It is a slave song, that is it's origin. the mom has died likely in the field working but it does not specify. Her red shoes are not fancy dancing party shoes, she was a slave, they are red with the blood from her bleeding feet from the hours of agonizing labor that likely killed her, that's why momma has gone away. Daddy is gonna stay, on the field, working because he can't stay home and mind the baby, they make him work or they beat the snot out of him at the very least, cuz you know, once again, slave life. That why everybody is gone in the cotton and the corn. They all have to slave away in the fields, where they grow the crops. The person singing is an old lady who can't be useful in the field anymore. She also can't nurse the baby, this the pained weeping of the starving child she can bring little comfort to. Alabaster stones mark graves. You lay you bones when you die. The devil is the likely the master. This was explained to me long before the movie. Any sexuality was weirdly brought into it by someone who appropriated it with little understanding of the meaning. It's kind of cringe. The original lyrics are not meant to be sexy. This song was sung in the fields by slaves as were worked to death and lamenting all those who died before them in all the horrible ways like a mother dying then her baby inevitably dying too. Sorry folks not very sexy. The sirens do sing it in a sexual manner in the movie, they are after all sirens and seduction is their game, but even though credit is given to those who perform it, it doesn't s not theirs. It is a beautiful and tragic song, like many slave songs