Cynicism anyone?
i once saw van ronk in kyoto, at a little club where i was the only paying customer; only staff joined me in watching and listening. he gave his all, as if he were playing for a crowd of thousands. his voice was shot afterwards. i interviewed him back stage where he say recovering. his wife was there too. i felt sad and even a little shocked that nobody had shown up to see this great legend. almost as bad, the magazine for which i was interviewing him wasn't even interested enough in him to give me the go-ahead to write the story. don't forget van ronk, folks. he WAS folk music, to those who knew him!
g
p.s. this isn't the version of this song with which i am familiar; he has another version, without whistling, on an album of brecht and weill he made with frankie armstrong. i was not able to find it on youtube. this is pretty close and of course there's nothing wrong with it.