The Real Value of You Tube

Yes, You Tube has made lots of nobodies famous for a few moments. It has also allowed a lot of sharing of performances (and stupidity) of average people like you and me. But for me the real value of You Tube is that it has managed to get online for public viewing clips and bits and things from the past that might have been lost forever. Now we have an opportunity to see these whether they are music, history, or performances.

I realized this again when I was working on yesterday's post about the essential folk songs. As I went surfing I discovered, for example a whole series of videos with Pete Seeger and many different musicians from a TV series he had on public TV in the 60s called Rainbow Quest.

For example, here is a young Tom Paxton and the even then middle-aged Seeger doing the remarkable Ramblin' Boy.



There are also clips with June Carter and Johnny Cash- LINK

Or how about a video to cover a radio interview with Steve Goodman and the #3 essential folk song, The City of New Orleans. LINK

Then there is the clip, one of two surviving clips, of Woody Guthrie singing Ranger's Command.



It is a treasure trove of trivia and wonder and history and things I might never have been privileged to see or hear if it weren't for You Tube.