Prologue: The Streets of Laredo St. Louis 1. St. Louis Blues (1914) 2. Duncan and Brady (1890) 3. Stagolee (1895) 4. Frankie and Johnny (1899) Lying Cold on the Ground 5. Omie Wise (1807) 6. The Ballad of Frankie Silver (1831) 7. Tom Dooley (1866) 8. Poor Ellen Smith (1892) 9. Pearl Bryan (1896) 10. Delia's Gone (1900) Bold Highwaymen and Outlaws 11. Cole Younger (1876) 12. Jesse James (1882) 13. John Hardy (1894) 14. Railroad Bill (1896) 15. Betty and Dupree (1921) Railroads 16. John Henry (1870s) 17. Engine 143 (1890) 18. Casey Jones (1900) 19. Wreck of the Old 97 (1903) Workers 20. Cotton Mill Blues (1930s) 21. Chain Gang Blues (1930s) 22. Only a Miner (1930s) 23. House of the Rising Sun (1930s) Disasters 24. The Titanic (1912) 25. The Boll Weevil (1920s) Martyrs 26. Joe Hill (1915) 27. Sacco and Vanzetti (1927) Epilogue: Hear My Sad Story
Richard Polenberg is Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History Emeritus at Cornell University. He is the author of Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired "Stagolee," "John Henry," and Other Traditional American Folk Songs and Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, The Supreme Court, and Free Speech, and is the editor of In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Security Clearance Hearing, all from Cornell.
"I never knew that 'Railroad Bill,' which I used to sing at summer camp, is about an African American outlaw (real name Morris) who terrorized Alabama in the 1890s. People had good reason to fear Bill, but that fear was also used as an excuse for the blatantly racist treatment of people whose only connection to him seems to have been the color of their skin. ('A number of Negroes have been arrested,' Polenberg quotes an 1895 news report. 'None of them will be permitted to go about for fear that they might sneak some information to Railroad.') Many of Polenberg's stories shed similar light on the uglier aspects of American history, and he tells them well."-Peter Keepnews, New York Times Book Review "Well researched and packed with fascinating detail, Hear My Sad Story tells more than just the origins of popular folk songs. It tells an unflinching and honest story of America. At times viciously misguided and undoubtedly ugly, the country's history has nevertheless been documented through the lenses of those who witnessed these events and passed them down to subsequent generations. Celebrated in song, the tales outlined through the book's nearly 300 pages seem poised to continue their grip on the fabric of society as we move further away from the actual events. As history continues to unfold, there are surely those amongst us today whose interpretations of modern events will be relied upon by future songwriters to help make sense of life in our time. It's the American tradition. "-Jeff Strowe, PopMatters (January 7, 2016) "Polenberg writes engagingly about the Crescent City at the turn of the last century, as he does about everything he addresses in this entertaining and enlightening book."-Jerome Clark, fRoots (Jan/Feb 2016) "This thought-provoking study will help us to delve further into the reasons why so many of America's most popular songs have concerned white and male violence while obscuring black agency and side-stepping the terrorism of racism and male supremacy. Perhaps then we can better ask the questions we might have gleaned from these songs all along. Thanks to Richard Polenberg for pulling the covers off and allowing us to think more deeply about our history when we sing the folk songs that tell "my sad story."-Michael K. Honey,Missouri Historical Review(April 2016) "Hear My Sad Story is an excellent book about folk songs and ballads that cover much of U.S. history in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Richard Polenberg draws on a wide range of fascinating primary and secondary sources to tell these stories in rich detail, particularly dealing with legal and political issues."-Ronald D. Cohen, Indiana University Northwest, author of Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940-1970 "This fascinating book by one of the very best twentieth-century American historians draws on Richard Polenberg's enduring and continuing interest in folk music. Hear My Sad Story provides useful and illuminating background stories for a host of important American songs. Polenberg's good, crisp, readable prose ensures that anyone who likes folk music will enjoy this musical window onto the patterns of the past."-Allan M. Winkler, Miami University of Ohio, author of "To Everything There Is a Season": Pete Seeger and the Power of Song "By giving equal weight to historical events and their reinvention as musical myths, Richard Polenberg creates a rich and colorful tapestry of fact and fable. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable and frequently illuminating volume."-Elijah Wald, musician, cultural historian, and coauthor of The Mayor of MacDougal Street
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