Every culture has songs that are part of what hold us together in our cultural and historical groups. I’m curious to learn about different songs that are important to the groups we all come from.
Personally I am Canadian and I live in Ontario, and I grew up with parents who are of English and Dutch ancestry (though the families came to this land well over 100 years ago; my Dutch ancestors migrated here almost 200 years ago).
My mother grew up in Quebec and is fluent in both French and English - I learned them as a child, though I confess my French is not as fluent as hers - and both languages are part of my cultural tradition.
In my youth I sang musical settings of the Quebecois / Canadian poem “Un Canadien errant” (‘A Wandering Canadian’), which was written by Quebec (French) Canadian lawyer Antoine Gérin-Lajoie. He wrote it in honour of the rebels of the Lower Canada Rebellion (1837-1838; it took place in what is now the province of Quebec), many of whom were forced into permanent exile; some were executed. The poem tells about the pain of being exiled from your home.
Here is one musical setting of the poem: video link here.
Another song I sang growing up is originally from Newfoundland, Canada’s easternmost province, and it’s titled “She’s Like the Swallow”. It always pulls on my heartstrings
And - in terms of history - heartland rock developed partly in response to the way traditional factory work started to decline (relative to other types of work) in the 1970s. Heartland rock emphasizes the American small-town / factory-town image.
So it’s a product of history, just like the Quebecois poem I was talking about above. It’s partly about missing something from the past.
Instresting question, I am Irish and Spainsh. Grew up listening to many different types of music. Can not think of a culture song but I am a true lover of music. My grandparents had music playing often. Jazz and The Beatles were among thier favorites. My mom loved R&B and disco,she still does. My Dad loved Roy 0rberson and classic rock. Since I grew up listening to many different artists, I listen to everything from Chris Stapelton to Adele. Music has always been a big part of my life and has got me through some hard times. Does anyone play an instrument?
I studied classical singing when I was younger, and one of the songs I learned is by Ralph Vaughan Williams, an English composer; it is a setting of the English poem “Silent Noon”.
I always loved that song. I love how simple and touching it is; how it goes to the heart.
Really beautiful. Cultural songs? I too thought of USA national anthem. Another crazy memory is when I was in elementary school 1 year we sang What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love every day. But then we sang Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley too.
That’s a beautiful song (the video is here). It’s crazy how when you search just the two words “what the” on YouTube, the second-highest answer is that exact song. I think that shows how culturally important it is!
As an American, it doesn’t get more cultural than the Pledge of Allegiance. Half of the country has no idea what the words to the Star spangled banner are (let alone who is President), but we can recite the Pledge of Allegiance in a nanosecond. We had to say it daily from like K-8.
I’m from the United States and grew up in Pennsylvania so I’m not sure what my cultural song is that’s something I’ll have to look up. But as far as my household when I was a little kid my dad was always listening to Led Zeppelin Probably more than any other artist and my mom listen to a lot of Janet Jackson. My parents never told me what to listen to but when I was younger they were not big on bands that Used a lot of cuss words. I come from a very musical family and growing up the basement was a bunch of drum sets , Amps, All kinds of instruments and I spent a lot of my free time going through my dad’s record collection And teaching myself how to play drums and guitar and other instruments. Music is probably my first memory so it’s very important to me. I was born in 1988 so I remember being four or six years old when I really discovered the importance of music. The first music I heard That had a major impact on me besides the stuff my dad played was bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Blind Melon and a few years later like 96 or 98 Sublime. I would say Nirvana and sublime had the biggest impact on me as a child. Because of my parents I pretty much listen to just about everything. Kind of went off topic a little bit but that’s ok.
Ps: Pretty much most of my childhood going to bed was my mom coming into the room to turn off the radio multiple times a night and I didn’t have insomnia I was just studying.. studying music and what I heard. And the only thing I liked about school was listening to music on the bus. There is certain albums that pretty much can define a whole entire year for me. If I liked an album I would probably listen to that for the whole entire school year.
Led Zeppelin is huge; they are the seed from which a lot of late-twentieth-century heavy metal bands get their inspiration (no LZ, no Black Sabbath, for example). LZ is also a brilliant example of how Black American blues music influenced Brits and inspired many British performers in the 50s, 60s, and 70s (no blues, no British Invasion of bands). We’re all connected
Janet Jackson is a powerful performer. Her choreography and the rhythm of her music is the kind of thing that gets right into your gut; there’s a primal pull to it. She’s another core cultural performer in the late twentieth century, no doubt about it.
Pennsylvania is an interesting state, historically and culturally. It is the only state that was specifically founded (originally, when it was a colony) to be a place where people of many different religions and cultures could coexist peacefully. (William Penn was a Quaker, a religious group that strongly emphasizes peace and tolerance. Interesting fact: the Quakers, as a group, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.)
The American folk song “Oh, Susanna” was written by Stephen Foster, who was from Pennsylvania. You’ve also got more modern musicians, like the brilliant, tragic Billie Holiday, and the great band Poison! (I like a good Poison song, I admit - they’ve got some solid blues-rock and even some gospel influences in there )
- and both languages are part of my cultural tradition.
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