What's the oldest non-children's song you know?

[grasswire]

You must know words and tune to at least one verse and chorus to be able to submit the song. If you don't know the title, perhaps we can figure it out.

It could be something Grandma sang to you. It could be something you learned from the radio. Some of you may be able to remember vaudeville! And if you want to add your own age, roughly, that will be interesting, too!

I'm really curious about this. The more obscure, the better!

[silvershadow]

1. (Joan Baez version, I was 5 years old)

Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train,
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again.
In the winter of '65, We were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it's a time I remember, oh so well,

(Chorus)

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'. They went
La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La,

[MilesColtrane]

2. Stephen Fucking Foster...

tossup between "Beautiful Dreamer" and "I Dream Of Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair".


Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd away!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea
Mermaids are chanting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

[grasswire]

10. my father used to sing that in the car

He loved Stephen Foster. And he loved to sing in the car.

[yellowdogintexas]

30. Stephen Foster was America's first pop composer, he was the Irving Berlin of his time

and he composed 2 tunes that are now official "State Songs":

"My Old Kentucky Home"
"Swanee River" (state song of Florida)

[grasswire]

38. the interesting thing...

...is that Foster never visited the South. All those gorgeous sentimental "home" songs were written with no personal experience.

[electron_blue]

42. Actually, he did visit the south - went to New Orleans once. Not sure how long

he spent there. So maybe he had a *little* experience with things southern. ;)

[BrotherBuzz]

3. Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford

His booming bass voice made an impression on me as a young tyke back in 1955. Every other song I remember back in those days were just TV jingles and what not: "Out of the clear blue of the western sky comes Sky King"

Sixteen Tons

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

[grasswire]

26. I hope that made him a lot of money

Cuz it sure was popular, and perfectly sung. That old pea picker.

[Kutjara]

4. The two I remember best.

My Irish grandmother used to sing me these as lullabies when I was three or four. They've stuck with me ever since. Soothing little ditties, I think you'll agree:

---------

Down By the Glenside

'Twas down by the glenside, I met an old woman
She was picking young nettles and she scarce saw me coming
I listened a while to the song she was humming
Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men

'Tis fifty long years since I saw the moon beaming
On strong manly forms and their eyes with hope gleaming
I see them again, sure, in all my daydreaming
Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men.

Some died on the glenside, some died near a stranger
And wise men have told us that their cause was a failure
They fought for old Ireland and they never feared danger
Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men

I passed on my way, God be praised that I met her
Be life long or short, sure I'll never forget her
We may have brave men, but we'll never have better
Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men


---------

The Men Behind the Wire

Chorus:
Armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our son
But every man must stand behind the men behind the wire

Through the narrow streets of Belfast, in the dark of early morn
British soldiers came marauding, wrecking people's homes with scorn
Heedless of the crying children, dragging fathers from their beds
Beating sons while helpless mothers watch the blood pour from their head

Chorus:
Armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our son
But every man must stand behind the men behind the wire

Not for them a judge or jury nor indeed a crime at all
Being Irish means they're guilty, so we're guilty one and all
Round the world the truth will echo, "Cromwell's me are here again!"
England's name again is sullied in the eyes of honest men

Chorus:
Armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our son
But every man must stand behind the men behind the wire

Proudly march behind our banner, proudly stand behind our men
We will have them free to help us build a nation once again
On the people, step to together, proudly, firmly on your way
Never fear or never falter, till the boys come home to stay

Chorus:
Armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our son
But every man must stand behind the men behind the wire
Armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our son
But every man must stand behind the men behind the wire

------------

And I wonder why I grew up with a less than rosy view of the world

[grasswire]

11. the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world...

..and apparently the voice that sings the songs to children has a lot of power, too.

[Kutjara]

16. I suppose I've got ornery revolutionary in my blood.

My grandfather was a fighter in the Tipperary brigades during the Irish War of Independence. Several cousins were apparently involved with the more recent iteration of the IRA. So granny's singing was no doubt falling on fertile ground. My parents, however, were predictably aghast, but the damage was already done. ;)

[Duer 157099]

5. "Trailor for sale or rent. Rooms to let for fifty-cents"...

(something something something something)
I'm king of the road!

(sorry that's all I know, but I know you all will recognize it)

[grasswire]

12. Sure. Roger Miller.

He was an underappreciated pop singer who wrote very original and clever lyrics.

My favorite is his Fourth of July song

Bells ringalingin'
Firecrackers poppin'
Lightin' up the sky
Hail to the flag
It's the Fourth of July
It's a day to stand, hat in hand
Watchin' parades
Singin' along with each song the band plays...

[TrogL]

6. l'homme armée

[Duer 157099]

7. "Yellow bird, up high in banana tree..."

"Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me.
Did your lady friend, leave the nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad!
You can fly away
In the sky (away?)
You're more lucky than me."

I remember that from back in the 60s. Dunno it's origin or anything else about it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. It's Gregorian Chant...

Tantum ergo sacramentum
veneremit cernui
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.

Genitori, genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.

