Feb
22
Submitted by webmaster on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 19:26
BabyBlessings | November 23, 2009
LYRICS...
I'll have a Blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing, if you're not here with me
I'll have a blue Christmas, that's certain
And when that blue heartache starts hurtin'
You'll be doin' alright with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
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2 comments
Here's the summary for this video that was provided by SmithsonianFolkways:
"For more information on Elizabeth Cotten, please visit...
http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_fo...
To purchase "Freight Train" or the album "Elizabeth Cotten, Volume 3: When I'm Gone", please visit...
http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetai...
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1895-1987) built her musical legacy on a firm foundation of late 19th- and early 20th-century African-American instrumental traditions and fine musicianship. She strung her guitar upside down, the bass notes to the bottom. This meant she would thumb the treble strings while finger-picking the bass notes, creating an almost inimitable sound. Her method was so influential it became known as the "Cotten style."
Watch this unique style in a performance of "Freight Train," her best-known song, edited from film taken by Pete and Toshi Seeger at the Seeger family home in 1957.
The content and comments posted here are subject to the Smithsonian Institution copyright and privacy policy (www.si.edu/copyright/). Smithsonian reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any content at any time."
Selected viewer comments from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4UWLBHL9wI&feature=related
petspictured (1 month ago) I was privileged to see Libba perform this live sometime in the 70s or early 80s (Mike Seeger and John McCutcheon were at the same festival). She was wonderful! I had always liked the song, but afterthat it became a lifelong favorite.
Thanks so much for posting this treasure!
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LydiaJoy82 (1 month ago) Thanks so much for posting this. I'd always heard she played the guitar flipped like that, but it's awesome to see. Really sounds beautiful!
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meplayin (1 month ago) What a wonderful piece of Americana History on film. Thanks to the Seeger family, we have Elizabeth Cotton for ever. Thank You Thank You Thank You!
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Joanna129 (1 day ago) It's amazing that she can play both melody and chords at the same time. How does she do that?