Vern Partlow
Encyclopedia
Vern Partlow was an American
newspaper
reporter and folk singer who was blacklisted
during the McCarthy era
. He composed the popular satirical
song
"Old Man Atom," which was famously banned during the period. It is considered one of the first anti-nuclear songs of the post-war
era.
) in the 1930s. He worked as a crime reporter as well as a writer of feature stories.
Partlow was also active in the trade union
movement early in his life, even though he was also actively working as a newspaper journalist. In the mid-1940s, Partlow was host of a Los Angeles-based radio program about union issues which aired on a Congress of Industrial Organizations
-owned radio station.
Partlow was an avid musician. The first of his songs to become widely known was the satirical "Newspapermen Meet Such Interesting People," composed in 1947. The song describes some of the murderers, thieves, and other disreputable people which a newspaper reporter meets, and lumps newspaper publishers in with them. The song, which includes a plea for reporters to join The Newspaper Guild (a labor union which represents reporters, among others), includes the stanza:
Around the time Partlow composed this song, he became a member of People's Songs. The group had been formed late in the evening on December 31, 1945, after folk singers Pete Seeger
and Lee Hays convened a group of more than two dozen musicians in Seeger's Greenwich Village
apartment in New York City
. The goal of the organization was to create a radical left-wing
movement of musicians. Partlow became part of People's Songs in late 1945, after several branches of the group were formed in California. For many years thereafter, Partlow remained at the core of left-wing musical culture on the West Coast
.
He was also active politically. He was a public relations consultant to the California Attorney General
races of Edmund G. "Pat" Brown
in 1946 and 1950.
on August 6 and 9, 1945, many people feared what might happen if a general nuclear war broke out, and a number of protest songs were written in protest of this new danger.
Partlow had interviewed nuclear weapon
s scientists for the Los Angeles Daily News in the early fall of 1945. They had told him what the effects of a nuclear war might be like, which deeply alarmed Partlow. Before the end of the year, he had written a talking blues
song titled "Old Man Atom." The song treats its subject in comic-serious fashion, with a combination of black comedy
puns (such as "We hold these truths to be self-evident/All men may be cremated equal" or "I don't mean the Adam that Mother Eve mated/I mean that thing that science liberated") on serious choices to be made in the nuclear age ("The people of the world must pick out a thesis/Peace in the world, or the world in pieces").
The song quickly gained attention among folk musicians. Pete Seeger first heard the song while traveling in California in the late summer or early fall of 1946. The song's music and lyrics were published in People's Songs (the newsletter for the People's Songs organization) in January 1947 under the title "Atomic Talking Blues." Irving Bibo Music held the copyright.
Seeger recorded the song under the title "Talking Atom" in 1948. Sam Hinton
made a recording for the small California record label ABC Eagle in early 1950 (which later sold its rights to this recording to Columbia Records
), and the Sons of the Pioneers
made one for RCA Victor
in the spring or summer of 1950. Lyrics referring to the United Nations
and non-English
-speaking countries building their own nuclear arsenals were changed in the Sons of the Pioneers recording, and replaced with blander lyrics about people coming together to end the threat of nuclear war. Fred Hellerman
made a recording for the Jubilee label, and Ozzie Waters recorded one for Coral (a Decca subsidiary label). Even Bing Crosby
was rehearsing a version to be released by Decca Records
.
The song began catching on with the public. Popular New York City disc jockey
Martin Block
played it extensively on his show, "Make-Believe Ballroom," and the song quickly began receiving significant airplay nationwide. Cash Box declared it the "Sleeper
of the Week" (for its enduring longevity on the charts) in July 1950. Billboard declared it a "hit" in early August. By September 1950 it was a recognized hit record throughought the music industry. Billboard
, Variety
, and Cash Box all positively reviewed the song.
