Mastodawn

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Black-American musical expression during enslavement laid the foundation for blues, jazz, country, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, & popular music. Emerging from oppression, it reflected resilience & creativity, becoming anthems for civil rights movements the world over. The emotive force and cultural distinctiveness of those early songs endure, nurturing the ongoing struggle for a more just world.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

All African tribal groups brought to the New World as slaves shared a common cultural trait: music played an essential role in every aspect of life. It was present during play, work, mourning, and worship, blurring the lines between these purposes. Creating music was a communal effort, with everyone contributing according to their abilities.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Even after Africans were forcibly taken from their homes and forced to adapt to a foreign land and culture, music remained central to their lives. Their songs encompassed work, dance, and worship music, forming distinct categories.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco

Throughout history, despite the challenges of slavery, the slaves developed a new communication system through these songs. Over time, these musical expressions became the foundation of Black American music, uniting the Black community during years of struggle and hardship.

Subsequent generations built upon this foundation, eventually giving rise to what we now know as Black American culture.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Enslaved people sang work songs while laboring on railways, cutting woods, and clearing bushes for their masters. These songs served as a way to alleviate boredom, express emotions, frustrations, and dreams of freedom. The lyrics provided insights into their harsh life, reflecting on deaths, punishments, starvation, and family separation.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Work songs became a means of covert communication among slaves, using coded messages to mock their masters. These songs fostered a strong bond among the slaves, and they sang together in groups, with a leader starting the line and others repeating it as a chorus. This communal singing improved their coordination and enhanced the effectiveness of their tasks, especially during heavy labor involving dangerous tools.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Work songs varied based on the type of labor, pacing the tasks and making life more bearable. Descriptions of work songs are scarce before 1800, but their modern understanding is based on an intermediate stage of development. These songs evolved from improvised music into roughly predictable rhythmic and metric patterns.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Most slave music was delivered in a responsorial fashion, with one singer leading and the others joining in, a practice likely influenced by African singing traditions. This style of singing built community and was essential for ensuring worker safety during heavy labor.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

An example of such a song is the railroad work song, which helped coordinate the efforts of workers when hammering spikes or realigning sections of railroad. Chants or songs like "Steel Driving Song" and "Track Callin'" provided the rhythm needed for synchronized labor.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Field recordings of work songs were typically not captured while the singers were actually working due to the inconvenience of remote work locations for collectors and the disruptive presence of recording equipment for the workers.

John Lomax and his son, Alan Lomax, were folklorists who unearthed some of the most potent vernacular music from the American South within the oppressive and violent prison system of the region.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

These songs had once been sung throughout the South, but the advent of machines led to the disbanding of work gangs. Subsequently, the songs found their last refuge in the road gang and the penitentiary.

Southern agricultural penitentiaries mirrored 19th-century plantations in many ways, where groups of slaves toiled under the watchful eye of armed white overseers, facing constant threats of severe physical punishment.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Consequently, it was no surprise that the music of plantation culture, including the work songs, also made its way into the prisons.

Within the prison environment, the presence of work song collectors became an intriguing novelty for the inmates, who had no choice but to comply with their wardens. Work tasks, like chopping trees or hoeing fields, were sometimes done with the purpose of recording.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Field recordings made under such conditions, like "Early in the Mornin'" and "Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad," provide valuable insight into the integration of work & song. Alan Lomax recorded tie-tamping and wood-cutting chants, field hollers, & occasional blues at Mississippi's Parchman Farm Penitentiary in 1947 and on February 9, 1948.

https://youtu.be/3qsRdLXaWBY

Modern interpretation
https://youtu.be/_XfKHm9g-ig

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No More, My Lawd

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

These recordings were anthologized as "Negro Prison Songs" in 1958 and released in 1997 as two volumes of "Prison Songs" in the Alan Lomax Collection by Rounder Records (1714 and 171).

