Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2010 Issue
Politics from the Left from Lorne Bair Rare Books
Songs from a couple of Glazers.
Item 92 is a set of three 78 rpm records, circa 1940s, from Joe Glazer and Bill Friedland. The album title is Ballads for Sectarians. Glazer is known as "labor's troubadour," a folksinger whose songs were strongly pro-labor. However, this early work sounds a bit more pro-communist, including songs not well-known today such as "Old Bolsheviks Song," "The Cloakmaker's Union," "Land of the Daily Worker," and "In Old Moscow." $150.
Tom Glazer, no relation as far as we can tell, was also a pro-labor folksinger. In the 1940s he released Favorite American Union Songs, and this three-disc set will also require you pull out your old 78 record player. This includes "Which Side Are You On," "Solidarity Forever," "Roll the Union On," and "The Picket Line." While Glazer was associated with other left-leaning folksingers of the day, such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, he eventually reached his greatest audience writing children's songs. He will forever be most remembered, somewhat to his consternation, for "On Top of Spaghetti." Item 93. $150.
Lorne Bair Rare Books may be reached at 540-665-0855 or info@lornebair.com. The website is www.lornebair.com.
