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Initially recorded for a lo-fi family "Christmas album," this track (pun?) was arranged and sung by then-4 year old Jade C. Blair. Many of us learned this as a kid's folk tune, but it's actually as corpus of songs from the mid-19th century, with a melody inspired by von Suppé's POET & PEASANT OVERTURE. The song was first published in 1894 as "The Levee Song" and the first known recording was by The Sandhills 16 in 1927 (Victor Records), performed in a minstrel style with indelicate lyrics about working on the levee AND the railroad AND a disgraceful woman named Grace (those lyrics would be derailed in today's social climate). The "Dinah" section was an amendment from a British pub song and may have been an echo from E.P. Christy's "Goodnight Ladies." "Dinah" was also Civil War slang for an African-American slave woman, implying that she was either smart or seductive (it's not clear). In the 20th Century, the song was amended countless times with different lyrics (including Japanese) to accommodate sporting events and more (Pete Seeger did a risqué version in the 1950s). By the time Jade and I got to it, the song felt like good clean fun, running on the train tracks of time.

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from LOST & FOUND VOL. 2: AMERICANA & THE GREAT BEYOND Deep Cuts & Rarities, released February 8, 2018
Jade C. Blair: arrangement & vocals
Johnny J. Blair: banjo, bass, drums, slide guitar, fiddles, & production

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Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" San Francisco, California

"Johnny is a virtuoso"--Brian Wilson
"Pop music with a conscience.”--Goldmine
“the Harry Houdini of rock and roll.”-- Spotlight. Listen to Johnny's fast-paced mix of old school soul, psychedelia, punk/new wave, & classic pop/rock. Singer-songwriter in his own right, he was also a sideman for Davy Jones and The Monkees + performed with David Cassidy, Al Stewart, Buddy & Julie Miller, & others. ... more

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