Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls

Subject: Lyr Add: COTTON MILL GIRLS^^
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 08:30 PM

Mbo - you mentioned a version of this song by the Poozies. Can you post the lyrics? Apparently, it isn't in the Forum or the Database.
-Joe Offer-

---

COTTON MILL GIRLS

I worked in the cotton mill all of my life,
And I ain't got nothin' but a Barlow knife,
It's a hard time cotton mill girls,
It's a hard time everywhere.

CHORUS It's a hard time cotton mill girls,
It's a hard time cotton mill girls,
It's a hard time cotton mill girls,
It's a hard time everywhere.

When I die, don't bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spinning room wall,
Pickle my bones in alcohol,
It's a hard time everywhere.
CHORUS

(adapted by Hedy West ©1962, Hedy West)
JRO ^^

---

This version of the song is from The Collected Reprints from Sing Out! Vol 1-6 (the pink book). The notes say:

Hedy West, daughter of Georgia poet Don West, learned this song near her native Cartersville in the heart of the Southern Appalachians.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 08:46 PM

I have it here, and may as well add the missing bits:

1915 I heard it said
Go to cotton country and get ahead
But it's hard times, cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

Gilmerton Barlow's a long long way
Down Ellijay to Cartecay
And it's hard times, cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

Us kids worked ten hours a day
For fourteen pennies of measly pay
And it's hard times, cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

The Poozies had the song from Christine Kydd, who had it from Hedy West.  (pub. Carlin Music Coroporation).

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: mg
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 11:42 PM

more verses...don't know from where.

us cotton mill girls don't get enough
for an ounce of tobacco and a box of snuff
and it's hard times etc..

every morning at 5 oclock
we get 2 cold bisquits hard as a rock

another verse about docking my pay..

Subject: Lyr Add: COTTON MILL GIRLS^^
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 11:48 PM

Here's another version:

COTTON MILL GIRLS

I worked in the cotton mill all of my life,
And I ain't got nothing but a Barlow knife,
It's hard times, cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

CHORUS
It's hard times cotton mill girls,
It's hard times cotton mill girls,
It's hard times cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

In nineteen fifteen we heard it said,
"Move to the country and get ahead."
It's hard times cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.
CHORUS

Us kids worked twelve hours a day
For fourteen cents of measly pay.
It's hard times cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.
CHORUS

When I die, don't bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spinning room wall,
Pickle my bones in alcohol,
It's hard times everywhere.
CHORUS

(source: Jerry Silverman's Folk Song Encyclopedia)

JRO^^

---

Note: There's a version in Here's to the Women (Wenner & Freilicher, 1987). It's almost exactly the same as what's in the Silverman book. Silverman gives no attribution, and Wenner/Freilicher say the song is traditional.

Subject: Tune Add: COTTON MILL GIRLS
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Aug 00 - 12:52 AM

MIDI file: COTTOM~1.MID

Timebase: 192

Name: Cotton Mill Girls
Text: By (Traditional)
TimeSig: 4/4 24 8
Start
0576 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0032 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 64 110 0336 0 64 000 0048 1 64 110 0192 0 64 000 0000 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0032 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 60 110 0528 0 60 000 0048 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 64 110 0336 0 64 000 0048 1 64 110 0192 0 64 000 0000 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0032 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 64 110 0336 0 64 000 0048 1 64 110 0192 0 64 000 0000 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0032 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 64 110 0336 0 64 000 0048 1 64 110 0192 0 64 000 0000 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0032 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0094 0 65 000 0002 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 65 110 0160 0 65 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 64 110 0160 0 64 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 62 110 0160 0 62 000 0032 1 60 110 0528 0 60 000
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:Cotton Mill Girls
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:C
G8|E2EEEDC2|FFF2F2GF|E2E2EDCE|D2D2D2G2|E4E2C2|
FFF2F2F2|E2E2D2D2|C6G2|E4E2C2|FFF2F2G2|E4E2C2|
DDD2D2G2|E4E2C2|FFF2F2F2|E2E2D2D2|C11/2||

^^ Also sent to Mudcat MIDIs.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES (Silverman^^^
From: GUEST,eric
Date: 08 Aug 00 - 02:39 AM

From Jerry Silverman "Folkblues" 1968

Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues (some of the same words as was in Cotton Mill girls)

  (D)Old man Sargent, sittin' at the desk,
  The dammed old fool won't (E7)give us no rest(A7)-(Em)
  He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes,
  To(A7)buy a Coca Cola and an Eskimo Pie.
  
  chorus
  I got the (D) blues,  I got the  blues, I got the   Winnsbr'o Cotton Mill blues(D7)
  (G)Lordy, Lordy, (Gm)spoolin's hard.
  (D)You know and I know, I don't have to tell,
  You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
  I got the (D)blues,  I got the blues,
  I got the B7)Winns(E7)b'ro(A7)Cotton Mill Blues(D)(Bflat7)
  
(A7): When I die, dont bury me at all,
  Just hang me up on the spool room wall.
  Place a knotter in my right hand,
  So I can keep on spoolin' 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.
  chorus^^^   




	

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 10:28 PM

It must have been before 1962 when Womenfolk recorded this. They used the Barlows knife verse and and the When I die verse. I like the political ones better, and I like the ones which seem to place it during the New England mill boom best of all.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: Mbo
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 11:11 PM

I read once that the "When I die don't bury me at all" was actually a verse that comes from the men who worked in the mills, and was absorbed into the song which is otherwise about women.

