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Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired "Stagolee", "John Henry", and Other Traditional American Folk Songs
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
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Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired "Stagolee", "John Henry", and Other Traditional American Folk Songs
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Summary
In Hear My Sad Story, Richard Polenberg describes the historical events that led to the writing of many famous American folk songs that served as touchstones for generations of American musicians, lyricists, and folklorists.
Those events, which took place from the early 19th to the mid-20th centuries, often involved tragic occurrences: murders, sometimes resulting from love affairs gone wrong; desperate acts born out of poverty and unbearable working conditions; and calamities such as railroad crashes, shipwrecks, and natural disasters. Listening to these tales of sorrow, misfortune, and regret puts us in touch with a dark but terribly familiar side of American history. Polenberg returns us to the men and women who, in song, became legends.
The book is published by Cornell University Press.