There's just a little bit in the Traditional Ballad Index on this song: Walking Boss DESCRIPTION: "Walking boss (x2), I don't belong to you. I belong (x2) to that steel driving crew." "Work one day, just one day, just one day, Then go lay in the shanty two." Etc. Verses loosely descriptive of life on a railroad crew. AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (collected by Newman Ivey White) KEYWORDS: railroading work nonballad worksong boss FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE) REFERENCES (1 citation): Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 96, "Walking Boss" (1 text, 1 tune) Roud #7693 RECORDINGS: Clarence Ashley, "Walking Boss" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Take This Hammer" (lyrics) NOTES: A "walking boss" was a foreman who gave orders to workers' immediate supervisors, rather than to the workers themselves. Source: Clarence "Tom" Ashley recalled this song being sung by railroad workers, probably in the 1920s. - PJS File: CSW096
Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Song List Go to the Ballad Index Instructions Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
|