For Folk's Sake! Listen and Learn

Six storied compositions that offer history lessons in song

“We learned more from a three-minute record, baby, than we ever did in school”
- Bruce Springsteen “No Surrender”

Listening to these lyrics again recently got me ruminating about songs as vehicles to teach history. The above lines by The Boss are a little hyperbolic, but songs have formed part of my education and knowledge-building over the past 40 years. From the first time I studied the liner notes in my father’s record collection — spreading these treasure troves of information on the den of our living room floor as a teen — to repeating this exercise in my home office today, I’ve always been drawn to songs that tell a story and teach valuable lessons.

Songwriters often use their art as a teaching tool, not necessarily to preach, but to share truths others are too afraid to say in public or do not have the poetic way with words to convey. A folk song, defined, originates in pop culture and speaks about the collective history of a people. Written in narrative verse — and sometimes told in the first-person — historically this songwriting style formed part of a people’s oral tradition and were passed down from generation to generation.

Since time immemorial, singer-songwriters have used their artistic gifts to comment on socio-economic or political issues. Sometimes they take a stand; other times their goal is to simply make listeners ponder an issue or an event from a new perspective.

Today, I offer six of my favourite narrative songs that share simple truths and/or offer history lessons in song.

“Say Can You See”

This is one of the songs Edmonton-based songwriter Scott Cook performed live last weekend at a folk concert in my hometown. The sentiment and words really hit home and lingered with me long after I left the show.

“Say Can You See,” captures a feeling I believe many of my family and friends south of the border share regarding the current divisiveness in the United States, leading up to presidential election. In the extensive liner notes to Tangle of Souls, the record on which this song appears, Cook (who was born in West Virginia) describes “Say Can You See” as a “love song to the American experiment” — equal parts an ode to the country of his birth and equal parts a protest to the billionaires and greed mongers who cause these divides.

See, I got a neighbour, we don’t always agree
He’s a bit of a redneck, according to a hippie like me
But if you’re in the ditch , he’ll pull you out, I know he will
And that’s more than I can say for all of those dickheads on the hill

“Ohio” - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Right from the opening verse you know what this song is about. Neil Young took only 15 minutes to write this protest song after seeing photos in Life magazine of the National Guard opening fire on unarmed Vietnam War protestors at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Backed by the three-guitar attack and harmony of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, in just three minutes, Young captures this American tragedy. In the early 1970s, the song became a rallying cry for the anti-war movement. Today, it reminds and also teaches future generations about an infamous day in U.S. history, so the lives of these four young innocent students are never forgotten.

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio

“Cortez the Killer” - Neil Young

One of my favourite Neil Young songs, “Cortez the Killer” speaks of the genocide by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés against the Aztec civilization under the rule of Moctezuma II. Neil’s 1950s Les Paul Goldtop guides this subjective history lesson. Apparently, the original idea for the song came to Young during his formative days attending high school in Winnipeg. “Cortez” features another line I frequently quote due to its relevance when speaking about modern design and engineering compared to the wisdom of these ancient civilizations: “They built up with their bare hands what we still can’t do today.” Fun fact: the song was briefly banned in Spain during the fascist rule of Francisco Franco.

“Blue Tattoo” - Joe Crookston

Joe Crookston, an amazing songwriter based in Ithaca, NY, has written many narrative songs like “Freddy the Falcon,” “The Nazarene” and “The Letters of Florence Hemphill.”

“Blue Tattoo” is my favourite. The song retells in verse the poignant story of Holocaust survivor Dina Jacobson. Before writing and recording this song, Crookston spent many hours interviewing Jacobson. Crookston choose to write this composition in the first person — adopting Dina’s voice; he uses the ‘blue tattoo’ burned into her arm as a recurring symbol throughout the song that represents her past trauma and is the image that conveys this incredible story of perseverance.

Watch this short documentary film that includes interviews with Dina, her family, and friends to learn more about this brave and heroic woman’s survival story.

Yes, I had a family
But some people came and they took us from our farm
And yes you're right my dear
Yes, that's a tattoo on my arm
I had a family, but some people came and took us from our farm

I’ll leave this history lesson in song with a pair of classics from legendary Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot.

“Canadian Railroad Trilogy”

The CBC — Canada’s public broadcasting corporation — commissioned Lightfoot to write this ode as part of our centennial celebrations in 1967. One of the singer-songwriter’s most popular songs, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” chronicles the tale of the men who drove spike after spike in the scorching sun to connect Canada via this new route from sea to sea.

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Swingin’ our hammers in the bright blazin’ sun
Livin’ on stew and drinkin’ bad whiskey
Bendin’ our backs ’til the long days are done

Like all interpretations of history, Lightfoot’s portrait paints a one-sided view of what the Canadian railroad symbolized. He focuses on its triumph from an economic and nation-building point of view. This is no surprise knowing a government-funded agency commissioned the song, that is why I encourage you to read this piece that re-examines the singer-songwriter’s interpretation from a humanitarian perspective.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

With this folk ballad, Lightfoot offers another history lesson. When the Edmund Fitzgerald sank to the depths of Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, it took with it the lives of all 29 men aboard. Through vivid imagery, verse after verse, the singer-songwriter captures the tragedy — and the mystery — surrounding one of the most famous shipwrecks to ever occur on the Great Lakes.

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T’was the witch of November come stealin’

What are your favourite story songs? Ones where “you’ve learned more in those three minutes than you did in school?” Please share by clicking the comment button below.