Show #9: GERDE'S FOLK CITY HOOTENANNY #1 of 2
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MEL BERNAM (ANNOUNCER): Here is Radio New York Folk Music Worldwide. A program devoted to the best of folk music, throughout the world. Showcasing the top performers and authorities of the field. Now, your host for Folk Music Worldwide, Alan Wasser.

ALAN WASSER (HOST): Hello again and welcome back to Folk Music Worldwide. We have another unusual show for you today. We're going to play some of the tapes we made recently at a folk music nightclub, in New York's Greenwich Village.

The night club, called Gerde's Folk City, runs a hootenanny every Monday night. This is a chance for young and upcoming folk singers to show New Yorkers how good they are.

The first performer we're going to hear is a young, comic folk singer, named Dick Glass. Just before Dick went on, we asked him what kind of material he most likes to perform.

DICK GLASS (GUEST 1): Material that, for the most part, will please the people that listen to me. I do everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I'll do funny little nonsense songs. I do children's songs. I do funny adult songs. I do some risqué things, if the crowd tends to be that way. And I do some of what you would call background-y or ethnic things.

ALAN: Now, you're going on in a moment. Can you tell us something about which songs you'll be singing and something about the songs?

DICK GLASS: Well, I'm planning to sing a song called "Green, Green Rocky Road". In which I tell a fable that I was born in Lunch Bucket Junction Gulch, Kentucky. And, you know, many people...the owner of the Phase II called me on the phone to ask me if I'd like to work, one day. And he said, "You're the fella that was born in Kentucky, aren't you?"

So, I knew when he had heard me or where he had heard me. And it's not true, I wasn't born in...I don't even know if there's a town by that name. But it's a children's song, of which the background is kind of vague. Some say it was written here in Greenwich Village. Some say it was actually based on a Kentucky children's song.

The first time I heard it was by a fellow named Dino Valenti, who has gone on to bigger and better things. Then I did it and now I hear a couple of other people doing it.

Then the other song is "The Kretchma", which is a dialect thing. A Russian dialect thing. Kind of a funny song and audiences usually go for it.

What happens in this song is that it's a series of little things about a place called The Kretchma. Which, I believe, was meant to be the Russian Tea Room, up on 57th Street. It's quite possible. I first heard it sung by Theo Bikel on a record.

I am not ashamed, I take songs from records. Then I heard a fellow named Tex Koenig sing it and I took it from him. A thing for which he has never forgiven me.

ALAN: Well, I think it's time for Dick Glass to go on now. And we'll be listening now to hear Dick Glass singing "Kretchma" and "Green, Green Rocky Road".

DICK GLASS: None of these verses was written by anyone over the age of four. Or, at least with anyone with a mentality over the age of four. But in all seriousness, these were all written by children.

The way children write verses, when they just sing nonsense. And keep this in mind, as you hear the hippest verses in the world. It is my considered opinion that all children are born stoned. [laughter] I know where everybody's at now.

[Song performance: Dick Glass, "Green, Green Rocky Road"]

Lyrics:

Well, Green Green Rocky Road
Promenade in green
Tell me, who ya'll love?
Why don't you tell me who you love?

This is my favorite verse...

Hooky Dooky soda cracker
Does your Mammy chew tobacca?
If your Mammy don't chew tobacca,
Hooky Dooky on a soda cracker.

Singing Green, Green Rocky Road,
Promenade in green
Come on and tell me,
Won't you tell me who ya'll love?
Tell me who ya'll love.

And this is a very hip verse...

Circle, circle, circle, dot
We're trapped in a polka dot
We're trapped in a polka dot
Don't wanna leave my polka dot.

Singing, Green, Green Rocky Road
Promenade in green
Tell me who ya'll love
Why don't you tell me who you love?

Just to show you how pretty children can be, here's some of the prettier verses of the song...

Lyrics:

See the birdie up in the sky?
He don't worry and he don't cry
He don't worry and he don't cry
Just like me, he's learned to fly.

Singing, Green, Green Rocky Road
Promenade in green
Come on and tell me
Won't you tell me
Tell me who ya'll love.
Tell me who ya'll love.
Tell me who ya'll love.

When I get down to New Orleans
I'm gonna eat me a can of beans
I'm gonna eat me a can of beans
and tell all about New Orleans.

Singing Green, Green Rocky Road
Promenade in green
Come on and tell me
Why don't you tell me?
Why don't you tell me?
Why don't you tell me
Who ya'll love?

(end of music)

Thank you. Thank you, very much. Now, from the sublime to the ridiculous, friends.

[Song performance: Dick Glass, "The Kretchma"]

I have a very important question to ask you.
When you hear Russian music, do you suffer?
Does your heart start to pound in it's chest?
Oye Vay.

If it does, then come to The Kretchma.
It cost plenty, but it's from the best.

