There Ain't No Use In Me Working So Hard
Oh Mourner- Perrow

Oh Mourner/There Ain't No Use In Me Working So Hard/You Shall Be Free/This Morning, This Evening, So Soon/Tell Old Bill/Sugar Babe/Baby Mine/Crawdad Song/

Old-time Bluegrass song, widely known.

ARTIST: Perrow- 1909 Version of Shout Mourner (see Shout Mourner) with 'Ain't No Use" lyrics/ Version of This Morning This Evening- Dis Morning

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

DATE: August 1927 Related to “Baby Mine” Words Charles Mackay; Music Achibald Johnson in 1874.

RECORDING INFO: How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?/ This Morning, This Evening (So Soon/Right Now) Coon Creek Girls. Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142, LP (1982), trk# 3; Coon Creek Girls. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald, Ser, 3/6, p44(1992) [1940s]; Foster, Gwen (Gwin/Gwyn/Guinn). Early Rural String Bands, RCA (Victor) LPV-552, LP (1968), trk# 14 [1939/02/05] ; Freight Hoppers. Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go?, Rounder 0403, CD (1996), trk# 14; Howard, Clint. Looking off Down the Road, Old Homestead OHS-80060, LP (1983), trk# 5; Jones, Grandpa. 24 Great Country Songs, King 967, LP (1975), trk# A.06; Mother Logo. Branching Out, Legend SG 5005, LP (1986), trk# A.02; Pleasant Family. Old Time String Band, Pleasant --, CD (2005), trk# 17 (Bisquit Song); Stringbean (David Ackerman). Stringbean and His Banjo. A Salute to Uncle Dave Macon, Starday SLP 215, LP (1963), trk# 7; Wiseman, Mac. 20 Old-Time Country Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY-258, CD (1997/1966), trk# 7

RECORDING INFO: Tell Old Bill Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.100 [1920s] (Old Bill) Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Hootenanny Tonight!, Gold Medal Books, sof (1964), p147 (Tell Old Bill) Sandburg, Helga (ed.) / Sweet Music, Dial, Bk (1963), p 45 (Tell Old Bill) Barnhart, Nancy. Sandburg, Carl / American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955/1928), p 18 (Dis Mornin' Dis Evenin' So Soon) Carawan, Guy. This Little Light of Mine, Folkways FG 3552, LP (1959), trk# A.04 (Tell Old Bill) Carawan, Guy. Asch, Moses (ed.) / 124 Folk Songs as Sung and Recorded on Folkways Reco, Robbins Music, Fol (1965), p105 (Tell Old Bill) Carolina Tar Heels. Carolina Tar Heels, Folk Legacy FSA-024, LP (1965), trk# 8 [1962/08/11] Gibson, Bob. Everybody Sing, Vol 3., Riverside RLP-1420, LP (196?), trk# B.06a (Ol' Bill) Gibson, Bob. Sing Out! Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (196?), 5, p19 (Old Bill) Gibson, Bob. I Come for to Sing, Riverside RLP 12-806, LP (1957), trk# A.06 (Ol' Bill) Hinton, Sam. Singing Across the Land, Decca DL 8108, LP (1955), trk# B.02c (Tell Old Bill) Marshall, Charley. Charley Marshall Sings Folk, Ikon IER 109, LP (1956?), trk# A.01 (Old Bill) Mitchell Trio. Reflecting, Mercury MG 20891, LP (1964), trk# B.01 (Tell Old Bill) Sayre, George; and Charlie Stivers. Songs of the Drinking Gourd, Concept CFM 1001, LP (1960), trk# A.05 (Old Bill) Sessions, Bob. Room at the Top, JHU, LP (197?), trk# B.03 (Tell Old Bill) Silverman, Jerry. Silverman, Jerry (ed.) / Folksingers Guitar Guide, Advanced, Oak, Sof (1964), p44 (Tell Old Bill) Skillet Lickers. Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, Rounder 1005, LP (1973), trk# 3 [1927/04/11] (Setting in the Chimney Jamb) Smith, William B.. Shay, Frank (ed.) / My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions and More ..., Dover, Sof (1961/1927), p200 (Dis Mornin' Dis Evenin' So Soon) Van Ronk, Dave. Dave Van Ronk Sings, Vol. 2, Folkways FA 2383, LP (1961), trk# A.04 (Tell Old Bill) Watson, Doc. Watson Family Tradition, Rounder 0129, LP (1977), trk# A.06 (Biscuits)

