Kate & Anna McGarrigle and friends (Rufus Wainwright - son of Kate -, Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Karen Matheson, Rod Paterson) perform Stephen Foster's Hard times come again no more during the Transatlantic sessions.
Canada is wide and full of many people. Not everyone knows the McGarrigle sisters. I count it a special place in my heart to know their music. It is a quiet peace to understand the deepest reaches they make to one's heart. I will miss Kate McGarrigle who sang her heart string. "Oh hard times come again no more." RIP Kate McGarrigle,
My great grandmother was born in 1880 and sang this to me in the early 1960's. She must have learned it from her mother who would have been a contemporary of Stephen Foster. From the 1840's directly to me. Her daughter, my grandmother turned 100 in June, 2019. Amazing.
It has been over 9 years since anyone mentioned Molly Mason and Jay Ungar in these comments. Their presence is easily overlooked but their contribution to this excellent performance should not be ignored or underestimated.
This song is very special. It is a weeper, but a classy weeper. This performance is so good it's spooky. Kate or Anna McGarrigle (I'm not sure which) has that other worldly high harmony voice. I don't think anybody sounds quite like that. Then there's Emmy Lou Harris she grabs your heart when bends a note. And how can a woman so good for so many decades?
My favorite version of this tune, and one of my favorites by Stephen Foster, a man whose life ended in tragedy. He gave us over 200 beautiful songs, all American classics. Foster tried to make a living as a composer, but it was difficult, and his wife and daughter eventually left him. Alone and impoverished, he lived in a run down hotel in New York City, and during a bout of illness, fell into a china wash basin, broke it, and cut himself badly. It took three hours for a doctor to arrive, and he died shortly thereafter. Hard Times Come Again No More could have been his personal anthem, even though it speaks of the human condition in general. Thank you, Stephen Foster! I have no doubt that angels are singing your songs!
@@AddisonGearyPhoto Copyright is written into the Constitution, and the first copyright laws were passed shortly after its ratification. But there were many impediments to making a living a songwriter. Not the least of which was that you needed a publisher, and they kept most of the money. There were no performing rights at all.
Beautiful performance. Mary Black's voice is one of the most beautiful ever. I go back and forth between this version and the amazing Tommy Fleming version.
Stephen Foster was one of my fellow Pennsylvanians. To me, Foster is one of the top 5 American Composers of all time, his songs are products of their time. This song "Hard Times" was popular during the Civil War, along with his timeless "Was My Brother in the Battle?" Among the many songs he composed, "Old Folks At Home", "My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight" & "Beautiful Dreamer" are beautiful. Stephen Foster, Thank You for your gift to America.
Exquisite! Simply exquisite! Each of those women are world class singers/musicians in their own right. Put them together with the talented Rufus Wainwright and Rod Paterson, give them a song of this level of brilliance, and let them sing their hearts out. This breathtaking interlude is the result. It doesn't matter how many (and we know everyone and anyone has recorded this Stephen Foster epic), there is NO ONE that comes remotely close to this version. I'm crying. Thank you for posting this piece of magic.
+kerry evans This is a great version, but I think Emmy's version on "Live at the Ryman" is perhaps better. If not for the McGarrigles, Emmy, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, and others would never have been successful. RIP, Kate.
This is really, really, really great. I just love the arrangement of this, the instrumentation and vocal harmonies. I feel like its the closest thing to hearing it performed in the 1850's you could possibly have. So rustic and beautiful.
This video is especially breathtaking for me because I was raised just a stone's throw from Bardstown, KY (where Steven Foster wrote much of his music). I was raised on it. To see a range of international artists I have come to know, admire and listen to over the 56 years of my life singing this song is absolutely stunning and special. And it is someone from France who posted this song from my childhood home that moves me to happy tears. Thank you, Lapincompris! :) Only on RU-vid!
R.I.P. Kate McGarrigle "bringer of music" All the songs, and Rufus, and Martha. My condolences to Kate's family and to all of us. We've lost another great one.
this is the best ever of rendition of this song . Kate and Anna realy pour their hearts out in their songs its as if they realy nean every word , If you dont feel a tear in your eye when you hear this you have no soul
Kate was so wonderful. She and Anna are two of my heroes. About ten years ago they came to Orlando and did a gig. We were there! She will be sorely missed.
Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Kate's Children, Emmy Lou Harris, Mary Black, And All Other's. Thank You For This Exquisite And Truly Spiritual Rendition of Stephens Foster's Legendary Musical Genious.
I learned this song sitting around a campfire as part of the site crew putting up the Winnipeg Folk Festival. There were some talented players putting up tents too! The song stuck with me all these years.
The greatest American song, sung by some of the greatest. A favorite of my father's who remembered it form the 1920-30's. My heart breaks every time I hear it. Seems I listen to it far too often these days.
Beautiful harmonizing voices like these do not need any additional musical instruments other than what is recorded here. Although I cannot sing to save my life, I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the talents of these artists. Again, what beautiful harmonizing voices!
How beautiful music is .. this one comes from the heart and soul..no technology to enhance voices or electronics .. just pure heart felt artist in this one .. what a beautiful melody and quivering voices that make it complete..
I was born and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa. in the 1950's and 60's., also Stephen Fosters hometown. My grade school music teacher, Miss Frank, loved Stephen Foster. She taught us about him and his too short life. She would play his songs on the piano and we would sing to them. Many of his songs are so sentimental and touching, like this one. He is one of my hero's.
I only wish they'd included the last verse, because the magnitude of the singing readily does justice to the beauty and form of the song. True, today's audience has little patience for things running any length, but still, they'd easily have gotten away with it, and still retained our attention. Excellent!
I love this song, pretty much from anyone who sings it. But this version is one of my very favorites. Boy, can these folks sing. Unless you knew your history, you would not realize it was written in 1854. That shows you quality can just last forever.
Reading all the beautiful comments makes me realize the depth of kate and anna's work and how it continues on......thank you so much. peace to kate and blessings to her family...
Kate was the most generous musician I've ever known of. Her song "Heart Like a Wheel" zoomed Linda Ronstadt, then in danger of being known as a teeny bopper one-hit wonder after the Stone Ponies and "Different Drum," into international stardom. She wrote songs that her ex-husband, Loudon Wainwright III, performs enthusiastically as his own. And what lyrics--"And it's only love, and it's only love that can wreck a human being and turn him inside out." She understood what it is to be human.
The lovely and talented Kate and Anna McGarrigle was how the posters for their concert read in Galway in 1977.They were lovely and definitely talented and I am so sorry my kids will never see them. Rest well Kate
