Soundtrack

[lollardfish]

Listening to Springsteen's album of Seeger songs ... (which means American folk songs, not stuff Seeger wrote, but stuff Seeger recorded and made his own).

15 miles on the Erie Canal...
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal and hay

And I thought, my commodities class needs a soundtrack. Help! Please recommend songs. I'm not bothered if they aren't the exact commodity, but if they address the kind of commodity I'm talking about. Like for Cod, Stan Rogers' "Tiny Fish from Japan." It's not about Cod at all, but that's kind of the point (the overfishing of the Grand Banks). Where I have dual commodities, I'd be happy to have two songs.

And feel free to recommend better songs for things I've already listed. My goal is to find songs that deal with commodity. Not just an item. But humor is good too. These need not be modern songs, but I do need to be able to find recordings of them.

1a. Cod: "Tiny Fish from Japan" - Stan Rogers
1b. Salt:
2a. Silk: "China Girl" - David Bowie (just to be Orientalist).
2b. Horses:
3a. Fur:
3b. Soldiers (Mercenaries): "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" - Warren Zevon
4a. Alcohol: Help. What's the perfect beer/whisky/etc as commodity song. TOO MANY CHOICES
4b. Grain: "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" - Arrogant Worms
5a. Religion: "Missionary Man" - Eurythmics
5b. Sin: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - Charlie Daniels Band
6a. Spice:
6b. Power:
7a. Gold and Silver: "Money" - Pink Floyd
7b. Coinage:
8a. Sugar:
8b. Rum:
9a. Tobacco:
9b. Timber: "Erie Canal" - Bruce Springsteen
10a. Wool:
10b. Cotton: "Cotton Fields" - CCR
11a. Slavery
12a. Tea: "Two for Tea" - ??? and/or "Pennyroyal Tea" - Nirvana
12b. Opium

Comments

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the long response.

All course material, except for the final projects, will be pre-1850, and only the Opium war will be post-1800.

For the songs, though, I don't really care. It's fun, and will give students things to listen to (and maybe add to).

Power - probably needs to leave the list, under further review. What I really want to talk about is the exportation of European power as a result of the spice trade, and to some extent the buying and selling of cannon as a means to gain "power." But I need to tighten it up a bit.

I like "It's hard out here for a Pimp." I do want to be hip.

That's actually the goal here. Be hip. Get the students listening to songs that they like (well, some of which they like), and having fun.