5 songs about the Titanic, 113th anniversary edition.

TL;DR -- The RMS Titanic began to sink on April 14, 1912. People wrote songs about it, here are five examples.

As I like to do on occasion, here’s a short piece that isn’t part of my Anthology Revisited series. I’m not gonna go too deep into the whole “songs of the Titanic” things today because I’ll be diving deep into the Titanic tunes on the twenty-second edition of Anthology Revisited, which won’t be for a few months. But since it is April 14, I thought it appropriate to share five songs about the sinking of the Titanic.

1. When That Great Ship Went Down - William and Versey Smith
   This 1927 recording appeared on the Anthology of American Folk Music, and will be discussed in great detail when I get to song 22 of the Anthology Revisited series. It’s my personal favorite recording of a Titanic song, and is what led me to explore other songs on the same topic. I absolutely love this track.

2. The Titanic - Roy Acuff
   This is the same song as above, but it was recorded in the 50’s and sounds quite different from the Smiths version above. I do love me some Roy Acuff, and enjoy the musical juxtaposition of these versions of the song.

3. Sinking of the Titanic - Richard “Rabbit” Brown
   This 1927 recording is not the same song as the previous two. It does, however, feature Richard “Rabbit” Brown who, like William and Versey Smith, appears on the Anthology of American Folk Music. The Anthology Revisited series won’t get to him for quite some time, as his “James Alley Blues” appears in Volume Three of the Anthology.

4. Sinking of the Titanic - Gavin Bryars
   The first two songs in this list are the same song but bear different titles. Songs three and four bear the same title, but are entirely different songs. Gavin Bryars is a modern classical composer, and his version of the Sinking of the Titanic from 1975 was inspired by reports that the band continued to play even as the ship was sinking. It’s a moving piece, and well worth a half an hour of attention.

5. Tempest - Bob Dylan
   From his album of the same name, Bob Dylan’s “Tempest” was released in August 2012, a few months after the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking. Dylan takes about 14 minutes to offer his own poetic, grim assessment of the fateful evening.

BONUS TRACK:

God Moves on the Water - Blind Willie Johnson

If ya feel shortchanged because I promised five songs, but only offered four unique numbers, here’s another outstanding Titanic song. This one was recorded in 1929 by the amazing Blind Willie Johnson.