RICHARD DYER-BENNET RESOURCE PAGE

Contents

Biographical Sketch (see also Bonnie Dyer-Bennet’s essay in the liner notes to Richard Dyer-Bennet 1 on Smithsonian-Folkways SF 40078)

Discography

Dyer-Bennet's Repertoire

Bibliography

Reviews

Richard's translation of of Wilhelm Muller's Die Schoene Muellerin

Scans of a 1944 Town Hall program from one of Richard's performances.

Earlier this year, Smithsonian-Folkways released 14 CDs originally recorded by Richard Dyer-Bennet (1913-1991) for his own label, Dyer-Bennet Records, between 1955 and 1965. To order Richard Dyer-Bennet CDs from Smithsonian-Folkways, click here. These reissues will no doubt be well received by those already familiar with the so-called “twentieth-century minstrel.” My intention, however, is to acquaint a new generation of folk music fans with Dyer-Bennet’s life and body of work.

To understand Dyer-Bennet’s work one must first appreciate his admiration of Sven Scholander (1860-1936), the famed Swedish singer. In 1935, Dyer-Bennet traveled by boat and bicycle to Stockholm in order to meet Scholander. Though initially reluctant, Scholander, then 75 and long retired, granted the young man’s wish and sang a number of songs from his huge repertoire. Dyer-Bennet was immediately enchanted. "Somehow," he would recall later, "it was the greatest musical experience I ever had." (1)

The old master's style of singing was something Dyer-Bennet "had never dreamed of. He looked straight at me and spun tale after tale as though singing out of his own life. A pageant of the ages seemed to pass before my eyes, and it was all evoked by the husky voice of this old man and by his simple but exactly appropriate accompaniments on the lute." (2)

During the two months he remained in Stockholm, Dyer-Bennet saw Scholander a half dozen more times. From him the young singer learned nearly a hundred songs, many of which became staples in his own repertoire. But perhaps more important than the songs themselves was the feeling for folk music Dyer-Bennet absorbed in Scholander's presence. Years later he told Nat Hentoff that his credo remained that of Scholander: "The value lies inherent in the song, not in the regional mannerisms or colloquialisms." (3)

Richard Dyer-Bennet's road to Stockholm and Scholander began in Leicester, England, where he was born October 6, 1913. His father, Richard Stewart Dyer-Bennet, was an officer in the British army. Mrs. Dyer-Bennet, born Miriam Wolcott Clapp in Illinois, was reared in California. Both enjoyed music and often played the records of Caruso and John McCormack.

The family moved to Canada in 1919, and then to California in 1925 after Dyer-Bennet’s father had separated from his mother. Young Richard accompanied his mother to Germany in 1929 and returned home to study literature at Berkeley in 1932. The following year at a Christmas party, Dyer-Bennet was asked to sing a few songs. Afterwards, Gertrude Wheeler Beckman introduced herself to Dyer-Bennet and suggested he make a career of what up till then had been merely a hobby. Beckman offered to train his voice, for she saw in the young student a possible successor to Scholander, whose work she had long admired.

Inspired by his teacher, and fortunate enough to have received a $500 legacy from a relative whom he had never met, Dyer-Bennet set off for Sweden and his memorable encounter with Scholander. On his way home to America, Dyer-Bennet practiced his art first in Sweden, then in his native England, and finally in Wales. During this time, he sang for assembled union members, parishioners, and even grocery store customers. It must have been particularly satisfying to the young man that his audiences were mainly composed of working folk, English mill workers and Welsh coal miners. Scholander had told him that "the only way to learn the art of minstrelsy is to sing to the people, feel their response, and make them believe in what you are singing." (4)

Back home in Berkeley, Dyer-Bennet dropped out of school--"because now I could read Goethe for myself, you know" (5)--but continued to study with Gertrude Beckman. Together they worked on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian songs, as well as pieces by Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Franz, Brahms, and Wolf.

"All this was good for my voice and general musical awareness. It also filled my mind with ideas for accompaniments, though I had not found a classic-guitar teacher and was involved in a painstaking attempt to master the instrument by trial and error." (6)

In 1941 Dyer-Bennet moved to New York and quickly became part of the great folk music revival underway there. He found work singing first at Le Ruban Bleu, a night club run by Herbert Jacoby, and then at the famed Village Vanguard in Manhattan, where he honed his art and became a thorough professional. Dyer-Bennet's appearances on stage at the Vanguard happily surprised its clientele. More accustomed to hearing the latest jazz acts, the audience gradually came to embrace the folk material of Burl Ives. Yet they hardly knew how to react when Dyer-Bennet appeared on stage in full evening dress and began to sing ballads that were centuries old.

Two regular Vanguard fans of Dyer-Bennet were Mike Quill and Ted Zittel. Quill was involved in the Transport Worker's Union, and Zittel was his publicity man. Zittel arranged for Dyer-Bennet to sing for the union at Madison Square Garden, and then helped to arrange his first recitals at New York's Town Hall in 1944. Later that same year Dyer-Bennet sang at Carnegie Hall. Audience and critic alike responded warmly to Dyer-Bennet’s bel canto versions of American and European folk songs.

