Show #13: Lou Gottlieb of The Limeliters #2 of 2
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MEL BERNAM (ANNOUNCER): Here is Radio New York Folk Music Worldwide. A program devoted to the best in folk music throughout the world, showcasing the top performers and authorities in the field. Now your host for Folk Music Worldwide, Alan Wasser.

ALAN WASSER (HOST): Welcome again to Folk Music Worldwide. Again, this week we have Lou Gottlieb of The Limeliters with us, as we promised the end of last week. Lou Gottlieb is the tenor, or the necktie tenor, the bass player, and the spokesman for The Limeliters.

LOU GOTTLIEB (GUEST): You know, Alan, I noticed that the theme music features the banjo virtuosity of the dean of American folk singers, Pete Seeger. It's curious because he's also active as a composer, you know?

ALAN: Well, yes, that's a piece from The Weavers at Carnegie Hall with Seeger.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Yes, it's a magnificent recording, it should be all over the world. Now, this is a song that he composed the music for and used as his text the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes, the part that starts, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven," and I think he found a fine tune for it. At least, we enjoyed recording it.

ALAN: Well, why don't we hear that right away? "To Everything There Is A Season", as written by Pete Seeger.

LOU GOTTLIEB: And Ecclesiastes.

ALAN: Yes, Pete Seeger is a little bit older than he looks.

LOU GOTTLIEB: They didn't collaborate actively.

ALAN: And as recorded by The Limeliters.

[Song performance: "To Everything There Is A Season", The Limelighters]

Lyrics:

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to get, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn

(end of music)

ALAN: Well, as we said, that was written by the author of The Bible and by Pete Seeger, sort of the patriarchs of the Jewish people and the patriarchs of folk music.

LOU GOTTLIEB: I guess that's the best combination you could have.

ALAN: Where do you get most of your material? Obviously not all from The Bible.

LOU GOTTLIEB: No, we are continuously searching. We visit publishers, we know folk singers who suggest songs, we consult libraries and recordings, and we beg, borrow, and steal.

And, for example, this next one shows to what lengths we'll go. It's a poem written by an Australian poet named Henry Lawson, a bush poet, so-called, and the song that someone had composed for it didn't seem to be grateful to our voices, so I found an old hymn tune called "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing", which seemed to lend itself to a marriage with the poem of Henry Lawson.

It's a song called "Reedy River", and the melody is carried by Glenn Yarbrough with the tenor voice that still excites me after having sung next to it for over four years.

ALAN: Well, all right, The Limeliters and "Reedy River".

[Song performance: "Reedy River", The Limelighters]

Lyrics:

Ten miles down Reedy River one Sunday afternoon,
I rode with Mary Campbell to that broad and bright lagoon;
We left our horses grazing while shadows climbed the peak,
And we strolled beneath the she-oaks on the banks of Rocky Creek.

Then home along the river that night we rode a race,
And the moonlight, it lent a glory to my Mary Campbell's face;
I pleaded for our future all through that midnight ride,
Until our weary horses, they drew closer side by side.

Ten miles from Ryan's Crossing and five below the peak,
I built a little homestead on the banks of Rocky Creek;
I cleared the land and fenced it and I plowed the rich red loam;
And my first crop was golden when I brought my Mary home.

But of the hut I built, there are no traces now,
The many rains have leveled all the furrows of my plow.
Those glad bright days have vanished, and somber branches wave
Their wattle-blossoms golden above my Mary's grave.

The glad bright days have vanished, and somber branches wave
Their wattle-blossoms golden above my Mary's grave.

(end of music)

ALAN: "Reedy River", as done by The Limeliters. Well, we'll be back with Lou Gottlieb on Folk Music Worldwide, talk some more about The Limeliters and about himself, hear some more of The Limeliters music in just one moment.

{short pause for commercial}

Well, back at Folk Music Worldwide again. This is Alan Wasser with Lou Gottlieb of The Limeliters. By the way, I just wanna stick in another comment about letters, especially to Margaret Hennon in Dublin and Bob Belzer in London, you asked The Limeliters. How are you enjoying this, the second show we've done with The Limeliters?

Come to think of it, everybody else, how are you enjoying it? Let me know. As you see, we really do play the people you request.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Well, I hope that your English-speaking listeners will like the next song, Alan, because it's done in French. As I think I said last week, Alex Hassilev, my other partner, was born in France, and this is a song which the text is probably much older than the melody.

It pokes a little fun at what they used to call the excesses of the clergy, because it's a story about a group of rather free-swinging monks who lived in the 15th century, at the monastery of St. Bernard, wherever that is.

