Book Description

Old Salem in Ballad and Song is a collection of ballads and songs that have roots in Salem Massachusetts' history through the oral and the written tradition. The songs, ballads and broadsides describe events and give a hint of Salem's past and its influence in helping to shape America, both politically and socially. The book traces the history of Salem not only through ballads and songs but vintage photographs, postcards and newspaper clippings. The book can be a learning tool to teach Salem's history through singing. The rich material unearthed laid the foundation for Old Salem in Ballad and Song. In the introduction, the author examines the role ballads and songs played in chronicling current events and saving them for posterity. The pages that follow are crammed with lyrics, verses, musical scores, illustrations and historical tidbits relating to works with Salem connections. Some names will be familiar to many readers. Famed 19th century bandleader Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, who wrote the best-known version of When Johnny Comes Marching Home, led the Salem Brass Band from 1855 until 1858. The equally famous Hutchinson Family Singers performed at a New England Anti-Slavery Society convention held in Salem in 1844, and the group's temperance song King Alcohol, says the author, was inspired by the town's controversial Deacon Giles Distillery. And while Manuel Fenollosa is hardly a household name, the Salem composer's Emancipation Hymn (1863) was one of the most popular tunes of the Civil War era.