RECORDING INFO: Sugar Babe Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.153 Duncan, Josh & Ethel Raim (eds) / Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p 82 Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), # 34c Baxter, Robert. Baxter, Robert / Baxter's Finger-Picking Manual, Amsco, sof (1965), p37 Christian, John. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 1, Marimac AHS 4, Cas (1991), trk# 22 [1989/06] Diller, Dwight. Piney Woods, Diller YP-007, Cas (199?), trk# B.01 Gum, Dona. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 1, Marimac AHS 4, Cas (1991), trk# 10 [1976/12] Hammons, Burl. Hammons Family. A Study of a West Virginia Family's Traditions, Library of Congress AFS L65-L66, LP (1973), trk# 18 [1972/08/05] Hammons Family. Shaking Down the Acorns, Rounder 0018, LP (1973), trk# 4 [1970-72] Kweskin, Jim. Jim Kweskin's America, Reprise 6464, LP (1971), trk# 2 Mainer, J. E. (Joseph Emmet). Legendary J. E. Mainer. Vol 5, Rural Rhythm RRJE 215, LP (197?), trk# B.04 Muller, Eric. Muller, Eric & Barbara Koehler / Frailing the 5-String Banjo, Mel Bay, Sof (1973), p52 Mullennex, Ron. Banjo Legacy, Augusta Heritage AHR 006, LP (1989), trk# B.01b Pace, Eliza. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p357/# 245 [1917/10/06] Renbourn, John. Another Monday, Transatlantic TRA 149, LP (1966), trk# 8 Seeger, Mike; and Alice Gerrard. Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard, Greenhays GR 704, LP (1980), trk# 6 Sexton, Morgan. Shady Grove, June Appal JA 0066C, Cas (1992), trk# 16 Taussig, Harry. Taussig, Harry / Folk-Style Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p 41 Taussig, Harry. Taussig, Harry / Folk-Style Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p108

RECORDING INFO CRAWDAD SONG: Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Songs for Pickin' and Singin', Gold Medal Books, sof (1962), p 46 Silverman, Jerry (ed.) / Folksingers Guitar Guide, Advanced, Oak, Sof (1964), p65 Silverman, Jerry (ed) / Flat-Pickers Guitar Guide, Oak, Sof (1963), p24 Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), # 34b Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swinging Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p174 Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Charles Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p 45 Visconti, Carl (ed.) / Paint Creek Folklore Society Song Tune Book, Paint Creek, Sof (1986), p 3 Sing Out! Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (196?), 4, p63 Albert E Brumley's Songs of the Pioneers, Brumley, Fol (1973), 5 Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p151 Luboff, Norman; and Win Stracke / Songs of Man, Prentice-Hall, Bk (1969), p174 Cannon, Gus. Walk Right In, Stax SCD-8603-2, CD (1999), trk# 13 [1963/06/10] (Crawdad Hole) Daniels, Charlotte; and Pat Webb. Charlotte Daniels and Pat Webb, Prestige International INT 13037, LP (196?), trk# B.06 (Crawdad Hole) Forbes, Walter. Folk Song Festival, RCA (Victor) LSP-2670, LP (1963), trk# A.06 Girls of the Golden West. Songs of the West, Old Homestead OHS 143, LP (1981), trk# 11 [1933/07/28] (You Get a Line and I'll Get A Pole) Griffith, Andy. Andy Griffith Shouts the Blues and other Old Timey Songs, Capitol T 1105, LP (1959), trk# A.05 Hinton, Sam. Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (1965), trk# 3 Hinton, Sam. Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, Scholastic SC 7530, LP (1964), trk# A.04 Howard, Clint;, Doc Watson & Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Part 2, Folkways FA 2359, LP (1963), trk# 10 [1962/04] Hutchison Brothers. Hutchison Brothers, Vetco LP 505, LP (1975), trk# 3 Kweskin, Jim. Swing on a Star, Mountain Railroad MR 52793, LP (1979), trk# 3 (Crawdad Hole) Lewis, Don. Don Lewis Live at the "Three Star", Flight 7, LP (197?), B.04c Lone Star Cowboys. Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams of the 1930's, RCA (Victor) 8417-4-R, Cas (1988), trk# 5 [1933/08/05] Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), trk# A.07 (Crawdad Hole) Mellin, Norman. Devil's Box, Devil's Box, Ser, 24/4, p46b(1990) Poplin Family. Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina, Folkways FA 2306, LP (1963), trk# A.09 (Crawdad Hole) Rascoe, Moses. Blues, Flying Fish FF-454, LP (1987), trk# 12 Seeger, Pete. Folksingers Guitar Guide, Folkways FI 8354, LP (196?), trk# A.01 Seeger, Pete. Seeger, Pete / American Favorite Ballads, Oak, Fol (1961), p86 Simmons Family. Simmons, Tommy & Jean / Simmons Family Songbook, Simmons, Sof (1974), p18 Smith, Raymond; & Bob Cowan. In the Hills of Home, Marimac 9010, Cas (198?), trk# 5 Stracke, Win. Folk Songs for the Young, Golden Records, LP (1962), trk# B.03 Tarriers. Gather Round, Decca DL-74538, LP (196?), trk# 2 Thomas, W. H.. Kirkland Recordings, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-106, LP (1984), trk# 8 [1939/01/07] Traum, Happy. Traum, Happy / Flat-Picker Country Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p 68 Wakefield, Frank. Blues Stay Away From Me, Takoma TAK 7082, LP (1980), trk# 4 Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987), trk# A.13

