The Mayor of MacDougal Street

Last updated
The Mayor of MacDougal Street
TheMayorOfMacDougalStreet.jpg
Compilation album by
ReleasedApril 19, 2005
Recorded1957-1969
Genre Folk
Label Rootstock Recordings
Producer Elijah Wald
Dave Van Ronk chronology
...and the tin pan bended and the story ended...
(2004)
The Mayor of MacDougal Street
(2005)

The Mayor of MacDougal Street: Rarities 1957-1969 is a compilation album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk, released in 2005.

Contents

History

The Mayor of MacDougal Street contains previously unreleased songs and is presented in chronological order. It contains both solo material and songs recorded with session musicians and bands that either backed Van Ronk or he was a member of. It was included with the memoir of the same title before being released as a separate CD. The title refers to MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Writing for Allmusic, critic Steve Leggett wrote of the album "Van Ronk was never a part of the tradition-at-all-costs wing of the folk movement, and he readily embraced the young songwriters of the day, frequently covering their songs, as evidenced by the hushed, nuanced version of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" that is included here. A skilled raconteur, Van Ronk had the timing of a jazz hornman, and that timing and his wide-ranging musical interests are everywhere apparent on this lovingly assembled look behind the curtains." [1]

Track listing

  1. "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" (Thomas) – 2:08
  2. "On Top of Old Smoky" (Traditional) – 3:31
  3. "All My Trials" (Traditional) – 3:48
  4. "Buddy Bolden's Blues" (Morton) – 2:48
  5. "The Butcher Boy" (Traditional) – 2:56
  6. "Salty Dog" (Jackson) – 3:21
  7. "Two Trains Running" (Muddy Waters) – 3:34
  8. "Way Down in Lubyanka Prison" (Berkeley) – 4:00
  9. "Willie the Weeper" (Traditional) – 3:07
  10. "Shaving Cream" (Bell) – 3:11
  11. "The Cruel Ship's Captain" (Traditional) – 2:39
  12. "As You Make Your Bed" (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 4:21
  13. "Bird on the Wire" (Leonard Cohen) – 3:29
  14. "Both Sides Now" (Joni Mitchell) – 5:14
  15. "In Conditional Support of Beauty" (Van Ronk) – 4:00
  16. "W.C. Fields Routine [Spoken]" (Traditional) – 1:36
  17. "Romping Through the Swamp" (live) (Stampfel) – 2:03

Personnel

Production notes

Related Research Articles

Dave Van Ronk American folk musician

David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street".

"Bird on the Wire" is one of Leonard Cohen's signature songs. It was recorded 26 September 1968 in Nashville and included on his 1969 album Songs from a Room. A May 1968 recording produced by David Crosby, titled "Like a Bird", was added to the 2007 remastered CD. Judy Collins was the first to release the song on her 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Joe Cocker also covered the song on his second studio album the following year.

MacDougal Street Street in Manhattan, New York

MacDougal Street is a one-way street in the Greenwich Village and SoHo neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. The street is bounded on the south by Prince Street and on the north by West 8th Street; its numbering begins in the south. Between Waverly Place and West 3rd Street it carries the name Washington Square West and the numbering scheme changes, running north to south, beginning with #29 Washington Square West at Waverly Place and ending at #37 at West 3rd Street. Traffic on the street runs southbound (downtown).

<i>Dave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers</i> 1964 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

Dave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers is an album featuring Dave Van Ronk playing with a jug band.

<i>Just Dave Van Ronk</i> 1964 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

Just Dave Van Ronk is a 1964 album by folk/blues singer Dave Van Ronk. It has not been released on CD.

<i>Sunday Street</i> (album) 1976 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

Sunday Street is an album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk, released in 1976.

<i>In the Tradition</i> (Dave Van Ronk album) 1963 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

In the Tradition is a 1963 album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk and The Red Onion Jazz Band. It is unusual in that the tracks are evenly split between Van Ronk and the Red Onions.

<i>Two Sides of Dave Van Ronk</i> 2002 compilation album by Dave Van Ronk

Two Sides of Dave Van Ronk is a compilation album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk, released in 2002. It includes the complete 1963 LP, In the Tradition and all of 1982’s Your Basic Dave Van Ronk except for "In the Midnight Hour" and "Stagolee".

<i>Dave Van Ronk: ...And the Tin Pan Bended and the Story Ended...</i> 2004 live album by Dave Van Ronk

...and the tin pan bended and the story ended... is a live album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk, released in 2004. It was his last concert before his death in 2002 of colon cancer.

<i>The Folkways Years, 1959–1961</i> 1991 compilation album by Dave Van Ronk

The Folkways Years, 1959–1961 is a compilation album of songs by Dave Van Ronk released in 1991.

<i>Van Ronk Sings</i> 1961 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

Van Ronk Sings is an album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk, released in July 1961.

<i>Somebody Else, Not Me</i> 1980 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

Somebody Else, Not Me is a 1980 album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk.

<i>Hesitation Blues</i> (album) 1988 compilation album by Dave Van Ronk

Hesitation Blues is a compilation album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk, released in 1988.

<i>Inside Dave Van Ronk</i> (compilation) 1989 compilation album by Dave Van Ronk

Inside Dave Van Ronk is a compilation album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk, originally released in 1972 on a double LP called Van Ronk. It has subsequently been reissued on CD, the first reissue in 1989.

<i>Let No One Deceive You</i> 1992 studio album by Dave Van Ronk, Frankie Armstrong

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht is an album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk and vocalist Frankie Armstrong, released in 1992. It consists completely of songs by Bertolt Brecht.

<i>From... Another Time & Place</i> 1995 studio album by Dave Van Ronk

From... Another Time & Place is an album by folk singer and guitarist Dave Van Ronk, released in 1995.

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock band the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the US and France. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the "first folk rock hit".

Elijah Wald

Elijah Wald is an American folk blues guitarist and music historian. He is a 2002 Grammy Award winner for his liner notes to The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz.

Moses Asch, often known as Moe Asch, was a Polish-American recording engineer and record executive. He founded Asch Records, which then changed its name to Folkways Records when the label transitioned from 78 RPM recordings to LP records. Asch ran the Folkways label from 1948 until his death in 1986. Folkways was very influential in bringing folk music into the American cultural mainstream. Some of America's greatest folk songs were originally recorded for Asch, including "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie and "Goodnight Irene" by Lead Belly. Asch sold many commercial recordings to Verve Records; after his death, Asch's archive of ethnic recordings was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, and released as Smithsonian Folkways Records.

<i>Inside Llewyn Davis</i> 2013 film by Coen brothers

Inside Llewyn Davis is a 2013 black comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1961, the film follows one week in the life of Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac in his breakthrough role, a folk singer struggling to achieve musical success while keeping his life in order. The supporting cast includes Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver.

References

  1. 1 2 Leggett, Steve. "The Mayor of MacDougal Street > Review". Allmusic . Retrieved June 15, 2011.