Bluegrass Messengers

AFS L 4: AFRO-AMERICAN BLUES AND GAME SONGS
Recorded in southern U.S. by John and Alan Lomax and others, 1933-41. Edited by Alan Lomax.

1."I Don't Mind the Weather", sung by Jim Henry
2."Diamond Joe", sung by Charlie Butler
3."Joe the Grinder", sung by Irvin Lowry
4."Another Man Done Gone" and "Boll Weevil Blues", sung by Vera Hall
5."Two White Horses", sung with guitar by Smith Casey
6."Country Rag", played on the guitar by Smith Casey
7."Shorty George", sung with guitar by Smith Casey
8."Blues", sung with guitar by Little Brother
9."Country Blues" and "I Be's Troubled", sung with guitar by McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters)
10."Lost John" and "Fox Chase", played on harmonica by Sanders (Sonny) Terry
11."All Hid?", sung by Hettie Godfrey
12."Little Girl, Little Girl" and "Pullin' the Skiff", led by Ora Dell Graham
13."Old Uncle Rabbit" and "Sea Lion Woman", sung by Katherine and Christine Shipp
14."Ain't Gonna Ring No More", sung by group
15."Shortenin' Bread", led by Ora Dell Graham
16."Poor Little Johnny" and "Go to Sleep", sung by Harriet McClintock
17."Run, Nigger, Run", sung by Mose (Clear Rock) Platt

Liner Notes: 

 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS * MUSIC DIVISION
ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN FOLK SONG
16A. 1. I DON'T MIND THE WEATHER. Sang by Jim Henry, Parchman, Mississippi, 1937. 2. DIAMOND JOE. Sung by Charlie Butler, Parchman, Mississippi, 1937. 3. JOE THE GRINDER. Sung by Irvin Lowry, Gould, Arkansas, 1939.
Recorded by John A. Lomax.

The lonely Negro worker piling up dirt on the levees, plowing in the cotton fields, at work in the lonely mist of the riverbottoms; the convict leaning on his hoe; the worker walking home across the fields in the purple evening-heve poured their feelings into songs like these. The songs are addressed to the sun and the choking dust, to the stubborn mules, to the faithless woman of the night before, to the herd-driving captain ; and they concern the essential loneliness of man on the earth. Out of this singing style, which is perhaps the most primitive of all the Afro-American styles current in the United States, has developed the blues. The listener will notice the same use of falsetto stops, the same drop of the voice at the end of lines, that characterize the blues. The aingsrs generally do not refer to these work -songs as sung at all. They say they are "just hollerin'."

The words are. improvised each time the songs are sung, the lines coming out of a stock of phrases and verses thet heve been sung before or else directly out of the immediate thoughts of the aingsr. Each singer generally has his own personal melody or "holler"; but these melodies are so free thet each time the song is enunciated it is a new re-creation of the singer's feelings at the moment of performance. The "hollers" on this record were recorded in the penitentiary and for this reason the texts are colored by the thoughts of the convict. Line five in the first song expresses the singer's desire to leave the South. The second song refers to a cheracter mentioned often in American folk song j but, so far as my questioning has gone, no one has yet explained who he was. The melody of this soog marks a departure from the ordinary "holler" and the singer was known in the whole prison as the man who could sing "Diamond Joe." Line three in song 3 means "when I have served out my long sentence, I'll go home."

For material on Negro "hollers," 8SII John A. and Alan Lom.a.x, Negro Folk Song8 (J8 Sung by Leadbelly, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1936; Our Singing Oountry, The Macmillan Company, 1941; American Ballad8 and Folk Song8, The Macmillan Company, 1934; Howard W. Odum, Rainbow Rotmd My Sh01Jlder, The Boobs Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1928.

A. L. 16A. 1. I DON'T MIND THE WEATHER

1. Mmrom--. Boya, I've got a boychIld In Texas, he ought to be 'bout groWD.

2.0 , Go marchin' to the table, 0 Lord, lind the ••me old thIng.

S. Ummm--, Boys, I'll be 80 glad when payday comes. o , captain, captain, when payday "'moe.
I'm gonna catch that Dllno18 Central, 0 Lord, aoln' to Kankakee.
Mmmm

16A. 2. DIAMOND JOE

1. Ain't gonna work In the country, And nelther on Forrest's tann ; I'm gonna etay till my Maybelle comes, An' she lonna call-uh me Tom. Diamond Joe. come a-gittIn' me, DIamond Joe. come a-gIttln' me, DIamond Joe, come a-gittIn' me, Diamond Joe.
2. AID.'t aonna tell you no story, AD' neither word of lle; Wonder what Dl)" Maybelle_, Didn't abe keep on by. Chorus. Diamond Joe. where'd you And him? DIamond Joe, where'd you lind him? DIamond Joe, where'd you find hlm? Diamond Joe. (Fir,t chot"'Kl repeated.) 8. AID.'t goona work In the country, etc. Diamond J oe, come a-gittln' me. DIamond Joe, come a-gittln' me. DIamond Joe,
My black Joe.

16A. 8. JOE THE GRINDER 1. 0 Lord, a tew days longer, now, man. 2. They call me Joe the Grinder, 0 baby. S. Wheo I roll my long time down, I'm golo' home.

16B. 1. ANOTHER MAN DONE GONE
Sung by Vera Ball, Livingston, Alabama, 1940. Recorded by John A. Lomax and Ruby Pickens Tartt.
It seems likely that the Negro "blues" is a fairly recent outgrowth. The earliest examples we have date from the period between 1890 and 1910, when this form seems to have crysteJlized. Most of these early e.umples have the same stanza form &8 Vera Hall's enigmatic song-that IS, one verse four times repeated, or one verse repeated three times with a final single line, usually unrhymed. The modern blues form 18 a three-verse stanza.
Vera Hall, who lives on the outskirts of a small town in the red-lands of central Alabama, sings religious and secular songs equally well. This song tells enigmatically of the escape of a Negro from the county "chain-ganjr." The singer, if she knows anything about the runaway prisoner, certainly Will tsll you nothin.l:. The song IS full of shadows and hidden meanings. The last line, which has no apparent connection with the rest of the stanzas, means: "I'm going to chastise you."
For background material 866 pagss 11 ft. of Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson, Negro Workaday Song.! Universitr of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1926; W. C. Handy, Blues, 1m Anthology, Albert and Charles BOUl, New York, 1926.

A. L.
L Another man doae ...... Anotber man do.... ao..... Uh-trom the eounl7 tarm. Another man·doae!lOM- 2. I dldn't 1mOW b1a name, I didn't 1mow b1a name, I didn't 1mow b1a name, I didn't lmoW b1a JWDe. 8. Be had a 1011&' dlaIn on, Behad a lcm« daaln on, Be bad a 1_dlalD OIl, Be bad a lona chain on.
of. He JdlJed another man, . Be klUed another man, He kllled. another maD, Be tilled another man. es. I dOD' tnow where be', .(me, I don' know wbere he'l lone, I doa' Imow wbeN he" lone. I don' know where he', .one. 6. I'm aolllg to walk yonr log, I'm 101111' to walk your log, I'm aol...to walk your log, I'm aolDg to walk :Jour log.
16B. 2. BOLL WEEVIL BLUES, Saq by Vera Ball, Uvlapton, Alabama, 19.0. Recorded by Jobn A. LOIIIax and Ruby Pickens Tartt.
The boll weevil is a parasite which bores into the green cotton boll and kills it before it opens. As the Texas version of the bOll weevil ballad truly !lays,
"The boll weevil is a little black bug, From Mexico, they 119; Come all the way to Texas A-lookin' for a place to &tay, Just a-lookin' for a home."
He made his illegal entry into the United States about 1890 and in the years following marched across the South, "with hi, whole family, looking for a home," doing millions of dollars of damage to the cotton crop, the &taple of the South.
The Negro_tenant farmers and farm laborers, who were also "looking for a home," felt some kinship with the "little block buC' and they made a ballad which followed the boll weevil from the f1atlande of Texas to the tidewaters ofVirginia. Vera Hall's is the Alabama version, much shorter than the usual form. The word "square" refers to the shape of the cotton boll before it blossoms.
For other wrsiOll8 see pages 262 and 8 ff. of Carl Sandburg, The A"",rictm Songbag Harcourt, Brace"Co., New York, 192'7; also page 112 of John A. and Alan Lomax, A"",rica" Bollad3 ;;:tFolk Song., The Macmillan Company, New York, 19M. A. L.
L FIrst time I seen the boll weeVil, Be's settin' on the squre; Next Ume I seen 111m, He 11114 his family there. 2. Boll weevil here, BoD weevil eTer,-where; They done ate up all the eottoD and corn, A1111ut tbst new _dsquare.
8. Well, the farmer .Iked the mercl>ant llh-for oome meat and meal
~Tain't Dothlq dolD', old man ; BoD wee.U's In Tour 11e14."
4. "Bay-a-ay, boU _I, Where is your native home f' "WlQ' down In the bottom
Amoua' the catton and corn."
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS * MUSIC DIVISION
ARC H I V E 0 F A M ER I CAN F 0 L K SON G
17 A. 1. TWO WIllTE HORSES. Sung by Smith Casey with guitar, Brazoria, Texas, 1939. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.
"When your heart stops beating and your toes get cold, Ain't nothin' gonna do you but the cypress grove."
One of the basic themes of Negro songs, sacred and secular) is that "everybody's got to die sc:neday"the democracy of death. This song, first popularized on a phonograph record by Blind Lemon J efferson, revels in the whole idea of death and burial. The guitar is played in an adapted Hawaiian style (although the performer certaiuly never heard of the islands) ; a knife held in the left hand plays both the high and low strings, achieving orchestral effects as it imitates the church bells and the rumble of clods on the top of a pine coffin. The instrument also takes part in the singin~ as it "speaks" the last words of the second and third lines of the stanza. The highest praise that a guitarist can win in the South is-"He can make that box talk!" A. L.
1. Now, two white horses standin' In a line, Now, two white horses standin' in a (guitar) Now, two white horses atandio' In a (guitar) Gonna take me to my buryIo' ground. 2. Did you ever hear that coffin sound? (guitar makes coffin sound) Did you ever hear that coffin? (guitar) Did you ever hear a cotHn? (guitar) You know now poor boy's In the ground. 3. Please dig my grave with a silver spade. Please dig my grave with a silver (guitar) Please dig my grave with a (guitar) You can let me down with a golden chain. 4. It's one kind favor I'll ask of you, It's one kind favor I'll ask of (guitar) It's one kind favor I'll ask of (guitar) Ta\t:e paIns see my grave be kept clean. 5. Did you ever hear that church bell tone? (guItar mak
