Hello again. And thanks for the cool feedback.

Aziz, I probably didn't pay close enough attention to your post and misunderstood you. Sorry about that. There's a lot we could discuss regarding language. My comments regarding "Americanisms" were intended as tongue-in-cheek. (While we're on the subject- I wonder where the heck that expression came from).

I'm sure that "done gone" is used by all types of folks and isn't limited to any group.

I agree that language use, as it pertains to music or historical context, generally shouldn't be considered offensive. However, I'm a bleeding-heart (another "where the heck?" term!) when it comes to freedom of expression in art. Anyone care to dance on the flag?

My post this morning was done fast, so I'm sorry if I misunderstood anyone. I was excited to see so much response and wanted to write back before I went to work.

I think you're right, Q, that ESL folk pick up a lot of the great slang in the language, once they're fluent enough. Nonetheless, I speak from experience regarding the use of "ain't". It's only my opinion, of course. I worked with a very smart and well-spoken person from Poland. His English was fluent and excellent, but he spoke with a clear accent (as one might expect). It was all I could do not to laugh when he tried to use "ain't." It just ... didn't sound right. But any ESL that doesn't move past book-English will, I agree, miss out on much the language has to offer.

I have absolutely nothing against "ain't." And I agree that "proper" English is pretty much an arbitrary set of rules. The only reason to codify it may be to make it more teachable, with which I have some experience. In fact, one reason I love the English language is that it is so quick to adopt new words, or take words from any other language. I think language snobbery is stupid, in any language (parle vous?). Thank heavens there's no government office I know of that tries to force a particular form of English down anyone's throat. Ultimately, unless we're talking about air traffic control, I don't care what type of English one uses.

I'm going to get in trouble for that one, huh? I'm not Canadian, or from Europe. So I probably have no business weighing in on the issue. But what the heck.

"Ain't" is a very old and well established word that, maybe, should just be accepted as correct. Until then, I encourage it to be used with some care for persons who speak ESL. But (again) I think ANYONE ought to use it when singing this song.

Joe, you're terrific! Thanks for the correction regarding the Lomax family. I have no idea how I got it in my head that they were brothers.
   
I've looked again at the Google link. Although I still feel certain that Leadbelly (or whoever is responsible) provided different lyrics for the 1960's songbook, I also think that some of the lyrics are more correct than my earlier posts. Particularly the portion of "Yellow woman's door bell." Without these corrections, the song title doesn't even appear in my earlier version!

So here are the corrections I made. But this time I'm only including the portion that changed, which is in the last section of the medley.

..................

On Thursday, nobody's gonna (going to) go my bail, here's some mo' (more)

Almost done, here's some mo'
Almost done, here's some mo'
Almost done, lawd, lawd

And I ain't gonna ring the yallow (yellow) woman's door bell
        Lawd, lawd, lawd, lawd

Last Monday, baby n'I went a'walking
        Lawd, lawd

On Tuesday, she shoved me out (the) door
        Lawd, lawd, lawd, lawd

On Wednesday, we was sittin' down a'talking
        Lawd, lawd

On Thursday, she pawned all of my clothes
        Lawd, lawd, lawd

.............

At this rate we'll have all the words correct in no time. So if anyone else can recommend corrections, I'd love to know. I can't say how many times I've listened to this version of the song now- trying to sort all this out. But I still love listening to it every time!

Thanks again.