Music has always been present whenever people come together for any reason. Be it in weddings, college graduations, funerals, or in church services. Music was and is still part of the fabric of everyday life. Only recently in people's culture did there has been a rise in the distinction that separates the society into two, hence separating musical classes into two for both performers and listeners. Music has been a natural activity throughout human history, just as walking and breathing, and each person participated. Understanding why one may like music and what may draw them to it is maybe a window in the essence of human nature. This essay is an analytical response based on seven recorded songs that reflect the hardship that several people went through in those decades. The essay focuses on the changes that different people in American society faced when the songs were recorded.
A song entitles "No Dough Blue" by Blind Blake together with Big Bill Broonzy's "Unemployment Stomp" and Hezekiah Jenkins's "The Panic is on" were songs that thematically focused on the capital and labor in America. For instance, the excellent Railroad Strike that happened in 1877 herald a new period of the United States' labor conflict 1 . During that period, rail lines reduced the workers' salaries and wages due to the stagnant economy caused by the railroads' financial bubble bursting in 1873. Several workers perceived a new lack of power in the following industrial order. Skills did not matter, or it mattered less in an industrialized and mass-producing economy. All these lead to longer working hours, dangerous working conditions, and supporting family due to meager and unpredicted wages became difficult.
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Blind Blake, in his song, talked about how hard the time was that he could not get enough money to help him satisfy his lover as he used to do. Since he cannot get any job, his lover may leave him. Likewise, Big Bill Broonzy also noted in his song that he had no job to help him make a living. As a result, he is forced to steal from others, which eventually ends him in jail. Hezekiah, on the other hand, is concerned with how unemployment issues in the country are becoming worse, yet the government does not do anything. The musical components in these songs convey the need for immediate action by the concerned authorities to curb the country's unemployment issue. The three-song on labor and capital themes portrayed what most Americans faced during this period, thereby illuminating the topic to the concerned authority to act accordingly.
On the same theme on capital and labor, Aunt Molly Jackson also touches on waiting for a job even when one has the qualifications with her song titled "Crossbones Slucky" recorded in 193o. The song uses repetitions to stress how she was called a robber for taking everything from a particular older man. On the other hand, Jim Garland, also in his song, "All I want," focuses on having a job as being the right to live. The refrain in each chorus stating he is demanding the job back creates awareness to the listeners on the need for having jobs. That can be reflected in the historic excellent railroad strike in 1877, whose effect continued to felt even when the song was recorded in 1932. Many people lost their jobs, and they could still not get back their lost jobs.
Ernest V. Stoneman recorded the song "All I got is gone" in 1934, immediately after the great depression. Thematically, the music touches on the great depression that Stoneman was undergoing after he lost everything after the great depression in America. The great depression originated in 1929 after the stock market prices plummeted suddenly, investments involving ten billion dollars disappeared within a few hours, and panicked selling set in within the country 2 . However, as the depression was spreading faster within the country, the public blamed the then-president Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party's conservative politics despite being one of the great depression victims.
The song by Ernest V. Stoneman is about someone moving from rural life into the city seeking fortune. He noted in the lyrics that several people bought cars, not knowing what would eventually come their way. However, after the great depression, all that they had, including the automobiles, are gone. On the same theme of depression, Billie Holiday also recorded the song titled "Strange fruit" in 1939 to protest against the depression that the black Americans underwent due to the lynching of their fellow black Americans in the hands of the white race. The song lyrics compare the victims of the lynch to the fruit of the trees. The two songs portray the depression that was encountered by the Americans during this period hence help see the beliefs and attitudes Americans had concerning their racial differences and the depression inspired by the events that lead to significant depression.
In conclusion, Musical vocals, instruments, and sound convey much of the historical information when listening to them keenly. The lyrics as well portray the thematic historical contents. As evident in this essay, the above musical recordings themes reflect American historical information based on the period in which the songs were recorded. Most of the songs are about industrial labor, whereby they focus on the lack of jobs. Furthermore, when used as historical sources, these musical contents help people see what their beliefs and attitudes were at that particular time. These attitudes are inspired by the events in that specific time or the past. The musical discussed above contents portrays several challenges faced by the Americans during the specified period.
Bibliography
Locke, Joseph, and Ben Wright. THE AMERICAN YAWP . 2. Stanford University Press Editioned. Vol. 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press , 2020. https://doi.org/http://www.americanyawp.com/text/16-capital-and-labor.