ALAN: Well, all right, "The Monks Of St. Bernard", as done by The Limeliters.

[Song performance: "The Monks Of St. Bernard", The Limelighters]

Lyrics:

Many hundreds of years ago, in the South of France, there was a small monastery known as the monastery of Saint-Bernardin. And in this monastery there lived, as you might expect, a band of monks.

Well, isn't that what you would expect? Somehow, having been neglected by the church in its demands for reform within the monasteries, these particular monks had developed a taste for the good life.

They had the best food, the best wine, the best of just about everything in Europe. And stereo! I think you can hear a couple of the more progressive monks agreeing with me now.

Anyway, one day, to this monastery, there came a young man, walking his way through the world, searching for truth, as young men will do. And he came up to the monastery, and he looked up at the big gray walls, and he said, "Well, maybe truth is in there."

Nous sommes les moines de Saint-Bernardin
Nous sommes les moines de Saint-Bernardin
Nous nous couchons tôt et levons pas matin
Nous nous couchons tôt et levons pas matin
Si le prieur nous engueule, on lui chante des chansons
C'est ça qu'est bon et bon, bon, bon

Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font
Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font

Well, I can see you're all dying to know what that chorus means. Well, it means exactly what you think it means.

Pour notre dîner, de bons petits oiseaux
Pour notre dîner, de bons petits oiseaux
Que l'on nomme cailles, bécasses et perdreaux
Que l'on nomme cailles, bécasses et perdreaux
Et la fine andouillette et la tranche, et la tranche, ah ha, de jambon,
C'est ça qu'est bon et bon, bon bon

Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font
Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font

One of the monks was jazz-oriented. Well, when this young man heard and saw the way life went on in this particular monastery, he was understandably delighted, and he said, "Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy." You see, he was kind of naive. "If this is truth," he said, "I'll have some." And he spoke as follows.

Si c'est ça la vie que tous les moines font
Si c'est ça la vie que tous les moines font
Je me ferai moine avec ma Jeanneton
Je me ferai moine avec ma Jeanneton
Et le soir dans ma couchette je lui chatouillerai le menton
C'est ça qu'est bon et bon, bon, bon

Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font (oh, and you know it)
Et voilà la vie, la vie, la vie, la vie chárie, ah ah (he knows, too)
Et voilà la vie que tous les moines font
Voilà

(end of music)

ALAN: That was recorded on location.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Yes, another nightclub, but this one was in Los Angeles called The Ash Grove. We do about half of our albums in person on location, in actual performance, and the other half we do in studios. It seems that radio personalities like yourself, Alan, prefer the latter because it permits them to get what they call a "clean cut", without applause.

ALAN: I would normally prefer that on a disc jockey type show, but on this kind of a show, I enjoy having the real thing. Which of your records were recorded in...

LOU GOTTLIEB: The first two, for RCA Victor, "Tonight: In Person" and "The Slightly Fabulous" were both cut on location.

ALAN: Which nightclubs?

LOU GOTTLIEB: The first one, "Tonight: In Person", from which the last song was cut was in Los Angeles at a place called The Ash Grove, as I said. The second one was in concert in San Francisco Bay Area. It was called "The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters".

Is that ever grandiose? And then, the next one was in a studio, it was called "Sing Out!". The one after that was one we made with a group of children, again in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the title of that album is "Through Children's Eyes", and I think that's really our best album. I'm sorry I didn't bring it with me.

The next one is "Folk Matinee", from which the first two songs on this program were taken. And the one after that was one we called "Our Men In San Francisco", it was a whole series that the RCA Victor company put out, "Our Men In Hollywood", "Our Men In Nashville", and that sort of thing. And then, the last one was released this May, it's called "Makin' A Joyful Noise", and has a group of sacred type folk songs.

ALAN: As we were playing "Monks Of St. Bernard", Lou was telling me that he was reminded by the fact that I was asking for letters, he was reminded of a letter he had received and I think you'd enjoy hearing about it.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Well, one receives some letters from people around the country that are certainly a delight to read, all of them are pleasant to receive, of course. This was a lady in Florida who was 75 years old, according to the letter, and arthritic and unable to write the letter herself. Her niece was acting as an amanuensis, if you will.

And at one point she asked for pictures of Glenn Yarbrough and Alex Hassilev, my partners, and she said, "However, if they are unavailable, do send one of Lou, because he reminds me of a beau I had 60 years ago."

And then she gave the phrase that sums up my personality as I wish the public would recognize it, and she said, "A beau I had 60 years ago," quoting, "Same good heart and wild ways." I think that's awfully cute.

