THE SONGS OF THE CHAIN GANGS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 34, 9 February 1935, Page 25

THE SONGS OF THE CHAIN GANGS

"AmfeficaW Balfdas r and Folk-songs" <i 5 a eompiTafioiirfnade by Mr. Lomax and his son, who have been doing for "Amenca-what-the late-Goal Sharp did H..f,o^England^and contains many of the tieasdfeattt^r»4»sive rescued, writes Cec^lJob.e|tfiri't}i,e^"Daily Telegraph." It ls^a-coliedtioA of Tsallads taken from whttesiasj w t elf as .negroes.". The cowmade j&i.important eontnbu- , fffe&l'*)js£ske v>J nc&t .impressive ij? fj:2^(^Wl^W'h«h many of should have &lkM,' b.est'if6hes;;i observed John l^life&l^fiß^aJ^se, he has all the jjtgßg^ffll^OTßre^evoted to lus.cunning, $a^a fc&j;rsu§tte.fcin betraying.- the "poor part "of this y^M^i'k?^" lS ""the"" res!all 'ot "^Jijrara!|QJse^Jabour and much travelling, [ TSfisjg! 'most of these £*spPgs iJ3ti|§r. What a terrible "history , .X# nin^&fohumarutyl Many of the-re- . made-in, farm prison- ' eafilg&fejjgtiegroes in^exas;, Louisiana, in "the two' State prisons of Tennessee. "Many were 'tyfw? who had. been confined m the penitentiary, a few" as long as fifty yeara.'<- TWy' still Sarig the songs they had>*broughi unto- confinement, and these, spngs^had bf?en, entirely in the keeping of the black man." 4f anybody ojces you f "WhVwtlfc it writ dis spng, '* Sfli-llL m twu? * dadv-^kinnea nigger ■Wia a pair 6- blue Buckihs on, ' for a lwmei Jes" a-lookln' for a home There •we're difficulties in collecting these ballaas. "A'black giant m a Nashville prison* declined to sing a harmless camp song since he was a "Hardshell Baptist," and his church re--gajded such melodies "as sinful songs. of the prison persuaded l x han> to <spg' at >p last. He stepped in front bfVwie"-,micjs>phone, and, to everybody's surprise^ prefaced his song with a protest: "It's sho' hard lines dat a poor 'rugger's got to Sing,' a worl'ly song, wherFß^ytrying to be,sacrificed. {But de warden's ast me, so I'll guess I have to." He sang, having registered his protest on an aluminium plate now file"cl Tti the library of Congress ~ at Washington.. < , M /X film '-recently'" released, showing the life of. a phain-gang, made the Bti-ttsh-public -wonder if such tlimgs could be tiue 1 remember my own astonishment on ehcountenng one of these 1 dangs v , labouring'on the roadside as I indtafed dawa' Jfhrough Alabama1. Some fifty mew .in. stripes -were toiling,

'watched over by "trusties"—black guards—"ready and eager to shoot down any man who makes a break for freedom—if one kills his man it may mean a pardon or parole"—to use Mr. Lomax's words. He goes onThe sun stands hot nnd burning overhead, and the bodies of the men sway easily tti the swing of tlioir arms and the rhythm of the work, "Presently some big buck, with ft warm, powerful voice throws back-his head and begins At tho chorus tho gang joins in ulth a full-throated response, and the voices blend Into a strange harmony. What themes these wi etched men have. based their songs ,on! Black. Betty is not a woman the negro moans his blues about. ,She is the whip that was, and is, used m some Southern State prisons. J'OV Rattler" is a song sung by Mose Platt v which tells how the fastest and "smelhngest" bloodhound in the south trailed and Ueed him. "Long .Gone" relates to a negro prisoner, Long\John Green, who was famous for the way he could get over the ground. The county had recentlyacquired'a pack of bloodhounds, and the sherifl. wanted'to try them out. Long John was selected for the test "They gave him half-way round the courthouse foi a start and then released the pack On his fiist lay John crawled through a ban el, got the hounds off the scent, and then he was long gone." And terrible is the memory behind the song, "Great God A'mighty." It is a song Mr. Lomax induced an old negro to sing* and relates what went on in the mind of one of the prisoners leased by the State to a cotton plantation owner. The prisoner was about to be lashed. Mr. Lomax says of the recording: "Even ■ outside, in -the adjacent iron-barred dormitory the chatter and.clamour, of 200.black convicts was stilled into awed and zeminiscent silence as the song swept on" Some ■of the songs- are ; cheerful enough. . The cowboys'.l songs . -refer chiefly to their calling, vand their homesickness Cowboys are becoming rare, even in Hollywood. I have not forgotten my own surprise on encountering cowboys in Fort "Worth, Texas, who droved -motor-cars, '. even when rounding up cattle, and dressed their wives in gowns of a Paris model. But luckily I was taken out to a ranch in the Panhandle- Valley, and there I heaid two "boys" singing a ballad, of winch I gi catty legvet I haye1116 records Most og hlfe mhfv have no rccoid Most of these ballads aie founded on fact Even the deadly boll weevil is honoured.