RECORDING INFO: Sweet Thing Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), # 34; Duvall, Leone. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., University of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p198/#443 [1926/11/04]; Waller, Fats (Thomas). Valentine Stomp, RCA (Victor) LPV 525, LP (1966), trk# A.05 [1935/11/29]

RECORDING INFO: What You Gonna Do? Sandburg, Carl / American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955/1928), p240 (What Kind of Pants Does the Gambler Wear); Memphis Jug Band. American Skiffle Bands, Folkways FA 2610, LP (1957), trk# 12 [1956/12/05]; White, Josh. Josh White Stories, Vol. 1, ABC Paramount ABC 124, LP (196?/1956), trk# 3; White, Josh. Josh White at Town Hall, Mercury MG 20672, LP (1961), trk# B.04 (What Ya Gonna Do)

RECORDING INFO: Going ‘Round the World Baby Mine 1.Coon Creek Girls. Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142, LP (1982), cut# 10 2.Coon Creek Girls. Banjo Pickin' Girl, Rounder 1029, LP (1978), cut# 16 3.Coon Creek Girls. Going Down The Valley; Vocal & Instrumental Music from the South, New World NW 236, LP (1977), cut# 17 4.Fink, Cathy. Leading Role, Rounder 0223, LP (1985), cut#B.05 5.Hazel And Alice. Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Rounder 0054, LP (1976), cut# 11 6.Ledford, Lilly Mae. Banjo Pickin' Girl, Greenhays GR 712, LP (1983), cut# 1 7.Rutherford, Ernest; and the Gold Hill Band. Old Cap'n Rabbit, Heritage (Galax) 080, Cas (1989), cut# 9 8.Sexton, Lee "Boy". Whoa Mule, June Appal JA 0051, LP (1987), cut# 8 (Going Round This World) 9.Skirtlifters. Somewhere in Dixie, Skirtlifters, Cas (1987), cut#B.06 (Goin' Around the World (Baby Mine)) 10.Stamper, I.D.. Red Wing, June Appal JA 0010, LP (1977), cut# 8 (Going Round This World) R. D. Burnett & Lynn Woodard, "Going Around the World" (recorded for Gennett 1929, but unissued; on BurnRuth01); Coon Creek Girls, "Banjo-Pickin' Girl" (Vocalion 04413/OKeh 04413, 1938; on GoingDown); Pete Steele, "Goin' Around This World, Baby Mine" (on PSteele01)

RELATED TO: “Baby Mine;” "Mama Don't 'Low" "Crawdad (Song)" “I’m Going Back to Jericho (Mexico)” “Policeman” “Ain’t No Use in Working So Hard” “How Many Biscuits Can You Eat;” “Going round the World Baby Mine/Banjo Pickin’ Girl;” “What You Gonna Do?;” “Sweet Thing;” “Good Times;” “Crow-Fish Man”

