Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band BBC Four Sessions

Need another beer to loosen you up for those vocals?

We need a wild sound on these background vocals.

We want a WILD sound!

I want a beer-drunk, whisky-drinking sound!

Initially, it was just a raw, wild music,

and the people who were doing the singing and the people they were singing about

were just raw and wild.

People think that rocking started in the '40s or '50s.

No. You go back to the '20s

and the '30s, and it was just...

rocking bands, string bands, brass bands,

and so we've put together a little bit of all of those things.

AUDIENCE CLAPS IN TIME WITH INTRO

One, two...

One, two, three!

# Well, John Henry was a little baby

# Sittin' on his daddy's knee

# He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel

# And cried, "Hammer's gonna be the death of me, Lord, Lord

# "This hammer's gonna be the death of me"

# Well, the captain he said to John Henry

# "I'm gonna bring that steam drill around

# "I'm gonna bring that steam drill out on these tracks

# "I'm gonna knock that steel on down God, God

# "I'm gonna knock that steel on down"

# John Henry, well, told his captain

# "Captain, a man, he ain't nothin' but a man

# "Before I let your steam drill beat me down

# "I'm gonna die with a hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord

# "I'll die with a hammer in my hand" # Come on!

# Well, John Henry was driving on the right side

# That steam drill was driving on the left

# "Before I'll let your steam drill beat me down

# "I'm gonna hammer my fool self to death, Lord, Lord

# "I'll hammer my fool self to death"

# Well, the captain said to John Henry,

# "What is that storm out here?"

# John Henry said, "That ain't no storm now, Captain,

# "That's just my hammer in here, Lord, Lord

# "That's just my hammer in here." # Come on!

# Well, John Henry said to his shaker

# "Shaker, why don't you sing?

# "I'm swiggin' thirty pounds from my hips on down

# "Listen to my cold steel ring, Lord, Lord

# "Listen to my cold steel ring." # Come on!

# Well, John Henry hammered in the mountains

# His hammer was striking fire

# He worked so hard He broke his heart

# John Henry, he laid down his hammer and died, Lord, Lord

# John Henry, he laid down his hammer and died

# Well, now John Henry had a red-headed woman

# Her name was Polly Ann

# She walked down those tracks Picked up John Henry's hammer

# Polly drove that steel like a man, Lord, Lord

# Polly drove that steel like a man

# Well, every, every Monday morning

# Well, the bluebird he began to sing

# You can hear John Henry from a mile or more

# You can hear John Henry's hammer ring, Lord, Lord

# You can hear John Henry's hammer ring. # Sing!

# You can hear John Henry's hammer ring, Lord, Lord

You can hear John Henry's hammer ring. #

APPLAUSE One, two...

INAUDIBLE SPEECH

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Good evening! AUDIENCE BOOS

Good evening, everybody.

GENTLE STRUMMING ON GUITAR

All right, Jules?

# Well, if I could I surely would

# Stand on the rock where Moses stood

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Mary wore three lengths of chain

# On every link was Jesus' name

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep... #

Go, Sam!

# Well, one of these nights about 12 o'clock

# This old world is gonna rock

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Moses stood on the Red Sea-shore

# Smoked the world with a two-by-four

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Old Mr Satan he got mad

# He missed that soul that he thought he had

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Brothers and sisters, don't you cry

# There'll be good times by and by

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Well, God gave Noah the rainbow sign

# No more water but fire next time

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned Oh, Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh-h-h-h

# Mary, don't you weep

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep no more

# Pharaoh's army got drowned

# Oh, Mary, don't you weep. #

AUDIENCE CHEERS

BOOING

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

This was a song written...

I think it was recorded a month after the...

Great Depression hit in the United States,

written by a guy named Blind Alfred Reed. < Woo!

And, um...

A Blind Alfred Reed fan over there.

LAUGHTER

MAN SHOUTS OUT

But, um...

We were... I guess we were just down in New Orleans.

It's hard to explain what New Orleans is like.

If you're a musician, New Orleans of course is sacred ground and, uh...

it's just been so completely devastated -

miles after miles of wrecked homes and wrecked lives and...

people spread out all across the United States. The city lost half its population.

Haven't had anything like it in the States since the Dust Bowl,

so I wrote three versions,

hoping Mr...Mr Alfred Reed wouldn't mind

and, uh...

and, um...

I dedicated this to our President bystander,

who managed to screw up the only agency

that was there to assist folks

at times like that, through pure political cronyism

and, uh... So...

this is called How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times?

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

# Well, a doctor comes round here with his face so bright

# And he says, "In a little while you'll be all right

# But all he gives is a humbug pill

# A dose of dope and a great big bill

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# He said, "Me and my old school pals had some mighty high times round here

# "And what happened to you poor black folks, well, it just ain't fair"

# He took a look around Gave a little pep talk

# Said, "I'm with you" then he took a little walk

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levee's gone to hell

# Martha, get me my sixteen gauge and some dry shells

# Them who've got got out of town And them who ain't got left to drown

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# I got family scattered from Texas to Baltimore

# Mister, I ain't got no home in this world no more

# Gonna be a judgment that's a fact

# A righteous train rollin' down this track

# How can a poor man stand such times and live?

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?

