Lyr. Add: CALL ME HANGIN' JOHNNY

Solo
Call me hangin' Johnny
Chorus
O hang boys hang.
(Solo and response continues)

You call me hangin' Johnny
O hang boys hang.
Yes, I never hang nobody
O hang boys hang.
I never hang nobody
O hang boys hang.
O we'll heave an' haul together
O hang boys hang.
We heave an' haul forever
O hang boys hang.
They hang my ole Grandaddy
O hang boys hang.
They hang him for his money
O hang boys hang.
O they hang him for his money
O hang boys hang.
They hang him for his money
O hang boys hang.
They call me hangin' Johnny
O hang boys hang.
O I never hang nobody
O hang boys hang.

Sung by Joe Armstrong, onetime head stevedore. Musical score provided.

"Song used in loading lumber, six men on each side of the rope hauled on the block and tackle in putting a great "stick" in place on board a vessel." The sticks were timbers, 16" x 16" x 40' long.
The work was directed by "headers," stevedores responsible for proper loading of a vessel. The head stevedore was white, and Irish, or had learned the craft from Irish stevedores.
Most of the workmen were from the dock, although some ships had contract slaves or freedmen on board.
Ships came loaded with rock ballast, which was off-loaded on wasteland, between St. Simon's and Brunswick.

Sometimes called a chantey, but not concerned with sailing a vessel.

Lydia Parrish, 1942 (and later reprints), "Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands," pp. 203-204, 1992 edition.