Songs referencing US peonage

Subject: Songs referencing US peonage
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 08:07 AM

I have just been teading about the post-slavery "peonage" system in the US, which effectively continued slavery under the guise of criminal justice - crimes were fabricated to keep African-Americans imprisoned, working unpaid for white employers. It was officially abolished around 1940 but in practice continues to the present day, it just isn't given a name any more.

It was on an enormous scale, such a central fact in the lives of African-Americans that it must have impinged on every aspect of their culture.

What songs allude to it?

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 10:00 AM

You can certainly see its impacts touching many songs. For example, Blue Yodel #9, the song by the "The Singing Brakeman" Jimmie Rodgers, the song is about the anti-vagrancy laws which were targeting mostly African Americans. I'm sure a little searching can turn up others, but this one is just the first one that came to mind.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Jul 20 - 09:17 AM

The present day situation

It's an issue where an old-style protest song would be entirely appropriate. What's called for is a boycott.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 20 - 12:42 PM

Not exactly a popular topic for songs, but sure, the use of convict labor is still common in various states...as the article says. The economics of it make it hard for various state legislatures to pass laws against it.
   As far as we can tell, no state actually condones arrests on trumped-up charges in order to supplement the work force, as Louisiana did not TOO far in the past. Still, very little of the current system is seriously beneficial to the inmates.

   Perhaps, if Nov. elections go well, some legislators can be convinced to take a look.

here's one song about chain gangs.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: Neil D
Date: 09 Jul 20 - 11:29 PM

I love Blue Yodel #9. The greatest collaboration of two artists in American music history, Jimmy Rodgers and Louis Armstrong.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 04:46 PM

Jack, would any of these match what you're looking for?

Prison Worksongs (Folkways ARH00448)
Negro Prison Camp Worksongs (Folkways FW04475)

Also see Richie's BluegrassMessengers site: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/prison-and-jail-songs.aspx

A few other songs that come to mind but aren't specifically about African Americans but prison labor in general:
-Doing My Time (this version by Red Allen, originally recorded by Flatt and Scruggs; written by Jimmie Skinner)
-Chain Gang by Charlie Moore and Bill Napier
-Chain Gang Blues by Balsam Range

An interesting read would also be H. Bruce Franklin's Songs of an Imprisoned People, which focuses mostly on the peonage system. I'll include songs quoted from it in subsequent posts.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 04:46 PM

Jimmie Rodger's song Blue Yodel No. 9 (discussed above) had its roots (or vice-versa, who knows?) in a song called "Standin' on De Corner" about peonage. Here's an example from the 1930's from the Lawrence Gellert's Negro Songs of Protest (mentioned in Franklin's paper above):

STANDIN' ON DE CORNER

Standin' on de corner, weren't doin' no hahm,
Up come a 'liceman an' he grab me by de ahm.
Blow a little whistle an' ring a little bell;
Heah come 'rol wagon a-runnin' like hell.

Judge he call me up an' ast mah name.
Ah told him fo' sho' Ah wereh't to blame.
He wink at 'liceman, 'liceman wink too;
Judge he say, "Nigger, you get some work to do."

Workin' on ol' road bank, shackle boun'.
Long, long time 'fo' six months roll aroun'.
Miserin' fo' my honey, she miserin' fo' me.
But, Lawd, white folks won't let go holdin' me.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 04:50 PM

A modern adaptation of Standin' On De Corner is Chain Gang Blues (different from the Balsam Range song above). Lyrics from Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson's Negro Workday Songs:

CHAIN GANG BLUES

Standin' on the road side,
Waitin' for the ball an' chain.
Say, if I was not all shackled down
I'd ketch that wes' boun' train.

Standin' on the rock pile
Wid a hammer in my hand,
Lawd, standin' on rock pile,
Got to serve my cap'n down in no-man's land.