OTHER NAMES: “Tell Old Bill;” “Old Bill;” “The Poiceman;” “How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?” “This Morning, This Evening So Soon” “This Morning, This Evening Right Now” “Ain’t No Use in Workin’ So Hard” "Red Hot Breakdown" "Settin' in the Chimney Jamb" “Wagon”

SOURCES: Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932:Ceolas; Mudcat Café; Sandburg; Lomax;

There are several bluegrass/folk songs that have evolved from Baby Mine with the “baby mine” tag: "Banjo-Pickin' Girl" and “Crawdad Song.” Sometimes there isn’t a tag “I wish I was a Mole (Tempy)” or the tag has been changed to “sugar babe:” “The Policeman;” “How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?”

"Back to Jericho" by Dock Walsh

I'm goin' back to Jericho, sugar babe,
I'm goin' back to Jericho, sugar babe,
I'm goin' back to Jericho, 
And I'm getting married 'fore I go, Sugar babe.

Other songs with the same form used the tag: “this morning” for the first two lines. The tag on last line would be: “This morning, this evening, so soon.” This branch of song probably evolved from African-American sources or an unknown minstrel song. Here’s what Sandburg say about "Tell Old Bill:"

" Carl Sandburg first heard this grim blues-ballad from Nancy Barnhart of St. Louis back in the 1920s. Ten years later, folklorist and singer Sam Hinton came across an African American farmer in Walker County, TX who sang another version. And in the late 1950s, Bob Gibson introduced "Tell Old Bill" to a wider audience when he recorded an interpretation of Sandburg's version.” One of the early versions of “This Morning, This Evening So Soon” and one of many that just uses “This Morning” as a tag is Ben Harney’s “The Wagon” Version 1:

Standin' on the corner, wasn't doin' no harm, this mornin',
Standin' on the corner, wasn't doin' no harm, oh, this mornin',
Standin' on the corner, wasn't doin' no harm,
When a copper a-grabbed me by my arm
A-this mornin'.

Ben Harney (1871-1938) version is similar to to Bascom Lamar Lundford’s version (See Version 2) of ‘The Dummy Line.” Both versions take the song back to the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. Ben Harney claimed to have written the first ragtime song.

From Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932:

After finishing his performance of "The Wagon" Ben Harney (1871-1938) announced to Gordon's recording machine: "This is absolutely the first song published in ragtime; the first song ever written in ragtime. The idea was conceived by Ben Harney, in Louisville, Kentucky." The remainder of his statement was indistinct, but he continued to tell of his central role in the introduction of ragtime to the American public.

In 1924 the New York Times called Harney "a white man who had a fine Negro shouting voice, [who] probably did more to popularize ragtime than any other person." He had heard the "new music" in Louisville, became "adept at it," and brought it to New York, where he appeared at the Weber and Fields Music Hall, introducing it in a "first-class theater"(Berlin, p 49). In recent years ragtime pianist Eubie Blake has asserted that Harney was actually an Afro-American who succeeded in "passing" as white.

In 1918 Harney "offered to leave the profession and forfeit one hundred dollars if anyone could submit a rag predating his own ragtime songs, the earliest being ‘You've Been A Good Old Wagon But You've Done Broke Down' (1895) and ‘Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose' (1896)" (Berlin, p.49). He was not challenged. But even at the time it was obvious that his primary claim was not for originating the form, but for bringing it to the attention of the public through his vaudeville performances. He went on to a career which included a number of innovative uses of ragtime, such as performing classical piano pieces in ragtime style. He also published the first ragtime piano primer, The Ragtime Instructor, in 1897 (Ewen, pp. 166-67).

