*From Green Left Global News- The Struggle Against Unemployment-"30 For 40"- A Guest Commentary

Click on the title to link an article that discusses the long-time labor proposition on unemployment- "30 for 40" from the "Green Left Global News" blog.

Markin comment:

In these hard time one does not need to be a high Trotskyist armed with the "Transitional Program" adopted by the Fourth International in 1938 to know something like the slogan (and struggle for) "30 for 40" is on the agenda- Hell, even the "greens" know this one.

*From The Markin Anti-War Archives- Something Is Very Familiar Here- This Is Not Our War- Out Of Afghanistan Now!

Click on the title to link to the Lenin Internet Archive for an article from 1914 (the start of World War I), "The Tasks Of The Revolutionary Social-Democracy [the future Communists] In The European War".

Markin comment:

Below I have posted an archival entry originally posted on November 20, 2008 as an example of the kind of work we, a local ad hoc group of anti-imperialist activists-a did around the buildup to the Bush II Iraq War in 2002. The reason that I am placing it here, aside from the obvious need to draw the lessons from earlier anti-war struggles (see linked Lenin article above as well),is my comment last year, well prior to this year's Obama troop escalations, about the probable need to study those lessons from Iraq very closely if he had his way. Well, he has had his way. And we will have ours, as well. Troops Out Of Afghanistan and Iraq Now!

11/20/08

Commentary

This is a leaflet that a group of us put out locally here in Boston prior to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is on the one had of historical interest, on the only the possible harbinger of things to come in Afghanistan if President-elect Obama has his way.

********


A CALL TO ALL ANTI-IMPERIALIST WORKERS/YOUTH: HAVE NO ILLUSIONS- WAR AGAINST IRAQ IS COMING!!!

THIS IS NOT OUR WAR -DEFEND IRAQ AGAINST U.S./UN AND ALLIED IMPERIALIST ATTACK!

SUPPORT EFFORTS BY IRAQI LEFTISTS, WORKERS, PEASANTS, KURDS AND OTHERS TO OVERTHROW THE HUSSEIN REGIME!

DOWN WITH THE UN STARVATION BLOCKADE!

As the United Nations Security Council vote on November 8, 2002 graphically points out the war-crazed Bush-led United States government is leading the world to war. Tens of thousands of American and British troops are getting positioned for a full-scale attack on Iraq, while other powers from Australia to Turkey elbow each other for a role in the slaughter and share of the loot. The White House has already revealed plans for a post-Saddam military occupation of Iraq. One look at the war chest of nuclear weapons that the United States has and threatens to use today and it is clear that the fate of life on this planet is threatened by the continued existence of this American led “ world disorder”. We must act.

In the coming war against Iraq working people and anti-imperialist youth in the United States and elsewhere we must stand for the military defense of Iraq without giving any political support to the Hussein regime. Hussein is a bloody oppressor of Iraqi workers, leftists, Shiite Muslims, the Kurdish people and others. As such he was in the past a close ally and client of the American government for a full two decades before he made a grab for Kuwait in 1990. Now the American government wants a more pliant regime and tighter control of the oil spigot, not the least to put economic rivals like Japan and Germany, who are more dependent on Near East oil, on rations. However, every victory for the American government and its allies in their predatory wars encourages further military adventures, every setback serves to assist the struggles of the working peoples and the oppressed of the world.

Historically, in wars between the imperialist predators and plunderers and their colonial and semicolonial victims anti-imperialists have a side. As Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution of October 1917 which stands as one the greatest antiwar movements ever, stressed in his 1915 pamphlet SOCIALISM AND WAR: “If tomorrow, Morocco were to declare war on France, or India on Britain, or Persia or China on Tsarist Russia, and so on, these would be ‘just,’ and ‘defensive’ wars irrespective of who would be the first to attack; any socialist would wish the oppressed, dependent and unequal states victory over the oppressor, slave-holding and predatory ‘Great Powers.” We must continue that tradition.

The tremendous military advantages of the United States against neocolonial Iraq- a country that has already been bled white through 12 years of United Nations sanctions which have killed more than one and one half million civilians- underscores the importance of class struggle in the imperialist centers as the chief means to give content to the call to defend Iraq. Every strike, every labor mobilization against war plans, every mass protest against attacks on workers and minorities, every struggle against domestic repression and against attacks on civil liberties represents a dent in the imperialist war drive. To put an end to war once and for all, the capitalist system that breeds war must be swept away. However, our immediate task is to stop the imperialist war drive.

