Musical Repertoire
The Iversons were transitional figures, who bridged the gap between Scandinavian immigrants and their American-born descendants. The brothers' 1939 songbook was mostly in English but had a few Norwegian songs such as Kom Til Den Hvitmalte Kirke (The Church In The Wildwood) and Det Døende Barn (The Dying Child), whose author was Hans Christian Andersen.
Slim Jim and the Kid were songwriters with such titles as My Gal With The Pretty Red Hair and Can I Play My Guitar In Heaven to their credit. Their 1937 collection of cowboy and mountain ballads, however, had only a handful of original songs. Among the old favorites in the book were Silver Threads Among the Gold, Frankie And Johnny and The Yellow Rose Of Texas. On the radio the Iversons would even sing current hits like When It's Lamp Lighting Time In The Valley and Mockin' Bird Hill. A program might also have Play a Simple Melody by Irving Berlin or the romantic The West, A Nest And You.
Slim Jim sided with the working man, and his first songbook even had an adaptaton of The Popular Wobbly by the Finnish-American labor activist T-Bone Slim. The Popular Wobbly was a parody of the 1918 song They Go Wild Simply Wild Over Me.
The Iverson Brothers published songbooks in 1931, 1937 and 1939. All three are on file at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Ernest and Clarence acknowledged their Norwegian roots with songs like Ungdoms Mynder (Memories Of Youth) and Jeg Er Saa Glad Hver Julekveld (I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve). Just as easily they could poke fun at themselves and their countrymen with Scandinavian Hot Shot or John Johnson’s Wedding.
The Iversons were also influenced by artists of an earlier generation. Nikolina had been a huge hit for the Swedish immigrant singer Hjalmar Peterson. Slim Jim and the Kid recorded the song in English, and their version has remained popular with generations of Scandinavian-Americans.
Read more about this topic: Ernest And Clarence Iverson
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