{"id":1031,"date":"2016-05-14T07:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2017-07-03T12:00:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T16:00:40","slug":"black-mountain-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/black-mountain-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Black Mountain Blues\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/75owxh3fOUc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I got this from Dave Van Ronk&#8217;s first album &#8212; once again, it was the kind of violent, bragging song that perfectly suited the tastes of a teenage boy who was getting into blues.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1036\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Scrapper_Blackwell-and-Bessie-Smith-197x300.jpg?resize=197%2C300\" alt=\"Scrapper_Blackwell and Bessie Smith\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Scrapper_Blackwell-and-Bessie-Smith.jpg?resize=197%2C300&amp;ssl=1 197w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Scrapper_Blackwell-and-Bessie-Smith.jpg?w=220&amp;ssl=1 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/> Dave had learned it from Bessie Smith&#8217;s recording, and had the bright idea of combining her lyric with the guitar part from Scrapper Blackwell&#8217;s &#8220;Down South Blues&#8221; &#8212; I didn&#8217;t make that connection until very recently, because when I used to listen to Dave&#8217;s first record I had not yet heard the Blackwell song. Dave introduced me to that one as well, when he recorded it on <em>Sunday Street<\/em> in the 1970s, and toward the end of his life he tended to use it as his regular opening number. And, when I got my hands on some live recordings from the 1950s, I found he&#8217;d already been singing it back then &#8212; but for his album debut he apparently decided to come up with something unique by melding the Smith song with the Blackwell chart.<\/p>\n<p>That exegesis is not particularly germane to my version, since I sing it in a different key, and in any case I didn&#8217;t know about Blackwell at the time &#8212; I just knew it was a deep, dark, exciting blues, and the title song of Dave&#8217;s album (not, as it happens, of the original issue, or even the second issue, but <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1033 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Van-Ronk-first-LP.jpg?resize=260%2C260\" alt=\"Van Ronk first LP\" width=\"260\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Van-Ronk-first-LP.jpg?w=260&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Van-Ronk-first-LP.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/>Folkways kept repackaging that baby, and I got the <em>Black Mountain Blues<\/em> version). Of course, I became a big fan of Blackwell later on, and should have made the connection, but Dave always spoke so poorly of that album &#8212; he referred to it as &#8220;Archie Andrews Sings the Blues&#8221; &#8212; that I didn&#8217;t go back and listen. Which was stupid, because I liked it a lot when I was a kid and there were good reasons for liking it. Dave had not yet formed his mature style, on either guitar or voice, but\u00a0 at his best he was already very effective on both, and had good taste in songs, and some of the performances hold up just fine.<\/p>\n<p>Others hold up less well&#8230; but who am I to talk? I am forever grateful that I don&#8217;t have a recording of me doing this song at age fourteen, because I remember the ferocious, shouting passion I used to summon, and prefer to recall that feeling rather than hearing the undoubtedly ridiculous reality&#8230; and, forty years later, it&#8217;s still a lot of fun to do.<\/p>\n<p>(Incidentally, the over-the-neck move I do in the last line is pure Josh White, and much of what I play elsewhere is impure Josh White. Dave and I shared an enduring debt to Josh, and affection for his playing and singing.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got this from Dave Van Ronk&#8217;s first album &#8212; once again, it was the kind of violent, bragging song that perfectly suited the tastes of a teenage boy who was getting into blues. Dave had learned it from Bessie Smith&#8217;s recording, and had the bright idea of combining her lyric with the guitar part &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/black-mountain-blues\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/black-mountain-blues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I got this from Dave Van Ronk&#8217;s first album &#8212; once again, it was the kind of violent, bragging song that perfectly suited the tastes of a teenage boy who was getting into blues. Dave had learned it from Bessie Smith&#8217;s recording, and had the bright idea of combining her lyric with the guitar part &hellip; Continue reading Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk) &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/black-mountain-blues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-14T11:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-03T16:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Scrapper_Blackwell-and-Bessie-Smith-197x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk)\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T11:00:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-03T16:00:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":479,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Scrapper_Blackwell-and-Bessie-Smith-197x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/black-mountain-blues\\\/\",\"name\":\"Black Mountain Blues (Dave Van Ronk) - 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When he recorded it in 1963 he credited it to Bob Dylan, but in later years would say, \"I learned this from Bob Dylan, who learned\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"von schmidt - cahn","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/von-schmidt-cahn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cocaine-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":1031,"position":3},"title":"Cocaine Blues (Dave Van Ronk)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"April 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"First of all, I must state with pride and pleasure that the first time I ever tried cocaine was courtesy of Dave Van Ronk. It was in my parents' living room, late at night, after a fair amount of whiskey had been drunk, and he had it in a twist\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/van-ronk-folksinger-e1491663832129.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1824,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bad-dream-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":1031,"position":4},"title":"Bad Dream Blues (Dave Van Ronk)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Though Dave Van Ronk was not principally known as a songwriter, he wrote some damn good songs. But before he got into songwriting in more ambitious ways, he recorded a handful of blues songs for which he took author credit. 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