That's Why We're Marching: World War II And the American Folk Song Movement

Fifteen of the 25 tracks on this 71-minute disc are previously unreleased and the rest are not easily available. That's no reflection on their quality, but it is a clue to their limited typicality: these are songs written and recorded in the first half of the 1940s in response to world events before and during World War II; after the war, they dated fast. In fact, some of them became obsolete even before the U.S. entered the war. The earliest songs are three tracks by the Almanac Singers (who included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others) from the spring of 1941 decrying the actions of the Franklin Roosevelt Administration that inclined the country toward the war. When the songs were recorded, they expressed a commonly held sentiment. But only a couple of months later, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the singers themselves repudiated their sentiments, and another six months later, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they seemed positively treasonous. The rest of the album's songs are patriotic, pro-war expressions of the need to overcome Hitler and win the war. But even amid such mainstream sentiments, the left-wing folksingers slip in lyrics in support of unions and civil rights, more long-standing views for them. They also find space to praise U.S. ally the Soviet Union in songs that became politically unacceptable after the war. Fifty years later, of course, all of this makes for a musical, historical curiosity, and a listener's primary interest is likely to be the opportunity to hear previously unissued music by Guthrie, Seeger, Leadbelly, Josh White, Burl Ives, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and a host of other excellent folksingers. ~ William Ruhlmann

1 Freedom Road - Josh White
2 Talking Sailor - Woody Guthrie
3 Ballad of October 16 - Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger
4 Billy Boy - Almanac Singers, Josh White
5 Plow Under - Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger
6 I'm Gonna Put My Name Down - Tom Glazer
7 What Are We Waiting on (What Are We Waiting for) - Woody Guthrie
8 Citizen C.I.O. - Union Boys, Tom Glazer, Josh White
9 Sinking of the Reuben James - Woody Guthrie
10 You Better Get Ready - Union Boys, Burl Ives
11 If You Want to Do Your Part - Lead Belly
12 Move Into Germany - Union Boys, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee
13 So Long It's Been Good to Know You (Dusty Old... - Woody Guthrie
14 Martins and Coys - Union Boys
15 Mr. Hitler - Lead Belly
16 Sally Don't You Grieve - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston
17 Jimmy Longhi Story - Vincent 'Jimmy' Longhi
18 When the Yanks Go Marching in - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry
19 Round and Round Hitler's Grave - Almanac Singers
20 The Fuhrer - Josh White
21 Miss Pavlichencko - Woody Guthrie
22 National Defense Blues - Lead Belly, Terry, McGhee, Dupree
23 Gee But I Want to Go Home - Lead Belly
24 Looking for a Home - Pete Seeger
25 Now That It's All Over - Pete Seeger