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Social Songs
•LES CLEFS DE LA PRISON (The Keys of the Jail)
a°. No. 31. Elida Hofpauir, New Iberia, La., 1934.
So far as we know, this is an indigenous song. Its clipped, colloquial style, its syncopation, its lines from "The Boston Burglar" indicate its fairly recent origin. The precision of phrasing, the lighthearted bitterness of the lines, and the remarkably deft use of dialogue remind one of Villon. A swift and acid dialogue between a condemned man and his father and mother, it stands alone of its kind among American folk songs.
* This tune fits the first stanza only. The extra syllables in succeeding stanzas are sung, not by crowding" them into the given tune, but by inserting extra beats or measures into the tune where needed. The tonal and rhythmic patterns of these inserted portions are drawn from preceding measures or fragments of them j no new melodic material is introduced.
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