The American ruling class manipulated the grief and horror felt by millions at the criminal and demented attack on the World Trade Center to wage war on Afghanistan. But the patriotic consensus in the United States is wearing thin and elsewhere there is massive opposition to a war against Iraq. War demands civil peace and from Los Angeles to London the imperialist war makers are revealed as vicious union-busters and strikebreakers. Declaring that a strike could “threaten national security,” the Bush administration has brought down the force of the capitalist state to coerce the powerful American dockers union, the ILWU, to work under the dictates of the union-busting employers association. Across the seas, British firefighters are threatened with strikebreaking by the army. Plunging stock markets rob millions of workers of their pensions while public scandals expose insatiable corporate greed. Tens of thousands of working people, including the entire workforce at a number of Fiat auto plants in Italy, face a future of crisis. Civil liberties have been shredded and the capitalists have intensified their assault on social welfare and other gains wrested through decades of workers struggles.

In the United States, not even the dizzying flag-waving or the heavy fist of state repression has induced the masses to embrace war with Iraq. In Europe, hundreds of thousands of workers and anti-imperialist youth have demonstrated their opposition to this war. The problem is that the anti-war protests in Europe have generally l been channeled into a national-chauvinist direction of getting one’s “own” rulers to stand up to the Americans. In America, many antiwar liberals and leftists plead, “Money for jobs, not for war” and so fuel the notion that fundamental priorities of the capitalist rulers can be altered to serve the interests of working people. The time for such illusions ran out long ago.

The truth is that this whole capitalist system is based on the extraction of profit for the owners of the means of production through the exploitation and subjugation of the workers who produce the wealth of society. War is a concentrated expression of this, as competing capitalist ruling classes scramble to steal natural resources and to carve out new markets for export of capital and fresh sources of cheap labor. Therefore, it is necessary to draw a distinction between bourgeois pacifism, which lulls the masses into passivity and embellishes capitalist democracy, and the yearning for peace of the masses.

Over the past period there have been opportunities to organize class struggle in opposition to imperialist war and for the international workers movement to break out of narrow nationalist and economist limits. During the 1999 U.S./NATO war against Serbia, Italian COBAS unions organized a one-million-strong political general strike against that war. Fiat workers, who today battle plant closings in Italy, organized a campaign of material aid- a campaign supported by all partisans of the international working class- for the workers of the Yugoslav Zastava auto plant, which had been bombed by the imperialists. In 2001, Japanese dockworkers at Sasebo pointed the way forward by “hot-cargoing” (refusing to handle) Japanese military goods for the war in Afghanistan. These types of actions here can concretize our opposition to this war.

Moreover, U.S. military bases across Europe and Asia, as well as high-tech spy installations such as Australia’s Pine Gap, have become deserving targets of antiwar protests by leftists and trade unions. It would be a good thing if the U.S. were deprived of its international launching pads for war against Iraq. For all of German chancellor Schroder’s electioneering against war in Iraq, it is highly unlikely that he will interfere in any way with the key American air bases and military installations across Germany which house some 70, 000 American troops. What we need is not an “antiwar movement” of social-chauvinist support to one’s own ruling class but an internationalist working class opposition to U.S./NATO bases

What is essential is to draw the class line and unshackle the working people and anti-imperialist youth from capitalist politicians, their agents in the trade unions and others who channel their justified hatred of war into illusory calls for parliamentary reforms of the profit-driven system that breeds war and, in West Europe, into support for their own ruling classes against the Americans. Here, in the heart of the beast the workers and anti-imperialist youth united front can point the way forward building an internationalist perspective in the antiwar protests. Our demands should be: Struggle against the bosses and their government here at home- “the main enemy is at home”! Defend Iraq against imperialist attack! Down with the United Nations starvation blockade! All U.S./ UN and allied troops out of the Persian Gulf and Near East!

JOIN AND BUILD THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST WORKERS/ YOUTH UNITED FRONT AGAINST THE COMING UNITED STATES/ UNITED NATIONS ATTACK ON IRAQ!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ORGANIZING: E-MAIL afjohns@earthlink.net

THE COMMITTEE FOR AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST WORKERS/ YOUTH UNITED FRONT AGAINST UNITED STATES/ UNITED NATIONS ATTACK ON IRAQ

CHECK BOSTON. INDY MEDIA. ORG CALENDAR MA-ACT SECTION FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS OF MEETINGS AND EVENTS

Labor Donated

*From The Streets-The First National Anti-War Rumblings In Washington, December 12, 2009- A Video Report

Click on the title to link to The "Enduswars" Website for a report on the first nationally-centered anti-war rally against the Obama wars. Forward!