Sol Hurok (1888-1974), the best-known impresario of the day, offered to represent Dyer-Bennet after hearing him perform. Dyer-Bennet recalled that "after the first group of songs, Hurok came backstage and offered to undertake my management. He said, 'I've heard this sort of thing once before; in Riga, in about 1920, I heard a Swedish singer . . .'" (7) The singer, of course, was Scholander, but Hurok could not believe that anyone as young as Dyer-Bennet could have heard the minstrel perform. Dyer-Bennet recounted his trip to Stockholm for Hurok, who was duly impressed by the singer's determination and obvious love for his work. "Two days later I signed a contract with Hurok, and my professional future was in the best of hands." (8)

The years following the war were busy ones for Dyer-Bennet. He gave more than 50 concerts a year and recorded nearly 140 songs for a number of labels, including Stinson, Keynote, Continental, Mercury, Concert Hall, Decca, Vox, and Remington. An attempt to found a school of minstrelsy in Aspen failed, however, and then, in the fifties, Dyer-Bennet, along with Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, and many others, was listed in Red Channels, a book published to expose those linked in various ways to the Communist Party. Thus besmirched, the twentieth-century minstrel found himself the object of right-wing protests. Bookings began to dry up, and Dyer-Bennet decided to concentrate on his recording career.

Recording his repertoire was vital to Dyer-Bennet. Speaking in 1963 to Nat Hentoff, Dyer-Bennet remarked,

"so far my repertoire includes five to six hundred songs. I don't want to leave it only in books, where the music cannot live. I wish, for instance, there had been Scholander recordings to study. I may well not be the most skillful possible representative of my way of singing, but these albums will indicate what a minstrel could do in the twentieth century." (9)

With the help of Harvey Cort, his partner/producer, and J. Gordon Holt, a recording engineer, the minstrel founded Dyer-Bennet Records. In one part of the Great Barrington, Massachusetts home to which he and his family had moved in the early 1950's, Dyer-Bennet set up a control room and recording studio. From 1955 to 1965 he would record at least one album annually in domestic comfort.

Over half of Dyer-Bennet’s recorded songs date from the 19th century, a quarter from the 18th and 17th, and the remainder from earlier times. More than half originated in the United Kingdom, a third in the singer's adopted homeland of America, and the rest in western Europe. Dyer-Bennet learned these songs from a vast number of people and sources. Many came from Scholander, of course, but other sources were fellow singers Burl Ives, John Jacob Niles, Leadbelly, Tom Glazer, and John McCormack. Still others were found in folk song collections such as Carl Sandburg's American Songbag, or Thomas Percy's famous 18th century work, Reliques of English Poetry. On the fourteen albums recorded for his own label, Dyer-Bennet also set to music the poetry of Yeats, Byron, Charles Kingsley, Bret Harte, Robert Burns, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, and Goethe, as well as compositions by sixteenth-century minstrels Thomas Campion and John Dowland.

The seventh album in the series shows an entirely different side of the man. This album is devoted entirely to Beethoven's Scottish and Irish songs, originally published in three volumes in 1814, 1816, and 1818. The Beethoven project was the brainchild of George Thomson, a Scottish folk song enthusiast. Thomson's idea was to improve the quality of both the words and the music of a number of traditional songs. In his album notes, Dyer-Bennet states that "by various use of cajolery, appeals to national pride, and money, he was able to engage a number of distinguished poets and musicians in his enterprise. Among these were Scott, Burns, Haydn, and Beethoven." (10) On the album Dyer-Bennet is joined by a trio of musicians: Natasha Magg on piano, Urico Rossi on violin, and Fritz Magg on cello. The sound is thus decidedly unique in the Dyer-Bennet canon. As he told Studs Terkel later, "it isn't Beethoven, it certainly isn't folk song anymore, but why does one have to call it anything? They're lovely songs." (11)

The same adjective is often used to describe the work of Stephen Foster, another Dyer-Bennet favorite. The eleventh album in the series is a collection of Foster songs. Dyer-Bennet had a high regard for Foster's talent, which, had time allowed, "might have resulted in an American Schubert." (12) By themselves, the songs "have at least the charm and distinction of small works of art, and sound gracious and pleasant in these noisy times." (13)

The original idea for an all-Foster album was suggested to Dyer-Bennet in 1947 by Alfred Frankenstein. Fifteen years passed before Dyer-Bennet engaged Harry Rubenstein to accompany him on piano for the recording of the songs. According to Frankenstein, the wait was well worthwhile. In the past "chauvinistic phonies" have recorded Foster "according to commercial needs or the whims of the moment." Dyer-Bennet is "the first person in history to record songs by Stephen Foster precisely as Foster wrote them, using Josiah Lilly's famous facsimile edition of the original sheet music." (14) Again Scholander's advice--"the value lies inherent in the song, not in the regional mannerisms or colloquialisms"--had served the pupil well. While to some Dyer-Bennet’s scholarly and artistic approach to folk music seemed somewhat stiff or mannered, he maintained that “no song is ever harmed by being articulated clearly, on pitch, with sufficient control of phrase and dynamics to make the most of the poetry and melody, and with an instrumental accompaniment designed to enrich the whole effect.” (15)

