Monday, December 31, 1973

Fred & Irwin Silber Folksinger’s Wordbook

Fred & Irwin Silber:

Folksinger’s Wordbook

First published in 1973, this book collects lyrics for nearly 1000 standards, predominantly from before the 20th century. There is no commentary or ranking of the songs in the book, but I have created a top 100 ranking by looking at how many other lists the songs in this book appeared on. Publication years for songs are indicated, but no specific artist is attached to each song.

Click here to see other lists from critics and individuals and here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

1. “Amazing Grace” (1772)
2. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic (aka ‘Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!’)” (1861)
3. “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1880)
4. “The Star-Spangled Banner” (1814)
5. “Silent Night” (1818)
6. “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?” (1902)
7. “Home on the Range” (1873)
8. “America the Beautiful” (1895)
9. “Jingle Bells” (1857)
10. “Yankee Doodle (aka ‘Yankee Doodle Went to Town’)” (1754)

11. “Oh! Susanna” (1846)
12. “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (1706)
13. “Hello Ma Baby” (1899)
14. “After the Ball” (1892)
15. “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (1863)
16. “Dixie” (1859)
17. “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (1894)
18. “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904)
19. “O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)” (1751)
20. “Camptown Races (Gwine to Run All Night)” (1850)

21. “In the Good Old Summertime” (1902)
22. “Joy to the World” (1719)
23. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (1852)
24. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” (1853)
25. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (1739)
26. “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (1903)
27. “Auld Lang Syne” (1799)
28. “Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)” (1892)
29. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (1873)
30. “On Top of Old Smoky” (1841)

31. “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” (1899)
32. “Clementine” (1884)
33. “Frère Jacques (Are You Sleeping?)” (1780)
34. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (1868)
35. “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” (1851)
36. “Home Sweet Home” (1823)
37. “Turkey in the Straw” (1820)
38. “My Old Kentucky Home” (1853)
39. “Rock-a-Bye Baby” (1884)
40. “Danny Boy” (1913)

41. “Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)” (1846)
42. “The Sidewalks of New York” (1894)
43. “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” (1881)
44. “Rock of Ages” (1763)
45. “Away in a Manger” (1882)
46. “The First Noel” (1823)
47. “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (1927)
48. “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (1907)
49. “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (1905)
50. “Skip to My Lou” (1832)

51. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (1868)
52. “The Battle Cry of Freedom” (1862)
53. “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (1891)
54. “Pop Goes the Weasel” (1853)
55. “This Old Man (Nick Nack Paddiwak)” (1842)
56. “Bingo (B-I-N-G-O)” (1780)
57. “Casey Jones (The Brave Engineer)” (1909)
58. “Polly Wolly Doodle (All the Day)” (1843)
59. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (1760)
60. “Hush Little Baby” (1918)

61. “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” (1867)
62. “Beautiful Dreamer” (1864)
63. “The Band Played On” (1895)
64. “Red River Valley” (1896)
65. “Shenandoah” (1837)
66. “On the Banks of the Wabash” (1897)
67. “In the Sweet By-and-By” (1868)
68. “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (1863)
69. “Twelve Days of Christmas” (1780)
70. “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” (1855)

71. “My Wild Irish Rose” (1899)
72. “Buffalo Gals (Will You Come Out Tonight)” (1844)
73. “Grandfather’s Clock” (1876)
74. “A Bird in a Gilded Cage” (1900)
75. “What Child Is This?” (1865)
76. “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” (1854)
77. “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” (1875)
78. “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” (1912)
79. “Froggie Went A-Courtin’” (1549)
80. “Nearer My God to Thee” (1841)

81. “Alouette” (1879)
82. “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” (1867)
83. “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” (1865)
84. “Deck the Halls” (1862)
85. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (1900)
86. “We Shall Overcome” (1963)
87. “The Green Grass Grew All Around” (1912)
88. “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)” (1935)
89. “Greensleeves” (1580)
90. “Alabamy Bound” (1925)

91. “Old Dan Tucker” (1843)
92. “The Little Brown Jug” (1869)
93. “The Old Grey Mare” (1915)
94. “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” (1709)
95. “Onward Christian Soldiers” (1871)
96. “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” (1843)
97. “Give Me That Old Time Religion” (1865)
98. “Down by the Riverside” (1918)
99. “Angels We Have Heard on High” (1862)
100. “Lorena” (1857)

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First posted 12/5/2025; last updated 12/7/2025.