Markin comment:

Let us get this clear- the sense of this rally was still at the Dear Mr. President, stop war, do good things, etc. stage. However, every thing in context. It is a start, a small start, on the way to getting what we are really going to need- "War-monger Obama- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S.?Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan (And Iraq, Too)!

*Hand Off The Copenhagen Climate Conference Protesters- Free All Arrestees

Click on the title to link to an "AP" article, December 16, 2009,detailing the police actions against the anti-climate conference protesters.

Markin comment:

It is not clear to me exactly what the anti-climate protesters expected to come out of this conference knowing that the number one abuser, the United States, and the other imperialist powers are basically calling the shots. (And trying, for their own purposes having little to do with climate control, to make China the fall guy). But this I know-those anti-globalization protesters have a right to be on the streets or in the conference rooms. All I would add here, given the grim news about the too rapid heating up of our old planet, is we better get busy with the business of making a socialist revolution in order to really get this impending climate disaster from coming much more quickly than currently projected. In the meantime-Hand Off The Protesters- Release All Detainees!

*The Roots of Bluesgrass Back In The Day- The Bluegrass Music Of Charlie Poole, The North Carolina Ramblers, and The Highlanders

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Charlie Poole and his band performing "White House Blues"

CD Review

Charlie Poole: The North Carolina Ramblers and The Highlanders, 4 CD set, JSP Records, 2004

The roots of American folk music are not depleted by Child ballads, the blues, city or country, mountain music, cowboy songs or topical Tin Pan Alley tunes as the artist under review, Charlie Poole and his various bands, proved conclusively. Old Charlie took a little from each tradition and created some very nice sounds and arrangements that have been called the direct precursors to what we today call bluegrass music. I agree.

Some of the melodies are very familiar and repeated in various renditions on this four disc CD compilation of Charlie's "greatest hits". It is interesting to compare some different versions of the same song, like "Bill Mason", that are compiled here. While this CD is hardly strictly for the aficionado both that type of listener and novices to bluegrass music will be tapping their feet on many of the tracks on this one. Googling a list of Charlie Poole's lyrics indicated that almost all of them are contained in the songs here, in one form or another. Thus, this may be the definitive collection, although as noted by others more familiar than I with the intricacies of record production the technical quality of this compilation is uneven.


Here are the stick outs on each disc: Disc One -“Wild Horse”, “Budded Rose”, “Goodbye Booze”; Disc Two “Bill Mason”, “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”,“Blue Eyes”; Disc Three- "George Collins”, “ I Once Loved A Sailor”, “Baltimore Fire”, “Sweet Sunny South”; and, Disc Four- “Under The Double Eagle”, “San Antonio”, “If The River Was Whiskey”


Baltimore Fire

It was always through a falls by a narrow.
That I heard a cry I ever shall remember,
The fire sent and cast its burning embers
On another fated city of our land.

Fire, fire, I heard the cry
From every breeze that passes by,
All the world was one sad cry of pity
Strong men in angry praise,
Calling loud to Heaven for aid,
While the fire in ruin was laying
Fair Baltimore, the beautiful city

Amid an awful struggle of commotion,
The wind blew a gale from the ocean,
Brave firemen struggled with devotion,
But they after all proved in vain.


Bill Mason

Bill Mason was an engineer
He'd been on the road all of his life
I'll never forget the morning
He married himself a wife
Bill hadn't been married more than an hour
'Till up came a message from Kress
And ordered Bill to come down
And bring out the night express

While Maggie sat by the window
A waiting for the night express
And if she hadn't a done so
She'd have been a widow, I guess
There was some drunken rascals
That come down by the ridge
They come down by the railroad
And tore off the rail from the bridge

Well, Maggie heard them working
"I guess there's something wrong
In less than fifteen minutes
Bill's train would be along"
She couldn't come near to tell it
A mile it wouldn't've done
She just grabbed up the lantern
And made for the bridge alone

By Jove, Bill saw the signal
And stopped the night express
And found his Maggie crying
On the track in her wedding dress
Her crying and laughing for joy
Still holding on to the light
He came around the curve a-flying
Bill Mason's on time tonight


Budded Rose

Little sweetheart, we have parted
From each other we must go
Many miles may separate us
From this world and care and woe

But I treasure of the promise
That you made me in the lane
When you said we'd be together
When the roses bloom again

Now this parting gives us sorrow
Oh, it almost breaks my heart
But say, darling, will you love me
When we meet no more to part?