Among contemporary folk singers, Dyer-Bennet singled out Joan Baez--who later recorded his arrangement of Byron’s “So We’ll Go No More A-Roving”--as a talent after his own heart. “She has the loveliest voice. When I first heard her I thought she had the makings of an extraordinary performer.” (16)

But, by Dyer-Bennet's definition, Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and all the other singers of traditional folk songs were, like Scholander, minstrels. In a landmark article written for Hi Fi/Stereo Review, Dyer-Bennet maintains that

"this distinction between folk singing and minstrelsy is more than a mere semantic quibble. If you are born and raised among rural people who know the songs, and if you can carry the tunes, and do, you are a folk singer, like it or not. If you are born and raised in the city, you may copy the intonation and accent of a true rural folk singer, but you will be, at best, an imitation of the real thing. What you can become is a minstrel." (17)

During the last fifteen years of his life, the twentieth-century minstrel devoted himself to two major projects. In the mid-seventies he performed and recorded his own translation of Schubert’s “Schoene Muellerin”song cycle. Then, in 1978, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded him $100,000 to pursue the enormous task of recording Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey.

Although he gave numerous declamations of excerpts from the work, and recorded some of them for posterity, Dyer-Bennet died of cancer in 1991 before he could complete the work. He was survived by his wife, Melvene, and his four daughters, Eunice, Ellen, Bonnie, and Brooke. He left behind an extensive body of recorded work, and an indelible impression on the thousands who heard him perform on stage.

Writing in 1961, Dyer-Bennet claimed:

"The way to performances that will always ring true is shaped by the words and music of the songs themselves and has nothing to do with transient taste or stylistic mannerism. All great singers of songs find this way for themselves, and the young aspirant will do himself and his art justice only if he searches until he finds it." (18)

Richard Dyer-Bennet was one such singer. He found songs that had permanence and introduced them to an entirely new audience. He was inspired by tradition, but never became its slave. Beckman and Scholander set him on his way, but the road he traveled was very much his own.

Notes

(1) Everett Helm, "Richard Dyer-Bennet: Folk Singer in White Tie," Musical America, February, 1963, p.43.

(2)Richard Dyer-Bennet, "A New Age of Minstrelsy," HiFi/Stereo Review, July, 1961, p.33. (3) Nat Hentoff, "The Last Minstrel", The Reporter, 31 January, 1963, p.52.

(4)Frank K. Kelly, "Dyer-Bennet: A Painter in Song", date and source unknown.

(5)J.M.Conly, “Minstrel on a Peninsula,” Atlantic, February, 1960, p.104.

(6) Dyer-Bennet, p.34.

(7)Ibid.

(8)Ibid.

(9)Hentoff, p.52.

(10)Richard Dyer-Bennet, album notes for Richard Dyer-Bennet 7, 1958.

(11)Richard Dyer-Bennet, interview by Studs Terkel,WFMT radio, Chicago, 1955(?).

(12)Richard Dyer-Bennet, album notes for Richard Dyer-Bennet 11, 1962.

(13) Ibid.

(14)Alfred Frankenstein, "Dyer-Bennet Records Foster's Songs as He Wrote Them", San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, 16 December, 1962.

(15) Richard Dyer-Bennet, "A New Age of Minstrelsy," HiFi/Stereo Review, July, 1961, p.32.

(16) Howard Schneider, "Richard Dyer-Bennet Was an Anachronism--a 20th-Century Minstrel", Denver Post, 8 April, 1973, p.18.

(17) Richard Dyer-Bennet, "A New Age of Minstrelsy," HiFi/Stereo Review, July, 1961, p.32.

(18) Ibid., p.35.

Contents

Baruch, D.J. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." Musical America. March, 1960.

Beckett, Henry. New York Post Magazine. February 25, 1944.

Bowen, J. "Schiotz file." Saturday Review. September 24, 1960.

Brand, Oscar. "Richard Dyer-Bennet (1913-1991), twentieth- century minstrel." Sing Out. 1992.

Clines, Francis X. "An epic reading out of an epic life." New York Times. December 5, 1978.

Collins, Fletcher. Almanace Play-Party Songs and Singing Games. Norwood Editions, 1940.

Collins, Fletcher. A Medieval Songbook: Troubadour and Trouvere. University of Virginia Press, 1982.

Conly, J.M. "Minstrel on a peninsula." Atlantic. February, 1960.

Current Biography. "Solomon Hurok." September, 1941.

Current Biography. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." June, 1944.

Current Biography. "Askel Schiotz." March, 1949.

De Toledano, R. "Mark Twain, obscenity, folk songs." National Review. August 27, 1963.

Dunaway, David. How Can I Keep From Singing: Pete Seeger. New York: Da Kapo, 1981.

Dyer-Bennet, Richard. Richard Dyer-Bennet, the 20th Century Minstrel: A Collection of 20 Songs and Ballads with Guitar and Piano Accompaniments. New York: Leeds Music Corporation, 1946.

_______. Interview by Studs Terkel. Chicago, WFMT radio. 1955, 1962.

_______. "A new age of minstrelsy." Hi Fi/Stereo Review. July, 1961.

_______. Die Schoene Muellerin: The Lovely Milleress (score). New York: Schirmer, 1967.

_______. The Richard Dyer-Bennet Folk Song Book. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970.

_______. "The Odyssey Project." Program Notes to Coolidge Auditorium World Premiere of Three Excerpts from Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Homer's Odyssey. October 15 and 16, 1979.