Harney was forced to retire in 1923, after a heart attack, and spent his final years in poverty and declining health in Philadelphia (Blesh, pp. 225-30). It is not known when or where Gordon recorded him, but an indistinct announcement on one of the five cylinders which he made seems to place the session on September 9, 1925, about a month before Gordon's first North Carolina recordings of Lewey and Noell. Though it is uncertain when Gordon made the recordings, there is no doubt about his interest in ragtime and in Harney, who was "evidence" for the use of black music in the context of white entertainment. Ragtime's beginnings and popularity represented a recurrent theme in American music—the assimilation of an Afro-American folk form by national popular music. Gordon was interested in other manifestations of this process—minstrel music and spirituals—and in this interest anticipated the thought and viewpoint which many later scholars took towards various forms of jazz and, most recently, rock music.

The song itself is deceptively simple; Harney's syncopated piano accompaniment is more "ragtime" than his singing, although it is hard to tell from this performance how Harney would have sounded with a piano accompaniment. The tune is similar to that of "The Crawdad Song," and almost all the verses can be found in standard folksong collections. For instance, a single collection—Volume III of the Frank C. Brown omnibus from North Carolina—contains at least four songs which have elements of either verse or structure which parallel "The Wagon": "The Dummy Line" (p. 521), "Sugar Babe" (p. 550), and "Went Down Town" and "Standin' On The Street Doin' No Harm" (p. 562). Of course, because Harney published his text in 1895 and performed it frequently for the next thirty years, it is quite possible that at least some of the texts recorded by folksong collectors during the early decades of this century reflect the popularity of Harney's song.

FINAL NOTES: “This Morning, This Evening So Soon” is related to a large group of songs including “Crawdad Song” and other songs ("New River Train" “I Wish I was a Mole” “Froggie Went A-Courtin’” “Mama Don’t Allow” etc.) with the same song form. Most songs are very similar and use a tag at the end of each verse (sugar babe/baby mine/this morning etc.).

Sugar Babe is possibly the origin of the old-time song “The Policeman” popularized by Tommy Jarrell. Sharp & Karpeles collected a version of Sugar Babe (see Version 1) by Eliza Pace in 1917 found in English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II:

Shoot your dice and have your fun, Sugar Babe (2x) 
Run like the devil when the police come, sugar babe.

NOTES There Ain't No Use in Me Workin' So Hard: The lyrics are of minstrel origin and appear in African-American collections in the early 1900s such as Perrow 1909, Odum 1911, White and Scarborough 1925.

One verse of standard lyrics appear:

There ain't no use of me workin' so hard
I got a woman in the white folk's yard.
When she kill a chicken she saves me the head,
She thinks I'm workin' but I'm lyin' in the bed.

The lyrics with variations are attached to different forms, usually the "This Morning, This Evening So Soon" or the "You Shall be Free/Shout Mourner" songs. It was fairly radical in the 1920s to have a singer like Doc Walsh of the Carolina Tar Heels sing:

There ain't no use of me workin' so hard
I got a woman in the white folk's yard.

The following lyrics are found in Odum JOAFL 1911:

63. THIS MORNIN', THIS EVENIN', SO SOON

What does it matter to him if he has been in serious trouble? Is not the jail about as good as home, the chain gang as good as his every-day life? He will get enough to eat and a place to sleep. The negro sings with characteristic humor "This mornin', this evenin'," and mingles his scenes in such a way that the singer enjoys them all.
Says he, —

|: Went up town wid my hat in my han' dis mo'nin', :|
Went up town wid my hat in my han',
"Good mornin', jedge, done killed my man,"
This mornin', this evenin', so soon,

|: I didn't quite kill him, but I fixed him so, this mornin', :|
I didn't quite kill him, but I fixed him so,
He won't boder wid me no mo',
This mornin', this evenin', so soon.

|: All I want is my strong hand-out, this mornin', :|
All I want is my strong hand-out,
It will make me strong and stout,
This mornin', this evenin', so soon.

In the same way other couplets are sung, — the first line repeated twice with "this mornin';" the third time without it, and rhymed with the second line of the couplet, after which follows the refrain "This mornin', this evenin', so soon." The effect is striking.

When you kill a chicken, save me the feet,
When you think I'm workin', I'm walkin' the street.

When you kill a chicken, save me the whang,
When you think I'm workin', I ain't doin' a thing.

'Tain't no use a me workin' so,
'Cause I ain't goin' ter work no mo'.

I'm goin' back to Tennessee,
Where dem wimmins git stuck on me,
This mornin', this evenin', so soon.

