Xu Lapi Knewel, New Jersey

Attention Dees fans:

This is the first of 12 posts about the songs on our new album, American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees. Each of these posts will include lyrics + some background info and links. We finally sent the album artwork to the printer yesterday so, yes, we'll have the CDs in time for our release party on Dec. 12th at the Moxie Spot. www.themoxiespot.com

We're also finishing our teacher's guide. This will include all the info that you find on this blog + lesson plans, in-class activities, and more. If you'd like one, write us and we'll put one in the mail. We're planning to finish it by the first week of February.

We'll begin, just to be Deedle Deedle Dee-ish about things, with Track 12 and work our way back to Track 1.

Track 12: Xu lapi knewel, New Jersey
album: American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees
words & music by Lloyd Miller
arrangement by Chris Johnson, Ely Levin, Lloyd Miller, and Anand Mukherjee

LYRICS
Cranetown is gone now
Montclair is where she used to be
Communipaw is long gone
Now she's just a part of Jersey City

Where's the wild garden state I roamed?
Au revoir... Farewell... Ma as-salaamah...
I've been looking for my home
Xu lapi knewel (xhoo lah-pee knay-wuhl)
I'll see you again, New Jersey

Hopoghan Hackingh
the land of the tobacco pipe is now Hoboken
Acquackanonk was broken up
into Paterson, Clifton, and Passaic

Where's the wild garden state I roamed?
Adios... Goodbye... annyeonghi gaseyo
I've been looking for my home
Xu lapi knewel (xhoo lah-pee knay-wuhl)
I'll see you again, New Jersey


BACKGROUND
I was inspired to write this song by fourth-grade students at the Montclair Co-operative School in Montclair, NJ. The Deedle Deedle Dees had been asked by the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University to create an original show and I told them I'd like to make one about New Jersey itself and enlist the help of a local school to help write the songs.

The fourth-grade class I worked with wrote 10 + songs on New Jersey topics of their choosing inlcuding Molly Pitcher, Les Paul, Queen Latifah and Thomas Edison and nearly all of them made it into the show they did with all four Deedle Deedle Dees at the Kasser Theater last February (2009). The one thing I felt like the show was missing, though, was a final number to tie it all together. I knew pretty early on that I wanted to use some of the old, forgotten place names that I'd come across in my own research for the project, but beyond this I didn't know what shape the "tie-together" song would take.

I was especially enamored with the concept of "Communipaw" as put forth by Washington Irving. Communipaw was simply the name for a village/area that became (roughly) modern-day Jersey City. Irving, however, wrote of Communipaw as the center of Dutch culture and the customs and ideals that created New Amsterdam. He, of course, was a myth-maker, and while his "histories" actually have a lot of fact in them, they also have plenty of fancy and exaggeration. I read somewhere that he chose Communipaw as the cradle of Dutchness because he liked the name -- as good a reason as any, I think (but don't trust me: I wrote a song called "Major Deegan" after the notorious expressway.)

"Communipaw" is thought most likely to have come, like so many place names in this area, from the Lenape languages. Conequently, my research on Jersey place names veered into a study of Lenape and culture. "Lenape" is a general term for the Indians who lived in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc. It's a misleading term because it's not one any Indian would have used to refer to him or herself, rather it's a classification that exists so that people (like me) can avoid referring to all the different tribes and family groups who populated the greater New York area.

After spending a lot of time on sites that promised to teach me Lenape, Lenape historical society blogs, etc., I came across the phrase that gives this song its title. Language scholars generally believe that Lenape languages had no word for "goodbye." Instead they said "I'll see you again." I knew, as soon as I read this, that I had the core of my song. I then went to the fourth-graders and asked to think of all the different ways that they knew to say goodbye. Kids taught me to say goodbye in Korean, Arabic, French, Spanish, and other languages that were spoken in their homes. I used these various farewells in order to represent and speak for the world of present-day New Jersey as it greets and says "I'll see you again" to Jerseys past.

sidenote: Some Jerseyites will tell you that New Jersey is the most ethnically diverse state in the nation. I don't know if this is true. I feel like California and New York might also be able to lay claim to this title. Will someone research this and let me know?