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Monday, December 10, 1973

CBGB Club opened.

CBGB’s was a famous club that opened on 315 Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village in 1973. The site had previously been home to a biker bar and, before that, a dive bar. As far back as the 19th century, the site was a former saloon on the first floor of the Palace Lodging House.

Hilly Kristal founded the club, giving it the full name of CBGB & OMFUG, which stood for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and other Music for uplifting Gourmandizers.” The intent was to showcase music from all kinds of genres, but it became the landing place for the American punk and new wave scene. The club is credited with launching the careers of the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, and Patti Smith.

A storefront next to the club became a record shop and café known as the CBGB Record Canteen. It was replaced in the late ‘80s with a second performance space and art gallery.

The club closed after a final concert from Patti Smith on October 15, 2006. A retail store opened at the CBGB venue, operating there until the close of the month and then moving to 19-23 St. Mark’s Place on November 1. It stayed open until the summer of 2008. CBGB Radio was started in 2010 on the iheartradio platform and, two years later, the CBGB festival was launched. The latter was the largest music festival in New York City, producing free concerts in Times Square and Central Park and premiering rock movies in Manhattan theaters.

In 2013, the former home of the CBGB club was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bowery Historic District. That same year, the movie CBGB was released starring Alan Rickman as Kristal.

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First posted 12/6/2023.

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Friday, December 7, 1973

Yes Tales from Topographic Oceans released

Tales from Topographic Oceans

Yes

Released: December 7, 1973

Peak: 6 US, 12 UK, 4 CN, 13 AU Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 0.6 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: progressive rock

Tracks:

Click on a song title for more details.
  1. The Revealing Science of God – Dance of the Dawn (Anderson, Howe) [20:23]
  2. The Remembering – High the Memory (Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, White) [20:35]
  3. The Ancient – Giants Under the Sun (Anderson, Howe, Squire) [18:37]
  4. Ritual – Nous Sommes du Soleil (Anderson, Howe) [21:33]

Total Running Time: 81:14

The Players:

  • Jon Anderson (vocals, harp, percussion)
  • Steve Howe (guitar, backing vocals)
  • Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals)
  • Rick Wakeman (keyboards)
  • Alan White (drums, percussion)

Rating:

3.353 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Quotable:

“Either the finest record or the most overblown album in Yes’ output.” – Bruce Eder, AllMusic.com

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

Prog Rock at Its Best…and Worst

“Either the finest record or the most overblown album in Yes’ output. When it was released, critics called it one of the worst examples of progressive rock’s overindulgent nature.” BE It has been “derided as being hopelessly overblown and pretentious.” TB Rolling Stone critic Gordon Fletcher called it “psychedelic doodling.” WK

Bassist “Chris Squire mentions listening to tapes of a live performance some years later and thinking ‘it does go on a bit,’ but then adding that he ‘really enjoyed it.’” WK Howe has “stated that some of his best guitar work was to be found on Tales from Topographic Oceans.