And there is dancing, there's singing and the Russian vodka's all right.
In The Kretchma, that's where you'll catch me drinking vodka, every night.

By the spotlight, there is standing, Natasha.
All the men are beginning to pant, oh boy.
When she dances, her shoulders they vibrate.
But when she's singing, you hear that she can't.

And there is dancing, there's singing and the Russian vodka's all right.
In The Kretchma, that's where you'll catch me eating borscht, every night.

By the doorway, there is standing a Cossack.
Yeah, you've met him?
You can see him, from way down the block.
He has more money than God.

Inside...catch the change in mood?
Inside, the candles...shush, this is supposed to be romantic.
The candles, they're gleaming.
But except for the candles, it's dark. Cha cha cha.

And there is...aside from all the trivial that goes on in that little room, with three little letters.
Dancing, there's singing and the Russian vodka's all right.
In The Kretchma, that's where you'll catch me drinking vodka, every night.

Ends like a Tchaikovsky symphony. Guitar guitar guitar.

(end of music)

ALAN: That was humorous folk singer Dick Glass, as we taped him down at the hootenanny at Gerde's Folk City, in Greenwich Village, New York, for broadcast, now, on Radio New York Worldwide's "Folk Music Worldwide". We'll be back with some more of the tapes we made down at Gerde's Folk City, right after this message.

[pause for commercial break]

This is Alan Wasser again, back at Folk Music Worldwide. Before we go back to the tapes we made at Gerde's Folk City, in Greenwich Village...New York's answer to the Left Bank of Paris...I want to put in a plug for more letters. They're the only way I have to tell whether anybody's out there listening.

By they way, most of the letters we've had are from the British Isles. Is there anyone in Africa or South America listening? Send your letters either to me, Alan Wasser or to this show...Folk Music Worldwide, Radio New York Worldwide, New York 19, USA.

Well, let’s get back to hootenanny night at Gerde's Folk City. The next performer you'll hear is Phil Ochs, a young man who's making a career in topical music. A small but important area of folk music, material that is taken right out of the headlines in the daily newspapers.

Well, without further introduction, here's Phil Ochs.

PHIL OCHS (GUEST 2): Well, topical music is an ever-changing thing, because of the times. I'd like to do for you, if I could, two songs that I wrote last week about newer developments. The first one is "The Thresher", it's a song about the Thresher submarine.

[Song performance: Phil Ochs: "The Thresher"]

Lyrics:

In Portsmouth town
On the eastern shore
Where many a fine ship was born.

The Thresher was built
And the Thresher was launched
And the crew of the Thresher was sworn.

She was shaped like a tear
She was built like a shark
She was made to run fast and free.

And the builders shook their hands
And the builders shared their wine
They thought they had mastered the sea.

Yes, she'll always run silent
And she'll always run deep
Though the ocean has no pity
Though the waves will never weep
They'll never weep.

And they marveled at her speed
And they marveled at her depth
And they marveled at her deadly design.

And they sailed to every land
And they sailed to every port
Just to see what faults they could find.

Then they put her on the land
For nine months to stand
And they worked on her from stem to stern.

But they could never see
It was their coffin to be
For the sea was waiting for their return.

Yes, she'll always run silent
And she'll always run deep
Though the ocean has no pity
Though the waves will never weep
They'll never weep.

On a cold Wednesday morn
They put her out to sea
When the waves they were nine feet high.

And they dove beneath the waves
And they dove to their graves
And they never said a last goodbye.

And it's deeper and deeper
And deeper they dove
Just to see what their ship could stand.

But the hull gave a moan
And the hull gave a groan
And they plunged to the deepest darkest sand.

And it's 8,000 fathoms of the water above
And over 100 men below
And sealed in their tomb is the cause of their doom
That only the sea will ever know.

And she'll never run silent
And she'll never run deep
For the ocean had no pity
And the waves they never weep
They never weep.

(end of music)

PHIL OCHS: And here's a song, called "The Ballad of William Moore". William Moore was the man who was carrying the protest letter down south, through Alabama.

People warned him about the south, but he said that the south was not that way. Because he grew up there, as a boy. He was walking through Alabama, he was shot in the back of the head. Killed.

[Song performance: Phil Ochs: "The Ballad of William Moore"]

Lyrics:

Walkin' down an Alabama road
Rememberin' what the Bible told
Walkin' with a letter in his hand
Dreamin' of another southern land
Walkin' down an Alabama road.

And he went by the name of William Moore
Now, what are you doing William Moore?
Why the letter in your hand?
There's only one southern land
And he went by the name of William Moore.

What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the hopes?
What price, the dreams?
And what price, the glory of one man?

Rememberin' what his grandfather done
Fought for the South in '61
A hundred years have passed by since then
Now a Moore is fighting for the south again
Rememberin' what his grandfather done.