But "Old Man Atom" also was generating controversy. Protests were held to denounce what critics felt were communistic
ideas in the lyrics. The New York City-based Joint Committee Against Communism, which had recently and successfully campaigned to have the actress Jean Muir
kicked off the television program
The Aldrich Family
for allegedly having communist sympathies, began a grassroots effort against the song. This campaign had an immediate effect. Some radio stations banned the song, and Columbia Records and RCA Victor both withdrew copies of the song from sale at the end of August 1950. The widely syndicated anti-communist
newspaper columnist Victor Riesel
condemned the song. Partlow received some support, however. Life
magazine denounced the withdrawal of the song from store shelves: "...we don't like the private censorship that has resulted in the withdrawal, by RCA Victor and Columbia Records, Inc., of a "talking blues number" called Old Man Atom, presumably on receipt of complaints that it "parrots" the current Communist line on peace." The New York Times
editorialized
that "A new high in absurdity has been reached by two large record manufacturers who have recently withdrawn from distribution a five-year-old song about the atomic bomb because of some protests that it coincided with current Communist "peace" agitation. ...this new form of censorship by self-appointed groups is a threat to freedom. ... If the song that caused all the furor, 'Old Man Atom,' is propaganda at all, it is by rights American, not Russian, propaganda." Nonetheless, the song disappeared from both the airwaves and store shelves.
The ban, however, appeared to be short-lived. According to musician Ozzie Waters, the song returned to radio airplay a month later. But the song's popularity had ended, and sales never recovered. Nearly a decade after the controversy, music critic Robert Shelton called the song full of "savage humor".
. Partlow was asked by the Los Angeles Daily News to publicly declare that he was not a member of the Communist Party USA
, and he refused on the grounds that no one should be required to publicly declare his political affiliation as a requirement to keep his job. The Daily News fired him and he was blacklisted
. Partlow's union
, The Newspaper Guild, appealed his dismissal as a violation of the union's contract with the newspaper. An arbitration
committee ruled 3-to-2 against the Guild.
After his dismissal, Partlow worked extensively in public relations and government. He was a public relations consultant in the Los Angeles mayoral
campaign of Fletcher Bowron
in the early 1950s, the Los Angeles City Council
races of Edward R. Roybal
in the late 1950s. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, Partlow worked as a publicist and public relations expert for a number of Jewish organizations in the Los Angeles area.
Partlow remained part of the protest song
movement as well. Partly wishing to encourage younger songwriters like Partlow, Pete Seeger established the magazine Broadside
in 1961 to promote the work of younger folk artists. "Old Man Atom" made a comeback among folk singers in the 1960s, and Tom Glazer
made a very popular recording which he released as part of his Songs of Peace, Freedom, and Protest set in 1970.
Vern Partlow died of cancer
in a hospital in Los Angeles, California, on March 1, 1987. He was survived by three sons.
The first two stanzas of "Newspapermen Meet Such Interesting People" are played at the start and finish of the The Media Project
, a weekly radio program on National Public Radio.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
reporter and folk singer who was blacklisted
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
during the McCarthy era
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
. He composed the popular satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"Old Man Atom," which was famously banned during the period. It is considered one of the first anti-nuclear songs of the post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era.
Early life
Vern Partlow was born Verneil Hoover Partlow in Bloomington, Illinois, a son of Abner Moses Partlow and Florence Hoover Partlow. He worked in early radio and wire services in Wisconsin and Chicago. He began working for Manchester Boddy's Los Angeles Daily News (which is unrelated to the current newspaper of the same nameLos Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
) in the 1930s. He worked as a crime reporter as well as a writer of feature stories.
Partlow was also active in the trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement early in his life, even though he was also actively working as a newspaper journalist. In the mid-1940s, Partlow was host of a Los Angeles-based radio program about union issues which aired on a Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
-owned radio station.
Partlow was an avid musician. The first of his songs to become widely known was the satirical "Newspapermen Meet Such Interesting People," composed in 1947. The song describes some of the murderers, thieves, and other disreputable people which a newspaper reporter meets, and lumps newspaper publishers in with them. The song, which includes a plea for reporters to join The Newspaper Guild (a labor union which represents reporters, among others), includes the stanza:
- Oh, publishers are such interesting people;
- Their policy's an acrobatic thing.
- They shout they represent the common people.
- It's funny Wall Street never has complained.
- But publishers have worries, for publishers must go
- To working folks for readers, and big shots for their dough;
- Oh, publishers are such interesting people;
- It could be press-titution, I don't know.
Around the time Partlow composed this song, he became a member of People's Songs. The group had been formed late in the evening on December 31, 1945, after folk singers Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
and Lee Hays convened a group of more than two dozen musicians in Seeger's Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The goal of the organization was to create a radical left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
movement of musicians. Partlow became part of People's Songs in late 1945, after several branches of the group were formed in California. For many years thereafter, Partlow remained at the core of left-wing musical culture on the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
He was also active politically. He was a public relations consultant to the California Attorney General
California Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
races of Edmund G. "Pat" Brown
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
in 1946 and 1950.
