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American Ballads and Folk Songs |
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De man is gonna call me, An* I'm goin' home. Then I'll be done all my grievin', Whoopin', holl'in, an'-a cryin'; Then I'll be done all my studyin' 'Bout my great long time."
"Well, de biscuits on de table, Jus' as hard as any rock. Ef you try to swallow dem, Break a convict's heart." "My sister wrote a letter, My mother wrote a card,— 'Ef you want to come to see us, You'll have to ride de rods.'" |
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LONG GONE
In the introduction to W. C. Handy's Blues there is a story about the escape of a Negro prisoner, one Long John Green. It seems that the county had recently acquired a pack of bloodhounds and the sheriff wanted to try them out. Long John Green, in jail at the time, was chosen to make trail, since he was famous for the way he could get over the ground. They gave John halfway round the courthouse for a start and then unleashed the pack. On his first lap John crawled through a barrel, got the hounds off the scent and then he was "long gone." Whether or not Lightnin', who sang us the following song, knew the above story, it is hard to say: his own evidence would be worth very little.
The accents mark the ax-blows of a group of four men, who are chopping down a tree.
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