Season 391: Sowing Seeds of Joy

The 19th century was a time of migration when millions of people left Europe for a new life often thousands of miles away. Sometimes the migration was forced, sometimes it was because conditions at home had become intolerable for one reason or another - famine, revolutions, persecution all drove people away. Sometimes it was simply looking for a better life. In the process people left loved ones behind and would never see them again. At that time with travel being slower and hazardous, migration was for most people irrevocable.

I found this 19th century broadside browsing the Bodleian Library Broadsides website. It reflects that migration was irrevocable but, all the same some communication was possible, it was possible to hear from one's former home even though communication took much longer then. The words fit perfectly with the traditional tune "Dives and Lazarus" which has been used for a number of folk songs so that's what I've set it to (Broadsides rarely included music but did, in earlier times suggest a popular tune of the day. By the 19th century even that had stopped.)
 
Season 391. Submission 1. "For Baby (For Bobbie)" (This was the fourth song ever written by John Denver. It was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary in 1966, John Denver in 1972 and several other artists.)

Thank you so so much for hosting, Kelly, and for your fine theme. There's always room for more seeds of joy. :)


Tenor ukulele and vocal here for me.



 
What's so joyful about this song? I don't know, but my wife and I watch a Britcom called "Mum," and "When I'm Gone" is the theme song. Every time I hear it, it makes me happy. If my rendition doesn't put a smile on your face, check out Anna Kendrick's video. Happiness guaranteed!
 
I am enjoying the act of learning about so many songs that are new to me this week.

By the way, if I miss adding any videos to the playlist just let me know so I can correct it.
 
Excellent theme to put some energy into after a few particularly trying weeks. Anyway, I learned this from the little kids at school, who sang it every day at lunch. Not much more joyous than a bunch of kids singing just to sing...except I think this must have been written about a dog.
 
this song is cheering me up alot right now - of course it might help that it's being used in a tv advert here in the UK, for a mattress company, and the ad features a dancing soft toy sloth! normally i mute the tv when the ads come on, but i crank the volume up for this one! dunno if the cheering effect is quite so effective without the dancing sloth, though...............

 
Hello again, Kelly! This is another "uplifting" song, firstly because of the lyrics, and secondly because for anyone in the UK in the Seventies, it will forever be associated with Morecambe and Wise, probably the most popular comedy duo in British TV history. I have no idea whether their shows ever crossed The Pond, but, if you have never heard of them, it is worth seeking out the numerous clips from the shows which are available on YouTube. Just thinking about them makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!!!

 
Like I say in the video, saccharine sweet 60's pop songs always make me smile. I reckon we all have different things that make us happy...but I think these songs make most folks smile (at least ones born before 2000...my students for the most part hate this stuff). Anyway, in addition to being a fun old pop song, this one got a redux in the eighties in a great video that involved it being performed in shopping malls...just to add to the joy.
Last, many hundreds of years ago, Mel and I were listening to an older couple talk about "their song". She looked at me and asked "Do we have a song?"
"Sure- I think We're Alone Now."
"Tommy James and the Shondells or Tiffany?"
"Tiffany...duh."
"Perfect."
Still makes us laugh and laugh. Anyway- I should just shut up and play the song.
 
This is quite a slow and sad sounding song that’s uplifting at the same time. Not quite sure how that works but it does!

Originally by a favourite artist of mine, this was virtually a one hit wonder for him. For reasons I’ve expanded upon in a previous season, his other music never got the recognition it deserved and he tragically died prematurely as a result of head injuries sustained in a car accident a few years back. This song will be his legacy.

 
Songs this week have the intent of elevating someone's mood if even for a few minutes or are about supporting each other in a caring way. This one has a little bit of both -- last weekend I met a very nice person who reminded me of the late Guy Clark, which made me go listen to a few Guy Clark tunes, which elevated my mood! In this song he talks first about a couple of things that give him joy, but then he gets to the people in his life. Stuff that works.

 


Here is a happy song (Carsie Blanton’s Fat & Happy) that has some swears in the last verse.
 
Written by the fantastically talented Leslie Sarony, music hall entertainer, actor and songwriter. I remember him taking over the role of Uncle Stavely (“I heard that! Pardon!” ) in I Didn’t Know You Cared. I also just found out he was one of the clerks in Monty Python’s The Crimson Permanent Assurance . This was famously recorded by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. This song always put a smile on my face.
 
In 1984, my friend, the artist and performer, Jill Smith, set off on a spiritual journey around Britain and Ireland accompanied by her newborn son Taliesin Rainbow Smith.
My tiny contribution to the trip was to write this song for her newborn baby boy to wish them well on the journey.

She has just released a wonderful book looking back on that era and the journey they took that year (walking and on a horse drawn wagon). For anyone seeking to understand the artist's need to journey out in order to learn about the person within, this book is a guide to that process.

You can buy the book directly from Jill via her web page (which also has on offer some of her marvellous paintings).

Meanwhile, here is the song I wrote for her and Tally.

 
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