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AIN'T NO MORE CANE ON THE BRAZIS There ain't no more cane on the Brazis, Oh, oh, oh They done ground it all in mollasses, Oh, oh, oh Better git yo' overcoat ready, oh... Well, it's comin' up a norther, oh... Well the captain standin' an ' lookin' an' cryin' Well, it's gittin' so cold, my row's behin'. Cap'n doncha do me like you did po' Shine, You drive that bully till he went stone-blin' Cap'n cap'n, you must be blin' Keep on holl'in an' I'm almos' flyin'. One o' dese mornin's, an' it won't be long, You gonna call me an' I'll be gone. Ninety-nine years so jumpin' long, To be here rollin' an' cain' go home. If I had a sentence like ninety-nine years All the dogs on the Brazis won' keep me here. I b'lieve I'll go to de Brazis line, Ef I leave you here, gonna think I's flyin' B'lieve I'll do like old Riley, Ol' Riley walked the big Brazis. Well, the dog-sergeant got worried an' couldn' go, Ol' Rattler went to howlin' 'cause the tracks too ol' Oughta come on the river in 1904, You could find a dead man on every turn row. Oughta come on the river in 1910 They was drivin' the women jes' like the men. Wake up, dead man, an' help me drive my row, Wake up, dead man, an' help me drive my row. Some in the buildin' an' some on the farm, Some in the graveyard, and some goin' home. I looked at my Ol' Hannah, and she's turnin' red, I looked at my podner an' he's almos' dead. Wake up, lifetime, hold up yo' head, Well, you may get a pardon an' you may drop dead. Well, I wonder what's de matter, somepin' mus' be wrong We're still here rollin', Shorty George done gone. Go down, Ol' Hannah, doncha rise no mo' If you rise in the mornin' bring Judgment Day. This version is from the book "Work Songs" (in the Traditional Black Music serie s) by Jerry Silverman, 1994 Chelsea House Publishers) Source: John A. and Alan Lomax (American Ballads and Folk Songs) The Lomax book says the song came from the Central State Farm near Houston, Texa s - sung by Mexico, Lightnin', and Dave Tippin. "Old Hannah" is the hot sun of South Texas. ------------------------------------------------ The song has been recorded by Odetta, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and many others. The original 1933 recording of Ernest Williams and a group of prisoners at Centr al State Farm in Sugarland, Texas, is available on CD (Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs, and Ballads - Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture). John A. and Alan Lomax made the recording at this brutal prison farm where convicts wor ked the cane fields "from can to can't." @prison @work filename[ CANEBRA3 RR SP  8note Sheet |
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