Spiral-bound: 288 pages
Publisher: Hal Leonard; 15th edition (March 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1881322122
ISBN-13: 978-1881322122
Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (263 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #60,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #14 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Country #44 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Songbooks > Vocal #67 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments > Voice
In my earlier review here, I gushed about how great this songbook, but added a wish that the songs be indexed by author. In this current edition, that wish has been granted, helping me notice a few songs I'd overlooked before.Again, this is the best collection of songs you can actually sing, with guitar chords that usually work pretty well (occasional problems there may be in my skill level, not in the book!) There's no current Top 40 (there is some Motown) but these are the songs people have heard and sung and relaxed with and fought with and cried with and fallen in love with.....and been made to think with.
This is the song book to end all song books, with the words to every song you ever sang at camp, with friends, at your place of worship, or with your school chorus. Each one of these songs are precious gems,which makes this book an invaluable treasure chest.Buy it and sing along and rise up singing!
This may very well be the most divisive book in the folk music community. I have found that people who think of themselves primarily as singers tend to love it because it has the lyrics to 1,200 songs. People who think of themselves primarily as instrumentalists tend to hate it, because the chords are presented in a mysterious, hard to decipher, harder to play notation that gives you no clue as to what the time signature, the tempo, and the rhythm of the song are. The separation of the chords from the lyrics in the text adds to the difficulty. In addition, since only chords and lyrics are presented, the book gives no clue as to what the melody is, so a melody player like a fiddler is out of luck. Its fans will excuse these shortcomings by telling you that to use the book you have to know the song. This makes little sense to me as a guitarist, bassist and fiddler, because if I know the song, I don't need a fake book. Other problems are that the chords listed for some songs are simplified to the point of removing the richness from the harmonies and for other songs are just downright wrong. While it contains a lot of songs, it tends to omit or give short shrift to many of the songs from the darker side of the folk tradition (e.g. songs of rage, hurt, self pity, grief...). The type in the standard-sized edition is pretty small, so if you have any issues with your vision, this book will be hard to read when it is sitting on a music stand, especially under low light. Although the font is a bit bigger in the group leader edition, these 52-year-old eyes still find it tough going. If you are a serious folk musician, you may need to have a copy of this because it is widely used. If you have a choice in the matter there are far better books out there, though they do not contain as many songs.
If you like to sing with friends, this is the book you've always wanted. Most people actually know the tunes to hundreds of songs - but who can remember the words?At camp or school, church or union hall, by campfire or in your own living room, you will never run out of songs to sing with this book. You'll find the songs you know easily: songs appear in alphabetical order within logical category groupings like lullabies, love songs, sea songs, and "spirituals".From ballads to Beatles, Bob Dylan to Braodway, "Down by the Old Mill Stream" to "Down by the Riverside": here are the words [and chords], all in one place, to songs you've loved in the past - with many more to learn from friends in the future. -- from book's back cover
I browsed over to this section just becasue I need to replace my copy of Rise Up Singing. After several years of heavy use, mine is falling apart. I disagree with a previous writer, in that I think this book has a wide range of music, ranging from very old songs such as 'The Cutty Wren' and 'The Coventry Carol' to 1910s ('In the Good Old Summertime'), 1930s (Woody Guthrie), Motown, protest songs, and modern folk classics (several songs each from Stan Rogers, Bill Staines, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and on, and on...). Rise Up Singing owes some of its genes to Winds of the People, an older compilation (I think circulated by the Society of Friends) and it shows.It is certainly slanted more in the direction of those who wish to build a better world rather than those want to retain the status quo, but I find it fascinating to see how that status quo has changed, in protest songs from way back ('The Waulking Song') or about events from way back ('The Diggers') through the battles for universal suffrage and the labor songs of the 1930s and 40s, to problems of the present day. Plus, I just like to sing the songs. My only complaint is that, at least in my mid-1980s edition, the songs are not indexed by author.
The great thing about this book is its comprehensiveness: you won't find a collection of this size and variety anywhere else.Unfortunately, the book uses a quirky and often difficult-to-understand chord notation that has two main problems. First, I have found the chords to often be, simply, wrong--both to my ear and in comparison to other, more authoritative books. Second, the chords are simply listed--there is no time signature or rhythm information. How long do you play these chords? A quarter-note? A whole? An eighth? It drives me crazy, as I have found several songs unplayable.
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