The lyrics appear in the Original Talking Blues known as Chris Bouchillon 's "Talking Blues":

There ain't no use of me workin' so hard
I got a woman in the white folk's yard.
When she kill a chicken she saves me the head,
She thinks I'm workin' but I'm lyin' in the bed.

[The following information is from Country Music and the Souls of White Folk by Erich Thomas Nunn:

Ain’t no use in me workin’ so hard
I got a woman in the white folks’ yard

This couplet in all likelihood far predates the advent of commercial recording. Variations of it occur throughout the songs of both white and black performers, such as Blind Willie McTell’s “Hillbilly Willie’s Blues” from 1935, and Leadbelly’s “We Shall Be Free” (recorded with Woody Guthrie) and Guthrie’s “Talking Blues” (essentially the same song) from a decade later. Nick Tosches cites a 1902 recording by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet as its first appearance on record (Voices 109).

It also turns up, in modified form, in “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” credited to
Hank Williams (but likely of traditional origin). Williams’s black mentor, Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne, is generally credited as the song’s immediate source (Malone, Country Music U.S.A. 240). In both Leadbelly’s and Guthrie’s versions, “the white folks’ yard” becomes “the rich folk’s yard” (“the boss man’s yard” in Williams’s rendition).]

The lyrics even appered in Locomotive engineers journal‎ - Page 252 by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (U.S.) - Business & Economics - 1899:

I got an ole woman In de white folks' yard, 
She don't drink liquor An' she don't play cards, 
 

American mountain songs‎; edited by Ethel Park Richardson, Sigmund Gottfried Spaeth - History - 1927 - 120 pages Page 103:

They ain't no use me a-workin' so hard
I got a woman in the white-folks yard!
When she kills a chicken she saves me the feets!
Thinks I'm a workin' when I'm walkin' the streets.
 

In Scarborough's on the Trail of Negro Folk Songs the lyrics are attached to the "You Shall be Free/Shout Mourner" songs as done by Leadbelly. Here's the text: 

The optimism of the singer of the fol­lowing song, sent by Professor Kern, has its explanation in the last stanza. Who would not feel contented if assured of devoted love and easy living at once?

Dat's All Right

Sometime soon, it ain't gwine to be long,
My honey's gwine to wake up, an' find me gone.
All up an' down dis ole railroad track
My honey's gwine to watch for me to come back.

Chorus: Dat's all right, dat's all right,
Dat's all right, babe, dat'll be all right.

I'll be with you right or wrong.
When you see a good thing, shove it along.
Dat's all right, babe, dat'll be all right.

Went down to my honey's house, 'bout four o'clock;
Knocked on de door, an' de door was locked.

Turned right around an' I shook my head;
I looked in de window, an' my honey was dead.

Chorus

Dere ain't no use in my workin' so hard,
For I got a gal in de white folks' yard;
She brings me meat an' she brings me lard,
Dere ain't no use in my workin' so hard.

Chorus

Some Alabama Negroes have the same tuneful reaction to this situation, for Harriet Fitts contributes a song of much the same spirit, sung by old Aunt Maria, which even adds the consolation of religion to the material blessings. Truly, a comforting concept of life, for those who can accept it!

Ain't No Use O' My Workin' So Hard

Ain't no use o' my workin' so hard, darlin',
Ain't no use o' my workin' so hard, darlin';
I got a gal in de white folks' yard.
She kill a chicken, She bring me de wing;
Ain't I livin' on an easy thing, Honey babe?

Chorus: Shout, you mourners, an' you shall be free,
Shout, you mourners, an' you shall be free,
When de good Lawd set you free.

*Mourner an' a rooster had a fight;
Rooster knocked de Mourner clean out o' sight. 
Mourner say, "Rooster, dat's all right;
I git you at de chicken-coop to-morrow night."

Chorus

*edited

Here are the lyrics to Ain't No Use/Oh Mourner/You Shall Be Free:

OH, MOURNER! 2
(From Mississippi; negroes; MS. of F. R. Rubel; 1909.)

Some folks say that a *mourner won't steal;
I caught two in my corn field.
One had a shovel and the other had a hoe;
If that ain't stealing, I don't know.

