Some of the most innovative half-hour television comedy shows in recent years has been comedian Louis C.K.’s show on FX, Louie. Last night, Louis C.K. hosted Saturday Night Live, and one of the best segments was a mash up of Louie with the sixteenth president of the United States. As we go to the polls this week, the “Lincoln” segment is a good reminder to keep our good humor. Check out what a comedy starring Abraham Lincoln just might look like in 2012 if Lincoln were anything like Louie.
2024 Update: Currently the video is not available, but here is another SNL segment about Lincoln.
What did you think of Lincoln? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The year 1966 was a great year for music, with classic releases by many artists. Some claim that artists like the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Beach Boys peaked that year. Billboard’s charts featured numerous songs that went on to be staples of classic radio stations today, such as “Good Lovin'” by Young Rascals, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations, and “19th Nervous Breakdown” by the Rolling Stones. And there were songs that went on to be AM radio staples too, like Neil Diamond’s “Cherry Cherry.” How well do you know the classic hits of 1966? Do your best with the following fourteen questions. The answers appear at the end with videos of the correct answers.
Did you know that Dustin Hoffman’s line “I’m walking here!” from Midnight Cowboy (1969) was not in the movie script? Similarly, Robert De Niro came up with the classic “You talkin’ to me” line in Taxi Driver (1976). Check out this video to hear other classic unscripted movie scenes. The captions provide some additional explanations.
What is your favorite unscripted movie scene? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On October 31, 1941, the USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-552 submarine near Iceland. At the time, the Reuben James was part of the Neutrality Patrol that guarded ships making passage between the Americas and the U.K. Within around five minutes, the entire ship went down. Different sources vary, but approximately 115 of the 160 men aboard died.
The Almanac Singers
Around this time, Woody Guthrie was playing with a group called The Almanac Singers, which also included Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell, and Lee Hays. The group had recorded songs about civil rights and unions, and they had previously recorded a song critical of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s peacetime draft.
But in reaction to the sinking of the Reuben James and the attack on Pearl Harbor less than two months later, the Almanac singers released an album in 1942 supporting the U.S. war effort. One of the songs was about the Reuben James.
Woody Guthrie’s Drafts of “The Sinking of the Reuben James”
When Guthrie began writing “The Sinking of the Reuben James,” his initial plan was to humanize the tragedy by listing all of the victims of the tragedy. His original version included lists of names as well as some details about some of the men: “There’s Harold Hammer Beasley, a first rate man at sea/ From Hinton, West Virginia, he had his first degree.” (Joe Klein, Woody Guthrie: A Life, at 216.)
Guthrie took a draft of his song to a meeting with The Almanac Singers. They agreed he had a great idea for a song, but they wondered if listing all of the names made the song a little boring. Seeger suggested that Guthrie try describing the event in detail while adding a rousing chorus that would get across the same message.
Guthrie went back and reworked the verses, while Seeger and Lampell worked on the chorus, personalizing the song without listing the names by asking the listener: “Tell me, what were their names?/ Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James.” Below is Guthrie’s solo version of the song they wrote.
Note that in the above version he asks “what was their names” instead of using “were” as in other versions as well as in the official Guthrie lyrics.
The Music for “The Sinking of the Reuben James”
Regarding the music for the song, Guthrie set the verses to the tune from “Wildwood Flower” by The Carter Family.
Popularity
“The Sinking of the Reuben James” became one of the Almanac Singers’ best-known songs. But despite the patriotic tone of this song and other ones they released at the time, the Almanac Singers continued to be harassed for their earlier anti-war stance and they disbanded within about a year.
“The Sinking of the Reuben James” was officially listed as being written by “The Almanac Singers.” But in later years Seeger graciously gave credit to Guthrie for both the verses and the chorus.
{Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie on July 14, 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Centennial too. }
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there is going to be a lot of cleaning up in the following days. There are some trees down in Queens NY, like the one above, but other areas were hit much worse. The damage has spread all the way from the New Jersey coast to Ohio and beyond, causing problems and leaving people without power in a number of states. In the words of Bob Dylan, as performed by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, we hope you found shelter from the storm.
