Today's Three Tune Tuesday (courtesy of @ablaze, who organises the entire thing) is the last Three Tune Tuesday before what I like to colloquially call International Freedom Weekend.
July 1 is Canada Day (in Canada), the day in which Canadians celebrate their independence from Great Britain.
July 4 is Independence Day (in the USA), the day in which Americans celebrate their independence from England.
There seems to be some commonality there.
When I was a student in Windsor, Ontario, I was introduced to the International Freedom Festival.. Windsor is a border city and lies south across the river from Detroit, Michigan. Windsor is an interesting place in Canada in that it is the only city that actually lies south of anywhere in the mainland US. Go ahead. Look it up in a map. It is even on the same latitude as northern California. Again, go ahead. Look it up.
Geography aside, the International Freedom Festival was cohosted by the two cities for the week over both holidays and culminated in a grand fireworks display in the middle of the Detroit River. It really was a great time.
My songs this week are focused on Canada, the United States, and freedom. Sadly, I have only one song from before 1923 that even remotely references Canada, and it is a song named By The Saskatchewan, a reference to the Saskatchewan River in... well.. in Saskatchewan. This is not a song about freedom, independence, or liberty. It is a song about a girl.
Sousa and his band were also terrific at producing patriotic songs. I really wanted to play his Liberty Bell March, but I do not have a copy from pre-1923. What I do have, however, is a 1908 copy of Under the Double Eagle March
My last song for the day is one of my personal favourite vocals from the era. Early phonograph recording was crude, at best, and involved playing into the wide end of a funnel. The music needed to be loud and the vocalist had to literally sing into the funnel. It was difficult to get good results.
This particular song, however, is rousing and I like the sound. I think it sounds particularly "periodic" played on a small portable phonograph, as opposed to a larger one with a larger speaker. The Battle Cry of Freedom was recorded on my generic Swanson portable.
All songs are from my personal library and in the public domain. They are digitally recorded while playing on one of my antique phonographs.
I stream these songs live every Tuesday! Three Tune Tuesday on Blind Skeleton One Radio can be streamed at https://blindskeleton.one/radio Tuesday's at 12:00pm EDT/04:00pm UTC.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Sometimes photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Creator of What I Learned Today Hive community: https://peakd.com/c/hive-131257/created
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That background sound is so amazing, I can't get enough of it. Now recordings have to be so "perfect" with so many effects that they take many singers away from their essence.
All these tunes are so unique, the second one conveys so much joy, I really liked it, thanks for sharing this musical journey every week.
Thank you @eugelys !
These are definitely 'rough around the edges' songs, with the crackling of the needle, occasional skipping, and very monoaural sound. I'm glad you've been enjoying them. 😀
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Always a joy and I feel like I am on a film set from one of the first ever movies when I listen to these - I must say I do look forward to listening to these each week, especially the way that you record them and talk about them.
Thank you very much! I love that you're enjoying them, hopefully as much as I enjoy listening to and recording them.