Origins: Winsborough?/Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

Subject: RE: Origins: Winsborough?/Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 09 Mar 24 - 10:57 PM

Pete Seeger recorded this on a 1948 78rpm disc recorded
by People's Songs (California) - on the 2nd edition

CHARTER 25 (People's Songs) second pressing, 1948
Travelin'
Pete Seeger with his 5-string banjo
The Death of Harry Simms (Jim Garland) / Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (traditional)
Pete Seeger

Seeger also recorded it on STINSON SLP 57 A Pete Seeger Concert (1953)

Thomas.

Subject: Origins: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Feb 19 - 01:39 AM

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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Subject: Tune Req: Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blus
From: declercq
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 03:15 PM

Hello
Who can send me "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" in MP3 format please?
In the interim thank you
Declercq

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from Joe Offer:
Pete Seeger performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSg6sIipjMU

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Ringer
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:23 AM

Blessings upon you for your offer, Susan A-R. Try as I might, I can't find any source of the score (it's not even in the Zen-On catalogue, so one of my contacts tells me, although I didn't know then that it was one of North American Ballads), so I'd like to take you up. And so that your conscience can remain untroubled, I found a quote here indicating that Rzewski allows his music to be freely copied. In fact, it seems that unless you bought a pukka score, you are obliged to make it available to me **BG**

Now, given that I'm in England (and I assume you're not), how are you to get it to me? And how am I to repay you?

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Thread #24157   Message #273418
Posted By: GUEST,eric
08-Aug-00 - 02:39 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Cotton Mill Girls
Subject: Lyr Add: WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES (Silverman^^^

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: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Susan A-R
Date: 19 May 01 - 10:11 PM

Joe Offer, if you paid more attention, it would be darned intimidating. We love ye just the way you are, and an occasional error is -- well -- human.

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 May 01 - 12:24 AM

I'm glad Susan understood that it was the piano arrangement/medley that Bald Eagle was looking for, and not just the single song. Maybe I should pay more attention...
-Joe Offer, sheepishly-

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Susan A-R
Date: 17 May 01 - 10:43 PM

Michael tells me that the publisher is Zen-On, a Japanese-based publishing company. Good luck! It's a great piece. (It actually inspired our earlier thread on Aunt Molly Jackson, as Dreadful Memories is the fourth ballad.)

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Ringer
Date: 17 May 01 - 01:39 PM

Many thanks to all of you. I have some links to follow...

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 17 May 01 - 05:07 AM

"Wongwriter", Joe?(heh heh)
It is reassuring to fumblefingered trypists (sic)and incompetent profreaders(sic) such as myself, that even our heroes have feet of clay sometimes!
RtS (a wrong-writer if ever there was one!)

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Susan A-R
Date: 16 May 01 - 10:03 PM

There are actually four American Ballads, one based on Which Side Are You On, one on Down By the Riverside, and I can't remember the fourth (the third being Winsboro Cotton Mill Blues. My husband, Michael Arnowitt, actually recorded the Winsboro piece on a Musical Heritage CD which is, alass, out of print. If you have trouble finding the music now that you have the composer name, put up another post, or send me a personal message, and I'll pry it out of Michael.

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 01 - 01:35 PM

AHA!! Go forth and Click here! Found that sucker just by typing the title in Google!

Subject: RE: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 01 - 01:33 PM

This is all I found:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/composer.html (where I found it)

Rudziñski, Witold
Rudziñski, Zbigniew

The only two Polish R composers I could find, and last,the Polish spelling of Fredrick, of which the only one I found was Chopin

FRYDERYK

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnMvUVKYmxM - Rzewski - North American Ballads [Audio + Score]

Subject: Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues
From: Ringer
Date: 16 May 01 - 01:17 PM

My daughter recently attended a concert at which a solo piano piece called Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues (not sure of spelling, but see below) by Frederick Polish-name-beginning-with-R was performed. I'm now looking to acquire the sheet-music for her... BUT a web-search for WCMB finds only a version by Pete Seeger and ditto for "Frederick Polish-name-beginning-with-R" is unlikely to be effective.

Can anyone tell me the composer? The publisher of the piano score? Anything about the piece? If you can, thanks in advance.