Down among the budded roses
I am nothing but a stem
I have parted from my darling
Never more to meet again

Will this parting be forever?
Will there be no coming day
When our hearts will be united
And all troubles pass away?

Darling, meet me up in heaven
That's my true and earnest prayer
If you loved me here on earth, dear
I am sure you'll love me there


If The River Was Whiskey

If the river was whiskey and I was a duck
I'd dive to the bottom and I'd never come up

Oh, tell me how long have I got to wait
Oh, can I get you now, must I hesitate?

If the river was whiskey and the branch was wine
You would see me in bathing just any old time

I was born in England, raised in France
I ordered a suit of clothes and they wouldn't
send the pants

I was born in Alabama, I was raised in Tennessee
If you don't like my peaches, don't shake on my tree

I looked down the road just as far as I could see
A man had my woman and the blues had me

I ain't no doctor but the doctor's son
I can do the doct'rin' till the doctor comes

Got the hesitation stockings, the hesitation shoes
Believe to my Lord I've got the hesitation blues

White House Blues

McKinley hollered, McKinley squalled
Doc said to McKinley, "I can't find that ball",
From Buffalo to Washington

Roosevelt in the White House, he's doing his best
McKinley in the graveyard, he's taking his rest
He's gone a long, long time

Hush up, little children, now don't you fret
You'll draw a pension at your papa's death
From Buffalo to Washington

Roosevelt in the White House drinking out of a silver cup
McKinley in the graveyard, he'll never wake up
He's gone a long, long time

Ain't but one thing that grieves my mind
That is to die and leave my poor wife behind
I'm gone a long, long time

Look here, little children, (don't) waste your breath
You'll draw a pension at your papa's death
From Buffalo to Washington

Standing at the station just looking at the time
See if I could run it by half past nine
From Buffalo to Washington

Came the train, she's just on time
She run a thousand miles from eight o'clock 'till nine,
From Buffalo to Washington

Yonder comes the train, she's coming down the line
Blowing in every station Mr. McKinley's a-dying
It's hard times, hard times

Look-it here you rascal, you see what you've done
You've shot my husband with that Iver-Johnson gun
Carry me back to Washington

Doc's on the horse, he tore down his rein
Said to that horse, "You've got to outrun this train"
From Buffalo to Washington

Doc come a-running, takes off his specs
Said "Mr McKinley, better pass in your checks
You're bound to die, bound to die"

*The Lessons Of The Republic Factory Occupation- A Guest Commentary From "Socialist Appeal"

Click on the title to link to an article in December 2009 "Socialist Appeal" concerning last year's factory take-over at the Republic Door and Window factory in Chicago.

*Up Close And Personal- Afghan Commander Westmoreland (Oops!) McChrystal Sees The Light At The End Of The Tunnel, Part 2

Click on title to link to a National Public Radio (NPR)/WBUR, December 10, 2009 story/interview about Afghan commander General McChrystal's take on prospects for "victory" in Afghanistan.

Markin comment:

Here's MY take on this one, again. Obama- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan (And Iraq)!

*Up Close And Personal- Afghan Commander Westmoreland (Oops!) McChrystal Sees The Light At The End Of The Tunnel, Part 1

Click on title to link to a "Washington Post", December 8, 2009 article about Afghan commander General McChrystal's take on prospects for "victory" in Afghanistan.

Markin comment:

Here's MY take on this one. Obama- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan (And Iraq)!

* In Folklorist Harry Smith's House- The Memphis Jug Band- "K.C. Moan"

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of The Memphis Jug Band performing "K.C. Moan" from the Harry Smith anthology. Another wow!

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure

K. C. Moan
Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Well, I thought I had heard that K C when she moan
Thought I heard that K C when she moan
Thought I heard that K C when she moan
Well, she sound like she got a heavy load

Yes and when I get back on the K C road
When I get back on the K C road
When I get back on the K C road
Gonna love my woman like I never loved before


Well I thought I heard that K C whistle moan
Well I thought I heard that K C whistle moan
Well I thought I heard that K C whistle moan
Well she blow like my woman's on board

When I get back on that K C road
When I get back on that K C road
When I get back on that K C road
Gonna love my baby like I never loved before

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"Fishing Blues" — Henry Thomas (1928)

Click on the title to link to a presentation by the artist or of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure

Henry Thomas - Fishing Blues Lyrics

Went up on the hill about twelve o'clock.
Reached right back and got me a pole.
Went to the hardware and got me a hook.
Attached that line right on that hook.
Says you've been a-fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' fishin' too.

