They signed to Decca Records and their single “Tzena Tzena Tzena” (music by Issachor Miron, revised by Julius Grossman, English lyrics by Mitchell Parish)/“Goodnight Irene” (music and lyrics by Lead Belly), credited to Gordon Jenkins and His Orch. The Weavers were on the verge of disbanding in December 1949 when they auditioned at the Village Vanguard in N.Y Booked into the club for two weeks at the end of the year, they were extended for six months. In December they recorded a second single, “The Hammer Song” (later known as “If I Had a Hammer” music by Pete Seeger, lyrics by Lee Hays)/“Banks of Marble” (music and lyrics by Les Rice) for Hootenanny Records. In September 1949 they made their first recordings for the independent Charter Records label, which released the single “Wasn’t That a Time” (music and lyrics by Lee Hays)/“Dig My Grave” (traditional Bahamian folk hymn). They played at benefits and on local radio during 1949, initially as the No-Name Quartet, then took their name from the 1892 German play The Weavers by Gerhart Hauptmann. They first performed together at a benefit for People’s Songs in November 1948. Seeger and Hays were former members of The Almanac Singers they became involved with Gilbert and Hellerman through their work with People’s Songs, an organization that promoted the performance of topical folk music in support of left-wing causes. Their most successful recordings were the singles “Goodnight Irene” /“Tzena Tzena Tzena,” “On Top of Old Smoky,” and “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know Yuh)” and their album The Weavers at Carnegie Hall They adapted folk songs from many different countries into their own vibrant style, popularizing a wide range of music, as well as performed the songs of such American folk predecessors as Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie they also wrote their own material. Thus, they are a direct influence on such subsequent groups as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, as well as on the overall folk revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Weavers were the first broadly popular group of contemporary urban folk musicians and singers. Membership:originally, Pete Seeger, ten., bjo., gtr. Superb music, mastered, as always, from the finest available sources and reopening a window on a time when American popular music was changing and evolving rapidly - and looking increasingly towards folk and blues to provide new stimulus for a growing record buying public.Weavers, The, American folk-music group. The sophisticated musical arrangements of many of these tracks, by the legendary Gordon Jenkins, serve to enhance rather than detract from Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman's presentation of their musical messages. Their unwarranted fall from grace was happily suffixed by a return to popularity in the late 50s - but it's on the records they made between 19 that their reputation will forever rest. Their influence on generations of folk groups - from the Tarriers and the Kingston Trio, to the Seekers and beyond - is as enormous as it is incalculable.īefore becoming the victims of a Communist witch-hunt, the Weavers were without peer in their field of music, popularising and making hits of future staples of The Great American Songbook such as 'Goodnight Irene', 'On Top Of Old Smoky', 'Wimoweh' and 'If I Had A Hammer'. More than any other group of their era, it was the Weavers who made American folk song accessible to the record buying public in the 1940s and 1950s.
#Wimoweh waevers plus
This Jasmine 2CD collection brings together the A and B sides of every 78 and 45 that The Weavers released on Decca between 19, plus the contents of their two albums for the label and some earlier, independently-issued recordings - including their first version of 'If I Had A Hammer' (as 'The Hammer Song').
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