Songs are dangerous, songs are subversive
and can change your life. —
said at the age of 10, after hearing
Paul Robeson sing for the first time
Ronnie Gilbert and The Weavers in 1950
Ruth Alice “Ronnie” Gilbert (b. 9/7/1926 – d. 6/6/2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, actress, and political activist. She was one of the original members of the music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman.
Gilbert’s singing was characterized as “a crystalline, bold contralto.” Her voice is heard, blending with, and rising over, the others, in Weavers tracks such as “This Land Is Your Land”, “If I Had a Hammer”, “On Top of Old Smoky”, “Goodnight, Irene”, “Kisses Sweeter than Wine“, and “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena.”
Early Life:
Gilbert was born in Brooklyn, NYC and considered herself a native New Yorker her whole life. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Her mother, Sarah, came from Warsaw, Poland and was a dressmaker and trade unionist. Her father, Charles Gilbert, came from Ukraine and was a factory worker.
From a young age she had a strong sense of social justice and gave credit for this to her mother who had been involved with the Polish-Jewish Bund. She went to Anacostia High School and was almost expelled because of her resistance to participating in a blackface minstrel show with white students, citing Paul Robeson’s “denunciations of racism.” When she returned to New York, Gilbert became involved in organizing the Office Workers’ Union and worked for the Textile Workers’ Union. She encountered Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie and other folk singers.
Musical Beginnings:
Gilbert came to Washington, D.C., during World War II at the age of 16, took a government job and joined a protest folk-singing group, the Priority Ramblers. She performed with this group before founding the Weavers with Pete Seeger.
The Weavers were an influential folk-singing group that was blacklisted in the early 1950s, during a period of widespread anti-communist hysteria, because of the group’s left-wing sympathies.
Discography:
I was able to find a substantial list of her work at filmreference.com.
Filmography:
I was able to find a substantial list of her work at filmreference.com.
Some things to share:
Following the Weavers’ dissolution in 1953 due to the blacklist, she continued her activism on a personal level, traveling to Cuba in 1961 on a trip that brought her back to the United States on the same day that country banned travel to Cuba. She also participated in the Parisian protests of 1968 after traveling to that country to work with British theatrical director Peter Brook.
Gilbert moved to Berkeley in 1971 and began to learn and offer therapy. The next year, she entered graduate school. By 1974, she had earned an MA in clinical psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years. Gilbert later said that at the time, she needed a change from her career on Broadway, her daughter was grown up and she “fell into” therapy, including Gestalt, Freudian and Jungian practices.
Gilbert was married to Martin Weg from 1950 until 1959, and the couple have one daughter, Lisa (born 1952.) Their marriage ended in divorce. In 2004, when gay marriage was temporarily legalized in San Francisco, Gilbert married Donna Korones, her manager and partner of almost two decades.
The Guardian published Ronnie’s obituary on 6/8/2015.
Official website: Do NOT go to the website wiki has listed. It’s a PORN SITE.
Sources: wikipedia, filmreference.com, The Guardian, YouTube
Tao Talk 
Gosh I haven’t heard the name Weavers mentioned in so long, this was a great reminder, thanks Lisa and for the links :)
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Happy to oblige, Paul :)
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I wasn’t aware of Ronnie Gilbert’s name but surely knew classic folk songs like “This Land Is Your Land”, “If I Had a Hammer” and “Goodnight, Irene.” It sounds like she had an interesting stories.
Unfortunately, in some regards this country hasn’t changed much and/or is going back. In the ’50s, they blacklisted certain artists, as you noted. Today, certain books are banned in certain regions of the land of the free for ideological reasons.
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Christian, I understand about how some things haven’t changed. Human nature has its ugly side for sure. I just finished reading Terry Pratchett’s, “Guards! Guards!” where he incisively looks at human nature as it is applied to rules, rulers, and ruled. As I just mentioned to someone else, we get the kind of government we deserve, and that’s a terrifying thought.
