Prison Songs

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Prison Songs[1]
Series
The Other Side
Original Broadcast Date
10/31/1999
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
1 hour
Preceded by: No Angel
Followed by: The Box

It was a particularly hot day of a sweltering summer in Manhattan.

Prison Songs is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side. It was originally broadcast on October 31, 1999.

Synopsis

Narrator and mother on the beach. Peeping at a naked woman, friend falls to his death. Man's story of coming to USA as a boy and wanting a girl but winds up learning about being Jewish. Prison song. Struggling performer meets with a priest becomes a salesman for priest's materials ends in a strange relationship. Narrator recalls losing a girlfriend like an amputation. "Needs Love" diatribe. Russian immigrant describes person who lost his joy once he became successful. Song. A guy describes being in and out of prison for 18 years. Narrator and an lavish party where a man explodes. Narrator describes his father killed in a grinder when he was five, piano lessons when ten, therapist who dies. Driving a cab for foreign, arguing couple. Contemplations of purpose and success.

Music

This is an incomplete record of the music in this program. If you can add more information, please do.

Miscellanea

  • The prison songs which appear here and in several other programs are from a compilation of field recording made in 1947 by and released in the 50s on the album "Negro Prison Songs." The album has been re-released, along with previously unpublished material from the same source tapes, on two CDs by Rounder:
  • Prison Songs: Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-48 Volume 1: Murderous Home (Alan Lomax, Rounder CD 1714, 1997, #ASIN: B0000002UV)
  • Prison Songs: Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-48 Volume 2. Don'tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling? (Alan Lomax, Rounder CD 1715, 1997, #ASIN: B0000002UW)