Soundtrack for "I'd Fight the World"

Updated: Jan 8, 2020

In this post, I highlight various online sources that give readers an idea of what important songs, melodies, or recordings mentioned in I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music sound like. Generally speaking the goal is to make the most easily available versions of songs accessible to readers of the book. I will do my best to keep the links current, but search engines are a next best friend if a link or two goes obsolete. Please be patient as items load up because there are a lot of links to various types of media on this page.

Intro

Two versions of the titular song, one by one of the two co-writers and one by a performer coming from the R&B tradition. Phillips, by the way, launched her comeback in part with the help of country star Kenny Rogers.

Hank Cochran, "I'd Fight the World"

Esther Phillips, "I'd Fight the World"

Readers unfamiliar with films mentioned might also want to take a look at these clips:

A Face in the Crowd (Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes monologue)
Nashville (opening)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Homer Stokes campaign rally)

Chapter 1: Like Orpheus

No recordings of Tom Watson's nor the Taylor brothers' fiddling appear to have been made. In this case I offer links to old time fiddler Henry Reed's renditions of these tunes on the Library of Congress website. These recordings were collected by Alan Jabbour and Karen Singer Jabbour in the 1960s.

Note: the following is Reed's version of Buffalo Gals/Lubly Fanny

Fiddlin' John Carson, "Tom Watson Special"

Fiddlin' John Carson's antisemitic "Little Mary Phagan"

Alf Taylor (Ex-Governor of Tennessee) and his Old Limber Quartet, "Pharoah's Army Got Drownded"

No recordings appear to have been made or survive of Alf Taylor fiddling, but he did introduce this record which featured his sons singing an African-American spiritual they learned from a former slave.

Chapter 2: Antisemitism and Henry Ford's Old Time Music Revival

Henry Ford's Old Time Dance Orchestra, "The Money Musk"

Jep Bisbee, "Devil's Dream"

Mellie Dunham, "Medley of Reels"

Happiness Boys, "Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me"

Chapter 3: Soundtrucks and Radio Stars

Carson Robison and his Pioneers, "Strawberry Roan"

This became one of Roy Faulkner's signature tunes on his radio performances for gubernatorial candidate and quack "Doc" John R. Brinkley.

Leake County Revelers, "Wednesday Night Waltz"

Leo Reisman Orchestra, "Indian Love Call"

Jazz version of a Broadway hit possibly played on Huey Long's soundtrucks to drum up attention.

Roy Rogers, "Git Along Little Dogies" Huey Long sang his own anti-anti-Long version of this on the radio as part of an effort to push his own slate of New Orleans candidates.

Huey Long's "Every Man a King"

Chapter 4: A Hillbilly Style of Politics

W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys, "Pass the Biscuits, Pappy"

W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys, "Little Mother of the Hill"

Jimmie Davis, "You Are My Sunshine"

Roy Acuff, "Old Age Pension Check"

Chapter 5: Utopian Buckaroo

Sen. Glen Taylor and Family's "Home on the Range"

Sen. Glen Taylor, his wife Dora, and sons Arod and PJ, singing a pro-housing parody of "Home on the Range" on the steps outside the Capitol in 1945. Performance starts at 00:10 into the newsreel. The link above may give you a glimpse of the full length of the reel.

Dick Foran, "My Little Buckaroo" from Warner Bros.'s Cherokee Strip (1937)

The original cinematic version of the song that the Taylor family later performed as part of their Glendora Ranch Gang radio program.

Bing Crosby, "My Little Buckaroo"

Asher and Little Jimmy Sizemore, Intro and "Ride Old Paint"

https://www.oocities.org/garycountry/sizemore/01.mp3

Perry Como, "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" The Tin Pan Alley song the Taylors sang at the Progressive Party convention.

Chapter 6: A Fiery but Fickle Faith

2nd South Carolina String Band, "Dixie's Land (Dixie)"

Note: Both Confederate and Union troops created parodies and restylizations of the original song which originated from blackface minstrelsy performance. Here is a restyling made to amplify the Southern cause, in this case, played by a modern band that strives to recreate the sound of the past. The 2nd South Carolina band also does versions of the Union parodies as well.