The Unfortunate Rake: Edited by Kenneth S. Goldstein

Folkways Records – FS 3805

Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1960
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
A01 The Unfortunate Rake: A. L. Lloyd and Alf Edwards (2:59)
A02 The Trooper Cut Down in His Prime: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (4:30)
A03 The Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime: Harry Cox (1:57)
A04 Noo I'm a Young Man Cut Down in My Prime: Willie Mathieson (2:17)
A05 The Bad Girl's Lament: Wade Hemsworth (2:49)
A06 One Morning in May: Hally Wood (2:36)
A07 Bright Summer Morning: Viola Penn (2:24)
A08 The Girl in the Dilger Case: D. K. Wilgus (1:08)
A09 The Cowboy's Lament: Bruce Buckley (2:39)
A10 Streets of Laredo: Harry Jackson (4:59)
B01 St. James Hospital: Alan Lomax (3:33)
B02 Gambler's Blues: Dave Van Ronk (2:44)
B03 I Once Was a Carman in the Big Mountain Con: Guthrie T. "Gus" Meade (1:12)
B04 The Lineman's Hymn: Rosalie Sorrels (1:49)
B05 The Wild Lumberjack: Kenneth S. Goldstein (1:51)
B06 A Sun Valley Song: Jan Brunvand and Ellen Stekert (1:28)
B07 The Ballad of Bloody Thursday: John Greenway (3:44)
B08 Streets of Hamtramck: Bill Friedland, Mark Newman, and Morris Howarth (2:23)
B09 The Ballad of Sherman Wu: Pete Seeger (2:07)
B10 The Professor's Lament: Roger Abrahams (3:25)
[Credits]
Producer and Liner Notes: Kenneth S. Goldstein, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
The story is basically this: a soldier is dying, evidently of venereal disease he contracted from a young woman, and he requests a funeral. Hear how this story has been spun over centuries into a whole collection of similarly themed songs, the earliest possibly dating to 1790. In this recording we are essentially witnessing the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon ballad tradition.