Rail of the Twelvemonth: 'Difficult Times Come up Once again No More'
Editor's Notation: This article previously appeared in a dissimilar format as part of The Atlantic's Notes section, retired in 2021.
A reader, Rick Jones, writes:
This video of Stephen Foster'due south corking song "Difficult Times Come up Again No More" seems to tie together some of Notes' recent themes. It'south a cover (the vocal was written in 1856) by the Familia McGarrigle (including a teenage Rufus and Martha) and it speaks to coming troubles and the need for perseverance that Fallows has been evoking in his writing.
If y'all have a version of "Hard Times" that particularly resonates with yous and have a retentiveness associated with it, please send united states of america a note: hello@theatlantic.com. (The McGarrigle/Wainwright clan also did a version of Stephen Foster's sunnier "Amend Times Are Coming.") Update from a reader who flags a rendition of "Hard Times" from Mavis Staples:
From some other reader, Peter:
What a cracking song, unfortunately, it seems timeless. I first heard it in 1981, sung by the outstanding Chapel Hill cord ring The Red Clay Ramblers. Their wonderful harmony singing frames the song with a warmth that counterbalances the bleakness of the lyrics yous can here them here.
Another reader recommends a version that isn't available on YouTube:
My favorite is somewhere in my library of Bill Frisell bootlegs, but information technology'south something along these lines. I'k fascinated past songs like this that are merely and then old and remain in the repertoire. For case, "St. James Infirmary" is based on "The Rake's Lament," an 18th century British naval song. Information technology'southward likewise the parent of "Streets of Laredo," the Johnny Cash tune. That'due south basics!
1 more than reader, Sydney:
Greetings from just s of Raleigh, NC, as I read all the news I missed last night because often, playing with babies beats knowing more details of terrorism. When I saw your mail on "Hard Times" I immediately idea of the Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor cover that I had on repeat this time final year while waiting for morning time sickness to magically disappear in the second trimester of a twin pregnancy, but instead got more than pains and swelling. I resigned myself to only focusing on seeking the proficient in life, that hard times would pass.
Proud to say I've now got two happy healthy baby girls, one of whom wants to keep me company now. Keep upward the great piece of work.
The covers keep arriving from long-time readers, namely Barbara:
It has been so great to see the McGarrigle thread spin into Stephen Foster land with "Hard Times Come Again No More than." I like sentimental songs and apparently have a high tolerance for pathos, especially if rhyming lines are involved. I thought the song'due south Wikipedia entry, describing it as a "parlor song," was a squeamish touch that avoided the judgement implicit in "sentimental," even if the judgement is right on target.
The vocal is i of my favorites from Foster, who is i of my favorite composers. I learned to play some of his songs on the piano from a tattered copy of a drove of his piece of work. I learned a lot of other folk songs and sentimental favorites from an even more tattered hardcover re-create of the Fireside Volume of Folk Songs I however have, although the book now begins halfway through the song "Cockles and Mussels" and ends partway through the alphabetize, with no hardcovers in sight. (I was able to get another copy of the book, covers and all, when a family member passed away, merely I still play from the spineless copy that opens flat and stays open.)
I am non an achieved pianist and I've grown increasingly rusty. Early in simple schoolhouse, I merely progressed partway through John Thompson's Mod Class for the Piano: The Second Grade Book: Something New Every Lesson. The "something new" that killed my progress was syncopation, in the form of dotted eighth notes in a version of James A. Bland'south "Behave Me Back to Old Virginny." (I understood the mathematics just fine, but my heed had decided on a rhythm that seemed pleasing to my fingers, and no amount of repetition and no lack of a gold star got me to play the song correctly. After weeks of intractable stubbornness on my part and the role of the simply pianoforte teacher in town, nosotros parted ways. I did take more than lessons in high school when the wife of a new music teacher at the central school offered them. I explained my history, and nosotros started out lessons with Bach. Information technology was more than successful, but I stopped taking lessons when I left for college.
Anyway, I liked all the versions your readers provided; it was interesting to hear a range of interpretations. I like Emmylou Harris'due south performance of "Difficult Times Come up Once more No More than." I don't know if the cutting I listen to is online, but in this video from a concert, she says that "this is probably the oldest song in my repertoire."
The performance of "Difficult Times" I play most often is past Thomas Hampson, because I like to listen to the album in the car and am very fond of his "Beautiful Dreamer." (The album is American Dreamer: Songs of Stephen Foster, and performers include Jay Ungar on violin, Molly Mason on guitar, and David Alpher on pianoforte.)
Unlike some other covers, Hampson's doesn't sound like he's actually been through hard times. His performance instead fits the Wikipedia clarification; I imagine he sings the song just as a gentleman with a good vocalism would have done years agone in some parlor, playing pianoforte with more than finesse than I have and trying to impress the guests at a party, peculiarly the adult female he has his eye on. The rendition is smooth, and if you savour Hampson'due south vocalism, you lot may not realize how atrocious some parts of the lyrics are. The chorus is what makes the song great, not the verses.
Of all the versions, the Mavis Staples cover is my new favorite.
Thanks anybody!
Here'southward a final update, from the reader who started this "Hard Times" series. Rick indicated in our email exchange that he was a long-time reader of The Dish, the blog I helped edit for seven years—three of which were at The Atlantic. If you ever followed the blog, Rick's retrospective here is poignant:
Well that post is having a pretty good run! I knew of some other versions (e.thousand.Taylor/Ma), but many were new. The video I sent originally is non the all-time musical quality and it has a kind of awkward family Christmas card feel, which I idea fit the season also. Glad I could contribute.
A "View From Your Window" I only dug up from the Dish email athenaeum, taken past Rick in 2012 around 9pm in Sacramento
It would exist inaccurate to phone call me a Dish reader … Dish obsessive is more than likely. I checked the site dozens of times a day, every day. About a twelvemonth ago I made a list of all the wonderful things that The Dish introduced to me and I began to weep halfway through, finally stopping after a page full. I defy anyone to find me a site today with the depth, reach, humour, and intellectual courage of The Dish. Where else could I discover Wislawa Szymborska AND Dina Martina, Frederick Seidel AND Robert Earl Smashing AND Jack Gilbert, Rod Dreher AND Jennifer Michael Hecht? Get alee, I'll wait for the respond.
I can still recall exactly where and when I read the post from Andrew that you lot all were closing shop: January 28, 2015, 10AM PST, at a very Dishy location: Sacramento Convention Center, men's bathroom in the northwest corner, first stall in. (Yes I was solitary. Still oversharing, I know, but in the all-time Sully tradition). Reading that postal service felt like getting the news that a good friend was very ill.
I came to The Dish from an unlikely source: Kendall Harmon, who is the Canon Theologian of the Anglican diocese of South Carolina, and a robust opponent of gay marriage. In 2003, my Episcopal parish was in the midst of tearing itself autonomously after Factor Robinson's ordination and, bewildered, I was seeking dialogue and enlightenment. Kendall had a link to Andrew on his blog roll. Through those years of struggle in the church, Andrew was a bright low-cal of backbone, pity, insight and humor. I was finally received into the Cosmic church building on Easter Saturday 2006, and some of my discernment was informed by the idea that a church building that could nourish Andrew Sullivan was as well a domicile for me.
The Dish was the greatest experience I had on the web and one of the greatest intellectual adventures of my life. Equally i of the essential parts in that, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If yous ever run across Andrew, Patrick, and the balance of the gang, permit them know how much the web log meant to me. And should such a project ever exist attempted once again, delight know that you lot take my intellectual, emotional, and fiscal support.
Thanks for listening, and accept a blessed Christmas and Happy New year's day.
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