Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording-Rosie

Subject: Folklore: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording
From: sammiann226
Date: 22 May 15 - 06:14 PM

This new Nicki Minaj song samples "Rosie" from the LOC field recording "Negro Prison Blues and Songs." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO59tfQ2TbA Any one know which year it was recorded? I'm thinking either John Lomax in 1935 or Alan Lomax in 1947.

Subject: RE: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 May 15 - 10:48 PM

This song has been out for a while.

"Rosie" in particular has been used in various media-entertainment products previous.

I believe the producer took the sample (or at least first heard it) on a YouTube recording that was decontextualized from the source.

Subject: RE: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 May 15 - 01:29 AM

I think the Rounder recording is the same as the one on Negro Prison Blues and Songs. The notes says it was recorded by Alan Lomax 1947-48 on Parchman Farm, Mississippi.

There is a different "Rosie" in the 1934 John/Alan Lomax book, American Ballads and Folk Songs. In Land Where the Blues Began, Lomax says he recorded "Rosie" several times. He first heard it in 1933, sung by forty convicts at Parchman Farm. He went back to Parchman a number of times, the last time sometime in the 1960s. He says that none of the recordings he made were an adequate representation of the song. He was most impressed by the 1934 performance, but his equipment was not good enough to capture the power of the performance.

Lots of information, but no definite answer to your question. The recording I have is an MP3 from the Rounder recording. It's on Volume 1 of the Rounder Lomax Collection Prison Songs from Parchman. There's another "Rosie" on Volume 2, but it's not the same song. I think it's pretty clear that the sample is from the 1947-48 Parchman Farm recordings.

There are lots of recordings of the song on the Lomax site, http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp. I hope this link (click) will take you right to Rosie, but I'm not sure it will work. Searching the Website ain't hard, though. It's worth taking the time listening to all the different versions of "Rosie." From the recordings at the Website, I take it that the sampled recording is one of the four Lomax recorded at Parchman in February 1948.

-Joe-

Subject: ADD: Rosie (1948 Lomax recording)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 May 15 - 02:19 AM

Here's my transcription:

ROSIE

Be my woman gal I'll / be your man (x3)
Everyday's Sunday, dollar / in your hand
In your hand Lordy, / in your hand
Everyday's Sunday dollar / in your hand
Stick to the promise girl that / you made me (x3)
Won't got married til' uh / I go free
I go free Lordy, / I go free
Won't got married til' uh / I go free
Whoa Rosie, / hold on gal (x2)
When she walks she reel and / rock behind (x2)
Ain't that enough to worry, / convicts mind (x2)
Whoa Rosie, / hold on gal (x2) (return to first verse)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmMyPVLqyzE

Subject: RE: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording-Rosie
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 23 May 15 - 06:45 AM

Joe. You are quite right. The sample of Rosie in question comes from Lomax's field trip to Parchman Farm in November 1947. It was issued in the USA on a Tradition LP called (I think) Negro Prison Songs, and in Britain as Murderer's Home before being reissued by Rounder as part of the Alan Lomax Collection.

However, I don't agree that the other Rosies you refer to are different songs. To my ears they are all versions of the same song.

Indeed, I've seen a version somewhere (in Slave Songs of the United States by Allen, Ware, and McKim Garrison, I think). Which would suggest that it's a pretty old song. Well, by African-American standards at any rate.

Subject: RE: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording-Rosie
From: fat B****rd
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:37 PM

Thank you, Sammiann. Strange how things come around, innit?.
I located my "Prison Blues of the South" Laserlight Cd and am listening even as I type. I recall buying it in a shop in Darlington from a box of sleeveless CDs for next to nothing.
The details I home-printed from the net say this was recorded at Parchman and Angola but I'm not sure of the date. I first heard "Early in the Morning" track 12, on Graham Bond's "Sound of 65" LP in ...1965!.
Now, Miss Minaj has reminded me how much I love these songs. Yes, I know the men are in a pretty awful situation.
Actually "Rosie" Track 9, was and is my favourite track.
Charlie.

Subject: RE: Nicki Minaj song samples Lomax recording-Rosie
From: sammiann226
Date: 24 May 15 - 11:45 AM

"Rosie" was always my favorite too! I figured it was probably the 1947 trip considering how good the audio quality is.