When I was a boy and reading Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus tales, I recall Bre'r Rabbit strutting around in one of the tales as if he was "king ob de patterollers." A footnote gave some of the words to the song, although no music. I have since heard versions of it from many sources, all changing the operative word to Johnny, Jimmie, slave, chillen, Smoke, Boy, and others. Hedy West sings "Run, Slave Run" in Vanguard II, and the liner notes state that the existtence of this song in the lWest family suggests a long-held sylmpathy for the slaves.