This one (click) is the one I'm most familiar with, although I've heard other versions. This version is unattributed in Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People. Songs of Work and Protest says it was recorded in 1939 by Bill Wolff, but no songwriter is listed. I think I found it in five sources in all, and all list it as unattributed. Note that the piece by Frédéric Rzewski (click) lasts 12 minutes, so I'd guess it's an orchestral setting of a traditional song.
-Joe Offer-

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Here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition:

WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES

Old man Sargent sitting at the desk,
The damned old fool won't give us no rest.
He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes,
To buy a Coca-cola and a Pomo Pie.

cho: I've got the blues,
I've got the blues,
I've got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues,
Lordy, lordy, spoolin's hard,
You know and I know, I don't have to tell:
Work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I've got the blues,
I've got the blues,
I've got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues,
( Repeat after each verse)

When I die, don't bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spoolroom wall.
Place a knotter in my hand,
So I can spool in the Promised Land.

When I die, don't bury me deep,
Bury me down on 600 Street,
Place a bobbin in each hand,
So I can dolph in the Promised Land,

@work @mill
filename[ WNNSBORO
TUNE FILE: WNNSBORO
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

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The lyrics below are almost identical to those in the Digital Tradition.

The song is on page 59 of Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent: The Little Red Songbook (36th edition, 1995), published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES
(author unknown)

Old man Sargent, sittin’ at the desk,
The damned old fool won’t give us no rest.
He’d take the nickels off a dead man’s eyes
To buy a Coca Cola and some Eskimo pies.

CHORUS
I got the blues, I got the blues,
I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.
Lordy, lordy, spoolin’s hard, you know and I know
I don’t have to tell,
You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues, I got the blues,
I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

When I die, don’t bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spool room wall;
Place a knotter in my hand,
So I can spool in the promised land.

When I die don’t bury me deep,
Bury me down on 600 Street,
Place a bobbin in each hand,
So I can doff in the promised land.

A spool is a reel for winding yarn
A knotter is a little gadget used for tying the ends of the yam together
A doffer is a worker who takes filled bobbins from the spinning frames.
Most of this sort of work was done by women.

There are almost identical lyrics on page 144 of John Greenway's American Folksongs of Protest (1953, University of Pennsylvania Press - 1960 Perpetua reprint). There is one major difference: the chorus in Greenway slightly different:

I got the blues, I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues;
Lordy, Lordy, spoolin’s hard, you know and I know, I don’t have to tell,
You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues, I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.

That, and Sargent buys an Eskimo Pie, and Greenway has the word daulf instead of "doff" in the last line.

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And here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

DESCRIPTION: "Old Man Sargent, sitting at the desk, The damned old fool won't give us no rest. He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes...." The singer describes the bad conditions in the mills, and instructs listeners not to bury his body when he dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (collected by William Wolff at the School for Southern Women Workers, according to Doug deNatale and Glenn Hinson, in their article, "The Southern Textile Song Tradition Reconsidered," published in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993, p. 88)
KEYWORDS: weaving factory technology work hardtimes death burial
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenway-AFP, p. 144, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 371, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 126, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (1 text)
DT, WNNSBORO*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" (on PeteSeeger13)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Times in the Mill (I)" (floating verses)
File: Grnw144

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