I bet your life, your lovin'wife.
Can catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm a-goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Looked down the river about one o'clock.
Spied this catfish swimmin' around.
I've got so hungry, didn't know what to do.
I'm gonna get me a catfish too.

Yes, you've been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.
I bet your life your lovin' wife.
Catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite, got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Put on your skillet, don't never mind your lead.
Mama gonna cook 'em with the short'nin' bread.
Says you been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin a-fishin' too.
I bet your life, your lovin' wife.
Can catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite, if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"Bob Lee Junior Blues" — The Memphis Jug Band (1927)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"The Spanish Merchant's Daughter" — The Stoneman Family (1930)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

The Spanish Merchant's Daughter

Tarry Trousers
Download Midi File
John Renfro Davis

Information Lyrics

This version is from Sam Henry's Songs of the People. He relates it to sixteen different songs and cross references it to fourteen others! One of the songs it is related to is Oh No, John! Other versions of the song are a conversation between a mother and her daughter.
Tarry trousers refers to the sailor's practice of waterproofing their trousers with tar. This may be among the reasons sailors were referred to as "tars," a term used since 1676. Between 1857 and 1891 sailors also wore black 'tarpaulin' hats (boater-shaped with ribbon around the crown). The term "Jack Tar" has been in use since the 1780s.

A song with a theme similar to Oh No, John!, The Dumb Lady, Or, No no not I, I'le answer, was printed on a broadside circa 1672-84. It also appears in an earlier manuscript (circa 1635-40) but the lyrics are unreadable due to waterstains. It was published as Consent at Last in Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melancholy in 1700. It is also known as The Spanish Merchant's Daughter.


Yonder stands a pretty maiden,
Who she is I do not know,
I'll go court her for her beauty,
Let her answer yes or no.

'Pretty maid, I've come to court you,
If your favour I do gain
And you make me hearty welcome,
I will call this way again.'

'Sit you down, you're heart'ly welcome,
Sit you down and chat a while,
Sit you down, you're heart'ly welcome,
Suppose you do not call again?'

'Pretty little maid, I've gold and riches,
Pretty little maid, I've houses and lands,
Pretty little maid, I've worldly treasures.
And all will be at your command.'

'What do I care for your worldly treasures?
What do I care for your houses and lands?
What do I care for your gold and riches?
All that I want is a nice young man.'

'Why do you dive so deep in beauty?
It is a flower will soon decay,
It's like the rose that blooms in summer
When winter comes, it fades away.'

'My love wears the tarry trousers,
My love wears the jacket blue,
My love ploughs the deep blue ocean,
So, young man, be off with you.'


Variants at this site:
Oh No, John (1) (A set of bawdy lyrics)
Oh No, John (2) (Sanitized lyrics from Cecil Sharp)

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"Mountaineer's Courtship" — Ernest Stoneman and Hattie Stoneman (1926)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground" — Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1928)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.


Digital Tradition Mirror

I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available


I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground

I wish l was a mole in the ground.
Yes, I wish I was a mole in the ground:
'F I'se a mole in the ground, l'd root that mountain down,
And I wish I was a mole in the ground.

Oh, Kimpy wants a nine-dollar shawl.
Yes, Kimpy wants a nine-dollar shawl;
When I come o'er the hill with a forty-dollar bill,
'Tis "Baby, where you been so Iong?"

I been in the pen so long.
Yes, I been in the pen so long;
l been in the pen with the rough and rowdy men.
'Tis "Baby, where you been so long?"

I don't like a railroad man.
No, l don't like a railroad man;
'Cause a railroad man they'll kill you when he can,
And drink up your blood like wine.

I wish I was a lizard in the spring.
Ycs, l wish I was a l;zard in the spring;
'F I'se a lizard in the spring, I'd hear my darlin' sing,
An' I wish l was a lizard in the spring.

Come, Kimpy, let your hair roll down.
Kimpy let your hair roll down;
Let your hair roll down and your bangs curl around,
Oh, Kimpy, let your hair roll down.

l wish I was a mole in the ground.
Yes, I wish I was a mole in the ground:
'F I'se a mole in the ground, I'd root that mountain down,
An'I wish I was a mole in the ground.