I believe it was written by Thomas Aquinas...in the 1200s
There are probably a lot of people here who sang it in Catholic Mass during Holy Week.

[yewberry]

9. Sumer is icumen in

Svmer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu, cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu!

Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!


(Learned from an English teacher as a child)

[jgraz]

13. L'Homme Armé (circa 1400)

Drummed into my head during my first semester of Music History.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'homme_arme

[cemaphonic]

45. did you ever notice that the tune somewhat resembles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band?

[jgraz]

47. Hah! That was actually on my Music History final

Along with a drop-the-needle essay on Missa Super L'Homme Armé (whose title I now can only hear in Jar Jar Binks' voice)

[jgraz]

14. I'd guess that most people have the same oldest song and don't realize it

Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off discourteously.
For I have loved you well and long,
Delighting in your company.

Chorus:
Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but my lady greensleeves.



First published in the late 1500's.

[grasswire]

22. excellent

...and in this season many people know the tune with other words: "What Child Is This".

[yellowdogintexas]

29. that is probably mine.

I would have to think a bit to try to remember if I know anything older.

Greensleeves reportedly was written by Henry VIII

[Perseid]

15. rickets

Deftones - Rickets lyrics

It's so simple to look at every little thing i do wrong
It's so simple to overlook every little thing i do right
I think too much i feed too much im gone too much
I skate too much i snore too much im blowin too much,
I ate too much im way too much too stuck up

You're probably right this time
But i don't want to listen
You're probably this time
But i don't even care

I dream too much i think too much i step too much
Those things too much
I am too much im pissed too muchi need too muchi kinda want to throw!!

You're probably right this time
But i don't want to listen
You're probably this time
But i don't even care

And if it was mine to say, i wouldn't say it
And if it was mine to say, i wouldn't speak

You're probably right this time
But i don't want to listen
You're probably this time
But i don't even care
And if it was mine to say, i wouldn't say it
And if it was mine to say, i wouldn't speak

[Bicoastal]

17. Try this on for size

"I am the very model of a modern major general
I've information vegetable animal and mineral
I know the Kings of England and can quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical"

Lyrics by Gilbert, Music by Sullivan, written sometime in the 1880's, I believe.

[grasswire]

24. with many cheerful facts about the square..

....of the hypoteneuse!

Love G&S!

Have you seen "Topsy Turvy"? Of course, it features their Mikado, but it is a charming and lovely movie.

[Bicoastal]

27. Of course!

Great film--I love a movie that can actually make you feel like you're peering into a different era. For all of the "period" films Hollywood makes, very few manage to do just that--and I suspect the writing and acting has the most to do with it, not expensive set design.

Another good one in that regards was "Master and Commander."

[Indi Guy]

18. I studied "Gregorian Chant" in music theory class...

...does that count?

[ashling]

19. Brbara Allen

or maybe Lord Randall

[enigmatic]

20. The first song I can ever remember hearing was "Rain" by The Beatles

I was 3, and I remember my oldest brother playing it on one of these:



http://www.8trackheaven.com/playtape.html

[grasswire]

25. what a contraption!

Maybe it's worth money now as a collectible.

[enigmatic]

28. I was just telling my wife about Play-Tapes tonight

They were a direct cross between the 8 Track and cassette tapes, with very limited running time, 4 songs, usually. They kinda came and went pretty quickly; I'd love to have those Beatles Play-Tapes again, though...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

21. Gaudeamus igitur (Therefore let us be happy)

Student drinking song in Latin, sung in Germany and other countries. Words are 1781 approximately. My Latin teacher told me that they sang it when she was a student at Vassar College. It is quoted by Johannes Brahms in the last section of Academic Festival Overture.

Gaudeamus igitur

1) Gaudeamus igitur
Juvenes dum sumus.
Post jucundam juventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus.

1) in English:
Let us rejoice therefore
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth
After the troubles of old age
The earth will have us.

2)
Ubi sunt qui ante nos
In mundo fuere?
Vadite ad superos
Transite in inferos
Hos si vis videre.

2) Where are they
Who were in the world before us?
Go up to heaven
Or cross over into hell
If you wish to see them.

3)
Vita nostra brevis est
Brevi finietur.
Venit mors velociter
Rapit nos atrociter
Nemini parcetur.

3) Our life is brief
It will be finished all too soon.
Death comes quickly
We are cruelly snatched away.
No one is spared.

4)
Vivat academia!
Vivant professores!
Vivat membrum quodlibet
Vivant membra quaelibet
Semper sint in flore.

4) Long live the academy!
Long live the teachers!
Long live each student!
Long live all the students!
May they always flourish!


5) Vivant omnes virgines
Faciles, formosae.
Vivant et mulieres
Tenerae amabiles
Bonae laboriosae.

5) Long live the virgins
Easy and beautiful!
Long live mature women also,
Tender and lovable
And full of good labor.

6)
Vivant et res publica
et qui illam regit.
Vivat nostra civitas,
Maecenatum caritas
Quae nos hic protegit.

6) Long live the state as well
And those who rule it!
Long live our city
And the charity of benefactors
Which protects us here!


