Odetta

They were active here at this point.

You had an artist who went by the name Odetta, an African-American blues musician who had actually put her first records out in the 1950s, but a lot of her Songs were very topical, so they kind of fit into the broader folk family.

Dave Van Ronk and Tom Paxton were other big names in the village at this point.

TJ, I hate to interrupt you, but we are going to take our first sponsor break, and we will be right back.

They all grew up to working class parents, tough kids, kids, Sometimes like in Ozzie's case, they didn't necessarily know where the next meal was coming from.

And I know we've tried to hone in with episodes like Odetta on the importance of like, you need to know the history politically, socially of this specific moment, but like 1968 to 1970, when this record came out, when this band gets going, let's go back to 67, even to 70.

You have Vietnam.

You have all of the civil rights stuff happening in the U.S. You have the looming threat of nuclear war around post-World War II, post-Cold War.

You might not know there was an original of.

Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company recorded this back in the 60s, but it was originally done by Odetta.

And here's Odetta right now with Down on Me.

One of these mornings, bright and fair It's on my wings, I'm gonna try the air Looks like everybody in the whole wide world down on me.

Down on me.

Look like everybody in the whole wide world Mary and Martin, Luke and John All them prophets is dead and gone Looks like everybody in the whole wide world is down on me Down on me, down on me Look like everybody in the whole wide world down on me Paint in the heaven, I've been told Streets up there is paved with gold It looks like everybody in the whole wide world Down on me, down on me Looks like everybody in the whole wide world Down on me God is God, rain is rain, you know God's a man that don't ever change Looks like everybody in the whole wide world Down on me, down on me, down on me Looks like everybody in the whole wide world got on Looks like everybody in the whole wide world got on Thank you.

We have been listening to Shuggy Otis with Sweet Thang from his album Freedom Flight.

And before that, we heard Odetta with Down on Me.

But the notion of captivity is every bit as powerful as Sam Cooke's 1960 classic Chain Gang, which makes its own connection to the song we heard before that.

Odetta's Waterboy goes back to just one year before, and her interpretation of this traditional work song of hard labor carries her own power and dignity along with it.

Hey, before that, we changed the pace and the mood.

Joni Mitchell's River comes from her 1971 album Blue, and it really is one of her most affecting compositions, where the image of a frozen river becomes a way to imagine an escape from regret.

This week we are going to spend some quality time with Detta Walker in the Sandbox.

We're going to watch Detta and Odetta swap character traits and we're going to watch Eddie not be on his guard again and again and again.

so glad to be back with you here my name is michelle mckeown i am your host and here at dark tower youtube we're taking a deep psychological dive into stephen king's magnum opus the dark tower examining the magic the metaphysics and the mystery of it all this is a big episode it's going to be two parts and in case you're confused i am re-recording this because i didn't like the audio on the first one that i did and it's been bugging me and so i thought just redo it michelle So this is going to be the same information.

If you already watched part one of section four of drawing of the three, this is the same thing.

This is going to be part one, getting as far as we get.

Okay.

I want to talk about Odetta's names because there's a lot here, starting with the idea, the fact that Odetta Holmes is a real person, was a real person.

And I didn't know that until I did a deeper dive into this material.

None of my business.

But I, I mostly, uh, I told you that only so I could tell you the next part, which is that Jess's songwriting teacher once told them a fantastic story about when the legendary singer Odetta was her teacher.

She had a tiny little friend named Kimmy, who was also getting lessons.

Little Kimmy had a shy little voice, and one day, Odetta stopped her mid-lesson, sat her down, and said, "No, Kimmy, one sings from one's cunt." And I-

Whoa.

I wanted the chance to say that on the radio, and also-

Whoa

...

Big boss man.

That was Big Boss Man by Erma Franklin, and we started with Take This Hammer by Odetta.

Those were songs about dealing with the man.

[upbeat music]