--Matt

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: Downeast Bob
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 11:19 AM

Malcom quoted the following verse to Cotton Mill girls

Gilmerton Barlow's a long long way
Down Ellijay to Cartecay
And it's hard times, cotton mill girls,
It's hard times everywhere.

Ellijay and Cartecay are two small towns or communities in North Georgia. I first heard this song from Hedy in about 1957, before she began recording (or even playing, for that matter). I don't recall her ever singing those words, but what's interesting is that her family was from that part of north Georgia and her dad, a poet, preacher and union organizer wrote a poem that contained the words, "From Ellijay to Cartecay."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 31 Aug 00 - 06:08 AM

G'day,
Thanks to Joe the tune for "Cotton Mill Girls" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: Lyr Add: HARD TIMES COTTON MILL GIRLS
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Oct 06 - 11:42 PM

Lyr. Add: HARD TIMES COTTON MILL GIRLS

In 1814 I heard it said
Come to the mills and you'll get ahead
Hard Times cotton mill girls
Hard times everywhere.

Chorus:
And it's hard times cotton mill girls
Hard times cotton mill girls
Hard times cotton mill girls
Hard times everywhere.
Those country folk they ought to be killed
For leaving their farms,
And coming to the mill.
Hard timed, cotton mill girls
Hard times everywhere.

Us poor girls work ten hours a day
For fourteen cents of measly pay.
Hard times, cotton mill girls
Hard times everywhere.

They raised the wages a half a cent
And the poor old girls didn't know what it meant,
Hard times, cotton mill girls
Hard times everywhere.

When I die don't bury me at all
Just hang me up on the card room wall
Pickle my bones in alcohol.
Hard times everywhere.

Museum of New hampshire History.
Mill Workers' Song Lyrics,
www.nhhistory.org/edu/support/nhwork/millsongs.pdf

Subject: RE: Words to Cotton Mill Girls
From: GUEST,Marianne "Jolly" Robinson
Date: 07 Feb 07 - 05:16 PM

This is terrific "folk process," seeing all these versions on the web. Who would have thought, back in the 1940s when I began singing? Here's what I have collected and sung.

I worked in the cotton mill all of my life
I ain't got nothing but a Barlow knife

CHORUS
It's hard times, cotton mill girls, hard times everywhere.

In 1915 we heard it said,
"Move to cotton country, you can get ahead

Card room kids and spinning room babies
Can't keep up with the weave shop ladies

Come down the stairs to get a drink of water
Along comes the boss, says I'll dock you a quarter

You can dock me a quarter, you can dock me a dime
I'll go to the office and I'll get my time

They raised our wages up half a cent more
But they went up a dime at the company store

Working on the cotton mill ain't no harm
I'd a heap rather be down on the farm

See that train goin' round the curve
She's loaded down with cotton mill girls

When I die, don't bury me at all
Hang me up on the cutting room wall
Pickle my bones in alcohol
It's a hard time everywhere

Subject: Lyr Add: COTTON MILL BLUES (Lee Brothers)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 May 08 - 07:39 AM

Here's a version copied from the web site of Lyle & Elizabeth Lofgrens:

COTTON MILL BLUES

1. Worked in the cotton mill all my life.
I ain't got nothing but a Barlow knife.

CHORUS: And it's hard times in this old mill, and it's hard times in here.

2. Country folks they ought to be killed
For leaving their farms and coming to the mill.

3. They raised their wages up a half a cent,
But the poor old hands didn't know what it meant.

4. They raised our wages up a half a cent more,
But they went up a dime at the company store.

5. Old man Jones taking up cloth,
He won't give you half that you take off.

6. If it lacks one yard of being a two-cut* roll,
He won't give you but one to save your soul.

7. Card-room kids and the spinning-room babies
Can't keep up with the weave-shop ladies.

8. Come downstairs to get a drink of water,
Along come the boss, says, "I'll dock you a quarter."

9. "You can dock me a quarter, you can dock me a dime,
I'll go to the office and I'll get my time."

10. Got to where now you can't show a dime,
You're running on such short time.

11. If I ever marry, I'll marry a weaver,
And if she won't work, then I won't either.

12. Working in the cotton mill ain't no harm,
I'd heap rather be down on the farm.

13. See that train go around the curve,
She's loaded down with cotton mill girls.

14. See that train go down the track,
Saying, "Goodbye, boys, we'll never come back."

[As recorded by the Lee Brothers in 1930. Their recording appears in the collections "Hard Times Come Again No More, Vol. 2," Yazoo CD 2037, 1998; and "Hard Times in the Country," County CD 3527, 2002.

[*"cut" is an old measure for cloth length = 60 yards]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 11 Oct 12 - 12:02 PM

Another verse I sing; forget whose version I got it from --

The boss walked by and he gave a cough
Blew old Petersen's derby off

Sometimes in alternative version

The shuttle went round, the belt flew off
Knocked old Petersen's derby off

~M~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: redhorse
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 08:33 AM

Just been listening to Hedy West playing this with Pete Seeger on YouTube

I think "Gilmerton Barlow's a long long way" is actually "Gilmer to Bartow", two counties in N Georgia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Sep 13 - 09:14 AM

My version on my Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH2S6LzIsOg