The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #88922   Message #1672271
Posted By: Joe Offer
18-Feb-06 - 05:01 PM
Thread Name: DTStudy Lewiston/Lowell Factory Girl
Subject: DT Correction: Factory Girl (Lomax)
The version in Lomax & Lomax, ABFS, is almost the same as what's in the Digital Tradition, which got it from Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People (which got it from Lomax & Lomax and re-titled it).
Here is my corrected transcription of the lyrics (very minor corrections in punctuation and spelling).

The Factory Girl
(NO MORE SHALL I WORK IN THE FACTORY)

No more shall I work in the factory
To greasy up my clothes,
No more shall I work in the factory
With splinters in my toes.

No more shall I hear those bosses say,
"Boys, you'd better daulf."*
No more shall I hear those bosses say,
"Spinners, you had better clean off."

No more shall I hear the drummer wheels
A-rolling over my head;
When factory girls are hard at work,
I'll be in my bed.

No more shall I hear the whistle blow
To call me up so soon;
No more shall I hear the whistle blow
To call me from my home.

**No more shall I see the super come,
All dressed up so fine;
For I know I'll marry a country boy
Before the year is round.

No more shall I wear the old black dress,
Greasy all around;
No more shall I wear the old black bonnet,
With holes all in the crown.

From American Ballads and Folk Songs (1934, John A. Lomax & Alan Lomax) - source not identified.
TUNE FILE: NOMOFACT
CLICK TO PLAY
RG


*Daulf = doff????
As usual, the tune in the DT is correct. It's a rare day when Dick Greenhaus makes a mistake in transcribing a tune. His accuracy on tunes is phenomenal.
The tune in the Digital Tradition is exactly what's in Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, in the Key of E.
Lomax & Lomax has the same tune, but in the Key of F.
**In the second version in Greenway's American Folksongs of Protest, this verse is: The version in Greenway is noted that it's from "People's Songs Library." The text is otherwise almost the same as in Lomax & Lomax.