Sunday Worker
May 18, 1941
"SONGS FOR JOHN DOE" RECORDED
The ballads of a people are the songs of its working folk. Wherever people have toiled and struggled, ballads have been sung to
commemorate their toil and battle.
The Songs for John Doe (Almanac Record Co., three 10-inch discs, $2) are the music of America's fight against the raging imperialist war. Remarkably sung by the Almanac Singers, an excellent group of young balladeers, these seven songs tell of the issue by issue campaign waged by the peace forces of our nation in the past year. Some of them are old tunes for many years, some are new, created by the singers themselves. All of them are authentic American ballads packing a real punch.
In "The Strange Death of John Doe", first side of the album, the Almanac Singers have produced a tragic fragment that will be sung for many a year to come. Told, as are all songs, in simple people's language, this ballad has as bitter an impact as any in the whole literature of people's songs.
Also included in the album are "Billy Boy" and "Liza Jane", both with a new set of words. The others are the Ballad of October 16, Plow Under, C for Conscription and Washington Breakdown. Some are light and savagely ridicule the rulers of America - Plow Under and Washington Breakdown - others speak of the problems of our people faced with the threat to drag them into war and all bluntly rip away the false whiskers with which the warmongers seek to disguise themselves.
The album is very suitable for performance before large bodies of people - peace rallies, union meetings and other gatherings. Simple songs of peace, they should be brought into every town and hamlet of this country, Everyone who would fight this war should consider this group of ballads a 'must.'
A.S.