We’ve been told by a few friends that John had no particular musical talent but could more or less carry a tune and would sometimes sing stanzas of his favorite song while strumming an imaginary guitar (we won’t hamper a guess as to how well his fared at air guitar, but...). As one can guess from his novels, John had a strong interest in folk music, with folksinger and minstrel Richard Dyer-Bennet one such favorite (the singer visited the Notre Dame campus in 1958, during John's junior year in South Bend). Al Myers recalls Dyer-Bennet’s version of the The Vicar of Bray being one of John’s favorite songs, about a churchman who survives the several waves of English religious wars by shifting his allegiances in order to keep his job.
We thought that for this month we’d present a musical top ten of sorts, songs that are historically significant or memorable from their usage in John’s writings. Who can’t help but feel a slight chill down his or her back remembering when Johnny heard the ghostly echo of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” or listen to the droning reminders about a certain individual who hails from (or so he claims) Wisconsin.
Editor’s note: we formatted our blandly-overworked Twitter feed years later. The tweets are gone but here is the original list:
- #10. The Skye Boat Song [CD]
- #9. Dark As A Dungeon [EKR]
- #8. Anacreon in Heaven [FF]
- #7. Dies Irae [FF]
- #6. Angels From the Realms of Glory [CBF]
- #5. Come On-a My House [MWC]
- #4. My Name is Yon Yonson [DSW]
- #3. The Bear Went Over the Mountain [TY]
- #2. A-Tisket, A-Tasket [MWC]
- #1. Overhead the Moon is Screaming [FF]
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