The judge he give me sentence
'Cause I wouldn' go to work.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 04:55 PM

Bukka White sang a song titled "Parchman Farm Blues"; I have copied and pasted the lyrics from the internet with no attempt to check their accuracy. Listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM23S12LXaE

Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm
Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm
I wouldn't hate it so bad
But I left my wife in mourn

Oh, goodbye wife
All you have done gone
Oh, goodbye wife
All you have done gone
But I hope some day
You will hear my lonesome song

Oh, listen you men
I don't mean no harm
Oh, listen you men
I don't mean no harm
If you wanna do good
You better stay off old Parchman farm

We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day
We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day
Just at the settin' of the sun
That's when the work is done

I'm down on Parchman farm
I sho' wanna go back home
I'm down on Parchman farm
But I sho' wanna go back home
But I hope some day
I will overcome

Also see a (very short) thread on the song on Mudcat here, though the song has been mentioned in passing several times.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 04:58 PM

Leroy Carr recorded "Eleven Twenty-Nine Blues" about the system where "criminals" would be fined a small amount of money for their crimes (easily payable) but would be required to work off other fees for the sherrif, the judge, etc. Copied from online. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/2wgFVrbiqiFkO3vGYa1ic6?si=7QVQbRD4S_OteGQywe_k5w

ELEVEN TWENTY-NINE BLUES

She ain't good-looking, but the good gal do go clean
She ain't good-looking, but the good gal do go clean
And I'm crazy about my baby, though she is so mean

My gal got arrested, and they put her in the county jail
My gal got arrested, and they put her in the county jail
They fined her eleven twenty-nine, and they even allowed her no bail

Now I'm going to see that judge, and talk to him myself
Now I'm going to see that judge, and talk to him myself
Tell him that he sent my gal to the county road, and left me by myself

Now I never felt so sorry, till the people walked down the lane
Now I never felt so sorry, till the people walked down the lane
And my heart struck sorrow, when they called my good gal's name

And I heard the jailer say hello, prisoners all fall in line
And I heard the jailer say hello, prisoners all fall in line
I'm also talking about that long-chain woman, that got eleven twenty-nine

I've got the blues so bad, that I just can't rest
I've got the blues so bad, that I just can't rest
I'm going to ask that jailor, can I do my good gal's time myself

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 05:05 PM

I feel this song is best introduced by Leadbelly here:

"They called the sun Old Hannah because it was hot and they just give it a name. That's what the boys called it when I was down in prison. I didn't hear it before I went down there. The boys were talking about Old Hannah--I kept looking and I didn't see no Hannah, but they looked up and said, "That's the sun."

GO DOWN OLD HANNAH

Oh go down Old Hannah, well well well,
Don't you rise no more, don't you rise no more,
Why don't you go down Old Hannah, don't you rise no more.

Well I looked at Old Hannah, well well well,
She was turning red, she was turning red,
Well I looked at Old Hannah, it was turning red.

Well I looked at my partner, well well well,
He was almost dead, he was almost dead,
Well I looked at my partner, he was almost dead.22

Go down old Hannah, don't you rise no more,
And if you rise in the morning, set this world on fire.
If you had been on the river somewhere in 1910,

They was driving the women just as hard as they do the men.
You go down old Hannah and don't rise no more,
So if you rises in the morning bring judgment day.

So why don't you go down old Hannah, don't you rise no more,
And if you do rise in the morning, change this world around.
[intentional period for rest]

Well you ought to been down on this old river, well, well, well,
Nineteen forty-four, nineteen forty-four,
Oughta been down on this old river, nineteen forty-four.

Well you could find a dead man, well, well, well,
On every turn row, on every turn row,
You could find a dead man, on every turn row.

I say get up dead man, well, well, well,
Help me carry my row, help me carry my row,
I say get up dead man, help me carry my row.

Well my row so grassy, well, well, well,
I can't hardly go, can't hardly go.
Well my row so grassy, I can't hardly go.

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 05:09 PM

Here's a final quote from the paper which I think is succinct.

"The blues form itself developed with the prison experience at its core, explicitly in songs such as "Penal Farm Blues," "Mississippi Jail House Groan," "My Home Is a Prison," "Heah I Am In Dis Low-Down Jail," and the many different songs entitled "Prison Blues," "Jailhouse Blues," and "Chain Gang Blues." Many of the finest artists were prisoners or ex-prisoners: Charley Patton, Cow Cow Davenport, Robert Pete Williams, Texas Alexander, Son House, Willie Newbern, and, of course, Lightnin' Hopkins (whose ankles bore the scars of chain gang shackles), Leadbelly, and Billie Holiday."

Subject: RE: Songs referencing US peonage
From: mg
Date: 10 Jul 20 - 07:14 PM

read up on the williams of jasper county, georgia. i am ashamed to say i am related to them.