Home on the Range: Czech Transformations of Traditional American Country Music

Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure ●

View of country music in America ● Hee Haw ● Deliverance ● Beverly Hillbillies ● Dukes of Hazzard Dixie Chicks incident (Grandpa Jones, Roni Stoneman)

Key early country musicians ● Carter Family ● Jimmie Rodgers ● Stoneman Family ● Uncle Dave Macon

Alan Lomax from the Introduction to the Penguin Book of American Folk Songs (14) ● The Afro-American hybrids which thus developed coloured the whole of modern American folksong and are now deeply affecting popular music everywhere. There can be no question about the source of the appeal of American music for the world audience: it is the most cosmopolitan of styles, representing the offspring of two great musical families, the African and the European...

Key instruments: Fiddle, 5 string banjo, dulcimer, mandolin, guitar. African American influence (Gangstagrass) Different genres of country (old-time, alternative, singing cowboy, outlaw, bluegrass, country rock) O Brother, Where Art Thou, Coen Brothers, 2000, Soundtrack, T Bone Burnett (Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, the Whites)

Czech twist ● Tramping movement (sing-alongs around campfires with multiple guitars, banjos not even allowed in early days), special green look, nicknames ● Czech translations of songs (Dorůžka, Lubomír. Americká lidová poezie.) Often very romantic view of American west. ● Sung in a group at a get-together, 'jamboree' ● Playing cowboys and Indians ● Singing style often loud and fast

From: Legendy Folku a Country, Jiří Vondrák, Fedor Skotal Nakladatelství Jota, s.r.o Brno František Hacker, K.T.O., “Tramp in English means a wanderer, a homeless person, a vagabond. This is another one of our specialties in that we took the word tramp and made it into a person who has a certain relationship with nature and some sort of order. We did the same with the word sheriff- in America this being a keeper of order, a policeman, and here meaning the protector of a community.” (19)

“It must have been a disappointment for him (Seeger). He wrote somewhere that it was discouraging that what they had done as a movement commemorating American folk tradition during the period of the developing commercial music industry, actually had an opposite effect in foreign countries. He had apparently seen Japanese in cowboy boots and heard singers of spirituals in Prague. He thought it was more logical if we would sing our own songs. We weren't interested in doing that, however. We liked the guitars and banjos of Americans.” nastroj-ktery-si-muzete-vzit-vsude.html Jiří Tichota from Spirituál kvintet which opened for Pete Seeger interestingly stated in this interview:

Red River Valley, Červená řeka From this valley they say you are going, We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, For they say you are taking the sunshine Which has brightened our pathways a while. Come and sit by my side if you love me; Do not hasten to bid me adieu, But remember the Red River Valley, And the girl that has loved you so true. I've been thinking a long time, my darling, Of the sweet words you never would say, Now, alas, must my fond hopes all vanish? For they say you are going away. Won't you think of the valley you're leaving, Oh, how lonely and sad it will be, Just think of the fond heart you're breaking, And the grief you are causing to me. From this valley they say you are going, When you go, may your darling go too? Would you leave her behind unprotected, When she loves no one other than you. As you go to your home by the ocean, May you never forget those sweet hours, That we spent in the Red River Valley, And the love we exchanged 'mid the flowers. I have promised you, darling, that never Will a word from my lips cause you pain, And my life, it will be yours forever, If you only will love me again. They will bury me where you have wandered, Near the hills where the daffodils grow, When you're gone from the Red River valley, For I can't live without you I know. Pod tou skálou kde proud řeky syčí, a kde ční červený kamení. Žije je ten co mi jen, srdce ničí. Koho já ráda mám k zbláznění. Vím že lásku jak trám,lehce slíbí. Červená řekaJá ho znám srdce má děravý. Ale já, ho chci mít, mně se líbí. Bez něj žít už mě dál nebaví. Často k nám jezdívá s kytkou růží nejhezčí z kovbojů v okolí. Vestu má ušitou z hadích kůží bytej pás,na něm pár pistolí. Hned se ptá, jak se mám, jak se daří, kdy mu prý už to svý srdce dám. Na to já odpovím, že čas maří. Srdce blíž červený řeky mám. Když je tma a jdu spát, noc je černá, hlavu mám bolavou závratí, ale já přesto dál budu věrná, dokud sám se zas knám nevrátí.

