Fans of bluegrass and other traditional American music all know “The Wreck of the Old 97”. Without even trying, I have acquired five versions by four different artists for my iPod: Ernest Stoneman & Kayle Brewer, Hank Thompson, Johnny Cash (live, at San Quentin), and two by Mac Wiseman. For those who do not know the song, it usually begins something like this:<\/p>\n
\nWell they gave him his orders at Monroe, Virginia,
\nSaying “Steve, you’re way behind time.
\nThis is not 38, it’s old 97.
\nYou must put her into Spencer on time.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nA complete set of lyrics – more complete than in any version I have heard sung – will be found at the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum<\/a> website. Most singers start with the third verse, quoted above.<\/p>\n
Wikipedia’s article<\/a> on the wreck and the song includes a detail I had not known:<\/p>\n
\nDuring the late 1940s, a parody of the ballad was sung that mocked the ties that the folk singer Pete Seeger had to the Communist Party.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
They give the first four lines, which is enough for Google to find the rest at the Socialist Songbook<\/a> website:<\/p>\n
\nTHE BALLAD OF PETE SEEGER<\/p>\n
(Tune: Wreck of the Old ’97)<\/p>\n
Well, they gave him his orders
\nUp at party headquarters,
\nSaying, “Pete, you’re way behind the times,
\nThis is not ’38; this is 1947,
\nAnd there’s been a change in that old party line.”<\/p>\nWell, it’s a long, long haul
\nFrom “Greensleeves” to “Freiheit”,
\nAnd the distance is more than long,
\nBut that great outfit they call the People’s Artists
\nIs on hand with those good old People’s songs.<\/p>\nTheir motives are pure, their material is corny,
\nBut their spirit will never be broke.
\nAnd they go right on in their great noble crusade –
\nOf teaching folk songs to the folk.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n