Unhappy Far-off Things
HE fifth part of Historical America in Song, broadcast over the YC stations, which dealt with songs connected with the slaves and their liberation, provided even more interest than usual.. John Brown’s final words to the court which condemned him filled in a part of the picture I had not seen before. Burl Ives, contrary to an earlier report, did sing some Negro spirituals, providing thereby his own contention that white men "never give to a spiritual what it deserves." There wasn’t that suggestion of infinite range and depth with which the best Negroes enlarge the feeling of their simple songs. One (continued on next page)
(continued from previous page) feature of some of this folk music even mofe noticeable in Jo Stafford’s American Folk Songs heard over 3YA, but also evident in Burl Ives’s signature tune, is how a line often feels its way to the end, as though uncertainly improvised during a day-dream. Together with melancholy themes this ingredient adds the appealing plaintive note to the songs of a people who _ instinctively know that it is the unhappy far-off things which move us and most easily drive us to be creative.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 790, 10 September 1954, Page 10
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196Unhappy Far-off Things New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 790, 10 September 1954, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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