Origins: Another Man Done Gone

Subject: Another Man Done Gone
From: GUEST,Carlo Pipitone
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 08:48 AM

I am not able to catch the words from this old blues tune. Can anybody post here the lyrycs?

Thanks in advance, Carlo Pipitone

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From:
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 12:02 PM

Another man done gone Another man done gone Another man done gone from the county farm Another man done gone

(Similarly): He had a long chain on He had a long chain on, he had a long chain on

They hunted him with hounds They hunted him with hounds, they hunted him with hounds....

They killed another man.... They killed another man, they killed another man....

(Repeat first verse)

Subject: Lyr Add: ANOTHER MAN DONE GONE
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 12:41 PM

ANOTHER MAN DONE GONE
From the singing by Vera Hall, recorded by John A. Lomax in Livingston, Alabama, October 31, 1940
on the recording A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings Selected and Annotated by Stephen Wade, Rounder CD 1500 (1997)
transcribed by Charlie Baum

Another man done gone
Another man done gone
From the County Farm
Another man done gone

I didn't know his name (four times)

He had a long chain on (four times)

He killed another man (four times)

I don't know where he's gone (four times)

I'm gonna walk your log (four times)

John Lomax, speaking: That's perfect!

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 12:46 PM

Also:

I didn't know his name.

I don't know where he's gone.

Vera Hall, of Livingston, Alabama, the original source for this song (recorded by Lomax for the Library of Congress) ended it with a curious:

I'm gonna walk your log!

Listen to Vera Hall sing it; she's glorious! I'm also pretty sure she didn't sing the verse about "they hunted him with hounds," and I think she sang "HE killed another man," not "they." Trivial quibble. But, get the Treasury of Recordings from the Library of Congress CD, and listen to this great singer.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 12:49 PM

You're too quick for me, Charlie!

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From: Allan C.
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 01:05 PM

"Another man done gone... from the county farm.... I didn't know his name.... He had a long chain on.... He killed another man.... I don't know where he's gone."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From: canoer
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 01:22 PM

I've heard an additional line/verse about setting the hounds on him. I'll try to find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From: canoer
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 03:20 PM

Taken from a tape called UAW Sings put out by UAW Education Dept. They don't give any info on the sources of the songs:

Another man done gone


Another man done gone from the county farm
Another man done gone.


He had a long chain on, he had a long chain on, he had a long chain on.


I didn't know his name, (4x)


They hunted him with hounds, (4x)


They killed another man, (4x)


Another man done gone,
Another man done gone from the county farm,
Another man done gone.

-- I wouldn't be surprised if they used a Paul Robeson recording. Cheers!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Another Man Done Gone
From:
Date: 25 Feb 00 - 05:19 PM

See what happens when you post things from memory? Thank you, Charlie and Sandy.

Dan Schatz

Subject: Origins: Another Man Done Gone Copyright
From: GUEST,cathleen margaret
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 08:20 AM

Hello.
Does anyone know who holds the copyright for Another Man Done Gone. I've written a song using this melody and inspired by the era and content.

Thanks
cathleen
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Origins: Another Man Done Gone Copyright
From: JMB
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 08:55 AM

I believe it could be John and Alan Lomax who holds the copyright.

Subject: RE: Origins: Another Man Done Gone Copyright
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 01:34 PM

Gee, that's an interesting question, Cathleen. You'll see that I've combined this thread with earlier ones and added crosslinks to our other threads on the song up above. Take a look through them.

Here's what the Traditional Ballad Index says about this song:

Another Man Done Gone

DESCRIPTION: "Another man done gone... from the county farm.... I didn't know his name.... He had a long chain on.... He killed another man.... I don't know where he's gone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (recording, Vera Hall)
KEYWORDS: prison escape homicide
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 307-309, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 95, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax- FSNA 288, Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 67, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text)
Roud #10065
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall, "Another Man Done Gone" (AFS 4049 A4, 4049 B, 1940; on LCTreas, LC04)
Pete Seeger, "Another Man Done Gone" (on PeteSeeger05) (on PeteSeeger27)
Willie Turner, "Now Your Man Done Gone" (on NFMAla1)
File: LxU095

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Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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Here are the lyrics we have in our Digital Tradition Folk Song Database:

ANOTHER MAN DONE GONE

Another man done gone
Another man done gone
From the County Farm
Another man done gone

I didn't know his name (4x)

He had a long chain on (4x)

He killed another man (4x)

I don't know where he's gone (4x)

I'm gonna walk your log (4x)

From the singing by Vera Hall,
recorded by John A. Lomax in Livingston, Alabama, October 31, 1940
on the recording A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings
Selected and Annotated by Stephen Wade, Rounder CD 1500 (1997)

filename[ DONEGONE
CB
Feb07

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And here is a link to at least some of the recordings Alan Lomax made of Vera Ward Hall singing this song:

http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-ix.do?ix=recording&id=10501&idType=sessionId&sortBy=abc.

So, as far as is generally known, Vera Ward Hall is the sole source of this song, and Alan Lomax is the one who recorded her singing it.

In The Folk Songs of North America (1960)[soing No. 288, page 539], Alan Lomax says "Another Man Done Gone" was adapted and arranged from the singing of Vera Hall and Rich Amerson, Livingstone Alabama, by J. Lomax, A. Lomax, and R.P. Tartt.

It's also in Best Loved American Folk Songs (Folk Song U.S.A.) by John and Alan Lomax, Song No. 95 (pp 326-327). But note that the song was recorded in 1940 on AFS 4049 A4, 4049 B, 1940 - for the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song (AFS). So, does the fact that the Lomaxes recorded the song under the auspices of the Library of Congress, give them rights to the song. I think not.
If anyone has rights to the song, it would be Vera Ward Hall - but she could have passed those rights on to another party.

BUT when I'm getting recording licenses for people in the U.S., the first place I go is to the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), which administers most song copyrights in the U.S. HFA';s Songfile.com (click) service says the song belongs to Ludlow Music, which controls the rights to many of the songs collected by the Lomaxes Way Back When. Those who want to license the song for recording, can do so through the Harry Fox Agency - just click on the Songfile link.

So, this one was easy, because the song is listed with HFA. We've had long discussions about the morality of the Lomaxes and their successors and who should have the rights to the songs, but I just go to the Harry Fox Agency and let the lawyers fight about the rights.

So, the short answer is that the song is owned by Ludlow Music and recording licenses are available from the Harry Fox Agency, songfile.com

-Joe Offer (email sent to Cathleen)-

Subject: RE: Origins: Another Man Done Gone
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 02:10 AM

What does "I'm gonna walk your log" mean?

Subject: RE: Origins: Another Man Done Gone
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 02:23 AM

Hi, Gerry - there's quite a discusson of "I'm gonna walk your log here:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=5528.0

To my mind, here's the best answer in that discussion:
For what it is worth here's the entry in Eric Townley's book "Tell Your Story: A Dictionary of Jazz and Blues Recordings 1917-1950", Storyville 1976 (p. 163)
I'M GONNA WALK YOUR LOG
Baby Doo (Leonard Caston) Decca 7773 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQxnXPKR5A
I'm going to get the better of you or defeat you; believed to be derived from log-walking and log-rolling competitions held in forest areas where there were bayous or lakes. In log-walking competitors tried to walk from one end of a floating log to the other and in log-rolling there would be two on a log, one trying to throw the other off.

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It's interesting to see how many different artists have recorded this song. I especially like the recordings by Hot Tuna and Jorma Kaukonen - and the one by Vera Hall.

-Joe-