Track of the Year: 'Hard Times Come Again No More'
Editor's Note: This article previously appeared in a unlike format equally office of The Atlantic'south Notes section, retired in 2021.
A reader, Rick Jones, writes:
This video of Stephen Foster'south slap-up song "Hard Times Come up Over again No More" seems to tie together some of Notes' recent themes. It'due south a comprehend (the song was written in 1856) past the Familia McGarrigle (including a teenage Rufus and Martha) and it speaks to coming troubles and the need for perseverance that Fallows has been evoking in his writing.
If you have a version of "Difficult Times" that particularly resonates with y'all and have a retentiveness associated with information technology, please ship united states of america a notation: hello@theatlantic.com. (The McGarrigle/Wainwright association likewise did a version of Stephen Foster's sunnier "Better Times Are Coming.") Update from a reader who flags a rendition of "Hard Times" from Mavis Staples:
From another reader, Peter:
What a peachy song, unfortunately, information technology seems timeless. I first heard it in 1981, sung by the outstanding Chapel Loma string band The Red Clay Ramblers. Their wonderful harmony singing frames the song with a warmth that counterbalances the bleakness of the lyrics you lot tin here them here.
Some other reader recommends a version that isn't available on YouTube:
My favorite is somewhere in my library of Bill Frisell bootlegs, but it's something along these lines. I'm fascinated by songs like this that are just so old and remain in the repertoire. For case, "St. James Hospital" is based on "The Rake's Complaining," an 18th century British naval song. Information technology'due south also the parent of "Streets of Laredo," the Johnny Cash tune. That's nuts!
One more than reader, Sydney:
Greetings from just southward of Raleigh, NC, as I read all the news I missed last night because often, playing with babies beats knowing more details of terrorism. When I saw your post on "Difficult Times" I immediately thought of the Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor embrace that I had on echo this time concluding year while waiting for forenoon sickness to magically disappear in the second trimester of a twin pregnancy, but instead got more than pains and swelling. I resigned myself to only focusing on seeking the practiced in life, that hard times would laissez passer.
Proud to say I've now got two happy healthy babe girls, ane of whom wants to keep me company now. Keep up the swell work.
The covers proceed arriving from long-time readers, namely Barbara:
It has been so great to see the McGarrigle thread spin into Stephen Foster land with "Hard Times Come Again No More than." I similar sentimental songs and manifestly have a high tolerance for desolation, especially if rhyming lines are involved. I thought the song's Wikipedia entry, describing it as a "parlor song," was a nice touch that avoided the judgement implicit in "sentimental," fifty-fifty if the judgement is right on target.
The song is one of my favorites from Foster, who is one of my favorite composers. I learned to play some of his songs on the pianoforte from a tattered copy of a collection of his work. I learned a lot of other folk songs and sentimental favorites from an even more tattered hardcover copy of the Fireside Book of Folk Songs I still have, although the book now begins halfway through the song "Cockles and Mussels" and ends partway through the index, with no hardcovers in sight. (I was able to get another copy of the book, covers and all, when a family fellow member passed away, only I notwithstanding play from the spineless copy that opens flat and stays open.)
I am not an accomplished pianist and I've grown increasingly rusty. Early in elementary school, I only progressed partway through John Thompson'south Modern Course for the Piano: The 2d Form Volume: Something New Every Lesson. The "something new" that killed my progress was syncopation, in the class of dotted eighth notes in a version of James A. Bland's "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny." (I understood the mathematics just fine, merely my mind had decided on a rhythm that seemed pleasing to my fingers, and no amount of repetition and no lack of a gold star got me to play the song correctly. After weeks of intractable stubbornness on my part and the office of the only pianoforte teacher in town, we parted ways. I did take more lessons in loftier schoolhouse when the wife of a new music teacher at the cardinal school offered them. I explained my history, and nosotros started out lessons with Bach. It was more successful, but I stopped taking lessons when I left for college.
Anyway, I liked all the versions your readers provided; information technology was interesting to hear a range of interpretations. I like Emmylou Harris'southward performance of "Hard Times Come Over again No More." I don't know if the cutting I mind to is online, but in this video from a concert, she says that "this is probably the oldest song in my repertoire."
The performance of "Hard Times" I play most often is past Thomas Hampson, because I similar to listen to the album in the machine and am very fond of his "Beautiful Dreamer." (The album is American Dreamer: Songs of Stephen Foster, and performers include Jay Ungar on violin, Molly Mason on guitar, and David Alpher on piano.)
Unlike another covers, Hampson'due south doesn't sound like he's actually been through hard times. His performance instead fits the Wikipedia description; I imagine he sings the song just equally a gentleman with a good voice would have done years ago in some parlor, playing piano with more finesse than I have and trying to print the guests at a party, particularly the woman he has his eye on. The rendition is smooth, and if you enjoy Hampson's voice, you may not realize how awful some parts of the lyrics are. The chorus is what makes the song great, not the verses.
Of all the versions, the Mavis Staples cover is my new favorite.
Thank you everyone!
Here'south a final update, from the reader who started this "Hard Times" serial. Rick indicated in our e-mail commutation that he was a long-time reader of The Dish, the weblog I helped edit for seven years—three of which were at The Atlantic. If you lot always followed the blog, Rick'south retrospective hither is poignant:
Well that mail is having a pretty practiced run! I knew of some other versions (east.g.Taylor/Ma), but many were new. The video I sent originally is not the best musical quality and it has a kind of bad-mannered family Christmas card feel, which I thought fit the season likewise. Glad I could contribute.
A "View From Your Window" I just dug up from the Dish email athenaeum, taken past Rick in 2012 around 9pm in Sacramento
It would be inaccurate to call me a Dish reader … Dish obsessive is more likely. I checked the site dozens of times a twenty-four hours, every twenty-four hour period. Almost a twelvemonth ago I made a list of all the wonderful things that The Dish introduced to me and I began to weep halfway through, finally stopping later a folio full. I defy anyone to find me a site today with the depth, reach, humor, and intellectual courage of The Dish. Where else could I discover Wislawa Szymborska AND Dina Martina, Frederick Seidel AND Robert Earl Keen AND Jack Gilbert, Rod Dreher AND Jennifer Michael Hecht? Become ahead, I'll wait for the answer.
I can even so call up exactly where and when I read the post from Andrew that yous all were closing shop: January 28, 2015, 10AM PST, at a very Dishy location: Sacramento Convention Center, men's bathroom in the northwest corner, showtime stall in. (Yep I was solitary. Still oversharing, I know, merely in the best Sully tradition). Reading that mail felt like getting the news that a good friend was very ill.
I came to The Dish from an unlikely source: Kendall Harmon, who is the Catechism Theologian of the Anglican diocese of S Carolina, and a robust opponent of gay marriage. In 2003, my Episcopal parish was in the midst of fierce itself autonomously after Gene Robinson's ordination and, bewildered, I was seeking dialogue and enlightenment. Kendall had a link to Andrew on his blog roll. Through those years of struggle in the church, Andrew was a vivid low-cal of courage, pity, insight and sense of humor. I was finally received into the Catholic church building on Easter Sabbatum 2006, and some of my discernment was informed past the thought that a church that could attend Andrew Sullivan was also a home for me.
The Dish was the greatest feel I had on the web and ane of the greatest intellectual adventures of my life. As one of the essential parts in that, give thanks you from the lesser of my heart. If you always run into Andrew, Patrick, and the rest of the gang, let them know how much the blog meant to me. And should such a project e'er be attempted again, please know that you have my intellectual, emotional, and fiscal support.
Thanks for listening, and have a blessed Christmas and Happy New year.
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