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Origin: Ain't No More Cane on This Brazos Related threads: Lyr Add: Ain't No More Cane On This Brazos (CMT?) (10) Brazos River Songs (22) Lyr Req: No More Cane on the Brazos (from M Platt) (21) Lyr Req: Cross the Brazos at Waco (K. C. Arnold) (11) |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane^^ From: raredance Date: 29 Sep 01 - 10:06 PM The version in Lomax (American Ballads and Folk Songs)is very similar to the one in the Silverman book. Lomax has the additional stanzas
2. Better git yo' overcoat ready
6. (after "almos' flyin'")
9. (after "ninety-nine years" stanza)
16. (after "some goin' home")
18. (after "drop dead") Maybe I should have assembled it all in one post.^^ rich r |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Lin in Kansas Date: 29 Sep 01 - 01:00 PM Sandy-- Eloquent and convincing. You have a convert here. Thanks for the history and for the passion with which you tell it. Another Rounder to add to the collection? You bet... Lin |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: GUEST,Jed Marum Date: 29 Sep 01 - 08:57 AM OK Sandy - you've convinced me; I need to hear the Earnest Williams version. I first heard this song on a Bill Staines record. He does a great job of it! |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Bat Goddess Date: 29 Sep 01 - 07:47 AM After my above post, I did a little more on-line research and found that it's on the Chad Mitchel Trio LP "Singing Our Mind" (1962). Haven't been able to find it on CD and, though I have a bunch of LPs, I don' t have that one (since the aforementioned breakup of the record collection in 1979). Bat Goddess |
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Subject: Lyr Add: AIN'T NO MORE CANE ON THE BRAZIS^^ From: raredance Date: 29 Sep 01 - 01:44 AM The following version is from the book "Work Songs" (in the Traditional Black Music series) by Jerry Silverman, 1994 Chelsea House Publishers)
AIN'T NO MORE CANE ON THE BRAZIS
There ain't no more cane on the Brazis, oh---
rich r |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Sandy Paton Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:12 PM Okay, it's time for me to get into this one. I'm gonna be hollering down the rain barrel again, I suppose, but, please listen just this once. You don't have to listen to a bunch of city kids doing nightclub arrangements of this song. You don't even have to settle for Odetta singing it, as she was when I worked with her at the Gate of Horn in Chicago forty years ago. Odetta herself would tell you what I'm going to tell you now. Go back and listen to the source! That's where Odetta learned it. The original 1933 recording of Ernest Williams and a group of prisoners at Central State Farm in Sugarland, Texas, is available on CD. John A. and Alan Lomax made the recording at this brutal prison farm where convicts worked the cane fields "from can to can't." These men are singing about soomething that is very real to them, with verses like: What's the matter, something must be wrong... Keep on a-workin', Shorty George done gone. Shorty George was the name they gave the train that brought women visitors to the prison camp. You ought to been on the river in nineteen ten, They's rollin' the women like they drive the men. "Little boy, what'd you do for to get so long?" Said, "I killed my rider in the high sheriff's arms." The power of the singing conveys the realism of the story as no nightclub arrangement could ever do. For God's sake, folks, get on the phone to Dick Greenhaus at Camsco (800-548-3655), or whatever source you might prefer, and order Rounder CD-1510 - Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs, and Ballads. Give a listen to the source, to the real thing. And while you're listening, pay attention to the other songs on this great CD: "Jumpin' Judy" (refers to the whip used to punish prisoners), "Long John," "Long Hot Summer Days," "Rosie," and the incredible two-voice presentation of "Lead Me to the Rock" (a truly astounding performance). I implore you, please, just this one time, listen to me. It might change your life! It certainly did mine. Right now, I'm reading Cleveland Benjamin's Dead!, A Struggle for Dignity in Louisiana's Cane Country, by Patsy Sims. Read it, if you can find it. It, and hearing these great field recordings, could and should inform your singing. Go on! I dare you! Sandy^^ |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Art Thieme Date: 28 Sep 01 - 06:14 PM That ought to say "this one too". |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Art Thieme Date: 28 Sep 01 - 06:11 PM About 50% of those early Limelighter LP's songs were Bob Gibson's arrangements. This son too. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Big Red Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:25 AM Cane appears on the CMT album SINGIN' our minds. If anybody wants it desperately, contact me direct. Sure amglad some people remember the music from the "good old days." |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: ddw Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:24 AM Odetta did a great job with this song, too. There are several tunes used for it and I used to do a version that borrowed verses and tunes that made it almost like a medley. One verse I remember that I didn't see in the ones above was:
Shoulda come on the river back in nineteen an' fo' Hadn't thought of this song in a long time. Should dust it off. cheers, david |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: toadfrog Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:23 AM Huddie Ledbetter also sang this. I will bet he sang it better than those other fellows, too. And it has to be available on one of those Smithsonian disks, or Rounder disks, because everything else is. |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Big Red Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:11 AM The Limelighters did this song on their 14 K GOLD FOLKSONGS. I'll have to look if I have it on any Chad Mitchell albums. |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: masato sakurai Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:24 PM Lomax's Texas Folk Songs CD (Arion ARN 64173) was released in France in 1991. He sings this song, accompanied by Guy Carawan on guitar. His notes are:
AIN'T NO MORE CANE ON THIS BRAZIS [sic], from page 58, American Ballads and Folk Songs, and the singing of Ernest Williams on that same farm. This song, too, I suspect of being a survival from the days of slavery. It is one of America's "big" songs, matching the nobility of Go Down Moses. In the pen it was used as a cane-cutting song, its slow cadences puctuated with the swish and ring of the cane-knives, as the prisoners harvested the jungle of ripe-cane, ploughing along the water-filled ditches, the razor-edged cane leaves cuttting their hands and face while the fall Norther of Texas bit through their cotton clothes. The song pictures in stark and powerful language the miseries of the Texas pen, especially the old days of fifty years ago when the state leased out the prisoners to private farmers. As there was an unlimited supply of Negr prison labor, some of these managers drove their leased convicts until they dropped. ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Art Thieme Date: 27 Sep 01 - 08:24 PM My personal favorite version of this song was done by BOB GIBSON with his 12-string guitar. Just very powerful. Alan Lomax also recorded his version of it on his LP for Tradition Records called Texas Folksongs. Art Thieme |
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Subject: ADD: Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos^^ From: Joe Offer Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:45 PM The only songbook entry I could find was in the Mitchell Trio Songbook, of all places. I'll transcribe the tune for the Digital Tradition. -Joe Offer- AIN'T NO MORE CANE ON THIS BRAZOS 1. Ain't no more cane on this Brazos, my boy Oh, oh, oh We done ground it all into molasses, Oh, oh, oh 2. When I come down here, had a number for my name Oh, oh, oh Well, they chained us together and we started cuttin' cane Oh, oh, oh 3. I wish you was here in nineteen and ten Oh, oh, oh Well, they was drivin' the women just like they was men Oh, oh, oh 4. I wish you was here when the storm winds came Oh, oh, oh Left a man lyin' dead and we cut him off the chain Oh, oh, oh 5. If I had a sentence like ninety-nine and nine Oh, oh, oh There ain't no dogs on this Brazos could keep me on that line Oh, oh, oh 6. Well, Alberta why don't you let your hair hang down Oh, oh, oh Let it hang right down till it touches the ground Oh, oh, oh 7. Why don't you go down old Hannah, don't you rise up no more Oh, oh, oh Well, they work me so hard that I can't work no more Oh, oh, oh 8. Ain't no more cane on this Brazos, my boy Oh, oh, oh We done ground it all into molasses Oh, oh, oh From "The Mitchell Trio Songbook," 1964, adaptation and new lyrics by William C. Mitchell. Notes from Mitchell Trio Songbook: This is a song that comes from the Brazos area of Texas, around the turn of the century (The Brazos is a river that runs through the area.) It tells of a chain gang taken out into the countryside to cut sugar cane. At the time, the prisons contracted with a great many of the plantation owners - money in return for prisoners who would harvest the cane crop. Naturally, there was no profit for the prisoners, so the chain gang was a necessity. @prison filename[ CANEBRA2 JRO^^
