The Titanic (song)

"The Titanic" (also known as "It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down" and "Titanic (Husbands and Wives)") is a folk song and children's song most known for being sung in the United States at summer camp. "The Titanic" is about the sinking of the RMS Titanic which sank on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg.

Background

There are several regional variations on the song. According to Newman I. White's 1928 book American Negro Folk-Songs, "The Titanic" has been traced back to 1915 or 1916 in Hackleburg, Alabama. Other versions from around 1920 are documented in the Frank C. Brown Collection at Duke University in North Carolina. Early recordings include Ernest Stoneman's "The Titanic" (Okeh 40288) in September 1924 and William and Versey Smith's "When That Great Ship Went Down" in August 1927.^[1]. According to Jeff Place, in his notes for the American Anthology of Folk Music: "African-American musicians, in particular, found it noteworthy and ironic that company policies had kept Blacks from the doomed ship; the sinking was also attributed by some to divine retribution."

Recordings

• William and Versey Smith on Anthology of American Folk Music, Smithsonian Folkways 1952
• Lead Belly on The Titanic (Volume 4)
• Bessie Jones on The Alan Lomax Collection Sampler Rounder 1997
• Woody Guthrie on The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1: This Land Is Your Land, Smithsonian Folkways 1999

References

• Habing, B.. "The Great Titanic - American Folk Song". PotW.org. http://www.potw.org/archive/potw76a.html. Retrieved September 28, 2008. 
• Levang, Rex. "It Was Sad When the Great Ship Went Down". Minnesota Public Radio. http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9901_titanic/index.shtml. Retrieved December 2, 2005. 
• White, Newman I. (1928). American Negro Folk-Songs. Harvard University Press. 
• Google: Titanic

In popular culture

The Titanic was sung by Paul Newman and Brandon de Wilde's characters after a night out in the film Hud.

Traditionally, the University of California Marching Band sings Titanic during its march up to Memorial Stadium from Sproul Plaza on the Berkeley campus.

The Great Ship Titanic is commonly sung at many Boy Scout Camps with numerous more hilarious verses added on.

External links

• The Titanic (It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down) – Lyrics.
• The Sinking Of The Titanic – Music and lyrics.