Further reading:
"Communipaw" by Washington Irving http://www.readprint.com/work-3982/Communipaw-Washington-Irving

The Jews of New Jersey: A Pictorial History by Patricia M. Ard and Michael Aaron

It Happened in New Jersey (It Happened In Series) by Fran Capo



By the way, my grandmother, Bessie, grew up in Paterson. I often think of her when I sing this song.

Lloyd (Ulysses S. Dee)

Where's the new album?

It's taking longer than we thought!

The new album by the Deedle Deedle Dees, American History + Rock-n-Roll = the Deedle Deedle Dees, is done and we're finishing the sleeve this week. We have about 20 performers on the record, (including Brooklyn kids, jazz legend Roy Nathanson and his son, indy rock goddess Ali Hammer, and the Red Hook Ramblers) and we wanted to include pictures of all of them. Getting all their pictures took some time -- and figuring out how to fit all of them + their performing credits took even more time.

But we're finishing the whole thing this week and sending it to the printer! If you pre-bought an album, it will be there before Christmas. And if you'd like to buy an album, they'll be available on our CDBaby page and at our shows soon.

Speaking of shows...

The Deedle Deedle Dees
CD release concert + video shoot
Saturday, Dec. 12th
10:30 am
The Moxie Spot
Brooklyn Heights
www.themoxiespot.com

John Henry, Ezra Jack Keats, and You

Just back from the Ezra Jack Keats concert at Symphony Space. So fun! The event was hosted by Abena Koomson, one of the stars of the new Broadway musical, Fela! She read a book by Mr. Keats as did Sonia Manzano (Maria from Sesame Street!) and Dominic Colon (The Electric Company). Randy Kaplan played three new songs based on Keats books and so did the Dees. Thanks for a great morning, everyone!

Some folks at the show were asking where they could find recordings of the new songs we performed. We sang songs based on the Keats books, Apt. 3, Over in the Meadow, and John Henry. We're talking to the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation about the possibility of recording these tunes so hopefully, sometime soon, you'll be able to hear full studio recordings of all the great new tunes that Keats books inspired. Wouldn't a compilation of all these songs be an amazing kids album? In addition to the Dees and Randy Kaplan, past Keats events have featured Astrograss, They Might Be Giants, and other excellent performers. Check this blog for updates.

I also wanted people to know where they could read and hear more about the John Henry story. After you read the Keats book (a unique and powerful retelling of the classic tale), you should first check out a few of the endless songs that have been written about this legend. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger's takes on what is probably the most well-known "John Henry" are both good starting places. Springsteen does this tune as well and I have to thank him for introducing so many Brooklyn kids to this old song (They request it at birthday parties now -- mainly because they've heard Springsteen's version.)

Some other songs in the JH canon not to be missed:
Mississippi John Hurt's "Spike Driver Blues" -- untouchable
Leadbelly's "Take this Hammer" -- I sing it to my daughter in the swing

Grown-ups should definitely pick up Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of An American Legend by Scott Reynolds Nelson. He hunts through the prison records and finds a man who could very well be the historical John Henry. Details in many of the stories and songs about John Henry point to him most likely being some of chain gang laborer and Nelson's explorations are a thrilling trip through the early days of building industrial America by hand.

This is how we swing... John Henry!

Lloyd

Beecher

Yes, it's true: I have not posted ever since I announced the September selections for the Deedle Deedle Dees American History book club. This is because I've been very busy finishing up stuff for our new album, American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees. I've also discovered, on talking to some Brooklyn folks on the street, that no one (except me) has actually read September's grown-up selection, The Most Famous Man in America: A Biography of Henry Ward Beecher. A number of people have told me that they want to read it and that as soon as they get a copy, that they plan to read the heck out of it.