Rememberin the time in World War Two
And the South Pacific Island that he knew
Rememberin the young men that he killed
And a-praying that the guns of hate be stilled
Rememberin' the time in World War Two.

What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the hopes?
What price, the dreams?
And what price, the glory of one man?

And they shot him on the Alabama road
Forgot about what the Bible told
They shot him with that letter in his hand
As though he were a dog and not a man
And they shot him on the Alabama road.

Did you say it was a shame when he died?
Did you say he was fool because he tried?
Did you wonder who had fired the gun?
Did you know that it was you that fired the gun?
Did you say it was a shame when he died?

What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the glory of one man?
What price, the hopes?
What price, the dreams?
And what price, the glory of one man?

(end of music)

ALAN: You've been listening to Phil Ochs. A young folk singer, who says he's from Ohio and New York.

PHIL OCHS: New York, yeah.

ALAN: I notice you seem to write all your own material.

PHIL OCHS: Yes, I do.

ALAN: How did you get into that?

PHIL OCHS: Well, that's the idea I'm trying to do. I'm trying to make a career in folk music, as a writer/singer of topical songs. Songs about the times, protest songs, whatever you'd want to call them. I'm building a whole act around this.

So, right now, I don't have quite enough material of my own songs. So, I do other writers, too, like Bob Dylan or Ewan MacColl...some Pete Seeger.

But this is the eventual idea I have in mind, to become a writer/singer. Presenting...eventually, I hope...concerts of these songs about the times.

ALAN: Well now, we just heard a song about William Moore and a song about The Thresher. Now, were these written by you?

PHIL OCHS: Yes, they were. Last week.

ALAN: Just last week?

PHIL OCHS: Both of them.

ALAN: How do you decide when to start writing a song?

PHIL OCHS: Well, it depends. Usually, it comes out of some periodical, newspaper. I get a lot of songs out of Newsweek, like "The Thresher". You hear about it and then I waited for a couple weeks to get some sort of idea, as far as the structure of the song.

Because this is the whole secret of writing it, is to picture a structure. To picture some sort of format for it, before you start. When you have that, then everything else is really fill-in.

So, you get the idea of the waves weeping, etc., as the chorus. As the theme you keep repeating. And then, through the verses, you tell the story of what happened.

And the same with "William Moore". The idea...see, that was a real experiment for me. Because you'll notice it's octaves...that the verses are low and the chorus comes high. And the purpose of that...you tell the story, very low, he was walking down that road.

And then, after that you'll suddenly break in..."What price, the glory of one man?"...very loud. As almost a reminder, as a conscience.

Almost yelling, "Now, what price the glory?" How much is a man's life worth, that he can be shot and that's it? And then, all of a sudden, he's forgotten.

ALAN: Have you had much success with this kind of music?

PHIL OCHS: I've had excellent success with audiences, as far as response goes. And of course, when you go into topical material...if you're honest with yourself...you're going to get into trouble with controversy, with a lot of the songs I do. And this is why I'm having an awful lot of trouble getting a record out.

But as far as acceptance of the material, I've had people in the business love it and audiences almost always like it. It's very rarely I'll get an audience that just will not like this type of music. Because it's new and fresh and it's what's needed.

Because folk music is at a point now, at a saturation point, where there's so many commercial groups out. So many people trying to get into the business, recording and re-recording "Little Maggie" and "Follow the Drinking Gourd" with 20 different arrangements of the same song. There has to be a time...folk music has to be a living, growing thing.

And the whole history of music has been, basically, some sort of protest. Most of the songs in folk music come out of the Negro struggle, out of the past. Out of revolutions, the American Revolution. Out of events. Something happens and people want to comment about it, through a song.

But this is where the major thing of folk music lies and this is what's been avoided, to a large degree, by most of the groups. Largely, because topical music in the past has been bad music.

It's been written by complete amateurs and has been too negative, too harsh. So, people just sort of turned away from it. But I think now for the first time in the country, there's been a real attempt to do something with topical music.

ALAN: That was Phil Ochs. We've been playing some tapes we made at a hootenanny in a Greenwich Village nightclub, called Gerde's Folk City. We taped several more good folk singers that night. If you'd like to hear them, drop me a note and let me know. Mel will give you the address, in a moment.

Or if you're going to write to any other show...especially, Postmark New York...just include a little note in the bottom for Folk Music Worldwide. If we hear from enough of you, we'll play those other tapes soon. This is ALAN Wasser, saying so long for now.

MEL BERNAM (ANNOUNCER): This has been Folk Music Worldwide. Devoted to the best in folk music, throughout the world. Spotlighting top performers and authorities in the field. If you have any suggestions, requests or comments, why not write in to Folk Music Worldwide, Radio New York WRUL, New York City 19, USA?

This has been a Music Worldwide presentation of "Radio New York Worldwide".

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