WEEK 12: THE HARRY SMITH ANTHOLOGY

Elliot Smith from "Miss Misery" music video.
A talented and deeply troubled singer-songwriter who took his own life at age 34.

Some of the summaries and descriptions of the songs in the anthology feel very cold and almost brutal to me. It’s confusing because the composition of the songs does not reflect the content at all. A lot of the songs involve some sort of tragedy whether that be murder, heartbreak, or crime. Songs like “The House Carpenter” and “The Butcher’s Boy” seem more allegorical than whimsical. It’s as though some of these songs serve as cautionary tales on the darkness of human nature. I’ve mentioned this before, but after being exposed to more and more folk music I’ve truly come to the conclusion that a lot of music was made in response to suffering. Music, both creating and listening to it, can be therapeutic for people. It can give them an outlet or a way to distract themselves from the minutiae of life on a farm, from the everyday tragedies that can befall those who are poor or oppressed.

Why are folk songs so important? It’s something I’ve been thinking about the past few weeks we’ve been diving into them. Music has always been a way to unite communities and foster communication and a sense of connection. A bond between two people can be instantly created through the acknowledgment of a shared taste in music. In a way, folk music is the acknowledgement of a shared history and creates a stronger bond between people who share it with each other. Since back in the early days, before these songs were recorded, the only people who knew these songs were the people that carried the songs with them through generations. I’m curious what the development of the internet and the increased accessibility to this kind of music has done to the culture. Does it still carry the same weight if anyone can have access to it? On one hand I believe that music should not be gate kept. Music should be for anyone who needs it and should not be withheld from people due to social status, income, etc. On the other hand, I take issue with the co-opting of folk music as an appropriation of “poor culture”. Those who seek access to working class spaces and communities, with whom they can only feign shared experiences, bother me. It harkens back to Thoreau, who was privileged enough to taste nature, dip his feet in, but ultimately decide that the conditions were too rough  and that man should keep a balance between nature and civilization. How should those individuals who arrived in Appalachia, forced to carve out their own civilization in an unforgiving environment, feel then? They did not have a choice, their temperament and their culture was created through necessity and survival. Same with the African slaves who were brought here against their will. Their music was a way for them to endure their pain in the hopes of a tomorrow. Black music and black culture developed out of a place of pain and suffering, as did Appalachian music.

I don’t know how to feel about any of this, perhaps this is all very obvious and I’m just pondering it for the first time. I don’t know what it means that some of the best, most genuine music must come from such dark places. Could it be true that suffering, as a human condition, is what leads us to greater heights? I think about this often in regard to Berkeley’s overwhelming high-pressure culture. It’s amazing how many of us suffer here, and yet we believe it will be worth it in the pursuit of some greater success in our futures. All I see is the molding of workaholics, those who self-impose suffering because they get a high from the productivity it creates. Little to no sleep, lack of nutrition, reliance on substances, how much can we give up in the pursuit of “greatness".