The Yellow Rose of Texas, Růže z Texasu There's a yellow rose in Texas that I am going to see, No other darkey knows her, no darkey only me; She cried so when I left her, it like to broke my heart, And if I ever find her we never more will part. (Chorus) She's the sweetest rose of color this darkey ever knew, Her eyes are bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew, You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee, But the yellow rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee. Where the Rio Grande is flowing, and the starry skies are bright, She walks along the river in the quiet summer night; She thinks if I remember, when we parted long ago, I promis'd to come back again, and not to leave her so. (Chorus) Oh! now I'm going to find her, for my heart is full of woe, And we'll sing the song together, that we sung so long ago; We'll play the banjo gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore, And the yellow rose of Texas shall be mine for evermore. (Chorus) Jedu vám takhle stezkou dát koňům v řece pít vtom potkám holku hezkou až jsem vám z koně slít. V ruce má kytku květů snad růži co já vím? Znám plno hezkejch ženskejch k světu ale tahle hraje prim. Ať si kazí smysl pro krásu ať s tou a nebo s tou dej si říct, že kromě Texasu tyhle růže nerostou. Ať máš kolťák nízko u pasu ať jsi třeba zloděj stád tyhle žlutý růže z Texasu budeš pořád míti už rád! Řekla, že tu žije v ranči je sama s tátou svým a hrozně ráda tančí teď zrovna nemá s kým. Tak já se klidně nabíd že půjdu s ní a rád a že se dám i zabít když si to bude přát. Ať si kazí smysl pro krásu ať s tou a nebo s tou dej si říct, že kromě Texasu tyhle růže nerostou. Ať máš kolťák nízko u pasu a jsi třeba zloděj stád tyhle žlutý růže z Texasu budeš pořád míti rád! Hned si dala se mnou rande a přišla přesně v půl a dole teklo Rio Grande po něm měsíc plul. Když si to tak v hlavě srovnám co víc jsem si moh přát ona byla milá štíhlá, rovná zkrátka akorát.

John Hardy John Hardy was a desperate little man He carried two guns every day He shot a man on the West Virginia line And you ought to see John Hardy getting away John Hardy got to the east stone bridge He thought that he would be free And up stepped a man and took him by the arm Saying Johnny, walk along with me He sent for his poppy and his mommy too To come and go his bail But money won't go on a murdering case And they locked John Hardy back in jail John Hardy had a pretty little girl The dress that she wore was blue As she came skipping through the old jail hall Saying Poppy, I been true to you John Hardy had another little girl The dress that she wore was red She followed John Hardy to his hanging ground Saying Poppy, I would rather be dead "I've been to the east and I've been to the west I've been this wide world around I've been to the river and I've been baptized And it's now I'm on my hanging ground" John Hardy walked out on his scaffold high With his loving little wife by his side And the last words she heard poor John-O say "I'll meet you in that sweet bye and bye" John Hardy, to byl malej chudinka, G měl za pasem pár bouchaček, v západním pohraničí chlapa voddělal, chtěl utýct bez voplejtaček. John Hardy nad karetním stolkem stál a do hry nechtělo se mu, nahnědlá holka dolar na stůl hodila: "Rozdejte taky Hardymu!" John Hardy čtyři karty vytáhnul, a Číňan sebral jenom dvě, John vytáh' moc, tak Číňan shrábnul bank a John mu pomoh' do rakve. Chtěl chytit John vlak směrem na východ, ve tmě si ale spletl trať, najednou cítí ruku šerifa: "Já musím želízka ti dát!" Přivedli Johna pod šibenici a zbejvala jen chvilička, já zaslech' jeho slova poslední: "Pravdu má jenom bouchačka!

My personal objections – songs provide a romanticised, sanitized view of America and particularly the Wild West – lack the humour, the tall-tale aspect – lack the edge, the dark side, the violence and cruelty – the way they are sung rubs me the wrong way, group mentality – the rules concerning behaviour are bizarre, seem like playing cowboys and Indians...childish – female voices do not sound country, too sweet, no southern twang – Czechs dressed as cowboys look absurd, Michal Tučný, – Too prettified, cute – lack soul/ religious sense – lack irony

Positives ● Sing-alongs around campfires, former ubiquitous guitar skills ● Czech Bluegrass: Druhá Tráva ● Renowned banjo makers ● Dobro instrument, Slovak American John Dopyera "Dobro means good in any language." ● Songs have become classics, the words of which are often known by far more people than in the original.

Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera (Lemonade Joe or Horse Opera), 1964 Director, Oldřich Lipský

Bibliography Carney, George O. The Sounds of People and Places: A Geography of American Folk and Popular Music. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc., Dorůžka, Lubomír. Americká lidová poezie. Praha: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění Lomax, Alan. The Penquin Books of American Folk Songs. Harmondsworth: Penquin Books Ltd Vondrák Jiří and Fedor Skotal. Legendy Folku a Country. Brno: Nakladatelství Jota, s.r.o