Fleming, S. "Richard Dyer-Bennet; a modern minstrel pursues an ancient art." High Fidelity: The Magazine for Music Listeners. March, 1963.

Folkart, Burt A. "Richard Dyer-Bennet; folk troubadour and guitarist." Los Angeles Times. December 17, 1991.

Fox, Catherine. "A tale for the telling." Maclean's. November 19, 1979.

Gordon, Max. Live at the Village Vanguard. New York: Da Capo Press, 1982.

Helm, Everett. "Richard Dyer-Bennet: folk singer in white tie." Musical America. February, 1963.

Hentoff, Nat. "Last minstrel." Reporter. January 31, 1963.

High Fidelity/Musical America. "Richard Dyer-Bennet, tenor ('The Lovely Milleress'--his translation of Franz Schubert's 'Die Schoene Muellerin')." May, 1977.

Jones, M. and Traill, S. "Collector's corner." Melody Maker. May 23, 1953.

Kaplan, R. "Minstrel in white tie." Coronet. May, 1958.

Kelly, Frank. "Dyer-Bennet: a painter in song." Publication unknown. September 26, 194(3?).

Kirchhoff, H.J. "A storyteller and his Odyssey." Boston Globe and Mail. October 29, 1988.

Klein, Joe. Woody Guthrie: A Life. New York: Knopf, 1980.

Lawless, Ray M. Folksingers and Folksongs in America. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1981 (c1960).

Look. February 5, 1944.

McDonald, Ron. "When Homer has his way." Smith Alumnae Quarterly. February, 1981.

Musical America. "Richard Dyer-Bennet, tenor." December 1, 1949.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." December 1, 1950.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." December 1, 1951.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." December 1, 1953.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." March, 1957.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." December 1, 1958.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." April, 1960.

Musical Courier. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." December 1, 1951.

_______. "Richard Dyer-Bennet." March 1, 1957.

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie. London: MacMillan, 1980.

New York Times. February 27, 1944.

Newsweek. "Twentieth-century bard." March 13, 1944.

Percy, Thomas. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. New York: Dover, 1966.

Porter, Andrew. "Lieder in English?" High Fidelity/Musical America. April, 1979.

Program Notes to Concert at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota) Concert. November 20, 1968.

Robinson, Harlow. The Last Impresario: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Sol Hurok. New York: Viking, 1994.

Russcol, H. "I gave my love a cherry, so tell it like it is, baby!" High Fidelity/Musical America. December, 1968.

Schneider, Howard. "Richard Dyer-Bennet was an anachronism--a 20th-Century minstrel." Denver Post. April 8, 1973.

Scholander, Sven. Visan, lutan, och jag. Stockholm: Lars Hokersbergs Bokforlag, 1933.

Schubert, Franz. "Die Schoene Muellerin." Score. Text translated as "The Lovely Milleress" by Richard Dyer- Bennet. New York: G. Schirmer, 1967.

Shelton, R. "Bridging the gap." New York Times. April 16, 1961.

_______. "A jousting minstrel." New York Times. November 18, 1962.

Time. "Young man with a lute." October 13, 1941.

Young, H. "Tenor with guitar." Counterpoint. February, 1953.

Yurchenco, H. "Folk music in New York." Musical America. February, 1963.

Contents

American Record Guide. "Dyer-Bennet has produced a masterpiece." January, 1963.

Bell, Nelson. "About the showstops." Washington Post. April 10, 1944.

Biancholli, Louis. "Dyer-Bennet in folk songs." New York World Telegram. March 6, 1944.

Bowles, Paul. "Dyer-Bennet recital." New York Herald Tribune. December 31, 1945.

Brown, Ray. "Postlude." Washington Post. April 13, 1944.

Cochrane, Robert B. "Concert at museum." Baltimore Sun. July 27, 1944.

Davis, Peter G. "Music: rarities." New York Times. January 24, 1977.

De Sayn, Elena. "Unique recital of ballads given by Dyer- Bennet." Washington Star. April 10, 1944.

Frankenstein, Alfred. "Dyer-Bennet presents his folk songs in recital." San Francisco Chronicle. March 26, 1946.

_______. "Dyer-Bennet records Foster's songs as he wrote them." San Francisco Sunday Chronicle. December 16, 1962.

Fried, Alexander. "U.C. balladist makes good." San Francisco Examiner. March 25, 1946.

Gunn, Glenn Dillard. "Dyer-Bennet pleasing in his recital of ballads." Washington Times-Herald. April 10, 1944.

Musical America. "Town Hall recital." March, 1957.

New York PM. "Musical diary." March 6, 1944.

_______. "Musical diary." May 8, 1944.

New York Sun. "Richard Dyer-Bennet sings in Town Hall." December 31, 1945.

New York Times. "Dyer-Bennet gives ballad program." March 5, 1944.

_______. "Dyer-Bennet sings to capacity crowd." November 19, 1944.

_______. "Dyer-Bennet sings a varied program." December 30, 1945.

Porter, Andrew. "Song in green." New Yorker. February 28, 1977.