"Old Man Atom"
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiAtomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
on August 6 and 9, 1945, many people feared what might happen if a general nuclear war broke out, and a number of protest songs were written in protest of this new danger.
Partlow had interviewed nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s scientists for the Los Angeles Daily News in the early fall of 1945. They had told him what the effects of a nuclear war might be like, which deeply alarmed Partlow. Before the end of the year, he had written a talking blues
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
song titled "Old Man Atom." The song treats its subject in comic-serious fashion, with a combination of black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
puns (such as "We hold these truths to be self-evident/All men may be cremated equal" or "I don't mean the Adam that Mother Eve mated/I mean that thing that science liberated") on serious choices to be made in the nuclear age ("The people of the world must pick out a thesis/Peace in the world, or the world in pieces").
The song quickly gained attention among folk musicians. Pete Seeger first heard the song while traveling in California in the late summer or early fall of 1946. The song's music and lyrics were published in People's Songs (the newsletter for the People's Songs organization) in January 1947 under the title "Atomic Talking Blues." Irving Bibo Music held the copyright.
Seeger recorded the song under the title "Talking Atom" in 1948. Sam Hinton
Sam Hinton
Sam Duffie Hinton was an American folk singer and marine biologist, best known for his music and harmonica playing. Hinton also taught at the University of California, San Diego, published books and magazine articles on marine biology, and worked as a calligrapher and artist.-Biography:Sam Hinton...
made a recording for the small California record label ABC Eagle in early 1950 (which later sold its rights to this recording to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
), and the Sons of the Pioneers
Sons of the Pioneers
The Sons of the Pioneers are one of America's earliest Western singing groups whose classic recordings set a new standard for performers of Western music. Known for the high quality of their vocal performances, musicianship, and songwriting, they produced finely-crafted and innovative recordings...
made one for RCA Victor
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
in the spring or summer of 1950. Lyrics referring to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and non-English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking countries building their own nuclear arsenals were changed in the Sons of the Pioneers recording, and replaced with blander lyrics about people coming together to end the threat of nuclear war. Fred Hellerman
Fred Hellerman
Fred Hellerman, born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at Brooklyn College, is an American folk singer, guitarist, producer and song writer, primarily known as one of the members of The Weavers, together with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Ronnie Gilbert...
made a recording for the Jubilee label, and Ozzie Waters recorded one for Coral (a Decca subsidiary label). Even Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
was rehearsing a version to be released by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
.
The song began catching on with the public. Popular New York City disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Martin Block
Martin Block
Martin Block born in Los Angeles, California, was an American disc jockey. Walter Winchell is said to have invented the term "disk jockey" as a means of describing Block's radio work.-Early years:...
played it extensively on his show, "Make-Believe Ballroom," and the song quickly began receiving significant airplay nationwide. Cash Box declared it the "Sleeper
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
of the Week" (for its enduring longevity on the charts) in July 1950. Billboard declared it a "hit" in early August. By September 1950 it was a recognized hit record throughought the music industry. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, and Cash Box all positively reviewed the song.
But "Old Man Atom" also was generating controversy. Protests were held to denounce what critics felt were communistic
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
ideas in the lyrics. The New York City-based Joint Committee Against Communism, which had recently and successfully campaigned to have the actress Jean Muir
Jean Muir (actress)
Jean Muir was an American stage and film actress.-Career:Born in Suffern, New York as Jean Muir Fullarton, she first appeared on Broadway in 1930, and was signed by Warner Brothers Studios three years later. She played opposite several famous actors - Warren William, Paul Muni, Richard...
kicked off the television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
The Aldrich Family
The Aldrich Family
The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy , was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' well-remembered weekly opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!", and he responded with a breaking...
for allegedly having communist sympathies, began a grassroots effort against the song. This campaign had an immediate effect. Some radio stations banned the song, and Columbia Records and RCA Victor both withdrew copies of the song from sale at the end of August 1950. The widely syndicated anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
newspaper columnist Victor Riesel
Victor Riesel
Victor Riesel was an American newspaper journalist and columnist who specialized in news related to labor unions. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated to 356 newspapers in the United States...
condemned the song. Partlow received some support, however. Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine denounced the withdrawal of the song from store shelves: "...we don't like the private censorship that has resulted in the withdrawal, by RCA Victor and Columbia Records, Inc., of a "talking blues number" called Old Man Atom, presumably on receipt of complaints that it "parrots" the current Communist line on peace." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
editorialized
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
that "A new high in absurdity has been reached by two large record manufacturers who have recently withdrawn from distribution a five-year-old song about the atomic bomb because of some protests that it coincided with current Communist "peace" agitation. ...this new form of censorship by self-appointed groups is a threat to freedom. ... If the song that caused all the furor, 'Old Man Atom,' is propaganda at all, it is by rights American, not Russian, propaganda." Nonetheless, the song disappeared from both the airwaves and store shelves.
