Work Songs in a Texas Prison

 

Selected YouTube video viewer comments from

 

ramblik (3 years ago) goes to show that the Gulags were not confined to the Soviet Union in the 60s

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Chrissius (3 years ago) Not nearly as bad as a Gulag.

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dubzworld (2 years ago) Being the fact that my great-uncle was a Black man on a chain gang back in the 30's, and I've talked to another elderly Black man who use to be a lineman in Texas, both told me that chain gang work was some of the hardest they had ever experienced or witnessed in their life. It's obvious that this documentary was staged and these guys seem to have been put in clean work clothes for the camera. I think it's ridiculous to romanticize this work. Some of these men were worked literally to death.

Editor: “The Gulug” was the term for Russian prisons known for their very harsh conditions.
Actually, “the Gulag or GULAG was the [Russian]  government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. The term is infamous for its association with remote places where prisoners were kept and sometimes disappeared.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag]

 

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dubzworld (2 years ago) And Chrissius, how do you know it wasn't as bad as the Gulag? What are your references? This is a part of American history that most white Americans are in denial about, or want to view as a folkloric cultural event, more so than the cruel and unusual punishment that it was.

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shizzledizzle (2 years ago) man this is SERIOUS old skool stuff

[Editor: ”Serious” here means “really”;  “old school” means “the way things were done a long time ago”.]

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bugsycline (2 years ago) wow.....

this is the kind of stuff leadbelly sings about..

thanks to pete seegar for filming and preserving true americana

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otacon451 (2 years ago) alan lomax's prison recordings is some of the most awe inspiring music ive ever heard in my entire life

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dressmeaol (1 year ago) yes this is old school i was on central unit in sugarland,..across the field is whats left of the black mens unit when it was segregated,..,...even todays hoe squads still sing,..a lead row and a tail row,...aggies up,..ready,..drop em,...has anyone here ever heard of a turn-key,...thats another old school term

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harleyman1907 (1 year ago) afraid to say I know what the term turn - key means.

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KingLouisXXI (1 year ago) This was much harder than it looks,and they did not,wear thos ehats,nor did they dress that "snappy"

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vilseck524 (1 year ago) nothing much has changed The hoe squad still goes out to work in the field in gatesville texas and "cadence is still called" keeping in tune with the pick axe. no need for john deer and caterpiller or electricity and gas. a pick axe and a good song........and the work begins

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runjamez (10 months ago) does that tune they sing throughout exist to find, or is it just impro?

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armand111 (10 months ago) yea go to the site, its also on i tunes look up let your hammer ring. sadly its not to this rhythm

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harleyblues (9 months ago) thx for sharing...

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abovefilms (9 months ago) wow. this is amazing how they're all in unison and using such a rhythmic tune.

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LoneTinaja (9 months ago) Beginning in 1963 I started spending a lot

of time at Retrieve state prison farm in

Brazoria County where my father provided

an essential contractor service. The

inmates called Retrieve "The Burnin' Hell".

Most inmates were African-American &

they led all the work songs in the crop

fields & when clearing brush along Oyster

Creek & when cutting down trees. See

continuation of this comment.

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LoneTinaja (9 months ago) Continuation of my comment-
When several inmates were swinging axes to

cut down a tree they had to keep a precise

rhythm so that the axes didn't strike each

other, thus the song providing that rhythm

had to be more precise in rhythmic form

than the songs for swinging hoes in the

crop fields. I spent a lot of time at Retrieve

through the '60s & into the early '70s. In

the evenings some of the black inmates

sang Gospel & Blues. Retrieve was a

tough place to be an inmate in those

days.

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RebellionPro (5 months ago) this song even though is from prision, i must say, the lyric is beautiful, the afro american sentiment has the feeling and mutual spiritual intensity, sorrow , pain, and inside joy of dreams..i must admit..i wish i would know the name ot he song, in respect for the african american

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RebellionPro (5 months ago) in the respect for the afro american Sentiment

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jaysee2020 (3 months ago) When this squad is supposed to be four stepping, their line was sloppy. I was lead row for hoe squad 13 in Abilene and Boss Reed woulda cried if I didn't have all the row facing in the same direction. Aggies up...

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vilseck524 (2 months ago) ahhh no one believes me when i tell them texas still has hoe squads and some of them still sing when they work and yes they still ride out to the field the same as seen in this video. Hilltop (gatesville tx)

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[written in response to a request for the title of the song that was sung in the film elkrobber (3 days ago) @PeazyG420 "let your hammer ring"

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[written in response to a racist comment] Tezman82 (1 month ago) @marccus1989: If you read Alan Lomax's book the "Land Where The Blues Began" chapter 6 does discuss in detail what prison life in the Delta was like..and it might surprise you.

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eihwazone (1 month ago) most of the slaves were wrongfully imprisoned....

armand111 (3 weeks ago) when your a slave you really dont have a choice

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[written in reponse to a deleted comment] ChristiansMustLearn (1 day ago) @spud921 you should get an education and read the book "Slavery by another name". It shows how blatantly racist laws especially in the south were used to imprison blacks for minor infractions and it was used as a way to continue the practise of using black males as cheap labor