I can't BELIEVE this! I saw the Hallmark presentation of Wilson's (LOVE that guy) "The Piano Lesson", and absolutely LOVED when Countney B. Vance, Charles S. Dutton, et al. sang it. Oh MAN what a song! It came on TV again a few weeks ago, and I asked my sister to tape it so I could tape record the song. I'll find out today if she taped it. If she did, I can get you a soundfile of it next week. I've asked Max several times if he could play it on Mudcat Radio, but he said that he lent the CD that it's on to a friend who hasn't returned it yet. Also, I didn't know that Rosie was the same as Alberta! There are lyrics for "Alberta" in the DT right here but I can't remember if the words are the same. Also, I have a bit of the sheet music for "Rosie" that came from my Ethnomusicology book.

The song is a call and response song, it's also a prison song, sung by black prisoners in the South. The song was specifically for cutting down trees. The book said that the black prisoners always worked faster and cut down more trees than the white & Hispanic prisoners. That's because they used to have 2-man teams to fell the trees. The African-American prisoners had about 6-man teams, and would stand in a circle around the tree. The leader would "call" the verse, the rest of the team would "respond" and then CHOP! all 6 axes hit the tree at once. A very dangerous way to work, and it required precision and concentration. Rosie/Alberta was a song used to keep that concentration.

--Matt