Standing on the Shoulders

Inheriting the Knowledge

Mar 04, 2024

At the recent Folk Alliance International Conference, though the emphasis was most definitely on contemporary artists and their musical contributions, there was nonetheless an awareness and thankful recognition of the early contributors to the idiom—particularly Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and the Weavers.

One of my roles at the conference (besides delivering a keynote address the previous day) was to join a panel with Livingston Taylor, Terika Dean (Lead Belly’s grand-niece and head of his estate) and Anna Canoni (Woody Guthrie's granddaughter and VP of Woody Guthrie Publications) to talk about the upcoming inductees into the FARHOF (Folk-Americana-Roots-Hall-of-Fame) museum, an event which is planned for April of 2024.

Moderated by Deana McCloud, the 50 minute discussion touched on the seminal influences from a variety of artists and was titled “Standing on the Shoulders.” Totally coincidentally, about three years prior to this event, I had written a song similarly titled and was encouraged by Deana to sing it during the panel.

I been thinkin' ‘bout Isaac Newton
And the apple that fell from his tree
And the subsequent insight leading him to then write
All about gravity.

Most people say that he’s best known
For the laws and the theories he proposed,
But we found Newton to be a humble dude when
We read something else that he composed…
He said, “We're standing on the shoulders of giants
Inheriting the knowledge of the ones who came before us.
Standing on the shoulders of giants
And from way up here, we can see much more!”

Standing on the shoulders, standing on the shoulders,
Standing on the shoulders of the ones that come before us.
Standing on the shoulders...standing on the shoulders...

At this point of my recitation, I expect most of the audience and the panel was wondering if I was going to make the relationship between Newton's confession and the history of folk music more obvious. Fortunately, that was exactly what the next verse was about

Now, I'm just a simple songwriter,
But the thought did occur to me
If the theory is true, then what about the musical piece of our history?

Aren't we all standing on the shoulders, standing on the shoulders,
Standing on the shoulders of the ones that come before us?
Standing on the shoulders...standing on the shoulders...
Who's to say how it all began?
The story of a woman and the story of a man
And the first piece of music (you can bet it wasn't planned)
Was when a little baby cried, “I am, I am, I am…”

Standing on the shoulders, standing on the shoulders,
Standing on the shoulders of the ones that come before us.
Standing on the shoulders...standing on the shoulders...

The audience joined me in singing the chorus at this point, and though the last verse may have been a “bridge too far” conceptually, I sang it—attempting to conceivably identify the very first music of the human race:

So gather around. We got a story to tell
About the power of music and the magic spell
That weaves the hope for the future, the lessons of the past,
In a tapestry of song that lasts and lasts and lasts…

’Cause we’re standing on the shoulders, standing on the shoulders,
Standing on the shoulders of the ones that come before us.
Standing on the shoulders...standing on the shoulders...
Standing on the shoulders...of Love...

Livingston had been moved to bring his guitar on stage and sang a beautiful original piece called, “Never Lose Hope,” and once Love was introduced by his lyric into our panel proceedings, those last words of inspiration in the final chorus of “Standing on the Shoulders” fell right into place. That’s the thing about the concept of “inheritance,” isn’t it? It’s certainly what folk music has continually affirmed—that the essence of what we discover, whether in song or life, becomes ours to revere, to polish and pass on.

Connections:

Listen to Noel’s “Standing on the Shoulders.”

1×

0:00

-3:41

When we posted Strings last Monday, we hadn’t yet received the video that captured the close of Noel’s Keynote address at the 2024 Folk Alliance International Conference. A little late perhaps, but a click on the highlighted text here will take you to that “wordless moment from a sea of hearts immersed in an authenticity of intent.”