American Civilization I
Paper I
Daniel J. Pool
–Author Unknown
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From coast to coast, though every valley and down every stream change and
protest were being sung by the masses. The fifties and sixties were times of great change and
conflict. In a period of time where your neighbor could be a Commie Spy and around each
corner was a nuclear war, unrest was just part of the day. In the mists of the chaos arose a new
hero, the folk-rock protest musician. These minstrels of new age came out of the campus
woodwork changing the face of American culture as well as the Earth’s culture forever. But just
who are these mystic figures of peace and harmony? To better understand the role of the modern
bard in the fifties and sixties one must first learn the history of folk music, how folk music
became popular, how troubadours replaced the heroes of times past, and their effects on politics.
Folk music was and is the ethnic music of a people, usually passed down by oral
Dictionary.com. Folk music of the fifties and sixties grew out of the collapse of the big band
(from lack of funds and waning interest) and it’s combining with country and jazz music
(Forcucci). Folk music is as old as time and tells stories of life. As mentioned it was a time of
conflict; war in Korea, war in Vietnam, the threat of nuclear war with Russia, Communism
spreading across the globe, and civil right advocates being beaten to death in the streets locally
(Brinkley). The three main influences folk music were the labor songs (popular among African
Americans), topical or protest song which had been around for at least six-hundred years prior
with the songs of the Pleasants revolts of Europe (Fowke & Glazer), and the Tin Pan Alley tunes
of the North (Rodnitzky). From farmers to industrialists, every type of folk had their own folk
songs (Fowke & Glazer). With the mass mixing of cultural favors (such as boss nova music of
South America [Hanson]) and the clash between many layers of social division (Rodnitzky) the
people wanted revolutionary music to meet their revolutionary ideals. Pop-culture had grown
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tired of intellectual “cool” jazz common among groups of musicians, and rather longed for a
Folk music exploded across the nation on college campuses, in night clubs, and as part of
protests of the time. Music was not only a tool for imagination, but rather also a weapon for
protests to hold people together. Normal people such as Woody Guthrie of Okemah, OK
represented the morally right and truthful man to many (Hampton). Though to those that knew
Mr. Guthrie would laugh at such a thought, but that is how heroes are made. The stories of
Woody’s adventures on trains and living in slums were turned into immense rhetoric to relate
him to the “everyman” (Rodnitzky). The truth of matter being that he had a wanderlust that
caused him to skip out of town every couple of months to go perform (Hampton). Others
however, following in Woody’s footsteps soon arrived on the world stage such as Phil Ochs,
Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, and Bobby Zimmerman came to press on the ideals of the
simple balladeer.
This period is ripe with political scandal, the growing dissatisfaction with war, and the
advent of TV and radio popularity the heroes of the past fell along the wayside (Rodnitzky). In
the past a president or solider may have been an idol, but presidents had lied and soldiers had
become the personal police of the viewed elitists right wing. So musicians (who seemed perfect
at a distance and morally good) became the mainstream champion of the growing liberal middle
class (Hampton). Woody Guthrie had sung about making men equal and returning to the land
and supported Communism. With the horrors of war and the constant threat of McCarthyism,
Woody and most Folk musicians of the time had to make more patriotic songs during World War
II (Hampton). No matter what side of which fence the folk singers were on, they could sway the
feelings of the young and intellectual, the old and the simple alike (Rodnitzky), though it would
not be so forever.
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With music picked as the medium of protest (Forcucci) a growth in the number of folk
artists quickly grew, however this did not aid the style as a whole. With a bard on every street
corner, soon people became less attentive (Rodnitzky), so many were out trying to protest that
many of the folk singer’s words fell on deaf ears. Also, by in large, at the beginnings of the
seventies most protest music had lost its meaning. It was no longer profitable to play the
muckraking tunes. So folk music and protests songs abruptly fell out of mainstream music
(Hampton).
Though not as popular, as in times past, folk music still influences how we think as a
culture. Using largely the same subject matter and many of the same ideas of its ancestors, indie
music could be argued to have taken up the folk music torch. Also the music of Woody Guthrie,
(his clone) Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez shaped what American music would become (Forcucci).
In closing, though the folk artists of the fifties and sixties did not bring about revolution,
American communism, or even really stop America from going to war it did; shape culture, help
give identity to hundreds of young people, and to continue the ever stubborn American spirit.
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Works Cited
2006.
Forcucci, Samuel L. Folk song history of America America through its songs.
1973.
Hampton, Wayne. Guerrilla minstrels John Lennon, Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie,