Hear my sad story : the true tales that inspired "Stagolee," "John Henry," and other traditional American folk songs / Richard Polenberg.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Prologue: The streets of Laredo -- St. Louis -- St. Louis blues -- Duncan and Brady -- Stagolee -- Frankie and Johnny -- Lying cold on the ground -- Omie wise -- The ballad of Frankie Silver -- Tom Dooley -- Poor Ellen Smith -- Pearl Bryan -- Delia's gone -- Bold highwaymen -- Cole Younger -- Jesse James -- John Hardy -- Railroad Bill -- Betty and Dupree -- Railroads -- John Henry (1870s) -- Engine 143 -- Casey Jones -- Wreck of the old 97 -- Workers -- Cotton mill blues (1930s) -- Chain gang blues (1930s) -- Only a miner (1930s) -- House of the rising sun (1930s) -- Disasters -- The Titanic -- The boll weevil (1920s) -- Martyrs -- Joe Hill -- Sacco and Vanzetti -- Epilogue: Hear my sad story.

"In Hear My Sad Story, Richard Polenberg describes the historical events that led to the writing of many famous American folk songs that served as touchstones for generations of American musicians, lyricists, and folklorists. Those events, which took place from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, often involved tragic occurrences: murders, sometimes resulting from love affairs gone wrong; desperate acts borne out of poverty and unbearable working conditions; and calamities such as railroad crashes, shipwrecks, and natural disasters. All of Polenberg's accounts of the songs in the book are grounded in historical fact and illuminate the social history of the times. Reading these tales of sorrow, misfortune, and regret puts us in touch with the dark but terribly familiar side of American history."

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