But that's okay. I'm going to write about the book anyway and hope some of you are inspired to get started. Before I begin my short discussion of this very fascinating book I want to talk about how I'm going to change the book club yet again in an effort to get more people involved. Here's how:

- Books will be seasonal rather than monthly. In other words, you have from now until 12:01 am January 1, 2010, to read one (or more than one) of the following books:

The Most Famous Man In America: A Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Thoreau You Don't Know by Robert Sullivan

I'll tell you more about the two new books in another post. For now, just pick the title you like best, look it up online and order it. All these titles are very much worth your time. Better yet, find it at your favorite local independent bookstore. If you live in Brooklyn, Book Court on Court Street is going to start stocking all our book club books. They're lovely people. Shop there.

As avid readers of this blog know, the book club also features chapter books for elementary-aged kids and picture books for the pre-readers in your family. I'll put the new kid books in another post that's specifically devoted to family reading and the specific books.

Now, back to Beecher:

Henry Ward Beecher was the pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. During his time there he became, arguably, the "most famous man in America" due to his passionate and theatrical sermons that drew capacity crowds every Sunday. Mark Twain, Edna Dean Proctor, Walt Whitman, and some guy named Abe Lincoln were among the many who wrote or spoke of their admiration for his oratorical skills. Beecher talked about sin and redemption just like many of his peers, but he also told a lot of personal stories, stories about real people, and extended anecdotes that were very different from what anyone else was saying in the pulpit. He had a particular talent for imitating all sorts of different types of people and would use his remarkably elastic voice and expressive face to act the part of all the characters in a story he would tell. Many descriptions of his sermons / performances depict him stomping around the stage, his long hair flying, his body constantly assuming a new posture to make a new point. In many ways, he was one of America's first nationally-known entertainers -- his appeal went far beyond his religious audience.

The first two-thirds of Debby Applegate's book on Beecher are pretty standard issue general interest biography ( I love standard issue general interest biography). The final act of the book, however, has a breathless, ripped-from-the-headlines feel -- this is the section where Beecher's various (alleged) indiscretions start to catch up with him and become part of the public dialogue. After living through the public scandals involving Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Eliot Spitzer, and so many others, I found Beecher's ordeals both extremely familiar and a tad redundant (Oh no, not this again!" I found myself groaning). People just love to humilate a popular, powerful figure it seems and even without the internet or 24-hour cable channels, the media (newspapers and street gossip) of late 1800s America managed to overwhelm the public with constant Beecher coverage.

What are your thoughts on this book? On Beecher? Write me.

The Most Famous Book Club In Brooklyn

I changed my mind about September's book. Although I love The Great Bridge by David McCullough (and I highly recommend that you read it if you haven't) I've done a lot of Brooklyn Bridge-themed stuff recently and wanted to do something different.

The new book club selection for September is The Most Famous Man in America: A Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate. Beecher, as you'll soon find out, was indeed the most famous man in America in the years just before the Civil War and, in the opinion of many, the "only reason to go to Brooklyn" before the Brooklyn Bridge was built. Every week, one ferry after another would carry a full load of passengers across the East River to hear Beecher the preacher. Whitman was a fan. So was Lincoln.

This is a book club for the whole family so the heavy Beecher tome won't be our only selection. This month -- and every month -- there will be a picture book as well as a chapter book on our reading list so that everyone can join in our explorations.

September's picture book will be Toy Boat written by Randall de Sève and illustrated by Loren Long. In celebration of the crowds who took to the water to visit Beecher's famous church (still going strong today: http://www.plymouthchurch.org/) all of littlest explorers will take imaginary rides on ferry boats, sail boats, motor boats, and other sea-worthy vessels via one of my daughter's favorite books.

Our chapter book (for elementary-aged kids) will be The Notorious Izzy Fink by Don Brown. The docks, boats, and alleys of 1890s New York are the setting for this rowdy tale of a half-Irish, half-Russian Jewish kid growing up on the Lower East Side


Our meetings, as I started to explain in my last post, will not be small-group discussions in private homes. They will instead happen at my regular weekly singalongs and classes for kids. Huh? Yes, it's true it will be nearly impossible to have any sort of coherent discussion of the book in these wild settings and that's exactly the way I want it. Rather than talk about the book, we will sing about it in songs from the era of Beecher, original songs about the Civil War and important people and events from his time, and lots of great songs about boats and rivers and the sea. And at the end of the month, I'll host a concert / singalong / variety show themed to our books -- the first of these will happen October 4th at the Moxie Spot in Brooklyn Heights during the annual Atlantic Antic (www.themoxiespot.com).