MIDI file: CANEBRA2.MID Timebase: 192 Name: Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the latest version of MIDItext and get instructions on how to use it click here ABC format: X:1
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song: Ain't No More Cane on this BrazosDESCRIPTION: The singer remarks, "There ain't no more cane on this Brazos, oh-oh-oh; They done ground it all down to molasses, oh-oh-oh." He describes the dreadful conditions faced by the prisoners and wishes he could escape such horrorsAUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (field recording) KEYWORDS: prison abuse punishment death FOUND IN: US(So) REFERENCES (9 citations): Scott-BoA, pp. 305-306, "No More Cane on this Brazos" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSUSA 92, "Ain't No Mo' Cane on dis Brazis" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-ABFS, pp. 58-59, "Ain' No Mo' Cane on de Brazos" (1 text, 1 tune) Arnett, p. 144, "No More Cane on This Brazos" (1 text, 1 tune) Courlander-NFM, pp. 132-133, (no title) (1 text, heavily modified to produce a blues feel) Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 77-75, "Should A Been on the River in 1910" (1 text, 1 tune; the first verse, about driving women and men alive, is from this song or "Go Down, Old Hannah", but the remainder is a separate piece); pp. 130-132, "No More Cane on the Brazos/Godamighty" (1 text, 1 tune, a mixture of this with another song Jackson calls "Godamighty" though it has almost no lyric elements in common with "Godalmighty Drag") Darling-NAS, pp. 326-327, "No More Can on this Brazos" (1 text) Silber-FSWB, p. 65, "Ain't No More Can On This Brazos" (1 text) DT, CANEBRAZ* Roud #10063 RECORDINGS: Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "Ain' No More Cane on the Brazos" (AFS 2643 B1, 1939) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Go Down, Old Hannah" cf. "Oughta Come on the River" cf. "Should A Been on the River in 1910" (lyrics) NOTES: The amount of common material in this song and "Go Down, Old Hannah" makes it certain they have cross-fertilized. They may be descendants of a common ancestor. But the stanzaic forms are different, so I list them separately. - RBW Last updated in version 2.4 File: LxA058 Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Instructions The Ballad Index Copyright 2013 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: AIN'T NO MORE CANE From: Steve Latimer Date: 27 Sep 01 - 03:28 PM Ain't No More Cane Leadbetter Oct. 1962 THE GASLIGHT TAPES (T-104) Ain't no more cane on the Brazos, oohoohooh. They done grounded it all to molasses, mm mm mm. Should a-been on the river in 1910, mm mm mm. They were driving women just like men, mm mm mm. Should a-been on the river in nineteen five, oohoohooh. Find yourself lucky to be alive, ohoohooh. Go down old Hannah, don't you rise no more, mm mm mm. Don't you rise till judgement day, mm mm mm. Ain't no more cane on the Brazos, mm mm mm. They done grounded it all to molasses, mm mm mm. |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: GUEST,Steve Date: 27 Sep 01 - 02:43 PM The Band does my favorite version of this song. It's on one of thier older records, ( yep record), sorry I can't remember which one. Steve |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: Bat Goddess Date: 27 Sep 01 - 12:18 PM A million years ago in another lifetime (married to my first husband), I learned a version of the song from, I believe, a Chad Mitchell Trio LP. I have been totally unable to find this recording on any Chad Mitchell LP I've been able to lay my hands on since? Anybody recognize it? Bat Goddess |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: GUEST,eluned Date: 27 Sep 01 - 11:34 AM ....which is why there ain't no more cane in the brazos? |
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Subject: RE: Help: aint no more cane From: GUEST Date: 27 Sep 01 - 11:07 AM Brazos is a river in southeastern Texas. Also the site of a prison. Among other things prison work gangs tended fields of sugar cane |
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Subject: aint no more cane From: GUEST,swoopy Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:06 AM can someone translate please, esp whats a Brazis, also any info on its history, |
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