music suggestions for history class

violadad
Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:05:33 +0000

I had the pleasure of seeing Stewart with Peter White, a gifted classical guitarist, in an all acoustic program in a small venue many years back. A memorable experience.

In deference to the previous poster, Al Stewart was the first that came to mind. From the “Time Passages” album, “Road to Moscow”, a haunting tale of Russia during WWII, detailing one soldier’s account of the war from beginning to end; loosely based on A. Solzshnytzen’s memoirs. Full of historic reference.

“Old Admirals”, a synopsis of the the later 19th century, early 20th British maritime history; “Warren Harding”… self explanatory; “Last Day of June 1934”… rise of and the death of Ernst Roehm (Night of the Long Knives); “Nostradomus”, citing a few of the better known of the seer’s quatrains. The entire album in fact is all historic reference. It should still be available.

From “Last Days of The Century”, “Helen & Cassandra”, the fall of Troy; and more obscure is The “Russians & Americans” album (I guess they call them CD’s now), a few other tracks; probably out of print.

And there’s 2 wonderful Gordon Lightfoot tracks, “The Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, the joining of both coasts by rail, written for the Canadian centennial & the more recent “Wreck of the Edmund Fiztgerald”.