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I’ve heard of the Weavers and Gilbert…been a long time ago. Dylan was hanging with some of them also at the very beginning. That is where I found many of them.
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Aha! Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.
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Lisa…looking back I liked how I learned…it was like a “book tree.” Beatles > Bob Dylan > Woody Guthrie > Pete Seeger…and on and on. The branches went out from the Beatles…as crazy as that sounds.
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A book tree graphic on a poster would be sooooo cool.
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Yes it would…it might make a good post as well…I would enjoy it anyway. I will have to think about that.
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I agree with it making a good post. Hope you do one on it.
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I’m thinking about it on the way to the movie now
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The Weavers were such an important voice. I knew little of Gilbert beyond the group so that was very interesting. Great job tracking her down Lisa
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Randy, thanks, and I thank whomever gave me her name, or how fate steered me to her.
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The Weavers were a treasure, as was Ronnie Gilbert. In later years she toured and recorded with Holly Near. She worked with Pete Seeger again in a multi-generational group called HARP (Holly [Near] Arlo [Guthrie] Ronnie [Gilbert] and Pete [Seeger]).
There is a great documentary about the Weavers reunion called “Wasn’t That a Time?”
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Steve, thanks much for the additional info. I did see where Holly Near cut an album of her music and then they collaborated. HARP is a great acronym. Will have to check out some of their music. Appreciate the heads-up on the doc also.
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It was really fun to see Holly and Ronnie together and to see Holly’s obvious respect for Ronnie – both for her body of work and as a person. I never saw HARP live.
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Wow what interesting history of an amazing woman, Li! Great songs to start the day with❣️
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So happy you enjoyed, my friend.
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💓💓💓
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I didn’t know she was a therapist. You always find such great information.
The blacklist was a horrible thing, and unfortunately we’re heading in that direction again. I too remember Gilbert’s work with Holly Near–thanks Steve for reminding me about Holly– and HARP. The Weavers were a treasure. (K)
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I was surprised about the therapist career also. She has a very kindly face and also happens to look just like my ex mother in-law in later years, may she rest in peace.
The blacklist and cancel culture seem very similar but for different things. Banning books are like a blacklist, which is creepy. And then we have dipsh*t now selling combo Bible/Constitutions (that are being rated with “sticky pages” ::gag::
Will have to go out and find me some HARP.
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Yes the Bible thing is totally creepy.
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Hey! Did the Tokens steal the Wimoweh part for A Lion Sleeps Tonight?
All that to say that The Weavers were not part of my repertoire. Though the name sounds vaguely familiar.
Wonderful voice she had and what a fabulous woman!
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Yes, that’s where the Tokens got the song…but that’s okay, because the Weavers got it from a Zulu song.
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It keeps the music alive. I hope the original writer and his descendents have gotten royalties all along. Changing the name and translating to English doesn’t change the fact that it is the Zulu song.
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Here’s the scoop, per wiki:
The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is a song originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda under the title “Mbube” for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. Linda’s original was written in Zulu, while the English version’s lyrics were written by George David Weiss.
The song has been adapted and covered internationally by many pop and folk artists. It was recorded as “Wimoweh” by the Weavers in November 1951, and published by Folkways Music Publishers in December 1951. Artists who have recorded various versions of the song include R.E.M., NSYNC, Henri Salvador, Karl Denver, Jimmy Dorsey, Yma Sumac, Noro Morales, Miriam Makeba, and the Kingston Trio.
In 1961, a version adapted into English with the title “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the doo-wop group The Tokens became a number-one hit in the United States. It went on to earn millions in royalties from cover versions and film licensing. The pop group Tight Fit had a number one hit in the UK with the song in 1982.
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And there you have it! I will go to bed all the smarter tonight!
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:)
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I really liked “So Long.” An artist I’d not heard of, though my sweety was singing along to that song.
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Happy to think of your sweety singing along with it :)
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It added to it nicely! 😊
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