The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-15
Songs by AnViIles
Mark Step Ahead
In Workers Music
Little Lefty

/
In Workers MuSic
SONGS OF THE AMERICAN
WORKER by the Auvilles, pub
lished by the John Reed Club Of
Cleveland.
Reviewed by
CARL SANDS
In FIND, upon general grounds
alone, five positive values in
these new songs by the Auvilles.
First, there is the fact that they
exist at all. Until recently the
American was the most music-less
worker in the world. Thanks to
the somewhat dubious benefits of
photograph, radio and sound film,
he has begun at least to hear a
great variety of music. But he still
has little to sing for himself and
for his own purposes. The tradi-
tional American city (popular)
music has been the property and
has reflected more the theology of
the bourgeoisie than of the prole-
tariat. The traditional country
(folk) music practically died out by
1900. Before workers can them
selves make and sing music really
good enough for them, they must
at least have an ability to sing. No
song, therefore, that has any chance
of making them sing is to be
scorned.
Second, the composer-authors
have adopted idioms of language
and of music that are familiar to
the general run Of American Of all
classes. Third, the songs are easy
to render with portable accompani-
ment, say, of guitar, banjo, har-
monica, etc. Fourth, they are be-
ing sung all around Cleveland by
their creators thus they are in the
way of becoming current. Fifth,
and not least, they originate and
are published outside of New York
City, where up to now, unfortun-
ately, the only considerable con-
centration Of revolutionary musical
forces has been made.
In addition to these five, I find
two positive values of detailed
sort in these songs. First, the words
Of "The Miners Son" are fine
Red Front" and Things Can't Go
On Like This" are pretty bad. We
are already overburdened with stuff
of this sort. The rest are above
average. CAS- to the Ghost of the
Depression" however, I might say
that I am relieved to hear, if it is
true, that Cleveland has the ghost
of depression. We still have some
thing decidedly livelier than a
corpse kicking around here in New
York-and in some other parts OF
the country, so far as I hear)
Second, the tunes of the first three
songs and of the last one are catchy
and put over the words intelligibly
AS to the negative values: first,
the musical idiom is not compar-
able to the idiom of the language
which is at least current. The
musical idiom is mostly 1890 or
earlier. 1t would be counted out
by too many young workers as old
fashioned and stodgy. Second, the
melodies are not, even in this trite
idiom, very good. Not all are very
bad. I find THE Ghost" and RED
Front" the best. Broadway can and
has turned out better stuff by the
mile, both in this and in the vastly
better modern jazz style.
CORRECT evaluation of workers
" songs, especially of new ones, is
of paramount Importance. Both in
the songs themselves and in reviews
of them, we are laying the prin-
ciples and standards of revolutions
airy music criticism and of prole-
tartan music style. The basic con-
sideration is the relative Importance
of the music and of the words If
as some, say, the music is a mere
vehicle-a mere sauce for the
words, we have to judge the words
only and whether the music gives
them a chance to be heard. If, or
the other hand, music plays more
important role than this, we mus
evolve some method of equating tbs
language values and the musica
values, especially where, as in this
case, they esem to conflict.
There are those who say that il
the workers sing and like certain
songs, then these must on that ac-
count alone be good songs. This
is the theory of opportunism o.
"spontaneity" cropping up in the
music field. No one but musician
widely trained in the many musica
fields of our day and thoroughly
conversant with the history Of
music and its relation to genera
history can realize how low and how
uncritical is the present level Of
American musical taste. The melo-
dies of songs like these of the
Auvilles are concentrated bour.
geois propaganda of a peculiarly
vicious sort. For every step for.
ward in the verse one takes a ster
backward in the music. That one
is unaware of it makes it all the
more dangerous.
Why, then, do I find positive
value in the mere existence, ETC., Of
these songs? Because I know that
for the present, the words are the
more important venice for revolu.
tionary content. How much more
I cannot say. The step forward,
aver, is bigger one than the ster
back. So the net result is forward
But not in all parts of America
1t would be inexcusable to put such
things before the average audience
for instance, of the Workers
Laboratory Theatre in New York
Here, at least, some workers arr
ready to take step forward with
Il