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As Rick has pointed out in his article "The
Dead Zone of American Popular Music or, how the music stopped from
1860 - 1890", American music fell upon hard times in the second half of
the 19th. century. I take a somewhat more radical view of both the Dead
Zone and the evolution of popular American music than does Rick and future
articles will expand on this, but first we need to look at the years leading
up to that fateful period in music history.
Before we start I must give credit not only to the writers and illustrators of the thousands of songs in my collection but to all of the researchers and musical historians who have come before and whose books and publications have helped me on my journey. A partial bibliography of these works can be found on the Resources page.
1492-1797
The history of early North American Popular Music is fairly simple, there wasn't any, at least prior to 1798. That is not to say that there weren't songs that were popular, it is just that they weren't American in origin or style.
The early immigrants to America, mostly from Northern Europe, came to the New World, set up church and got right down to the business of trying to survive. Among the things they had to leave behind were choir directors, music teachers, and any real concern for the niceties of harmony, rhythm, pitch, or secular music. Gradually as the population of the New World became more diverse and as the interests and activities of the inhabitants broadened beyond the church, music became more of a social or community activity.
Our songs were still the songs of the old world both, music and lyrics.
The earliest contributions consisted primarily of butchering what music we had through the loss of anything that resembled sophistication. Harmony went out the door. Without training or even in most cases a musical instrument to set a standard for relative pitch it was tough enough just to get through the melody let alone manage any sort of embellishment. Rhythm was another victim. The dominant style of music was the music of our faith, boring hymns that deaden the spirit but strengthen the soul. Secular music was to be feared and guarded against, and again with a population total music illiterates it was probably hard enough just keeping every one on the same page let alone on time with rhythmic variations. This paring down of song to it's most basic components was actually the first step in developing the American sound. But it would take many years for this to become apparent.
A surprising number of the popular songs from this period still stand on their own today.
Greensleeves 1620
Already an English standard for decades, Greensleeves arrived on our shores in 1620 and became one of our first popular hits. Shortly after the American Civil War, William Chatterton Dix revitalized the tune by adding new lyrics and Greensleeves took on a new life as the Christmas song known as "What Child Is This". As "What Child is This" it became part of an interesting pattern of musical development that slid through the Dead Zone. More on this later.
Barbara Allen 1622
An old Scottish tune popular in England and early America as well. Many verses and variations were added to localize Barbara Allen particularly in the Southern Appalachians and the tune is still recognizable to this day.
A Frog Went A-Courting 1700
An English song of political satire dating from the mid 1500s, this song became a popular children's song. This is another song that settled into the Southern Appalachians to become an (sort of a musical place out of time). It is still sung today for the shear joy of singing it.
Drunken Sailor 1740
What do we do with a drunken sailor? All sorts of things, many of them not printable. A sea chantey popular to this day.
Yankee Doodle 1754
A song of unknown pedigree claimed to have originated in most of the countries of Europe. Almost always a song of political satire or derision it came to America on the lips of British soldiers. In a perverse twist the American Colonialists took it away from the British and made it into a song of Freedom and the Battle Cry of the Revolutionary war. Although Americans had been following the time honored tradition of changing the lyrics of songs to fit the current situation Yankee Doodle was perhaps the first indication of a developing American identity in Song.
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes 1762
One of the few hymns of the era that was both popular at the time and has survived today both as a popular song and in the repertoire of many church groups.
The Riddle (I Gave My Love A Cherry) 1785
An old tune of British origin, this song wandered around the mountains and hills of the South for a few decades before becoming popular at the turn of the century (19th.)
O! Dear, What Can The Matter Be? 1792
Another British hit from a couple of hundred years ago. This song has survived to the present, most likely due to its affinity for dirty lyrics. However in the 1790s its popularity marked a significant change in how we "did" music.
O! Dear, What Can The Matter Be? wasn't popularized in the standard rural folk, sing it around the dinner table/campfire/country inn fashion. This song was heard in the THEATER, in New York and Philadelphia. This is a most significant development in the history of American popular music and will be one of the subjects of the next installment of "In Search of American Popular Song".
R.M. Jan, 2000
Sorry, we don't have covers for these songs. Sheet music as we know it didn't become readily available until the 1800s and what may have existed prior to that time is very rare indeed.
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