March Rain and Folk Songs

Tulip starts are peeking up through the leaves. March weather in Indiana is moody - very up and down. After some beautiful sunshine earlier this week, it's raining big slow drops this afternoon. Sometimes a quiet, unexpected indoor moment calls for a bit of music. Time to get out the old guitar and have a song or two.





One form of music I've been drawn to for years is the old folk songs I remember from childhood. Classics such as "I've been Working on the Railroad" and "Home on the Range" come to mind. Another old favorite of mine is "Clementine."





The history of the song is, reportedly, it was popular during the civil war. The song itself is about the western Gold Rush during the middle of the 1800s. Clementine's father was a 'miner; '49er.'





At first play, it sounds like a sorrowful song: 'you are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, Clementine.' But if one keeps going through the verses, one finds the song is very tongue-in-cheek. Her shoes were actually herring boxes without tops. She had big feet.





Clementine actually drowns in the song when she falls into the water, after driving farm ducks down there for a swim. The miner himself doesn't survive the song either, yet the whole thing is sung with great fun and relish, most often. You just have to love old American folk music, it's very rich in storytelling and emotion.

Another favorite of mine is the haunting song "Shenandoah." The word itself, an Indian name for a river in Virginia, is beautiful in any language. The song rises and flows like the rolling river it describes.

Romantically, the singer is bound to go away, across the wide Missouri; another beautiful-sounding river name. Such a sweet and ancient-feeling song - perhaps timeless is a better word. Something to think about while the March lightning flashes outside.