Do you believe in reincarnation? Well I entertain the thought like I entertain most others, and I figure if I am a reincarnated person it was most likely some Ozarkian grandmother with a whole heapful children's songs and a scratchy, cocklely voice. Ever since I can remember Sunday School songs, Bluegrass, and general old-timey Americana folk music has resonated with me real hard. Something in the way they sing just hits that absolute center of my soul, hard to put into english...I also like the stories, I love the way they blend super adult-themed stories but color them with frogs with mice for uncles or rings of rosies and pockets full of posies. "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly" was a favorite as a kid, and the story of Don Gato has always sparked my imagination....
This all brings me to an album I just found called "Old Mother Hippletoe" which is a collection of children's songs and the ilk, all recorded back in the day by children's choirs, and real-deal share-croppin', god-fearin', butter-churnin', chitlin' cleanin' salt-of-the-earth type of folks. It has Little Rooster as performed by Almeda Riddle if you needed any more indication of what you are in for. Anyways this little ditty right here is just about as definitive on the subject of Children's Folk Songs as I've ever seen and I must once again praise Times Ain't Like They Used To Be for turning me onto some shit that my soul needed for sure.
Gather Round
Robin Hood and the Peddler, Old Granpaw Yet, Go To Sleep Little Baby, and Mister Rabbit are some of my favorite tracks so far...
and if you've never heard the tragic tale of Senor Don Gato...