7)Pereat tristitia,
Pereant osores.
Pereat diabolus,
Quivis antiburschius
Atque irrisores.

7) Let sadness perish!
Let haters perish!
Let the devil perish!
Let whoever is anti-student
Who laughs at us, perish!

=============
Probably the oldest thing I know with words is the ancient parts of the Latin mass, the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) 12th century tune, which is part of requiem masses, and the Kyrie Eleison which is Greek. I'm talking about concert masses and requiem masses performed in concert halls, written by people like Mozart and Hans Leo Hassler and Hector Berlioz. The Dies Irae tune has been quoted in many classical pieces, like the Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Night on Bald Mountain by Moussorgsky, and many others.

And I'm not Catholic, I'm a classical musician.

And plainchant (Gregorian chant with no harmony) is extremely old as well and in Latin. 9th and 10th centuries, and has roots going back further than that.

[grasswire]

23. often played at commencements!

The only thing I know about the Kyrie Eleison is from Tom Lehrer. Ha!

[IzaSparrow]

31. Escape Club

wild wild west

[NewWaveChick1981]

32. Besides churchy stuff, Pistol-Packin' Mama...

:rofl: My mother used to sing that around the house. She knew/knows all the words to it...

[SteppingRazor]

33. I got a ton of'em...

I know a bunch of American folk songs that date back to the early 1800s, and a few Irish ones that go back to the 1600s or so. Just as an example, there's "Shule Agra," which starts off:

His hair was black, his eye was blue
His arm was stout, his word was true
I wish in my heart, I was with you,
Go thee, tha Mavorneen slan.

(note: I'm probably butchering the spelling of the last three words)

[grasswire]

35. and how did you learn those songs?

It's good to know that some people exist who still know old songs.

[SteppingRazor]

37. I took up guitar in 8th grade, and my teacher was a folkie...

though I was into metal at the time, so it was an odd relationship. Still, folk songs are technically easier than metal ones, so I learned those first. Years later, when I got into Dylan and Irish rebel tunes, it was a natural progression to look at their influences and learn more about American and Irish folk songs, which kinda brought me full circle.

[grasswire]

39. lucky you

learning traditional music surely enriches one's life. Pass it on.

[SteppingRazor]

40. I would say that, even more broadly, learning music, period, enriches one's life.

Traditional music's great, but whatever music you're into, it's great to be able to play it.

[grasswire]

41. Frederick Nietzsche

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

[kwassa]

34. One of my 12th Century favorites "O Come Emmanuel"

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

you can hear it here:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomocom.htm

[grasswire]

36. I didn't know it was that old.

Beautiful, haunting melody.

[Debbi801]

43. Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor and/or Leader of the Pack

(excluding religious songs)

[marzipanni]

44. It Was a Lover and His Lass, by Thomas Morley

It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green cornfield did pass
In springtime, the only pretty ringtime,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding,
Sweet lovers love the spring.

from Shakespeare's "As You Like It"
You can hear it by clicking on mp3 format in the "Listen to the music" box with the lyrics-
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/literature/shakespeare.html

In the 1960s one of my older brothers played the lute, and this song was on one of his Elizabethan music records.
When the weather turns warm again and the tree and flower buds are bursting, I remember this song.

[cemaphonic]

46. Kalenda Maya

13th Century Provencal song. Don't actually know most of the words, what with them being in a dead language and all, but I know the tune by heart.

[SallyMander]

48. K-k-k-katy, beautiful Katy

My dad used to sing that to me -- don't know who recorded it though... :shrug:

[Tikki]

49. Blueberry Hill....Mr. Fats Domino..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90zAFD0UBbE

My mother bought the record just so she could see little Miss Tikki
stomp and march around the house real slow to this song.



Tikki

[WolverineDG]

50. Alas, my love, you do me wrong

to chase me 'round discourteously.
For I have loved you o so long
(delighting in your company.)

Greensleeves (was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,)
And all for Lady Greensleeves.

lyrics in parentheses were obtained from the net to fill spaces where I forgot the words. Cool fact: this song was possibly written by Henry VIII.

dg

[Blue-Jay]

51. "Sumer Is Icumen In"

sing cuckoo...

12-13th century IIRC.

[unsavedtrash]

52. Will the Circle be Unbroken

Heard it all my life from the women in my family. Lyrics were always different depending on the person singing it.
Not even a little upbeat.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB1-1zuDGJ0

I was standing by my window
On a cold and cloudy day
When I saw that hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky

Well I told the undertaker
Undertaker please drive slow
For the body that you are hauling
Lord, I hate to see her go

Well I followed close behind her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in her grave

Went back home, Lord, oh so lonesome
Since my mother she was gone
All my brothers, sisters crying
What a home so sad and 'lone

[Ahpook]

53. This count? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3YbflCnihM

It's the first thing that struck me. My brothers watching A Clockwork Orange seems to stand out.

Second would be those jerks playing The Exorcist as loud as the boob tube could go. But that's another thread?

They loved terrifying me:)