green, green rocky road (late 1950s/early 1960s)
Len Chandler & Bob Kaufman. folk/americana, USA.
performed by Elizabeth Mitchell, Dan Zanes, & You Are My Flower
key: D blues/major
mode: D E F F# G G# A B C
melody: S L d r mə m f s
form: verse-chorus
meter: duple
English function names: tonic subdominant
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: T S
Scale degrees: I IV
Chords: D Gverse:
D G D
|:/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / :| 2x
chorus:
D G D G D
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |
G D
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |We've heard from Elizabeth Mitchell before on this blog (here and here). After listening to her records almost daily for the first eight years of my kid's life, you'd think I'd have had enough, but the fact that I can still take it says something. Not all kids' recording artists can pull that off. Also the D tonic holds together this trio of tonic-subdominant songs.1 Obviously, anything that Dave Van Ronk sings is iconic and you should listen to all three of his recordings below, but given the option, I do tend to feature versions that work nicely for younger voices.2
Is it folk if we know who the songwriters are? At this point in time after over a century of being able to make recordings, yes, I think we have to say so. Now it's almost impossible not to know. It's written as part of this tradition, even though yes, Len Chandler was an oboist, not a farmer or a miner, and Bob Kaufman was a poet. It turns out that the lyrics are based on a children's game, which you can listen to below.
Is it the blues? Jein? as they say in German. Depends a bit on who is singing. Elizabeth Mitchell, not so much; but Dan Zanes, sure. Karen Dalton, even more so. It's one of those songs with that neutral third spectrum. Some people hit the major third right on, others don't. What about the fifth? People slide in and out of that one, too. Do we need a fə for when we don't hit fa straight on? Am I ready to go that far?
other recordings:
Children from York AL, Ring Games, Smithsonian Folkways. D blues. This is a field recording of the game that Chandler based his song on. The way this is sung is clearly based in the folk traditions that became the blues.3
Karen Dalton, 1966, Delmore Recording Society. D blues. (recording is a bit sharp to D, if you're playing along)
Dave Van Ronk, Songs for Ageing Children, Geffen Records. F blues.
Dave Van Ronk, and the tin pan bended and the story ended, Smithsonian Folkways. F# blues. This is from the last live performance Van Ronk gave.
Dave Van Ronk, In the Tradition, Prestige. G blues.
A common tonic across three posts also being something not always pulled off.
"Here, kids! Have some bourbon and cigars and we'll sing along with Dave Van Ronk! Next class we’ll sing some Tom Waits…"
Compare this, too, to the Bessie Jones recording "Oh Green Fields, Roxie", with adults and kids. This is the folk tradition at work, right here.