Wideo Wednesday: Songs and Ballads

 

Highwayman - Loreena Mckennit - YouTube Adaptation of a Poem by Alfred Noyes

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Jerusalem (Official Audio) - YouTube Adaptation of a Poem by William Blake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-oJKYIinQ The Stolen Child, The Waterboys, from a Poem by William Butler Yeats

Abdul the Bulbul Ameer (1941) - YouTube MGM Cartoon, Adapted from an Old Novelty Song

I’ve known about The Highwayman (1906) since Fourth Grade, and I was very surprised to hear it in the 1997 album The Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt. The Emerson, Lake, and Palmer cover of William Blake’s Jerusalem, aka ‘And did those feet in ancient times’ (1808; adapted as a hymn in 1916) is illustrated on the album cover by a picture by H. R. Giger.  I saw the Abdul cartoon years ago on The Captain Gus Show. The song (written in 1877) harks back to the border conflicts between Russia and Turkey and contains many stereotypes of both sides; there have been many variations, including some very lewd ones. For the stereotypes (and perhaps for ‘depictions of smoking’), it is ‘banned’ and never shown on TV. It contains caricatures of Groucho Marx, Lou Costello, and Al Ritz of the Ritz Brothers. The song itself was referenced in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when Lore sang a few lines from it. Persistently catchy little devil, isn't it?