Wolff, Ruth. "Dyer-Bennet S.F. concert is acclaimed." Berkeley Gazette. March 27, 1946.

Contents

Albums are listed in chronological order by title, followed by recording date, recording company, album number, and what I've called an appendix code. This code is an abbreviation I've used in the appendices B and C to represent the albums below. An alphabetical listing of each album's songs is also given.

All albums listed are 33 1/3 LP's unless otherwise indicated.

RICHARD DYER-BENNET, LUTE SINGER. 193?. 78 rpm. Keynote #108. Appendix Code: K108. [cover]

Charleston Merchant, Derby Ram, Drunken Sailor, Golden Vanity, House Carpenter, Hullabaloo Belay, Lincolnshire Poacher, Waltzing Matilda

BALLADS. 78 rpm. Date unknown. Stinson. 364. Appendix Code: S364.

Come All Ye, Eddystone Light, Frog and the Mouse, John Peel, Little Pigs, Molly Malone, Oh, No, John, Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn

LOVE SONGS. 1947. 78 rpm. 609. Appendix Code: 609.[cover]

As I Was Going to Ballynore, Blow the Candles Out, Brigg Fair, Two Maidens Went Milking One Day, Venezuela,Westryn Wynde

MINSTREL SONGS OF THE USA. 78 rpm. 1947? Vox Records. 632. Appendix Code: VOX.

Blue Mountain Lake, Colorado Trail, Lass From the Low Country, Old Bangum, Quaker Lover, Turkish Reverie, Were You There?

RICHARD DYER-BENNET, TWENTIETH-CENTURY MINSTREL. 1949. Decca. DL79102. Appendix Code: DL79102.

Devil and the Farmer's Wife, Dinah and Villikens, Early One Morning, Eggs and Marrowbone, Greensleeves, Lolly Toodum, Mo Mary, Oh, Sally My Dear, Old Maid, Swapping Song, Willow Tree

RICHARD DYER-BENNET. 45 rpm. 195? Dyer-Bennet Records. Appendix Code: D45.

Greensleeves, John Henry, Joys of Love, Lonesome Valley

FOLK SONGS. 195?. Continental Records. CST-2011. Appendix Code: CST-2011.

Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee, Golden Vanity, Greensleeves, John Henry, Kerry Recruit, Kitty My Love, Laird o' Cockpen, Lonesome Dove, Lord Rendal, Lowlands, My Good Old Man, Rising of the Moon, Two Sisters of Binnorie, Wife Wrapped in the Wether's Skin

RICHARD DYER-BENNET SINGS OLDEN BALLADS. 195?. Mercury. MG 2007. Appendix Code: MER.

Charleston Merchant, Derby Ram, Drunken Sailor, Golden Vanity, House Carpenter, Hullabaloo Belay, Lincolnshire Poacher, Waltzing Matilda

RICHARD DYER-BENNET: 20th-CENTURY MINSTREL. 195?. Stinson. SLP 2. Appendix Code: SLP2. [cover]

As I Was Going to Ballynore, Blow the Candles Out, Brigg Fair, Eddystone Light, Frog and the Mouse, John Peel, Little Pigs, Molly Malone, Two Maidens Went Milking One Day, Venezuela, Westryn Wynde

SCOTTISH SONGS. (SCHOTTISCHE LIEDER). 195?. Concert Hall. CHC-13. Appendix Code: CHC-13.

Again, My Lyre, Bonny Laddie, Hieland Laddie, British Light Dragoons, Could This Ill World Have Been Contrived, Faithfu' Johnie, O Mary, At Thy Window Be, Oh How Can I Be Blithe and Glad, Oh Sweet Were the Hours, On the Massacre of Glencoe, Sunset, The Lovely Lass of Inverness

SIX IRISH SONGS. 195?. Concert Hall. Appendix Code: CHIR.

Morning a Cruel Turmoiler Is, Morning Air Plays On My Face, Oh! Who, My Dear Dermot, Once More I Hail Thee, Pulse of an Irishman, Return to Ulster

FOLK SONGS. 1953. Remington. RLP-199-34. Appendix Code: REM. [cover]

Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee, Golden Vanity, Greensleeves, John Henry, Kerry Recruit, Kitty My Love, Laird o' Cockpen, Lonesome Dove, Lord Rendal, Lowlands, My Good Old Man, Pull Off Your Old Coat, Rising of the Moon, Two Sisters of Binnorie, White Lily, Wife Wrapped in the Wether's Skin

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 1. 1955. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 1000. Appendix Code: 1. [cover]

Bold Fenian Men, Bonnie Earl of Morey, Down by the Sally Gardens, Down in the Valley, Fine Flowers in the Valley, I'm A Poor Boy, Joys of Love, Lonesome Valley, Molly Brannigan, Oft in the Stilly Night ,Pedro, Phyllis and Her Mother, Pull Off Your Old Coat, So We'll Go No More A-Roving, Three Fishers, Vicar of Bray

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 2. 1956. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 2000. Appendix Code: 2. [cover]

Bailiff's Daughter of Islington, Beggarman, Blow the Candles Out, Cock Robin, Corn Rigs Are Bonnie, Eggs and Marrowbone, Garden Where the Praties Grow, Jan Hinnerk ,Turkish Reverie, Two Maidens Went Milking One Day, Veillee de Noel, When Cockleshells Turn Silverbells, Woman! Go Home

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 3. 1957. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 3000. Appendix Code: 3.