# Woo-oo-oo-oo. #

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

The next one's Mrs McGrath. It's a great, great Irish anti-war song,

first published in...

1815.

So, uh... Oh, we didn't bring the friggin' organ, did we?!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Where's the little organ?

We can't let that stop us, can we?

Hell, no!

LAUGHTER

They can cut this one out if they want.

Just play it on the organ, Charlie.

< Damn!

We only got to bring one suit of clothes, too.

You can only wear one at a time, I guess.

INAUDIBLE COMMENT

All right!

DRUM BRUSHES GENTLE RHYTHM

FIDDLES PLAY TUNE

# "Mrs McGrath," the sergeant said

# "Would you like a soldier of your son Ted?

# "Scarlet coat and a big cocked hat

# "Mrs McGrath Would you like that?"

# With your too ra-yay fo diddly ay

# Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Now Mrs McGrath lived on the shore And after seven years or more

# She spotted a ship come into the bay

# With her son from far away

# "Captain, dear Where have you been?

# "You been sailing the Mediterranean?

# "Have you news of my son Ted? Is he living or is he dead?"

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Then came Ted without any legs And in their place two wooden pegs

# She kissed him a dozen times or two And said, "My God, Ted, is it you?

# "Now were you drunk or were you blind

# "When you left your two fine legs behind?

# "Or was it walking upon the sea

# "That wore your two fine legs away?"

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# "Now I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind

# "When I left my two fine legs behind

# "A cannon ball on the fifth of May Tore my two fine legs away"

# "My Teddy boy," the widow cried

# "Your two fine legs were your mother's pride

# "Stumps of a tree won't do at all

# "Why didn't you run from the cannon ball?"

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# With a too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

BAND PLAYS CHORUS

# "All foreign wars, I do proclaim

# "Live on blood and a mother's pain

# "I'd rather my son as he used to be

# "Than a king of America and his whole navy"

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

# Too ra-yay fo diddly ay Too ra-oo ra-oo ra-yay

APPLAUSE

Thank you!

Sam Bardfeld, Soozie Tyrell on fiddle.

WHOOPS AND APPLAUSE Thank you for your indulgence.

All right. Oh, yeah.

All right, this was written in, uh...

um...by a gal named Agnes "Sis" Cunningham.

She was a member of the Almanac Singers

and founder editor of Broadside magazine. She was a Dust Bowl refugee.

Written about the Oklahoma Dust Bowl,

it's called My Oklahoma Home. CHEERING

# When they opened up the strip I was young and full of zip

# Wanted some place to call my home

# And so I made the race and I staked me out a place

# And settled down along the Cimarron

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away!

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away!

# Yeah, my Oklahoma home has blown away

# It looked so green and fair when I built my shanty there

# And my Oklahoma home was blown away

# Well, I planted wheat and oats Got some chickens and some shoats

# Aimed to have some ham and eggs to feed my face

# Got a mule to pull the plough

# Got an old red muley cow

# I also got a fancy mortgage on this place

-# But it blowed away

-Blowed away!

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away!

# All the crops that I planted blown away

# Well, you can't grow any grain if you ain't got any rain

# Everything except my mortgage blown away... #

Come on!

# Well, it looked so green and fair When I built my shanty there

# I figured I was all set for life

# I put on my Sunday best with my fancy scalloped vest

# And I went to town to pick me out a wife

-# She blowed away

-Blowed away!

-# She blowed away

-Blowed away!

# Yeah, my Oklahoma woman's blown away

# Mister, as I bent to kiss her She was picked up by a twister

# My Oklahoma woman's blown away! # Swing that thing!

# Then I was left alone just listenin' to the moan

# Of the wind around the corners of my shack

# I took off down the road where the south wind blowed

# And I travelled with the wind upon my back

-# I blowed away

-Blowed away

-# I blowed away

-Blowed away

# Chasin' that dust cloud up ahead?

# Once it looked so green and fair Now it's up in the air

# My Oklahoma farm is overhead! #

Come on, Charles.

# I'm always close to home no matter where I roam

# Oklahoma dust is everywhere

# Makes no difference where I'm walkin' I can hear my chickens squawkin'

# I can hear my wife talkin' in the air

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away

# My Oklahoma home's blown away

# But my home is always near It's up in the atmosphere

# My Oklahoma home that's blown away! # All right!

# I'm a-roamin' Oklahoma but I'm always close to home

# I'll never get homesick until I die

# No matter where I'm found My home is all around

# My Oklahoma home is in the sky. #

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away

-# It blowed away

-Blowed away

# My farm down on the Cimarron

# Now all around the world wherever dust is whirled

# There's some from my Oklahoma home

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

# Yeah My Oklahoma home has blown away

# It's up there in the sky in that dust cloud passing by

# My Oklahoma home has blown away! # All right.

Let's go!