Lesson plans, activity sheets, art projects, and other stuff related to each month's books will be available here.

September 2009 Schedule (more to come)
Tuesdays : Singalong at the Moxie Spot, 11am (starting September 15th)
Thursdays: Deedle!Deedle!Dee! a music & movement class for kids 6 months - 4 years at the Brooklyn Learning Center, 147 Lincoln Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, 10 and 11am (free trial classes September 17th, 8-week session begins Sept. 24th)

Start reading!
Lloyd

The Return of the Book Club

This fall the American history book will return in a more potent form. Last spring, as I tried to schedule a meeting for the second book, I discovered again what I've known for quite some time: parents are the most difficult people to schedule in the world. So I'm not even going to try to. Instead...

My free weekly singalongs in Brooklyn will also be book club meetings. Each month of singalongs will be themed to a book and an era. All adults who come to my singalongs with kids will be invited to read the month's book. And for the kids, there will be companion picture and chapter books.

If people want to set up a grown-ups-only meeting separate from the singalong, that's fine. For now, though, we'll just be a group of people reading and singing together. Join us if you can.

In addition, once a month I'm going to host a special weekend singalong and concert at the Moxie Spot (and possibly other locations) featuring me and some special guests singing songs related to our month of reading. The first one will be the afternoon of Sunday, October 4th, as part of the annual Atlantic Antic.

I'm still deciding on the September book, but I think it might be The Great Bridge, David McCullough's perfect book about the Brooklyn Bridge. This way, our first month can be a celebration of the bridge and Brooklyn itself. We'll also read The Thoreau You Don't Know by Robert Sullivan (see the Blogs to Bother With list to the right) sometime this fall -- this is one of the books that we didn't get to in the spring due to the aforementioned scheduling problems.

See you in September,
Lloyd

FDR songs + next book club meeting

A few weeks ago, we finally had our first meeting of our new American history book club for Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. Appropriately enough, we had it at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, one of our favorite local historical sites (see Deedle Deedle Dee-Endorsed Historical Resources to the right).

I decided to make the first meeting a public event after encountering endless difficulty in scheduling everyone who responded to my posts on local listserves. New York parents, like all parents, are super busy so scheduling something like this is going to be a challenge. But we'll keep trying, of course.

As it was open to the public, I created an event in which everyone -- readers of the book and not -- could participate. Basically it was a singalong of songs from the FDR era. I referred to the book in order to give context to certain songs, but really the songs were the meat of the meeting. Four families came, all with kids, so we turned it into sort of an FDR dance party. The kids shook shakers, banged on drums, and marched around the room; I gave some brief background lectures; it rocked. Here's our set list complete with keys if you'd like to re-create our party:


This Land is Your Land G
I Ain't Got No Home C
Tell Me Why You like Roosevelt 197 G
Red Cross Blues Blues in G
The Scottsboro Boys G Em Am D7 GGGG GD7G
Happy Days Are Here Again C
Roosevelt Blues Bb F7 Bb Cm F7 Bb
You Are My Sunshine D
I Could Write a Book C
Wildwood Flower G (capo 7) or D (capo 2)
Party Girl G

The songs that are unfamiliar are probably:

a) taken from Guido Van Rijn's incredible compilation of gospel and blues from the FDR era: Roosevelt's Blues. It's a CD and an accompanying book -- Google it and order it as soon as you can. Or visit us in Brooklyn and there's a good chance you'll hear the album playing while I cook dinner...

b) written by me -- "Party Girl" is song about Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend Lorena Hickock that will appear on the new Deedle Deedle Dees album that comes out in June. I won't say anything more about it except that I can't wait for you to hear the final recorded version.


Next book:
Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
by Martha A. Sandweiss http://www.amazon.com/Passing-Strange-Gilded-Deception-Across/dp/1594202001

Next meeting: Early April most likely