The Rugged Hills of Landenberg - Birthday Tribute to My Mother

Eleanor (Lafferty) Sadot 1983 
(8-29-20 – 9-27-83)

This Broadside Balladeer Blog is dedicated to my mother Eleanor (Lafferty) Sadot for her birthday, August 29. She grew up on a small farm in Landenberg, Pennsylvania on Mercer Mill Road. She graduated from Kennett Square High School. Then Eleanor Lafferty served in the US Navy in New York City as an office worker during WWII. Eleanor Lafferty married Jean-Henri Sadot. Jean (aka John) was born in Bethune in Picardie. He grew up in the town of Carentan in Normandy, France. Jean-Henri went from joining the French Army Air Corps in Normandy, to joining the French resistance camps in the Pyrenees mountains on the Spanish border about a month after the fall of Paris, to leaving Toulon harbor on a Free French battleship. His ship went to Brooklyn Navy Yard for re-tooling by the American allies. Eleanor met Jean in a Broadway cafe. They wrote love letters during the rest of the war. After the war, Jean and Eleanor had five children together: Victor, Jeanne, Joseph (RIP 1978), Robert and Marie.

The Rugged Hills of Landenberg (5:46) Free mp3 song download at SoundCloud by Broadside Balladeer Vic Sadot takes you through the seasons of rural Landenberg, PA from days gone by as the song salutes my mother’s roots and character. Rob Sadot on electric guitar. Recorded by Dean A. Banks for “Songs Of The Seasons”. https://soundcloud.com/broadsideballadeer/the-rugged-hills-of-landenberg

SoundCloud Description: The Rugged Hills of Landenberg was inspired by a poem by C. Edwin Smith from a 1936 news clipping that Eleanor Lafferty Sadot kept as a bookmark from her childhood days. (Lyrics below!) She shared the poem with her grown children when she found it still being used as a bookmark after all those years. In the poem Edwin Smith was dying and his last wish was to live long enough to see Landenberg in the autumn one last time. According to the legend as told by Eleanor Sadot he did live to enjoy the autumn and had the pleasure of having his poem applauded in the local rural circles when it was published in a local newspaper and read by the teachers and students like Eleanor Lafferty in the Kennett Square, PA schools.

Vic’s song, which was inspired by Edwin Smith's poem, is a completely different poem. It is a tribute to his mother, Eleanor Lafferty Sadot. Vic's song celebrates the wonder of all four seasons, and each season gets a verse. The song salutes his mother’s roots as a farm girl growing up on Mercer Mill Road and attending a one room school house for 8 grades at the corner of Good Hope and Auburn Roads. The teacher was Mrs. Weaver, who taught that whenever there is a war one should look for the economic reasons.

Eleanor attended the 1990 Landenberg Day events along the White Clay Creek at which Vic first performed the song. Vic was accompanied by Lester Craig Maurer on the fiddle, who created the music and concept of The Frog Jog, and was a founding member of C. P. Swampgrass with Vic and Joe Sadot, who first performed the song at Frog Town Farm south of Newark, DE, which soon became part of the suburban sprawl. The song was lovingly dedicated to Eleanor Lafferty on that 1990 Landenberg Day.

The Rugged Hills of Landenberg was first released on a Limited Edition home burn CD from studio and live recordings. It was titled "Songs of the Seasons". It's a romantic, poetic, and environmentally green and engaged set of songs. This version of The Rugged Hills of Landenberg was recorded by Dean A Banks, who also provided the percussion. Vic Sadot sings and plays acoustic guitar. Rob Sadot graces the song with a sweet country soul style of electric guitar. (Below the lyrics, check out the video for "The Fog Watch" and the SoundCloud for "White Clay Creek"!)

The Rugged Hills of Landenberg

The rugged hills of Landenberg, robed in rolling shades of green

Challenge us to wander thru the woodland summer scene

Where children laugh and splash away endless days down by the stream

And lovers stroll to the music of the rippling water’s theme

Chorus #1

Oh the rippling waters theme… And the way it makes you dream…

Oh the rippling waters theme… And the way it makes you dream…

The rugged hills of Landenberg of my mother’s childhood days

Must be the inspiration for her persevering ways

Yes, they must be the source of wholesome values that she shows

In the love she has to offer and how generously it flows

Chorus #2

Oh how generously it flows! Oh how generously it flows!

And how genuinely it shows the rugged hills of Landenberg!

Oh rugged hills, we know your raiment will soon turn to autumn’s hues

And we know the price of progress cause we’ve seen what we can lose

Still I hope we have the vision! Still I hope we have the will!