es bell sound)
Did you ever hear that church bell? (gultar) DId you ever hear that church bell? (guitar) You know now poor boy's dead and gone. 6. Now, two white horses standln'ln a line, Now, two white horses standin' In a (guitar) Now. two white horses standln'ln a ·(guItar) Gonna take me to my buryin' ground. 7. Did you ever hear a coffin Bound? (guitar makes cotlin sound) Did you ever hear that coffin? (guitar) DId you ever hear now? (guitar) You know now poor boy's in the ground.
17A. 2. COUNTRY RAG. Played by Smith Casey on the guitar, Brazoria, Texas, 1939. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.
A piece of country jazz, the sort of melody popular at rural Negro dances in the Southwest. Here ouly one guitar is used. Whether this is an early jazz com position or whether it is a recent adaptation of jazz ideas, it shows how free and merry and warm-hearted jazz is when it is performed by and for country Negroes, from whom its original strength derives.
For general background for sides A and B, see W. C. Handy, The Blues, An Anthology, Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1926; John A. and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1934, and Our Singing Oountry, The Macmillan Company, 1941 ; Howard Odum, Rainbow Round My Shoulder, The Bobbs Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1928 ; John A. and Alan Lomax, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly, The Macmillan Company, 1936. A. L.
1m. 1. SHORTY GEORGE. SlIIIg by Smith <Uey with guitar, ClemeD8 State Farm, Brazoria, Tuaa, 1939. Reeorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax 2. BLUES. SlIIIg by "Uttle Brother" with guitar, Teus State PeaitentiarT, HlllltsriIle, Texas, 19M. Reeorded by John A., Ruby T., and Alan Lomax.
The blues is the Negro folk lyric type par 6zcellenc6. Next to the Negro·spiritual it is the most original, and today it is the most influential of all America;n folk -song sty lea. ~nto the blues the folk Negro has ponred all his frustration, his restless htmger for a better life, all his irony, all his bitterness about humo.n relations. One singer says:
"Ifthe blues was money, I'd be a millionaire."
But, since bitternesS and irony spring only from hope, there comes one of the recurring stanzas of the blues: "Sun gonna shine in my back d';"r someday, Wind gonna rise and blow my blues away."
Ever since the 17th century in England "to have the blues" has meant "to be d~ndent" or "depressed" or "downhearted." After naming his lyric songs "the blues" the Negro personified this idea. He says,
"TM Blue8 jumped a rabbit, run him a solid mile; When TM Blue, overtook him, he hung his po' head and cried."
The blues are always individual songs, usually accompanied on the gnitar or the piano, arid among the folk Negroes of the South they are used mainlr for .dancmg. The first of these blues is a dirge for a dead comrade. The second comes from the penitentIary and is a collection of miscellaneous stanzas. Bud Russell was the officer who fonnerly carried the prisoners from the county jails of Texas to the state penitentiary.
A.L.
17B. 1. SHORTY GEORGE
1. Mmm--. wonder what's the matter now?
Lord, what's the matter now'
-7-by myself.
2. Yes, he died on the road,
Yes, he died on the road,
Had DO money to pay hlB boa'd.
S. Ah • be was a frIend ot mine. Yea, he was a friend of mine; Every time I think now I just can't keep from cryln'.
4. J .-stole away and cried, Yes. stole away and cried ; Never had DO money. now I wasn't 8atillfted.
17B. 2. BLUES 1 . ........ .. ... .•. . Funny man, IItole my gal of mine. 2. Lord, you light weight aklnnen,1ou better learn to Bldn, Mmm--, you better learn to akin: Old Mister Bud Ru.saell, I tell you, be wants to starve the men. S. 0 my mama, she called me, I'm gonna answer "mam," Mmm , I'm gonna answer 'tma.m." "Lord, ain't yon tired of roUln' tor that bIg·bat man ?". 4. She's got nine gold teeth,long black curly hair, Mm= , long black curly hair ; Lord, if you get on the Santa Fe.·. find yo' baby there. 5. I been praylnr Our Fatber, Lord, Thy kingdom come, Mmm , Lord, Thy kIngdom come; Lord, I been prayin' Our Father, let Yo' wtn be done. 6. One. two, three. tour, five, Ib, &eVen, eight, nine. Mmm , ftve. 1I1r, .Beven, eight, nine; I'm gonoa connt these blues. she'. got on ber mind. OWork1D3 for the prIoon cuanL TIle .....thero pards waor b" felt_ o"The Banta Fe Ballroacl.
THE LIBRA RY OF CONGRESS * MUSIC DIVISION
ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN FOLK SONG
18A. COUNTRY BLUES. 18B. I BE'S TROUBLED. Sung by McKinley Morganfield with guitar, Stovall, Mississippi, 1941. Recorded by Alan Lomax and John Work. .
McKinley Morganfield (nicknamed Muddy Waters), a shy, handsome young-Negro! lives and works on a huge cotton plantation near the Mississippi river, not far from Clarksdalel.Mlssissl'pPl. Saturday evenings he makes a few dollars by playing for the local dances and parties of his J'<egro neIghbors. He learned to play the guitar only three years ago, learning painfully, finger by finger, from a friend. Since that time he has learned a great deal more by listening to commercial records of blues guitarists from other parts of the country. His style is largely derived from the records of Robert Johnson, who recorded for the Columbia Phonograph Company in the 1930's. Robert Johnson grew up only a few miles away, but Muddy Waters never saw hinI face to face.
Muddy Waters' blues represent what might be called an American equivalent of the f/ameMo styl&-a complex, subtle, controlled interweaving of melodic line against an intricate and varied guitar accompaniment. He plays with a broken bottle neck on the little finger of his left hand (again, an American adaptation of the so-called Hawaiian style), sometinIes using the first three fingers of his left hand to fret his instrument, sometimes using the bottleneck I
Both of these blues talk about trouble between man and woman, both are songs expressive of the anxiety, frustration and lack of security that seem to typify the relations of Negro couples. Muddy Waters told me that he composed "I Be's Troubled" while he was changin" a tire.
For general background for sides A and B, see W. (f. Handy, Blues, an Anthology, Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1926; John A. and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1934, Om'Singing Oountry, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1941, and Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1936; Howard W. Odum, Rainbow RO"Tld My Shoulder, The Bobbs Merrill Company, Indianapolis,1928. A, L.
18A. COUNTRY BLUES
1. An' it's gettln'late over in the eyenin', chile, I 1'eellike. Llke blowin' my horn;. I woke up this mornin', find my, My )lttte baby gone, hmm. Late up In the evenln', man, man, I feelllke, like blowln' my horn; Well, I woke up this mornin', baby,
Find my little baby gone.
2. Well, now, some folks say the worrIed, 01' blues ain't bad;
That's the mlserlest feellu', child, I mOfSt, Most ever had. Some folks tell me, man, that the Worried, 01' blues ain't bad; 'Vell, that's the miseri'st oJ' feelln', honey, now, 'V0--0, well, gal, I most ever bad. S. 'Yell, brooks runnln' Into the ocean, the ocean l"uuniu' Into the sea; IfI don't find my baby. somebody gonna, GOD' bury me, hmm--. Brooks runnln' Into the ocean, chil', Ocean runnln' to the sea; 'VeIl, If I don't find my baby now,
'Vo---o, well, gal, you goo' haye to bury me. 4. Yes, minutes seem like hours an' hours Seem IIke days; Seems like my baby would stop her, Her lowdown \\·ays--. :Ulnutes seem like hours, chil', nn' hours ~'eem like days; Yes, seems like my woman now, 'Vo---o, well, gal, she might stop her lowdown ways. (Voice) Well, play that thing, man, 5. " Tell, now, I'm leavlo' this mornln' It I hadda, Wo---o, rIde the bllnds;u -SInging.
"To go on the bum, to hobo.
I feel mistreated, gIrl, you know now
I don't mInd dyin'-ha!
Leavln' this morulo'-IfI hadda, now, ride the bUnds;
Yes, I been mistreated, baby, now,
Baby, an' I doo't mind dyin',
18B. I mJ's TROURLED
1. WeB, If I feel tomorrow Llke I feel today, I'm gonna pack my suitcaseAn' make my retaws-y,Chorus: Lord, I'm troubled, I'm all worried In mind, An' I'll never be satisfied, An' I just can't keep from cryln', 2. Yeah, 1 know my little 01' babe,She gon' jump an' shout,That 01' train be late, girl,An'I come walkln' out. Chorus.S. Yeah, I know somebodySho' been talkin' to you, I don't need no te1l1o', girl, I can watch the way you do. Chorus.4. Yeah, now, goodbye. babe, Got DO more to say;Just like 1 been tellin' you, girl,
You goo' have to leave my bed. Chorus. 5. Yeah, my baby, she quit me, Seem Uke mama was dead; I got real worried, gal, An' she drove it to my head.· Chorus.-That is, "drove the worry to my head."
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. MUSIC D IVIS ION
ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN FOLK SONG
19A. LOST JOHN. 19B. FOX CHASE. Played by Sanders Terry on the harmonica, Durham, North Carolina, 1938. Recorded in New York, N. Y., by Alan and Bess Lomax.
Blind Sanders Terry; from Durham, North Carolina, hIlS a genius for his harmonica such as the gypsies of central Europe have for their violins. He plays a cheap harmonica, but, as it lies in his cupped hands, he stops it with his fingers and produces the chromatic notes for which concert harmoniea players reqnire the large complex, chromatic instrument. His blindness just allows him to tell "light from darkness" ; yet when he plays, his hands make a shadowy and intricate dance pattern before his sunken eyes.
"Lost John" is the tale in sound of a poor old boy who got lost in the woods as he walked home from the house of his mistress. He took out his harmonica and through it ealled for help, moaned out his fright and terror of the deep hot night in the black river-bottom woods.
In the "Fox Chase," "Son" Terry describes what a southern fox hunt sounds like. In the South the hunters do not ride to the hounds in the vigorous English fashion. On the contrary, they take their hounds to the hills, turn them loose, then sit comfortably around a campfire on a mountain top while ·the chase goes on below them. Their pleasure in the hunt is purely auditory and imaginary. They can tell every hound by his bark, and from the kind of bark just how the chase is developing. All night long they comfortably pursue the fox from the edge of the campfire, trade lies about their dogs, and indulge in gossip about the neighborhood.
A.L.
THE LIBRARY 0 F CONGRESS • MUSICDIVIS ION
ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN FOLK SONG
lOA. 1. ALL HID? Sung by Hettie Godfrey. 2. LITTLE GIRL, LITTLE Gmt. Led by Ora Dell Grahalllo a. PULLIN' THE SKIFF. Led by Ora DelI Graham. 4. OLD UNCLE RABBIT. Sling by KatherlDe and Chrlstlfte Shipp. 5. SEA LION WOMAN. Sung by Katherine alllll Christine Shipp.
Go AIN' GONNA RING NO MO'. Sung by grollP of girls.
7. SHORTENIN' BREAD. Led by Ora OeD Graham.
Recorded in Mississippi and Alabama by John A. Lomax and Herbert Halpert,
Children's games lmllYwhere retain some of the oldest elements of folk Clliture, but often the,. are much inftueuced by the fashions of the y-.r and of the locality in which they are sung. The second of the so~ on thie Bide, "Little Girl, Little Girl," stems from a ~old chaidng pme known as "Old WiteK:" This game ia part of the same tradition as "The Hawk andic\reJ1s," variants of which have been recorded in many Eoropeu. Ianguagea. Yet in the present veraion a Iteam locomotive appears, furnishing a syncopated refrain for a littl8 faiicy stepping by the playera. .
