Is "broke my yoke on the coalin' groun'" a reference to charcoal, or to use of coal for drying tobacco or what? I'm interested in the pre-civil war economy, especially in the south since it was so different from the present day. Is the Sweeney of Sweeny's Plantation Melodies, Joel Walker Sweeny, the well known white minstrel performer (credited with adding a string to the 5-string)?