Post by erik on Jul 8, 2023 20:14:45 GMT -5
The folk music movement of the Fifties and Sixties finds itself in this week's Pop Music Hits spotlight via The Kingston Trio and one of the movement's greatest anthemic ballads.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? (The Kingston Trio; Capitol; 1962)—Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, and Dave Guard, known collectively as The Kingston Trio, were one of the most popular and politically active folk music group’s of the genres 1950’s/1960’s. The group began hitting it big in 1958 with their take on the old Appalachian folk ballad “Tom Dooley’, which got up to #1 in August 1958 and led to the group also winning the first ever Country Music Grammy during the award’s first year of existence. In 1959, they scored significant successes with the bluegrass-ifnleunced “M.T.A.” and “Tujuana Jail”. But dissent was in the ranks by 1961, with Guard, who played both guitar and banjo, regarded as the “leader” of the group, which both Shane and Reynolds disagreed with, as well as accusations that their barbershop-like harmonies were too smooth for the rougher styles of the folk music scene. Guard thus stepped away from the group; and in his place, they hired John Stewart, a heretofore itinerant folk singer and member of The Cumberland Three, one of a number of folk groups that, ironically enough, modeleld themselves off the Kingston Trio itself. Stewart’s place assured that the trio would retain a place on the charts. This was made particularly true with their recording of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”. The song, written by folk music guru Pete Seeger, was inspired by a Cossack folk song entitled “Koloda-Duda”, and contained lines (“Where are the flowers?/All the girls have plucked them/Where are the girls/They’ve taken husbands/Where are the men/They’re in the Army”). In Seeger’s hands, the song soon became one of the pre-eminent anthems of the folk music movement, as well as a strong anti-war message. If its somewhat moderate chart popularity (reaching #21 on the Hot 100 in June 1962) seemed a little deceptive, it may have been because the group was still getting some criticism for its supposed “catering” to popular tastes. Nevertheless, the song persisted. By 1967, the Kingston Trio had decided to split up (though, as with many groups of that movement, they would reform numerous times over the decades, especially during politically turbulent times). Stewart, meanwhile, went on to have a significant career in left-of-center country music (his 1969 song “Mother Country” was played by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their way home from the Moon); and in 1979, he had a huge mainstream FM rock hit with “Gold”, which got up to #5 on the Hot 100 in August of that year.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? (The Kingston Trio; Capitol; 1962)—Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, and Dave Guard, known collectively as The Kingston Trio, were one of the most popular and politically active folk music group’s of the genres 1950’s/1960’s. The group began hitting it big in 1958 with their take on the old Appalachian folk ballad “Tom Dooley’, which got up to #1 in August 1958 and led to the group also winning the first ever Country Music Grammy during the award’s first year of existence. In 1959, they scored significant successes with the bluegrass-ifnleunced “M.T.A.” and “Tujuana Jail”. But dissent was in the ranks by 1961, with Guard, who played both guitar and banjo, regarded as the “leader” of the group, which both Shane and Reynolds disagreed with, as well as accusations that their barbershop-like harmonies were too smooth for the rougher styles of the folk music scene. Guard thus stepped away from the group; and in his place, they hired John Stewart, a heretofore itinerant folk singer and member of The Cumberland Three, one of a number of folk groups that, ironically enough, modeleld themselves off the Kingston Trio itself. Stewart’s place assured that the trio would retain a place on the charts. This was made particularly true with their recording of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”. The song, written by folk music guru Pete Seeger, was inspired by a Cossack folk song entitled “Koloda-Duda”, and contained lines (“Where are the flowers?/All the girls have plucked them/Where are the girls/They’ve taken husbands/Where are the men/They’re in the Army”). In Seeger’s hands, the song soon became one of the pre-eminent anthems of the folk music movement, as well as a strong anti-war message. If its somewhat moderate chart popularity (reaching #21 on the Hot 100 in June 1962) seemed a little deceptive, it may have been because the group was still getting some criticism for its supposed “catering” to popular tastes. Nevertheless, the song persisted. By 1967, the Kingston Trio had decided to split up (though, as with many groups of that movement, they would reform numerous times over the decades, especially during politically turbulent times). Stewart, meanwhile, went on to have a significant career in left-of-center country music (his 1969 song “Mother Country” was played by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their way home from the Moon); and in 1979, he had a huge mainstream FM rock hit with “Gold”, which got up to #5 on the Hot 100 in August of that year.