[78-L] Titanic Songs ENOUGH ALREADY

Mon Apr 9 15:30:19 PDT 2012

Well put, Philip. What you describe is the subtle dramaturgy of the 
event, and, as we all know: without that a story never becomes a good 
story and a tragedy never a great tragedy.
And an important part of the story here was the music, which was played 
voluntarily, by a band that didn't even belong to the crew - the 
musicians were on the passenger list due to the music agency's new policy.
In a disaster marked by hybris, greed, ignorance and cynicism the 
musicians became the heroes, representing traditional values like 
unselfishness and courage. This was evident in the first witness reports 
and in the first articles written on the eve of Carpathia's arrival in 
New York.
One good reason to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic.
Kristjan

On 2012-04-10 00:09, Philip Carli wrote:
> David - I'll simply send what I wrote on Facebook in a post on A NIGHT TO REMEMBER:
>
> I've studied the TITANIC most of my life, as well as other shipwrecks. However, the TITANIC's eternal fascination is that the tragedy encapsulated and compressed many of the 20th century's emerging concerns - technology, social instability, commercial hubris, national identity among them - into a two hour and forty minute progression from life's beginning to its end, with inequities, heroism, cowardice, luck, and base (in every sense) humanity evident from moment to moment, and these issues have only become more prominent and persistent over the last hundred years. The more I read and learn, even after forty years, the more I wonder.
>
> Back to here and now, David - it really marked a moment of philosophical change, when the concept that humankind and its "progress" could triumph over everything was completely disproved.  It was also one of the first technological disasters whose _two_ contemporary formal investigations revealed more than mere nuts-and-bolts evidence, but also human frailties, which surprised everyone.
>
> The Cameron film is an insult.
>
> Philip Carli
> ________________________________________
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] on behalf of David Lennick [dlennick at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 5:45 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Titanic Songs ENOUGH ALREADY
>
> Am I the only person in the world who finds Titanic obsession sick beyond
> belief? Was this the only ship that ever sank in the history of the world?
> Sorry, but I have to let it out. As for the movie, I stood 4 minutes of it till
> I heard DiCrapio's so-called acting and said "That's it, folks". Yes it was a
> tragedy. It sank. People died. People died when the Hindenburg exploded. People
> died in mine disasters. People died in WWII. People died the other month when
> an idiot captain ran a luxury liner aground. People die because dictators are
> dictators. Will someone PLEASE explain what was so special about this one
> particular tragedy that raises it above others?
>
> Ready to receive brickbats.
>
> dl
>
> On 4/9/2012 5:35 PM, Philip Carli wrote:
>> Well, not only were the crew British, the ship was the pride of Britain's merchant marine at a time of enormous competition (TITANIC was exceeded as "world's largest ship" by the German HAPAG liner IMPERATOR in 1913, which itself was exceeded by the Cunarder AQUITANIA in 1914 and then bounced back to HAPAG's VATERLAND that same year before war broke out), and the majority of passengers were British or under British governance.  As for popular song memorialization at the time, perhaps this was too awe-inspiringly terrible.  Take a look at two poems written immediately after the disaster: Ben Hecht's bitter "Master and Man" (referring to White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay surviving while Capt. Edward Smith went down with the ship), and Thomas Hardy's sombre "The Convergence of the Twain".  Both were written for public display, Hecht's for printing in a Chicago newspaper, and Hardy's for reading at a London Titanic benefit performance.  They might give some sense of contempor
> ary general popular feeling. PC
>> ________________________________________
>> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] on behalf of Rodger Holtin [rjh334578 at yahoo.com]
>> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 12:34 PM
>> To: 78-L Mail List
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Titanic Songs
>>
>> Hmmm.  so that's the story: one Hebrew prayer record issued in America and a handful of patriotic items from the British, and the rest waited until the Dalhart Era.  I can see why this may have resounded with the British a bit more than in America - the crew were British, we lost tourists and incoming immigrants.  Still seems a little odd that Tin Pan Alley didn't jump on this, they sure cranked out the maudlin in previous decades, and could have churned out something.
>>
>> That said, I have noticed, however, that a bunch of Christian hymns with nautical themes got recorded or re-recorded about that time:
>> Let the Lower Lights be Burning
>> Throw Out the Life Line
>> Remember Me Oh Mighty One
>> There Is a Sea
>> Oh God Our Help in Ages Past
>> and others, not to mention Nearer My God to Thee which was supposed to have been played by the band as the ship went down, or so it was told at the time.  I think I even read that on a vintage news paper or somewhere like that.  I think I've heard that later research seems to inidicate it was another, similar tune and those who have read the books about the band members might have more information on that.  True, those are and have been evergreens for decades, but I see them show up on records from the 'teens pretty regularly.
>>
>> I also note that Asleep in the Deep was recorded in 1913, so no direct Titanic items until the Dalhart Era, but lots of ancillary items in America anyway.
>>
>> Rodger
>>
>> For Best Results use Victor Needles.
>>
>> .
>>
>> --- On Mon, 4/9/12, Eric<bear128 at verizon.net>   wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Eric<bear128 at verizon.net>
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Titanic Songs
>> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>> Date: Monday, April 9, 2012, 4:18 AM
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I don't know if the following cantorial will help, but  Cantor Yossele
>> Rosenblat recorded the funeral prayer, "El Mole Rachmin für Titanik (Farn
>> Titanik)" in 1913 on Victor 35312-B.  It certainly does not fall under
>> bluegrass/country.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bill Knowlton
>> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 9:53 PM
>> To: 78-L (2)
>> Subject: [78-L] Titanic Songs
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hey, Gang...help me with country/bluegrass recordings about theTitanic so I
>> can get some of 'em on my tribute show next weekend.
>>
>> Thank yew!
>>
>>
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