All of the _ :ref: are dances rather more than gamea. The main fOClll of interelt in NIIl'O c1Wdren'. pmee ia on individualncing rather than on the elaliOration of the story idea of the..-. The lint-a 18 a counting rhyme for hide-&nd-go-eMk. The IIizth BOng may well be a vamion of the origiDal song which gave rise to the famous ragtime tune, "It Ain't-a Gonna Rain No Ho'." The .wly freed elan ~ with delight that the plantation bell will no .longer call him to ....ork and announcee hie intention of lilIiJIg hie pocl[ets with money from the plantation cofrere before he leaft8 for the ll!Ut, free world.
For general background material for Bidee A and B, _ Dorothy Scarboro1lldl. Ofa 1M Trwll of N.~ FOlk-SMI96, Harvard Uninrsity Press, Cambridae. Me888chueette, 1921i; L,.dia:p~ Slow S0fIg6 of tM OetWgia SM bltJruh, Creative Age Pre., Inc: liew York, 1942; B. A. Botkin, TM Ammo-PIG;Party Song, Uni~ty of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1987; pages 70lr" John A. and Alan Imnn, Ow SiagtngOovntry, The HacmdJan Company, 1941. . A. t.
2lIA. L ALL BID? CbOr1ll: All hId? All hId? . I'he, teD,-.twen17,
'S all hId?
L WIlT cIowIl70nder b7 the cleYll'. town, DeYIl_Dl7 cIIdcI7 doWJL
II aJ1 hId? Cho......
2. 8b: Uttleh_1n the 6lahle,
9De j1lJllPOdoulendU1DDedhl6cable. II all hId? 8. Old IIlID Nod fell oul the bed,
~hl6 h..d on ..hoi pi""" of lead.
II all hId? Cho...... 2OA. 2. LJ'1"1'LIIl OmL, LJ'1"1'LIIl OmL L: LIttle Ifrl, Uttle IIrI? 0: Y-.mam. L: Did :ron.., down town? 0: Y-.mam. L: Did 70D _ Dl7 brown?
Did he bD7 me 1D71h_1
8todr:ID'. too? PDI hIJil on the trainI Th. bell ring? WhIc:hewllT did he..,? OendL:
<Jooc>.dlool All DllhlloqOhoo-c:hoo I IIltc.
2lIA. .. PULLIN' TBII 8KD'I' L I .....t cIowntown
To1 piDl7 JrIp;
_
lllll -1D7a-pnI1In' the 1Idtr. (I)2. 1.....1DIIIl&In
I_
To bed,ADd I baIpod Dl7 headllllla-pa1lln'thelltllt (21 8.I .....t_ 1To IIIIlII: Dl7 .....•;ADd I m.llked that ~w,lDll _-pullin' thelltllt (2)4. Tamorrow. tomorrow,TomoliOW DftV eome;Tomorrow, tomorrow,
oro-row'.1n the barn.
AD.a h_lIIlh, ...._ hnmp-lIIlh,an-a bllJDP"'lDh, h_lIIlh, h_DDh.('1'IIe _ allJuI'.)
2OA. '-OLD UNCLIII RABBIT
1. L: U I U.,." 0: Ohool-d7, c:hool-dy, L: To_ nex' fall, 0: Ohool-d7, c:hool-d7, L: I alD' lIOn' ralae, 0: Ohool-d7, c:hool-d7, L: No cabbqe at all, 0: O/lool-d7, cbool-dy. 2. L: 01' Uncle Rabbi!, Got a babl!, In ID7 prden, Eatln' alllD7 cabbaae. 8. AD' If I Uve To _ nex' fall, I aID' gon' ra.l8e No cabbqe at all
2OA. Ii. IlJaA LION WOMAN"
L L: sea110n woman, 0: seoU.. L: Bbe_<o_ 0: seoU.. L: Bbe_tea. 0: seoU.. L: ADd the ....der U.. 0: seoUL 2. L: Way do"" fODder 'HInd t:be loe, ADd tba ..-tor crowed, ADd the gander UecL (The lint ve_18 repeated twice.) "seo l7In' ['I
2OA. 6. AI!'l' GONNA RING NO MO'
Ill.., rInlr tba ble bell,
AlD' pnna riD&' DO mo';
nil me a pocket beto' I go,
lt aln' gonna ring no mo',
2OA. 7. SHORTENIN' BRJIlAD
Ohorus: Idolove Shortenlo' bread, I do love Sbortenln' bread. Mamalov8 Shorten1n' bread. Papa love Shorten1o' bread, IIlver;ybody love Sbortenln' bread. . L Two Uttle babl.. layIn' In bed, ODe plaJ alet an' the other'o play dead. 140 love Sllortenln' bread, I do love Sbortenln' bread. 2. Ever' alnee ID7 dog been dead,
Hog's been rootln' ID7 'tater bed. Oborue.
8. Old Aunt Dinall ala In tile bed. s.Jit tor the Doctor; ~rsaid, "All ahe need'e some sbortentD' Dread" Chorus.
208. 3. ROSEY. SaDg by Mr. and MnL. loe 1lIcDoIIaId. 4. GON' KNOCK JOHN BOOKER TO THE LOW GROUND. SaDg by Harriet MeCJiDtock. 5. RUN, NIGGER, RUN. Sung by Moses Platt. Recorded in Alabama and Texas by John A.Imnn, Ruby PiekeD8 Tartt and Alan Lomax.
The Negro slaves, deprived-of their drums, rattles and native .African instruments, nevertheless still kept up their dancing, furnishing their own music of voice and hand. Indeed it was their dancing ratber than their singing which first attracted the attention of white men. The slave children played ring games, many of the tunes for which were adaptations of white game soI1g8 and country dance tunes. Three of these ring games follow, the last of them a very famous song. It speaks of the "patrollers" who watched the roads in many parts of the South on the lookout for slaves who were away from their plantations without passes or who had overstayed the time allowed them in their p_for visits to neighboring plantations. The patrol system was set up partly to guard against slave uprisings. The song has been recorded all over the South, where it was undoubtedly spread by companies of black face minstrels. A.L.
