Thanksgiving 100 Years Ago

 
 

Songs inspired by home and autumn, gathering, good cooking, and being grateful for humble things, from those who saw The Great War (WWI), Jim Crow, The Republican Great Depression (what it was called until the '50s), FDR's New Deal, and World War II.

on Apple Music (31 songs)

on Tidal (31 songs)

on Spotify (30 songs)

on YouTube (31 songs)

SONG LIST BY YEAR:

  • 1942 I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For (Bing Crosby)

  • 1931 I Thank You Mr. Moon (The Dorsey Bros., The Boswell Sisters)

  • 1935 Thanks a Million (Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra)

  • 1948 Everybody Eats When They Come To My House (Cab Calloway & His Orchestra)

  • 1934 Autumn In New York (Billie Holiday)

  • 1931 I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby (And My Baby’s Crazy ‘Bout Me) (Fats Waller)

  • 1929 A Place To Call Home (Ruth Etting)

  • 1944 “Simple Gifts/’Tis a Gift To Be Simple” (a Shaker melody from 1848) popularized via the Martha Graham ballet “Appalachian Spring” in 1944 (Aaron Copeland)

  • 1949 ’Tis Autumn (The Nat “King” Cole Trio)

  • 1954 Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) (Eddie Fisher)

  • 1936 You’ve Been a Friend to Me (The Carter Family)

  • c. 1830s Turkey In The Straw (Trad.) (Fiddle Fiddle Fiddle)

  • 1950 Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella (Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra)

  • 1947 I Want To Thank Your Folks (Ink Spots)

  • 1920 Look For The Silver Lining (Marion Harris)

  • 1960 Rhode Island Is Famous For You (Blossom Dearie)

  • 1926 Thanks For The Buggy Ride (Frank Crumit)

  • 1955 All That Meat & No Potatoes (Louis Armstrong)

  • 1947 Home Is Where The Heart Is (Ink Spots)

  • 1946 Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy (Dinah Shore)

  • 1935 I Was Lucky (The Dorsey Brothers)

  • 1931 Home (Ruth Etting)

  • 1936 Pennies From Heaven (Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra)

  • 1945 Autumn Leaves (Nat “King” Cole)

  • 1931 Shine On, Harvest Moon (The Boswell Sisters)

  • 1928 Keep On The Sunny Side (The Carter Family)

  • 1964 Early Autumn (Ella Fitzgerald & Nelson Riddle)

  • 1931 The Little Things In Life (Dick Robertson/Ted Wallace and his Campus Boys)

  • 1933 Build A Little Home (Ruth Etting)

  • 1915 Contentment (ragtime piano) (Martine Morel)

  • 1948 Count Your Blessings (Gracie Fields) 

Last time the world 🌎 saw youngsters wearing masks 👀 those kids were our great-grandparents.

They were in their youth, but probably not in school.* Instead, they were working maybe in a factory (your great-grandparents?), or on a plantation (mine, I think)….

Anyway, one of the things I probably wouldn’t be doing right now, but for 🦠 covid, is to try to be making ancestral offerings on music streaming platforms.

“Thanksgiving 100 Years Ago” 🍂 is an attempt at [secular sacrament] via [playlist].

A moment of not-silence
😌🎧🙏🏼
for the young ones who saw a Great War and global pandemic, whose early adulthood was swamped by a Great Depression then buoyed by FDR’s New Deal, only to find in midlife, a war set against them and their children and the free world.

Their fears and troubles are ours today.

This playlist follows themes of autumn and home, gathering, good cooking, and being grateful for humble things.

The songs say “thank you.”

Thank you, ancestors,
for delivering to us a democracy.

Appreciation
and admiration for you,
for making it through.

From us,
the grandchildren
of your children,
following three lifetimes behind
in your rearview.

___

*NOTE: High schools were rare before the ‘30s. In fact 👉🏽 ”As recently as 1970, the high school completion rate was only 55%. ~ Center on Education Policy, George Washington University

___

Thanksgiving first became a national holiday in the midst of the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln pleaded with Americans to “heal the wounds of the nation.” Originally set for the last Thursday in November, it was moved up one week earlier under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, in an effort to help boost commerce during the Great Depression. In 1941, it was moved back to the fourth Thursday in November, which is when we Americans celebrate it to this day.

Toast