Yeah!

That's right!

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

# Yeah My Oklahoma home has blown away

# It's up there in the sky in that dust cloud passing by

# My Oklahoma home is in the sky! # Once more!

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

-# It's blown away

-Blown away

# Yeah My Oklahoma home has blown away

# It's up there in the sky in that dust cloud passing by

# My Oklahoma home is in the sky! # All right!

Whoo!

BOOING

Let's hear it for the horn section.

CHEERING

Eddie Manion! Clark Gayton! Curt Ramm!

Art Baron!

Well done, gentlemen.

This is a song called Jacob's Ladder.

CROWD: Yeah!

I always figured...

Jacob - I read up on him the other night and he was somebody that was always doing it wrong in God's eyes,

and God kept giving him things to do to work his way back into grace step by step,

and he'd screw up again step by step by step until...

finally, I guess, he got sort of close,

but um...

So this is sort of like we are all climbing Jacob's ladder rung by rung - you can ask my wife.

LAUGHTER

But, um...

Here we go.

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder... #

This is not how this song begins.

It doesn't begin remotely like this.

I was enjoying myself so tremendously.

It doesn't begin like that at all.

It actually begins like this.

A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three!

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are brothers and sisters all

# Every new rung just makes us stronger

# Every new rung just makes us stronger

# Every new rung just makes us stronger

# We are brothers and sisters all

# Every rung goes higher and higher

# Every rung goes higher and higher

# Every rung goes higher and higher

# We are brothers and sisters all! #

All right!

All right! Come on!

Are you ready now?

Let's play it again! One more time, boys!

All right, let's sing!

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are brothers and sisters all! #

All right, let's bring it up!

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are brothers and sisters all! #

Take it up!

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are climbing Jacob's ladder

# We are brothers and sisters all! #

Sing! Sing!

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are climbing higher and higher

# We are brothers

# And sisters

# All! #

That's right! That's right!

Sing it, baby!

Yeah!

Go ahead!

Yeah!

All right!

One, two, three!

BOOING

All right!

Lisa Lowell! Curtis King!

Cindy Mizelle on those vocal!

Mr Marc Anthony Thompson!

That's right!

You know, I was feeling really good...

..at the beginning of that Jacob's Ladder going...

I'm just hanging and I'm thinking, "OK, when does the band come in?"

Then I realised, "Wait! The band's already supposed to be in.

"They're supposed to be in now!

"Not later."

Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

This is one of the most important protest songs of all time.

It's sung all over the world,

wherever people fight for justice and equality.

It was originally a Baptist hymn.

I think it was brought into the labour movement in the '30s

and popularised...

by the civil rights workers in the 1950s.

This was sung as recently as last week in the States at the immigration marches.

It is We Shall Overcome.

# Hey, we shall overcome

# We shall overcome

# We shall overcome some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We shall overcome some day

# Well, we'll walk hand in hand

# We'll walk hand in hand

# We'll walk hand in hand some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We'll walk hand in hand some day

# Well, we shall live in peace

# We shall live in peace

# We shall live in peace some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We shall live in peace some day

# Well, we are not afraid

# We are not afraid

# We shall overcome some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We shall overcome some day

# Well, we shall overcome

# We shall overcome

# We shall overcome some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We shall overcome some day

# Darlin', here in my heart

# Yeah, I do believe

# We shall overcome some day

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh! #

Thank you.

All right.

# I thought I heard the captain say Pay me my money down

# Tomorrow is our sailing day Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# As soon as the boat was clear of the bar

# Pay me my money down

# He knocked me down with a spar

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Well, if I'd been a rich man's son

# Pay me my money down

# I'd sit on the river and watch 'em run

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down! #

Oh!

Come on!

Bring that hat on!

All right, gentlemen...!

Let's bring it up now!

One, two, a-one, two...

# Well, I wish I was Mr Gates

# Pay me my money down

# Yes, all my money in increase

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down! #

Wait a minute! They took all my money!

Are you ready, Charles?

All right!

One, two, a-one, two...

# Well, forty days and nights at sea

# Pay me my money down

# The captain worked every last dollar out of me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down! # Come on!

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

Yeah! # Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down! # One more time!

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down! #

Thank you! The Seeger Sessions Band!

One, two, a-one, two, three...

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me, pay me... #

Everybody watching at home, take off your clothes!

# Pay me, pay me

# Pay me my money down

# Pay me or go to jail

# Pay me my money down! #

Whoo! Way to go!

Thank you, England!

CHEERING AND BOOING

Thanks a lot.

The Seeger Sessions Band!

Yes!

Thank you.

We'll see you soon, I hope.

HE MOUTHS