Beloved Kitten, Charlie Is My Darling, Dinah and Villikens, Fain Would I Wed, Go Down, Moses, House Carpenter, Lady Who Loved A Swine, Lady's Policy, Lass From the Low Country, Lilli Bulero, Spottlied auf Napoleons Rueckzug Aus Russland 1812, Swapping Song, Willie Taylor

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 4. 1957. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 4000. Appendix Code: 4.

Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee, Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill, Foggy, Foggy Dew, Fox, Jag Vill Ga Vall, Kerry Recruit, May Day Carol, Rising of the Moon, Searching for Lambs, Song of Reproach, Spanish Lady of Dublin City, Three Raens, Three Tailors, Waltzing Matilda

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 5. 1958. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 5000. Appendix Code: 5. [cover]

Barbara Allen, Edward, Golden Vanity, Greensleeves, I Ride An Old Paint, John Henry, Lord Rendal, Quaker Lover, Spanish is the Lovin' Tongue, Venezuela ,Westryn Wynde, White Lily

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 6. 1958. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 6000. Appendix Code: 6. [cover]

Bow Down, Buckeye Jim, Come All Ye, Frog Went A-Courtin, Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, Green Corn, Hole in the Bottom of the Sea, John Peel, Leprechaun, Little Pigs, Old Bangum, One Morning in May, Piper of Dundee, Tailor and the Mouse, Three Crows, Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 7. 1958. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 7000. Appendix Code: 7. [cover]

Again, My Lyre, Bonny Laddie, Hieland Laddie, Faithfu' Johnie, Lovely Lass of Inverness, Morning a Cruel Turmoiler Is, Morning Air Plays On My Face, Oh! Who, My Dear Dermot, On the Massacre of Glencoe, Once More I Hail Thee, Pulse of an Irishman, Return to Ulster, Sunset

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 8. 1959. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 8000. Appendix Code: 8.

Agincourt Song, All in a Garden Green, All mein Gedanken, Aminte, Come Away, Death!, Come Live With Me, Die bekehrte Schaeferin, Flow My Tears, Henry Martin, I Care Not For These Ladies, Jagdabenteuer, Kranzelkraut, Le Brave Marin, Warnung

RICHARD DYER-BENNET. 196? Archive of Folk Music. FM-103. Appendix Code: FM-103.

Barbara Allen, Devil and the Farmer's Wife, Gently Johnny, My Jingolo, Greensleeves, I Once Loved a Girl, John Henry, Spanish is the Lovin' Tongue, Three Raens, Willow Tree

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 9. 1960. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYB 9000. Appendix Code: 9.

British Light Dragoons, Buffalo Skinners, Cherry Tree Carol, Der Tod von Basel, Early One Morning ,Gently Johnny, My Jingolo, John Riley, Laird o' Cockpen, Le Joli Tambour, Pride of Petravore, Schneiders Hoellenfahrt, Two Sisters of Binnorie

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 10. 1962. Dyer-Bennet Records. Appendix Code: 10. [cover]

Go Way, Old Man, I Once Loved a Girl, Le Veritable Amour, Lincolnshire Poacher, Lowlands, My Good Old Man, No Hiding Place, O Speak Then, My Love, Reaper's Ghost, Seven Little Pigs, She Moved Thro' the Fair, Two Comments, Unfortunate Troubadour, Wife Wrapped in the Wether's Skin

MORE SONGS BY THE 20th-CENTURY MINSTREL. 1962. Stinson Records. SLP60. Appendix Code: SLP60.

Blue Mountain Lake, Charleston Merchant, Colorado Trail, Come All Ye, Early One Morning, Eggs and Marrowbone, Lass From the Low Country, Moonrise, Quaker Lover, Secret Love, Song of Reproach, Swapping Song, Three Tailors, Where To?

A RICHARD DYER-BENNET CONCERT. 1962. Stinson. SLP61. Appendix Code: SLP61. [cover]

Der Tod von Basel, Jan Hinnerk, Leprechaun, Lincolnshire Poacher, Lord Rendal ,Oh, No, John, Old Bangum, Phyllis and Her Mother, Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn, When Cockleshells Turn Silverbells

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 11. 1962. Dyer-Bennet Records. Appendix Code: 11.

Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!, Beautiful Dreamer, Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming, Come With Thy Sweet Voice Again, For Thee, Love, For Thee, Gentle Annie, If You've Only Got a Mustache, Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair, Linger in Blissful Repose, Open Thy Lattice, Love, Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair, There are Plenty of Fish in the Sea

1601. 1962. Dyer-Bennet Records. DYBS 1601. Appendix Code: 1601. [cover]

1601 (spoken), Erie Canal, Gatherin' o' the Clan, Old Joe Clarke, Old She-Crab, Tailor's Boy, There Was a Friar in Our Town

BALLADS. 1963. Stinson SLP35. Appendix Code: SLP35.

