Songs for John Doe was the 1941 debut album and first released product of the Almanac Singers

Almanac Singers

The Almanac Singers were a group of folk musicians who, as their name indicates, specialized in topical songs, especially songs connected with the labor movement...

, an influential early folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 group.

The album was released in May 1941, at a time when World War II

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...

 was raging but the United States remained neutral. The Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 were still at peace, as provided by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...

. American Communists

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...

 and "fellow travelers", including the Almanacs, followed the anti-interventionist stance dictated by the Soviet Union through the Comintern

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

, which accounts for the appearance of anti-war songs on the album. However, on June 22, Germany invaded the Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

. The Almanacs changed direction and began agitating for U.S. intervention in Europe. Songs for John Doe was quickly pulled from distribution. The new political line was evident on the group's 1942 album, Dear Mr. President.

For the album, six masters were recorded in a two or three hour session. "'C' For Conscription" and "Washington Breakdown" were recorded as a single take.

Track listing

Track	Song Title	By
1.	Ballad of October 16	Millard Lampell
2.	Billy Boy Billy Boy "Billy Boy" is a traditional folk song and nursery rhyme found in the United States. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 326.-Lyrics:One variant of the lyrics goes:Oh, where have you been,Billy Boy, Billy Boy?Oh, where have you been,Charming Billy?...	Millard Lampell
3.	'C' For Conscription	Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger
4.	Liza Jane Liza Jane "Liza Jane" was the first recording to be released as a single by David Bowie, but under the name Davie Jones with the King Bees. This event took place in 1964 when Bowie was 17 years old. The B-side of the single was the Paul Revere and the Raiders song "Louie, Louie Go Home"...	Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger
5.	Plow Under	Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger
6.	The Strange Death of John Doe	Millard Lampell
7.	Washington Breakdown	Pete Seeger and Lee Hays

Personnel

• 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...
  
  , vocal, banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  
• Millard Lampell
  Millard Lampell
  Millard Lampell was an American movie and television screenwriter who first became publicly known as a member of the Almanac Singers in the 1940s....
  
  , vocal
• Josh White
  Josh White
  Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
  
  , vocal, guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Sam Gary
  Sam Gary
  Sam Gary was an African-American blues, spiritual and folk singer, who to the wider public is known for his long-lasting musical co-operation with Josh White....
  
  , vocal

External links

• Sam Gary discography (with picture of that album's cover)