The Best Folk Songs for Thanksgiving
Traditional and Americana Music for the Harvest Holiday
Nov 6, 2009
Compared to holidays such as Christmas, there are very few songs about Thanksgiving. It appears that the first holiday in America -- celebrated well before America was even a country -- has fallen to the side of the musical road.
Nevertheless, below are four of the best Thanksgiving songs, ranging from ancient ballads to modern comedy.
Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie
“Alice’s Restaurant” is the War and Peace of Folk Songs, stretching a massive 18 minutes and 34 seconds. It takes up the entire A-Side of Arlo Guthrie’s debut album of the same name, and was the basis of a 1969 movie, also called Alice’s Restaurant.
Rachael Maddux of Paste Magazine calls “Alice’s Restaurant” “the greatest Thanksgiving song ever written,” and this author agrees. Arlo Guthrie, in the tradition of his legendary father, constructed a humorous, deadpan, and only slightly exaggerated protest against the Vietnam War.
“Alice’s Restaurant” is a talking blues narrative about a Thanksgiving gone wrong and its later consequences for Guthrie. Guthrie and his friend are arrested for littering after illegally disposing of some trash at their friend Alice’s house, where they were going to have Thanksgiving. They are arrested by “Officer Obie,” and after a frustrating court appearance for Obie, Arlo and his friend are fined 50$ and had to pick up the garbage.
“But that’s not what I came to tell you about. Came to talk about the draft.”
Some time later, Arlo has to appear in front of the draft board. Things appear to go bad for Arlo, until they ask him if he had ever been arrested? He said that he had been, and they sent him off to sit with all the other criminals -- “mother rapers, father stabbers, father rapers!”
In the punch line of the song, when it is his time to be interviewed the Sergeant asks Arlo if he is rehabilitated. Arlo says “I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug."
John Barleycorn by Traditional
Although the Thanksgiving story is purely American, the actually tradition of a harvest celebration comes from all cultures. In America, it came from the first English settlers.
“John Barleycorn” is a traditional English folk song that honors the harvest by personifying the cereal crop of barely, then slaying him. According to Folkologist Lesley Nelson-Burns, “It was printed in the reign of James I but is said to be much older.”
There are certain religious connotations to “John Barleycorn,” not surprising considering the importance of the harvest. According to James Frazer’s seminal work, The Golden Bough, there was an ancient pagan tradition known as the Corn King (corn relating to all grains). The Corn King was chosen from among the peasants, treated like a king for the year, then sacrificed, his blood uses to fertilize the fields. Tom Robbins makes reference to the Corn King in his novel “Jitterbug Perfume.”
Over The River and Through The Wood by Lydia Maria Child
Originally known as “A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day,” “Over the River and Through the Wood” is a poem written by Lydia Maria Child in 1844, later set to music.
The song is about the joy of traveling to Grandfather’s House for Thanksgiving. Referencing “white and drifting snow,” the setting could only be in New England, which was the only area in 1844 America that commonly had snow in November.
The “Grandfather’s House” in “Over the River and Through the Woods” still exists. The house is located at 114 South Street in Medford, Massachusetts and is now owned by Tufts University.
The Thanksgiving Song by Adam Sandler
A modern classic by comedian Adam Sandler, “The Thanksgiving Song” first appeared on the American TV show Saturday Night Live. The song would later be outshined by “The Chanukah Song,” also by Sandler.
The song consists primarily of free association revolving around the word turkey. Many of the verses make no sense, however, Sandler’s delivery, and the slightly jazzy chord progression (G chord - C9 -D9 -C9), contributes to “The Thanksgiving Song” being one of the most popular and best songs for Thanksgiving.
Whether an trip to Grandfather‘s house, a free form ode to turkey and nonsense, or the epic tale of litter, the draft board, and Vietnam, Thanksgiving songs take many forms. Ironically, it is only the English tale of slaughter and harvest, “John Barleycorn,” that captures the real meaning of Thanksgiving. These Thanksgiving songs refer to important aspects of Thanksgiving -- Family, Food, Evading the Draft -- but they leave out the fact that once upon a time, we were giving thanks that we would not starve.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
HOL101
 |