To be Guardians of these wildlands that still flourish in these hills!

Chorus #3

Oh they flourish in these hills!

How they flourish in these hills!

Oh, the wild and rugged hills!

The rugged hills of Landenberg!

The rugged hills of Landenberg become majestic robed in white!

When the snowflakes come a’tumblin’ from the heavens hazy height…

May it stun you into wonder of a rare and pure delight!

May these rugged hills inspire you to keep your spirit burning bright!

Chorus #4

Keep your spirit burning bright!

Let it ride the misty light!

Through the rugged hills tonight!

The rugged hills of Landenberg!

Copyright 1990 Vic Sadot, BMI, Orbian Love Music

Vic Sadot is a singer-songwriter based in Berkeley, CA who grew up in Newark, DE. He delivers a selection of mostly original songs in his solo repertoire. The topics range from the kind of subjects you would expect from one who claims and celebrates the folk tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs as his heritage. Crazy Planet Band has been around since 1979 and serves as Vic's showcase for his original folk rock and blues songs while Planete Folle features Cajun, Zydeco, and New Orleans R&B covers, many in Louisiana French. Vic gives away rough mixes of songs at SoundCloud.

Related songs:

The Fog Watch (4:52) Vic Sadot YouTube Channel Official Video by Vic Sadot https://youtu.be/AxExNpKZvlI

Photo by Vic Sadot during a family hike along the White Clay Creek just north of Second Dam on July 30, 2017 recalls this verse:

"Witness the wonder, you may be, a guardian of this precious land... For the children of the human race. These children blessed may they be when they take younger ones by the hand... To this charming, cherished place... To this charming, cherished place."  - Poetry of Jean-Henri Sadot

White Clay Creek (3:42) SoundCloud by Broadside Balladeer Vic Sadot

https://soundcloud.com/broadsideballadeer/white-clay-creek

Truth Troubadour (2017) – 18 songs sung by Vic Sadot. Featuring Eric Golub, Rob Sadot, Dean A Banks and Rbeast Hunter. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot4

On 9/11/11 Vic released a new 16 song CD called "9/11 Truth & Justice Songs", which is available at www.cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot3

On the same day Vic launched the new Official Web Site for Vic Sadot Music at www.vicsadot.com

Vic's two previous CD's are also available at CD Baby:
"Comin' Home", a Cajun/Zydeco offering released in 1997 is at
www.cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot


"Broadsides & Retrospectives", a "Best of 25 Years of Vic Sadot Recordings" released in 2005 is at www.cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot2

Red Dust and Broadsides: A Joint Autobiography by the Editors of Broadside Magazine

Country Joe McDonald surprised me one day when we were organizing an event in 2015 that he dreamed up called The Berkeley Protest Festival. He handed me a book titled "Red Dust and Broadsides", saying, "I think you will be very interested in reading this book since you mentioned that you knew these folks from Broadside Magazine". Joe said the book was edited by his friend Ron Cohen. 

Cover of "Red Dust & Broadsides: A Joint Biography by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham & Gordon Friesen". Edited by Ronald D. Cohen. Forward by Pete Seeger.

I was somewhat shocked since I had come to know them very well. I had volunteered to help them in the 1980's when they were already getting on in years. I had been reading Broadside Magazine and learning my first songs from its pages many years before I met them. They liked that I had met Phil Ochs, put him up in my apartment, and interviewed him in May 1973 while living in Washington, DC and doing social work in the school system. They published my tribute to Phil titled "Broadside Balladeer", and several other songs. My brother Joe Sadot also had several song published in the pages of Broadside.. 

"Red Dust and Broadsides" was indeed a fascinating read. "Ronald D. Cohen, professor of history at Indiana University Northwest-Gary, 1970-2005, wrote and edited numerous books and articles, many about American folk music, and co-produced compilations of folk and topical songs." is the description for one of his collections. His books about Woody Guthrie and "Folk City: New York and the American Folk Music Revival", which he wrote with Stephen Petrus, are much better known by comparison.

Sis & Gordon

There is so much in this "Red Dust and Broadsides" book that I never knew about these two activists who met each other in Oklahoma where they had grown up on farms, where they later joined the labor movement and the then-idealistic Communist Party USA. They were the only people willing to organize the most downtrodden farmers, the sharecroppers. In addition to many stories about their childhood days, their love story is weaved into the telling of their tales. They not only met Woody Guthrie, but Sis Cunningham and Pete Seeger were in a band called The Almanac Singers with him before the more famous Weavers band came into existence and Woody was hospitalized. The other members of The Almanac Singers were Millard Lampell, Bess Hawes, and Arthur Stern. Gordon was the roadie who carried Sis's heavy accordion and did much of the booking and security for them in those early days with Woody.