2OB. s. ROSEY.
Yon Imow. jUllt Iwlngln', jUBt Iwlngln'! Q: VI? Who? A.: Me, an' an ot my playmates. Q: Out In the ble yard? A.:Yuaab I A.nd In the boWIe. too.
... '. .... .. .
RoseY. babe, little RoBey, Bah-a, Rosey. Grab you a pardner an' promenade around,
Bah-a, HoseY.
PIn my true love by my side.
Bah-a, Rosey.
You do that now, you do that Bl'alD, Bah-a. Hosey. Chorus: Rosey, babe, little Hosey, } 2Bah-a, Hosey. Let'.us do Uke the possum done, } 2
Bah-a, Hosey. Hid bIB bead In the bollow ltump.
Bah-a, Hosey. Cb01'11ll.
(The next stanzas repeat what bas cone betore.)
2GB. 3. RUN. NIGGER. RUN
. .• ~lIew.
The niger loot bll Sunday Iboe.
ChorwJ: Run, Jl1IBer, run, the paterol '11 catch you. BUll, Illaer. run, you better get away.
1. The nl&ler run, the nIgger flew.
The nle_ loot bli Su.day oboe. Ob01'11ll._
2. The ~run by my pte, "Wake up. ntaer, you slep' too late." Cho~_8. Look down ;ronder what I ....
Great ble ~behind that tree. Cborue.
2OB. 4. GON' KNOCK JOHN BOOKI!IR TO THIll
LOW GROUND GOD'
knock Tn-da darlln' day.
That lady bow to beat you.} 2
Tn-da darlln' day.
That gentleman bow to beat you, } 2
Tn-da darllu' day.
Chorus:
Bey-ay-ay, (2)
Hello, my lover, (2)
Kept a-pIne on,
Hello, my lover.
Kept a-monlD' on,
Hello, my lover,
Kep' a-gw1ne,
That 01' mule buck,
That 0)' mule buck,
Kep' a·gwtne,
That 01' mnle buck,
KIcked the addle otr,
That or mule buck,
Kep' a-gw!ne.
(The nen Un..repeat what bas cone betore.)
Jobn Booker to the low around,} 2
2OB. L POOR LITl'LE JOHNNY. SWIg by Harriet MeOiDtoc:k, UriDgston, Alebama, 1940. Recorded lIT Joim A. ad Ruby:r. Lomas and Ruby P. Tartt. '
Aunt Harriet McClintock (McClention') is now well over eighty years old. She was born a slave on an AI-bama plantation, and on this record she gives us three songs that she sang as a young girl on the plantation. All three undoubtedly date from the period of the Civil war and earlier. Aunt Harriet Slid that "Poor Little Johnny" was sung as a cotton picking song. Little JohDny is picking in the wet river bottom field where the cotton has been rotted by exposure to damp. Therefore he won't be able to pick a hundred Pounds of cotton in a day. One hundred and fifty to one hundred and aeventy pounds a day is considered good picking for a strong woman, two hundred up to five hundred for a man. A.L.
1. Way down In the bottom } Wha' the cotton 110 rotten. 2 You won't get yo' hundred here today. 2. Po' Uttle Johnny, Be's a po' little tellow, Be won't eet his hundred here today. Q: Aunt Hattle, how did yon ... where did yon get thIs sone' A: My mama learnt It to me. .Q: How lone &co, A: Woo! J doo't know. She been dead 'bout near thirty year. Q: DId you ever pIck &n1 cotton' A: Me' Y.... I11h I Q: How much did IOU pIck a day' A: I pIck about a hundred and 1l.tt1, an' a hundred and twentJ-dve.
2GB. Z. GO TO SLEBP. SUIIg by Harriet MeClintoek, LlviDpton, Alabama, 1940. Recorded by John A.lIDcI Ruby T. LoIIIU and Ruby P. Tartt.
This lullaby hal quieted relltleae babies throughout the whole South for at least a hundred years and probably more. Where other lullabies are generally localized, this one pops up everywhere and in innumerable forma. Aunt Hattie's version is not particularly full, but her rendition of it, taken us she rocked her own great-grande.bild to sleep in front of the microphone, is completely authentic. .A.L.
1. Gotolleep, (2) Go to lleepy, Uttle baby, :Mama cone aw.,. An' papa lODe, too, Go to lleepy, Uttle baby. 2. Go to Ileep (2) Go to l1eepy, Uttle baby, Mama lODe aWIl7 An' dadd1, too,
Go to lleepy, Utlle baby.
(The II_r humo. ataDsL)