From Bascom Lamar Lunceford.
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House- "Sugar Baby" — Dock Boggs (1928)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

Sugar Baby

Oh I've got no sugar baby now
All I can do is to seek peace with you
And I can't get along this a-way
Can't get along this a-way

All I can do, I've said all I can say
I'll send it to your mama next payday
Send you to your mama next payday.

I got no use for the red rockin' chair,
I've got no honey baby now
Got no sugar baby now

Who'll rock the cradle, who'll sing the song
Who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone
Who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone?
I'll rock the cradle, I'll sing the song
I'll rock the cradle when you gone.

It's all I can do
It's all I can say,
I will send you to your mama next payday

Laid her in the shade, give her every dime I made
What more could a poor boy do
What more could a poor boy do?

Oh I've got no honey baby now
Got no sugar baby now

Said all I can say, I've done all I can do
And I can't make a living with you
Can't make a living with you



found on: The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute

words: Doc Boggs (traditional)

last performed: October 21, 1999, Lounge Ax, Chicago (Tweedy)

back to the Wilco lyrics archive

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"I Woke Up One Morning In May" — Didier Hebert (1929)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"Minglewood Blues" — Cannon's Jug Stompers (1928)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.


Minglewood Blues

Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

Well I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
Lord I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
If you're comin' back baby now's your only chance

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

So don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Boy don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Well she's a married woman, Lord she comes to see me some time

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

Well I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
Lord I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
If you're comin' back baby now's your only chance

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

So don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Boy don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Well she's a married woman, Lord she comes to see me some time

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

Well I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
Lord I got a letter mama and you ought to heard what it read
If you're comin' back baby now's your only chance

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

So don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Boy don't you wish that your fair girl was li'l and cute like mine
Well she's a married woman, Lord she comes to see me some time

Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, and worried all the time

Well don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Don't you never let no woman rule your mind
Well she'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

She'll leave you troubled, worried all the time

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"East Virginia" — Buell Kazee (1929)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

"East Virginia"

I was born in East Virginia,
North Carolina I did roam,
There I met a fair young lady,
Her name I do not know.

Oh Her hair was dark and curly,
And her cheeks were rosy red,
On her breast she wore white lilies,
There I long to lay my head.

I dont want your greenback dollar,
I dont want your watch and chain,
All I want's your heart darling,
Say you'll take me back again.

The ocean's deep and I can't wade it
And I have no wings to fly
I'll just get me a blue eyed boatman
Or you'll row me over the tide

I'll go back to East Virginia
North Carolina ain't my home
I'll go back to East Virginia
Leaving North Carolinians alone

I'll go back to East Virginia
North Carolina ain't my home
I'll go back to East Virginia
Leaving North Carolinians alone

In case I missed anything here is the full song

I was born in East Virginia,
North Carolina I did go,
There I met a fair young lady,
And her name I do not know.

Oh, her hair was dark and curly,
And her cheeks were rosy red,
On her breast she wore white lilies,
Where I long to lay my head.

I don't want your greenback dollar,
I don't want your watch and chain,
All I want's your heart darling,
Say you'll take me back again.

The ocean's deep and I can't wade it,
And I have no wings to fly,
I'll just get me a blue eyed boatman,
Or you'll row me over the tide.

I'll go back to East Virginia,
North Carolina ain't my home,
I'll go back to East Virginia,
Leaving North Carolinians alone.

I'll go back to East Virginia,
North Carolina ain't my home,
I'll go back to East Virginia,
Leaving North Carolinians alone.

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-Volume Three: Songs-"The Coo Coo Bird" — Clarence Ashley (1929)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.

"The Coo Coo Bird (Cuckoo)"

Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies
She never hollers coo coo till the fourth day
of July

Gonna build me log cabin
On a mountain so high
So I can see Willie as he goes on by

Well I've played cards in Texas
And I've played cards in Maine
Oh I'll bet you five dollars I'll beat you
next game

Jack of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds
Oh I know you of old
You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold

Rye whiskey, rye whiskey
Oh I know you of old
You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold

*Sometimes I feel much younger
Sometimes I feel so old
Sometimes the warm sun shines sometimes it's
dreadful cold

Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird
How I wish she was mine
She never drinks water she only drinks wine

(repeat first verse)

*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"I'm In the Battle Field for My Lord" — Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation (1929)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.