Barbara Allen, Gently Johnny, My Jingolo, I Once Loved a Girl, John Henry, Spanish is the Lovin' Tongue, Three Raens

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 12. 1964. Dyer-Bennet Records. Appendix Code: 12.[cover]

Australian Girls, Billy Barlow, Charleston Merchant, Derby Ram, Drunken Sailor, Eddystone Light, Hanging Johnny, Hullabaloo Belay, Mermaid, Peter Gray, Plain Language from Truthful James, Roving Gambler, Shallow Brown, Willow Tree

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 13. 1964. Dyer-Bennet Records. Appendix Code: 13.

The Tale of the Tales (spoken), The Man Who Was Full of Fun (spoken), The King of the Noise (spoken), The Wolf Who Was a Friend (spoken), Devil and the Farmer's Wife ,Fox and the Geese, Old Gray Goose, Soldier and the Lady

THE ESSENTIAL RICHARD DYER-BENNET. 1977. Vanguard VSD 95- 96. Appendix Code: VAN. (Rereleased in 1991 on Compact Disc as THE ART OF RICHARD DYER-BENNET.) [cover]

Blow the Candles Out, Bonnie Earl of Morey, Cock Robin, Come All Ye, Devil and the Farmer's Wife, Down by the Sally Gardens, Drunken Sailor, Edward, Eggs and Marrowbone, Garden Where the Praties Grow, Greensleeves,Hanging Johnny, Hullabaloo Belay, John Peel, Lass From the Low Country, Leprechaun, Lonesome Valley, Molly Brannigan, Peter Gray, Phyllis and Her Mother, Pull Off Your Old Coat, So We'll Go No More A-Roving, Soldier and the Lady, Swapping Song, Two Maidens Went Milking One Day, Venezuela, Westryn Wynde

THE LOVELY MILLERESS. (DIE SCHOENE MUELLERIN.) 1978. Dyer-Bennet Records. 33674-33675. Appendix Code: song titles not listed in the appendices.

RICHARD DYER-BENNET IN A PROGRAM OF DRAMATIC DECLAMATION OF THREE EXCERPTS FROM HOMER'S THE ODYSSEY. 1 sound tape reel. 1979. Library of Congress.

THE ODYSSEY TAPES. 3/4" videocassette. 1980. Research Foundation, SUNY/the Arts on TV.

THE ART OF RICHARD DYER-BENNET. 1991. Compact Disc. Vanguard Classics. OVC 6007. Appendix Code: VAN. (Originally released in 1977 as THE ESSENTIAL RICHARD DYER-BENNET.)

RICHARD DYER-BENNET 1. 1997. Compact Disc. Smithsonian-Folkways. SF 40078. For song titles, see listing above for Richard Dyer-Bennet 1.

Contents

Titles of these songs vary greatly. For clarity, I have standardized them.

See Discography for complete album information, including album code.

Song Album Code(s)

Again, My Lyre CHC-13; 7
Agincourt Song 8
Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway! 11
All in a Garden Green 8
All mein Gedanken 8
Aminte 8
As I Was Going to Ballynore SLP2; 609
Australian Girls 12

Bailiff's Daughter of Islington 2
Barbara Allen FM-103; SLP35; 5
Beautiful Dreamer 11
Beggarman 2
Beloved Kitten 3
Billy Barlow 12
Blow the Candles Out SLP2; VAN; 2; 609
Blue Mountain Lake SLP60; VOX
Bold Fenian Men 1
Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee CST-201; REM; 4
Bonnie Earl of Morey VAN; 1
Bonny Laddie, Hieland Laddie CHC-13; 7
Bow Down 6
Brigg Fair SLP2; 609
British Light Dragoons CHC-13; 9
Buckeye Jim 6
Buffalo Skinners 9

Charleston Merchant K108; MER; SLP60; 12
Charlie Is My Darling 3
Cherry Tree Carol 9
Cock Robin VAN; 2
Colorado Trail SLP60; VOX
Come All Ye S364; SLP60; VAN; 6
Come Away, Death! 8
Come Live With Me 8
Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming 11
Come With Thy Sweet Voice Again 11
Corn Rigs Are Bonnie 2
Could This Ill World Have Been Contrived CHC-13

Der Tod von Basel SLP6; 9
Derby Ram K108; 12; MER
Devil and the Farmer's Wife DL79102; FM-103; VAN; 13
Die bekehrte Schaferin 8
Dinah and Villikens DL79102; 3
Down by the Sally Gardens VAN; 1
Down in the Valley 1
Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill 4
Drunken Sailor K108; MER; VAN; 12 

Early One Morning DL79102; SLP60; 9
Eddystone Light S364; SLP2; 12
Edward VAN; 5
Eggs and Marrowbone DL79102; SLP60; VAN; 2
Erie Canal 1601

Fain Would I Wed 3
Faithfu' Johnie CHC-13; 7
Fine Flowers in the Valley 1
Flow My Tears 8
Foggy, Foggy Dew 4
For Thee, Love, For Thee 11
Fox 4
Fox and the Geese 13
Frog and the Mouse S364; SLP2
Frog Went A-Courtin 6