Oh, Moana, you shall be free,
Oh, Moana, you shall be free,
When the good Lord sets you free.

Some folks say that a *mourner won't rouse;
I caught two in my smoke house.
One had a middling, and the other had a ham;
If that ain't stealing, I'll don't know (I'll be damn).

I went to a chicken coop on my knees;
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze. [3]

Way down yonder on Punkin Creek
Where those mourners grow leben feet,
Heels stick out so far behind
Chickens roost there most all the time.

I had a wife and I fed her on grease;
Every time I knocked her down she hollowed "police!"

Ain't no use in me workin' so hard;
I got a gal in the white folks yard.
She fetch me meat and she fetch me lard.
Ain't a bit of use in me workin' so hard. [4]

[1]  This is the only stanza my cousin could remember of a song in which a member of
the chain gang curses the Judge, or state's attorney, who was responsible for the sentence.

[2]  This song shows the tendency of a large number of distinct songs to drift together into one.

a This stanza is in the college song "Polly-Wolly-Doodle."

[4] Compare another version from Mississippi:

I got a gal in de white folk's ya'd,
She brings me chicken en she brings me la'd
She steals me ham an' she steals me meat
She thinks I'm wukkin', but I'm walkin', de street.

Yonder come Melinda. How do I know?
Know her by her walk; I seen her walk before.
Kill the chicken; save me the wing;
Think I'm workin'; ain't doing a thing.

Kill the turkey; save me the bones;
Drink the beer; save me the foam.
Kill the chickens; save me the breast;
Think I'm workin', but I'm taking my rest.

I like my coffee, I likes it strong;
When I git to eatin', bring the corn-dodger along.
I likes my lasses good and strong;
When I git to eatin', bring the butter along.

I likes my wife, I likes my baby;
I likes my flap-jacks floating in gravy.
Gimme chicken; gimme pie;
Gimme some of everything the white folks buy.

Some folks say that a nigro won't steal;
I caught two in my water-melon feild,
Preaching and praying all the time,
And pulling the melons off the vine.

I wouldn't marry a yaller gal;
I'll tell you the reason why:
She's all the time sitting in another man's lap
And telling her husband lies.

I wouldn't marry a black gal;
I'll tell you the reason why:
Her nose is always snotty,
And her lips is never dry.

Mourner was a sitting on the log;
One eye on the trigger, the other on the hog.
The gun said, "Boom!" the hog fell bip!
The mourner jumped on him with all his grip.

[Spoken] Gitting the chiddlings!
I will dive in that pige pen a-fighting;
I ought [to] been that hog-jaw bighting.
With a hog head in my hand.

Yonder come my uncle; axe heavy with lead,
Throwed across my shoulder to kill that barrow dead.
Spare ribs is rottening; back-bones ain't but a few;
Run and git the carvin' knife, and we'll have a barber cewe.

I  wouldn't marry a widow,
For all the money in the land;
It takes six men to feed her,
Workin' with both hands.

When you come home from work at night,
It's "Hello! my pretty old gal!"
And then she whispers softly,
"There ain't no meal in the barrel."

I went down to Malinda's house;
Malinda she was gone;
I sat down in Malinda's chair
And rocked till she come home.

She sat me in the parlor;
She cooled me with her fan;
She whispered in her mother's ear,
"I'm fooling with a gambling man."
 

2. DIS MORNIN'.
(From Mississippi; negroes; MS. of Dr. Herrington; 1909.)

See dem ole farmers goin' on to town, this mornin', (twice)
See dem ole farmers goin' on to town
Wid er one horse waggin an' er it broke down,
Dis mornin', er dis evenin', so soon.1

See dem ole farmers come along back, dis mornin', (twice)
See dem ole farmers come along back
Wid er piece o' meat in er crocus sack.
Dis mornin', etc.

Mommer kilt er chicken, an' she give me de wing, dis mornin', (twice)
Mommer kilt er chicken, an' she give me de wing;
She thought I was a workin', and I warn't doin' a thing,
Dis mornin', etc.

Mommer kilt er chicken, an' she give me de head, dis mornin', (twice)
Mommer kilt er chicken, and she give me de head;
She thought I was workin', an' I's lyin' in the bed,
Dis mornin', etc.