Actually, here is the written introduction Lead Belly used in the notes to this song: "Now this was when I was around Dallas, Texas, pickin' cotton. I was pickin' a thousand pounds of cotton a day. And the way you get a thousand pounds of cotton a day, you've got to jump around to get it. You can't fool around and pick a thousand pounds of cotton a day."

I think that Ms. Zumsteg meant well in her speech and was trying to make the best out of a prickly situation, so I'm not entirely unsympathetic. The problem stems from the presentation. The school's theme - folk songs from around the world - didn't seem to take into account the fact that most folk songs have purposes behind them, a heady subject in many cases for middle schoolers to grasp. But why not? I wouldn't go and play "Strange Fruit" for them, but a show focusing on Lead Belly and his music would certainly be more relevant for kids than a lot of other stuff I've heard my own kids singing in school shows. It all boils down to how they approach their music educational teaching. Not knowing how they went about it, it's hard for me to make a judgment. But I still think that they took the cowardly way out by agreeing with the parents to censor a very innocuous song.