Indeed, the album has also been celebrated as “the pinnacle of prog ambition in the 1970s.” TB It “is a sprawling, richly orchestrated work, awash with sudden changes in tempo and time signature, searing guitar solos, synthesizer flourishes, and impenetrable lyrics about Eastern mysticism.” TB

A Commercial Success

“Yes spent the latter half of 1973 attempting to fashion a record that would top all of the group’s previous releases.” TB “There was clearly a market for the band’s prog excesses in its day: Tales from Topographic Oceans was the group’s biggest commercial success to date.” TB “Public anticipation for Tales was so high that the album, a double, achieved gold status in the UK on the strength of pre-sale orders alone.” TB

The Concept

“Jon Anderson’s fascination with Eastern religions never manifested itself more clearly or broadly” WK than on Tales. The album, the group’s “most ambitious to date,” TB was “based on the Shastric scriptures,” WK specifically “rooted in the spiritual text Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogandanda.” TB It is a “four-piece work of symphonic length and scope” WK with each piece filling one side of vinyl. The songs symbolize – “in track order, the concepts of Truth, Knowledge, Culture, and Freedom.” WK

Drummer Bill Bruford said, “former King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir introduced vocalist Jon Anderson to Paramahansa Yogananda’s work during Bruford's wedding in March 1973.” WK However, “one needn’t understand any of that to appreciate the many sublimely beautiful moments on this album, some of the most gorgeous passages ever recorded by the band.” BE

Rick Wakeman’s Exit

“Keyboardist Rick Wakeman left shortly after the album’s completion, unhappy with the direction Yes was taking.” TB He has “expressed intense dislike of the album, stemming in part from the fact that vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe constructed the bulk of the album entirely on their own (as the sleeve notes suggest), leaving the remaining three members with relatively little to contribute (which the sleeve notes dispute).” WK Wakeman “spent much of the time playing darts with Black Sabbath members” WK who were “in the studio recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath at the same time as Yes.” WK

He wasn’t the first to be frustrated with “Anderson and Howe’s studio behavior.” WK “Bruford had left the band for King Crimson a year earlier for similar reasons.” WK

Wakeman has acknowledged “that he enjoyed some of the musical content of ‘The Ancient,’ and Wakeman has performed ‘The Revealing Science of God’ and ‘Ritual’ with the band often in the years since.” WK

Reissue

A 2003 reissue added studio run-throughs of “Dance of the Dawn” and “Giants Under the Sun.” 2016 edition added a third disc of material, including single edits of each of the four songs.

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First posted 6/7/2011; updated 9/21/2025.

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Wednesday, December 5, 1973

Paul McCartney & Wings released Band on the Run: December 5, 1973

Originally posted December 5, 2011.



“The consensus of critics, as well as cold hard sales figures, says that Band on the Run was Paul McCartney’s most successful solo album.” RG “Neither the dippy, rustic Wild Life nor the slick AOR flourishes of Red Rose Speedway earned Paul McCartney much respect, so he made the self-consciously ambitious Band on the Run to rebuke his critics. On the surface, Band on the Run appears to be constructed as a song cycle in the vein of Abbey Road, but subsequent listens reveal that the only similarities the two albums share are simply superficial.” STE

“McCartney’s talent for songcraft and nuanced arrangements is in ample display throughout the record, which makes many of the songs – including the nonsensical title track – sound more substantial than they actually are. While a handful of the songs are excellent – the surging, inspired surrealism of Jet is by far one of his best solo recordings, Bluebird is sunny acoustic pop, and Helen Wheels captures McCartney rocking with abandon – most of the songs are more style than substance. Yet McCartney’s melodies are more consistent than any of his previous solo records, and there are no throwaways; the songs just happen to be not very good.” STE

“Still, the record is enjoyable, whether it’s the minor-key Mrs. Vandebilt or Let Me Roll It, a silly response to John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep?,’ which does make Band on the Run one of McCartney’s finest solo efforts. However, there’s little of real substance on the record,” STE although it should be noted that the album is “an artistic triumph over very trying conditions – the defection of two-fifths of Wings.” RG Still, “no matter how elaborate the production is, or how cleverly his mini-suites are constructed, Band on the Run is nothing more than a triumph of showmanship.” STE



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