The ban, however, appeared to be short-lived. According to musician Ozzie Waters, the song returned to radio airplay a month later. But the song's popularity had ended, and sales never recovered. Nearly a decade after the controversy, music critic Robert Shelton called the song full of "savage humor".
Later life and death
The controversy over "Old Man Atom" eventually led to Partlow's dismissal from his job. The song's notoriety led federal agents to investigate him for his left-wing political views. In October 1952, Partlow was named a member of the Communist Party by witnesses testifying before the House Un-American Activities CommitteeHouse Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. Partlow was asked by the Los Angeles Daily News to publicly declare that he was not a member of the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, and he refused on the grounds that no one should be required to publicly declare his political affiliation as a requirement to keep his job. The Daily News fired him and he was blacklisted
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
. Partlow's union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, The Newspaper Guild, appealed his dismissal as a violation of the union's contract with the newspaper. An arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
committee ruled 3-to-2 against the Guild.
After his dismissal, Partlow worked extensively in public relations and government. He was a public relations consultant in the Los Angeles mayoral
Mayor of Los Angeles, California
The mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive officer of the city. He is elected for a four-year term and limited to serving no more than two terms. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan...
campaign of Fletcher Bowron
Fletcher Bowron
Fletcher Bowron was the 35th Mayor of Los Angeles, California from September 26, 1938 until June 30, 1953. Until Thomas Bradley passed his length of service during the 1980s, Bowron held the distinction of having the longest tenure in that position in city history.Bowron was born in Poway,...
in the early 1950s, the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
races of Edward R. Roybal
Edward R. Roybal
Edward Ross "Ed" Roybal was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council for thirteen years and of the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty years.-Biography:...
in the late 1950s. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, Partlow worked as a publicist and public relations expert for a number of Jewish organizations in the Los Angeles area.
Partlow remained part of the protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
movement as well. Partly wishing to encourage younger songwriters like Partlow, Pete Seeger established the magazine Broadside
Broadside Magazine
Broadside Magazine was a small mimeographed publication founded in 1962 by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and her husband, Gordon Friesen. Hugely influential in the folk-revival, it was often controversial. Issues of what is folk music, what is folk rock, and who is folk were roundly discussed and debated...
in 1961 to promote the work of younger folk artists. "Old Man Atom" made a comeback among folk singers in the 1960s, and Tom Glazer
Tom Glazer
Thomas Zachariah "Tom" Glazer was an American folk singer and songwriter known primarily as a composer of ballads, including: "Because All Men Are Brothers", recorded by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary, "Talking Inflation Blues", recorded by Bob Dylan, and "A Dollar Ain't A Dollar Anymore"...
made a very popular recording which he released as part of his Songs of Peace, Freedom, and Protest set in 1970.
Vern Partlow died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in a hospital in Los Angeles, California, on March 1, 1987. He was survived by three sons.
The first two stanzas of "Newspapermen Meet Such Interesting People" are played at the start and finish of the The Media Project
The Media Project
The Media Project is a weekly radio program that provides an inside look at media coverage of current events. Panelists on the discussion-based show include Times Union Editor Rex Smith, WAMC CEO Alan S. Chartock, WTEN TV Anchor Elisa Streeter, and Daily Freeman Publisher Ira Fusfeld...
, a weekly radio program on National Public Radio.
Partial list of Partlow songs
A partial listing of Partlow's more popular folk and protest songs includes:- "I'm a Native American Nazi"
- "My Name is Cannery Bill"
- "Newspapermen Meet Such Interesting People"
- "Old Man Atom" (also known as "Talking Atom" and "Atomic Talking Blues")
- "Susan's in the Union"
- "The U.A.W. Train"
External links
- Folk singer Adam Miller singing "Old Man Atom" (courtesy of Folksinging.org)