ALAN: Well, I'll tell you, actually, if we get any interesting letters, if we have any comments for you, I'll pass them on.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Do, please, Alan. We try to answer every one.

ALAN: Well, fair enough. Anybody wants to write in to Folk Music Worldwide about Lou Gottlieb or for Lou Gottlieb, I'll pass it on to him.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Is it time for us to go our separate ways, Alan? If so, we have an appropriate song. It's an old Russian gypsy song, and it says the title is "Proshchai", which means "farewell."

So a friend of ours who teaches architecture at the University of Columbia...Columbia University I mean, here in New York, is also a folk singer and a fine lyricist, decided to give us a song that said "goodbye" in every conceivable way using this tune. So it's kind of what they call a macaronic. In other words, "goodbye" is said in every language he knows.

ALAN: Does "proshchai" mean "goodbye" in Russian?

LOU GOTTLIEB: "Proshchai" means "goodbye." We haven't used the song, curiously, in concert for a long time, because we usually end another way.

But I find that the sentiment that it expresses... Gene found a few images that I find really very moving. He said, "The world is small and growing smaller every day."

No, how does that... See, we haven't sung it in a long time, but there's one place where he says, "You'll turn around and see me coming back." In other words, implying that the world has become the tiny globe that it now has.

I wonder whether the song really would have any meaning to people who do not speak English, because the idea is that you hear "aloha" and "auf wiedersehen" and all these things all strung out in the lyric. Let's play it and see if we can derive something from its performance afterward.

ALAN: All right, "Proshchai".

[Song performance: "Proshchai", The Limelighters]

Lyrics:

Proschai ty staraya derevnya proschai
Proschai ty novaya derevnya
Proschai proschay podruga dorogaya
Ba ba ba ba ya bog znayet uvizhul'ya tebya

Proschai proschai podruga dorogaya
Ba ba ba ba ya bog znayet uvizhul'ya tebya

(Proshchai) Dear friends, it's time to leave you
(Proshchai) The time has come to say good bye
(Proshchai, proshchai) No matter what the country or the land
Proshchai is one word they always understand.

Proshchai, proshchai
Adieu, arrivederci, adios,
Shalom, aloha,
Auf wiedersehen, so long

Perhaps we'll meet in San Francisco
(Proschai) in Paris, Hong Kong, or New York
The world is small and growing smaller every single day
You'll meet tomorrow the friends you leave today.
You'll see us all and 'ere the dust has settled in our tracks
You'll turn around and you'll see us coming back.

Proshchai, proshchai.
Adieu, arrivederci, adios,
Shalom, aloha,
Auf wiedersehen, so long

(Proshchai) It's really tough to leave you
(Proshchai) We wish that you would come along
Around this world, we've lots of friends we know you'd like to know
We'll sing together from Maine to Mexico

Proshchai proshchai podruga dorogaya
Ba ba ba ba ya bog znayet uvizhul'ya tebya

(Proshchai) We're getting sentimental
(Proshchai) So here's to when we meet again
For auld lang syne we'll sing a little song or two or three
And drink a toast to our global jamboree

Proshchai proshchai podruga dorogaya
Ba ba ba ba ya bog znayet uvizhul'ya tebya

Proshchai, proshchai
Adieu, arrivederci, adios,
Shalom, aloha,
Auf wiedersehen, so long

Proshchai proshchai podruga dorogaya
Ba ba ba ba ya bog znayet uvizhul'ya tebya
Proshchai

(end of music)

ALAN: The Limeliters' goodbye song, "Proshchai". And we're going to have to say goodbye to Lou Gottlieb of The Limeliters very shortly. Just before we go, Lou, are you planning any more tours?

LOU GOTTLIEB: Well, we're certainly planning them, they haven't been firmed up yet, but we'd love to see our friends in England again. Particularly, Mr. and Mrs. John Coast, who was our impresario at Royal Festival Hall last February. We look forward to seeing you, John.

ALAN: Any chance of you going to Latin America or Africa?

LOU GOTTLIEB: There is some talk, yes, about that. These things take an awfully long time to set up, but we'd love to go to Latin America, and perhaps we'll see our good neighbors there in the not-too-distant future.

ALAN: Well, then, for my listeners and myself, until you are in their countries, proshchai.

LOU GOTTLIEB: Proshchai.

ANNOUNCER (MEL BERNAM): This has been Folk Music Worldwide. Devoted to the best in folk music throughout the world, and 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, WRLU, New York City 19 U.S.A. This has been a Music Worldwide presentation of Radio New York Worldwide.

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