The chapter titles give a good idea of how Ron Cohen approached the gathering of the information: Chapter 1: Gordon's Childhood; Chapter 2: Sis's Childhood; Chapter 3: Gordon in Kansas; Chapter 4: Sis: Youth & Politics; Chapter 5: Gordon in the 1930's; Chapter 6: Sis in the 1930's; Chapter 7: Gordon - The Almanac Singers and After; Chapter 8: Sis and Gordon following World War II; Chapter 9: The Broadside Years; Epilogue: Growing Old in New York; Appendix: "Oklahoma Witch Hunt" an engaging early piece of writing by Gordon; Afteward by Ron Cohen. 

The story of "Broadside: The National Topical Song Magazine" is true Americana as Sis and Gordon told Ron Cohen about how they met singers like Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Malvina Reynolds, Len Chandler, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Janis Ian, Patrick Sky, Julius Lester, Peter LaFarge, Nina Simone, Joe McDonald, Peter Krug, Sammy Walker, and hundreds of lesser known folk singers had their songs published in the pages of Broadside. "Sing Out! Magazine" took on the project of preserving "Broadside Magazine". They may need some volunteer help to complete that project. At this time, only the early issues are accessible in the collection. It was a labor of love involving a small community and their daughters were actively involved as well. Aggie contributed hundreds cool drawings and Jane had a major role in organizing and distributing the issues. Phil Ochs would come back to the apartment late at night from Greenwich Village with his pockets full of dollars and change from hawking the latest issues in the clubs. They loved Phil like he was family!

A very young Phil Ochs in Broadside #36 in a screenshot from the video I made from the May 1973 audio of the radio interview I did with Phil along with Jeff Lang and Skip Pizzi at WGTB Georgetown University student radio station. Click on the screenshot photo to watch it! "Phil Ochs May 1973 Interview by Vic Sadot & Rich Lang" (30:10) Truth Troubadour YouTube Channel. Phil talks about Nixon, Watergate developments, the TV show he was on the day before, and his travels in South America.

And the singers they liked sang about the Civil Rights movement, the war in Vietnam, labor and union struggles, Martin Luther King, Watergate, the dust bowl and depression era, poverty, farmers,  blacklist, strikes, and environmental concerns. They were close to Moses "Moe" Asch, the owner of Folkways Records, and were able to release a number of LP's full of protest songs. There are many historic moments which have become somewhat obscure in the public memory, but they most certainly come alive in Red Dust and Broadsides. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves political songs and social justice movements. 

One thing I did not realize was how important the financial support of Pete Seeger was to Broadside Magazine over the years. I remember visiting from Delaware one weekend and they said, "You can stay in the room Phil used to stay in". The Pete Seeger knocks on the door and walks in to sit down and play some songs. That was simply incredible and unexpected. I backed Sis on guitar sometimes, but usually she played piano or accordion.  I will close out this book review with a song that I wrote about Sis and Gordon that was actually published in Broadside #167 called "Comrades". It was never recorded, but it should be... So long old friends! It's been good to know you!

Comrades

From the hills of Oklahoma like that “Dustbowl Balladeer”

To the heart of New York City and the songs you helped us hear

When you founded “Broadside” magazine, and you published certain songs

Of issues and of struggles, of social rights and wrongs

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Too many don’t remember what they put our people through

When the “Great Depression” hit so hard and the Dusbowl blizzards blew

All the heartbreak and the hunger those poor people had to stand

Family farmers became wanderers when bankers stole their land

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Well, you sang with Pete and Woody when the union movement rose

Did some time in Detroit city where the factory whisle blows

You wrote and sang and organized, and I guess that’s how it goes

Though you gave all that you could, now nearly no one knows

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

On Civil Rights and Vietnam the songs kept comin’ thru

On Women’s Liberation, Third World revolution too

You kept a real consistency of solidarity

And you set a fine example for those who would be free

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, you always stood for struggles that united black and white

Cause you knew that ultimately it’s the same class conscious fight

Once your forum featured Dylan, Ochs and Paxton too

And many more a troubadour who wrote a ballad true

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

You put your faith in working folks, not in some god above

And it’s clear your motivation was that freedom song of love

Yet you had no use for sentiment with no analysis

For the years of vital relevance, thank you Gordon and Sis

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Yes, here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!

Copyright March 20, 1985 Vic Sadot, BMI, Orbian Love Music