'll never be content
till we make Old Hickory the people's President.
And every time we think about the bacon and the beans,
we'll think about the fun we had way down in New Orleans.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin,
But there wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast the hounds couldn't catch 'em
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
But there wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
_________
* words in bold sometimes censored