Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (Leadbelly)

Subject: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: declercq
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 03:05 PM

Hello
From the LEADBELLY'S last session(Smithsonian Folkways)I found in disc #1 track #29 "Winnsborow Cotton Mill Blues"

It starts with

I love my country, indeed I do
But that war has made me feel blue.

Continued with

When Mister Hoover said to cut my dinner down
I never even hesitate, I never frown
I cut my sugar, I cut my coal
But now they dug down deep in my soul

I've got the blues, I've got the blues

But this recording ends after 48 seconds

It seems that "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" is in fact "The Alcoholic Blues" written and composed by Albert Von Tilzer / Edward Laska.
Billy Murray did it in 1919
and DeFord Bailey in 1927

Am I right or wrong?
Who can help me either by the lyrics or by the tune (MP3)

Thank you

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:35 PM

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiWNNSBORO;ttWNNSBORO.html (processed version of what's in the DigiTrad database.)

I 'think' the New Lost City Ramblers did this at some point, but I can't get to my old LPs right now

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:38 PM

Note: the words may vary widely from what Leadbelly used.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: GUEST,Johnny R.
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:40 PM

Pete Seeger recorded it many years ago, but I don't know the name of that album, and I think it was a compilation. He did say it was the Alcoholic Blues... I don't have the recording here now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: GUEST,Johnny R.
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:42 PM

PS:

http://www.last.fm/music/Pete+Seeger/_/Winnsboro+Cotton+Mill+Blues

That might help a bit!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:45 PM

Yep... I just found that also...and yes, it WAS Pete Seeger I remember.
(the song won't play in my Opera browser, but maybe it will for you.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 05:48 PM

The version I have is more or less the same as Bill D linked to and I think I got it from a Jerry Silverman book:

WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES

Old man Sargent, sittin' at the desk,
The darned old fool won't give us no rest.
He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes,
To buy a Coca-cola an' an Eskimo Pie.

cho: I got the blues, I got the blues,
    I got the Winnsb'ro Cotton Mill Blues,
    Lordy, lordy, spoolin's hard,
    You know an' I know, I don't have to tell:
    Work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
    I got the blues, I got the blues,
    I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,
      ( Repeat after each verse)

When I die, don' bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spool room wall.
Place a knotter in my right hand,
So I can keep spoolin' in the promised land.

When I die, don' bury me deep,
Bury me down on 600 Street,
Place a bobbin in each hand,
So I can doff in the Promised Land.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: 12-stringer
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 11:53 PM

To download Billy Murray's version of "Alcoholic Blues," go here:

http://www.archive.org/details/BillyMurray_part4

It's about halfway down the page (the listing includes numerous Murray songs); there are two recordings, each in several formats (high bit rate, lower bit rate).

The Internet Archive has hundreds of Murray sides, comprising a fabulous collection of ragtime pop and novelty songs from 1900-1925. The Leadbelly take, while it's apparently labeled "Winnsboro," seems to get its lyrics from "Alcoholic" and is probably a version of the original pop hit, not the cotton mill parody.

And there's another recording by Vernon Dalhart, right here:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=%40attr+1%3D1016+&query=alcoholic

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (Leadbelly)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 06:23 PM

Declerq: I believe you're absolutely right: Leadbelly sang ALCOHOLIC BLUES and it has been misidentified on the "Last Sessions" album as WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES.

I wonder how this mistake happened?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (Leadbelly)
From: GUEST,Jack Warshaw
Date: 19 Nov 09 - 07:04 AM

This article http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/say-it-loud-the-greatest-protest-songs-part-1/ suggests that "Winnsboro" emerged in a 1930's mill workers protest. But it does not say it was written in the 30s. It could have been earlier. The assumption seems to be that "Winnsboro" is derived from Alcoholic Blues. But who's to say "Winnsboro" didn't come first in some form?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (Leadbelly)
From: GUEST,Flipdiggler
Date: 21 May 14 - 07:20 PM

Since Lead Belly was from Shreveport,La. or near there, it is most likely referring to Winnsboro,LA. . The latter only bieng a short distance from Shreveport .