Poor Man's Heaven: Blues & Tales of the Great Depression
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDFormat: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2003-05-06
Music Label: RCA
Soundtracks:
- Eddie Cantor's Tips on the Stock Market - Eddie Cantor
- Tale of the Ticker - Frank Crumit
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? - Leo Reisman, Leo Reisman
- Remember My Forgotten Man [Gold Diggers] - George Hall
- It Must Be Swell to Be Laying Out Dead - Alex Bartha, Alex Bartha
- Raisin' the Rent - Roy Bargy, Ramona
- Sittin' on a Rubbish Can - Julia Gerity
- Ten Cents a Dance [Simple Simon] - High Hatters
- Poor Man's Heaven - Bud Billings, Carson Robison
- Rich Man and the Poor Man - Bobby Miller
- Hallelujah, I'm a Bum - Harry McClintock
- All In, Down and Out Blues - Uncle Dave Macon
- Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Them All - Fiddlin' John Carson
- How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live? - Blind Alfred Reed
- Farmer Relief Song - Vernon Dalhart
- Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh) - Woody Guthrie
- 35 Depression - Daddy Stovepipe, Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe
- California Desert Blues - Lane Hardin
- It's Hard Time - Joe Stone
- President Roosevelt Is Everybody's Friend - Reverend J.M. Gates,
- Cwa Blues - Joe Pullum
- Jimmy Shut His Store Doors - Cedar Creek Sheik
- Welfare Store Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson
- Poor But Ambitious - Wilmoth Houdini
Music reviews of Poor Man's Heaven: Blues & Tales of the Great Depression
Music Review: Hard Times In Babylon, Again
Rating: 5 Stars
Banks are failing. Stock markets are in a nose dive. Unemployment is way up. Housing values are headed toward the floor. More and more people are seeking welfare and food stamps. Consumers are "tightening their belts" waiting for the other show to fall. And that is only the grim news on an average day. Other days ratchet up the doom and gloom from there. Oh, you thought I was talking about today's headlines. No I am referring to the Great Depression of the 1930's which in song is the subject matter of this CD review. Does sound familiar though, doesn't it? The only thing I haven't heard about lately is "Bushvilles" or "Obamavilles" to replace the "Hooverville" shanty towns of the 1930's. But they could be on the way.
Even in the worst of times, at least to this reviewer's understanding of the human endeavor, people have turned to song to relieve what ails them. Sometimes, as some selection here, it could be with a funny twist on the idiocy of the markets like old time comedian Eddie Cantor's "Tips On The Stock Market" or Frank Crumit's "Tale Of The Ticker". Sometimes it could be the pathos expressed in "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?' or "Remember My Forgotten Man"
Other times it can be ironic as on "Hallelujah, I'm A Bum" or the title track "Poor Man's Heaven". Or it can express social or personal reality like "Raising The Rent", "Ten Cents A Dance" or "The Farm Relief Song". And sometimes, it can express just pure desperation or frustration as in Alfred Reed's "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?', Daddy Stovepipe's "35 Depression" or Joe Stone's "It's Hard Time". Yes, we need our songs to get us through but here is the kicker. It's not enough. We cannot sing these bad time blues away. For that we need to take social action. By and for ourselves. But that is a question for another day. Today we speak of our hard times musical heritage. Listen up.
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