Garden Where the Praties Grow VAN; 2
Gatherin' o' the Clan 1601
Gentle Annie 11
Gently Johnny, My Jingolo FM-103; SLP35; 9
Go Down, Moses 3
Go Tell Aunt Rhodie 6
Go Way, Old Man 10
Golden Vanity CST-2011;K108; MER; 5
Green Corn 6
Greensleeves CST-2011; D45; DL79102; FM-103; REM; VAN; 5

Hanging Johnny VAN; 12
Henry Martin 8
Hole in the Bottom of the Sea 6
House Carpenter K108; MER; 3
Hullabaloo Belay K108; MER; VAN; 12

I Care Not For These Ladies 8
I Once Loved a Girl FM-103;l SLP35; 10
I Ride An Old Paint 5
I'm A Poor Boy 1
If You've Only Got a Mustache 11

Jag Vill Ga Vall 4
Jagdabenteuer 8
Jan Hinnerk SLP61; 2
Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair 11
John Henry CST-2011; D45; FM-103; REM; SLP35; 5
John Peel S364; SLP2; VAN; 6
John Riley 9
Joys of Love D45; 1

Kerry Recruit CST-2011; REM; 4
Kitty My Love CST-2011; REM
Kranzelkraut 8

Lady Who Loved A Swine 3
Lady's Policy 3
Laird o' Cockpen CST-2011; REM; 9
Lass From the Low Country SLP60; VAN; VOX; 3
Le Brave Marin 8
Le Joli Tambour 9
Le Veritable Amour 10
Leprechaun SLP61; VAN; 6
Lilli Bulero 3
Lincolnshire Poacher K108; SLP61; 10
Linger in Blissful Repose 11
Little Pigs S364; SLP2; 6
Lolly Toodum DL79102
Lonesome Dove CST-2011; REM
Lonesome Valley D45; VAN; 1
Lord Rendal CST-2011; REM; SLP61; 5 
Lovely Lass of Inverness 7
Lowlands CST-201; REM; 10

May Day Carol 4
Mermaid 12
Mo Mary DL79102
Molly Brannigan VAN; 1
Molly Malone S364; SLP2
Moonrise SLP60
Morning a Cruel Turmoiler Is CHIR; 7
Morning Air Plays On My Face CHIR; 7 
My Good Old Man CST-2011; REM; 10

No Hiding Place 10

O Mary, At Thy Window Be CHC-13
O Speak Then, My Love 10
Oft in the Stilly Night 1
Oh How Can I Be Blithe and Glad CHC-13
Oh Sweet Were the Hours CHC-13
Oh! Who, My Dear Dermot CHIR; 7
Oh, No, John S364; SLP61
Oh, Sally My Dear DL79102
Old Bangum SLP61; VOX; 6 
Old Gray Goose 13
Old Joe Clarke 1601
Old Maid DL79102
Old She-Crab 1601
On the Massacre of Glencoe CHC-13; 7
Once More I Hail Thee CHIR; 7
One Morning in May 6
Open Thy Lattice, Love 11

Pedro 1
Peter Gray VAN; 12
Phyllis and Her Mother SLP61; VAN; 1
Piper of Dundee 6
Plain Language from Truthful James 12
Pride of Petravore 9
Pull Off Your Old Coat REM; VAN; 1
Pulse of an Irishman CHIR; 7

Quaker Lover SLP60; VOX; 5

Reaper's Ghost 10
Return to Ulster CHIR; 7
Rising of the Moon CST-2011; REM; 4
Roving Gambler 12

Schneiders Hoellenfahrt 9
Searching for Lambs 4
Secret Love SLP60
Seven Little Pigs 10
Shallow Brown 12
She Moved Thro' the Fair 10
So We'll Go No More A-Roving VAN;1
Soldier and the Lady VAN; 13
Song of Reproach SLP60; 4
Spanish is the Lovin' Tongue FM-103; SLP35;  5
Spanish Lady of Dublin City 4
Spottlied auf Napoleons Rueckzug Aus Russland 1812 3
Sunset CHC-13; 7
Swapping Song DL79102; SLP60; VAN; 3
Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair 11

Tailor and the Mouse 6
Tailor's Boy 1601
The Lovely Lass of Inverness CHC-13; 7
There are Plenty of Fish in the Sea 11
There Was a Friar in Our Town 1601
Three Crows 6
Three Fishers 1
Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn S364; SLP61; 6
Three Raens FM-103; SLP35; 4
Three Tailors SLP60; 4
Turkish Reverie VOX; 2 
Two Comments 10
Two Maidens Went Milking One Day SLP2; VAN; 2; 609
Two Sisters of Binnorie CST-2011; REM; 9

Unfortunate Troubadour 10

Veillee de Noel 2
Venezuela SLP2; VAN; 5; 609
Vicar of Bray 1

Waltzing Matilda K108; MER; 4
Warnung 8
Were You There? VOX
Westryn Wynde SLP2; VAN; 5; 609
When Cockleshells Turn Silverbells SLP61; 2
Where to/Schubert SLP60
White Lily REM; 5
Wife Wrapped in the Wether's Skin CST-2011; REM; 10
Willie Taylor 3
Willow Tree DL79102 ; FM-103; 12
Woman! Go Home 2

Contents