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

A notable example of a work song assimilated into popular culture is the "Night Herding Song." Historically, work songs have been adapted to suit the styles of various singers who then became inspirations for later generations.

For instance, in 1929, Mississippi John Hurt recorded the popular tune "Spike Driver Blues," his own take on the traditional "Take This Hammer."

https://youtu.be/Q5img4o2Wgc

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MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - Spike Driver Blues [1928]

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

The work song "Black Betty," originally documented by the Library of Congress, has been recorded by rock bands Ram Jam (1977), Spiderbait (2004), and The Melvins (2011). As a result, contemporary pop music carries traces of the driving rhythms and poignant lyrics that echo the centuries of American workers chopping, hammering, and daydreaming.

https://youtu.be/tiCEVl_9-MM

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Original Black Betty

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

An essential element of all Black American music, particularly work songs, is the "call and answer" structure present in both the musical and textual lines. This structure remains even when there's only one singer, and it persists in modern popular music, regardless of race.

https://youtu.be/4MwQcm4eH18

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Call & Response. Work song - Prision song (1966)

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

In genres like Blues within Black American music, the "call" portion may occur on a beat or two. The tradition of call and answer singing has endured throughout history, from the construction of the transcontinental railroad to the work gangs in southern penitentiaries until the 1930s, and even in the songs of basic training in the U.S. military.

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U.S. Military Drill Training

https://youtu.be/hHs6XQfgLp8

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Top 5 Best Army Cadences | New intro | Read Desc

These clips in my video aren't mine, I found them off youtube. This video contains 5 clips of U.S Army Soliders, marching, and singing cadences. I select 5 v...

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

During field work, like hoeing, efficiency was crucial for work lines, and the music was not vastly different from "gang" songs. Call and answer melodic lines remained the norm, but the absence of serious injury risk allowed for more improvisational freedom and exploration. This led to irregular line lengths and a more dramatic delivery of the songs.

Example

https://youtu.be/xlaRGTHJbFk

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Charlie Rocks Cadence REVISED

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Black improvisation during this time was not concerned with rhyme or syllabification. Syllables were either shortened or elongated to fit the rhythmic unit. Additionally, the origin of the modern guitar "lick" can likely be traced back to the field holler or "arhoolie."

These vestiges of call and answer singing can still be heard in popular music today.

Edwin Hawkins Singers, “Oh, Happy Day, 1968
https://youtu.be/EfGDvDGE7zk

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Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins Singers

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Field hollers represent a form of work songs originating from enslaved individuals who toiled for long hours in the fields. These songs emerged during the peak of slavery in the United States, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and endured into the twentieth century, carried by African Americans even after the abolition of slavery in 1865.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Incorporating distinct elements, field hollers often involved snarls, growls, and other non-musical language or animal sounds, as well as swoops and glissandi—blurring one note into the next without a break between them. All slave music, regardless of its purpose, featured the use of quarter-tone inflections.

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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

A quarter-tone denotes the note between two recognized in Western music. For instance, the pitch between E flat and E is neither E flat nor E but a distinct sound in itself. In Blues, these notes are referred to as "bends." These unique musical nuances contribute to the richness and depth of the field hollers and Blues genre.

Example: Mistreatin' Mama by the harmonica player Jaybird Coleman, 1927

https://youtu.be/XvUS-OTF3qA

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Jaybird Coleman Mistreatin' Mama (1927)

YouTube

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 25, 2023

Slave owners and overseers recognized the significance of work songs and understood that slaves who didn't sing could cause trouble. They also grasped the impact of the music's tempo and its character. Faster, cheerier, major-key songs were encouraged, as they increased productivity. Mournful, sorrowful songs in minor keys were discouraged, as they could affect the mood, slow down work, and lead to trouble.

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Lotus Blossom Jul 25, 2023

@Deglassco Great thread!!

Brian Jopek Jul 26, 2023

@Deglassco These sure bring back some memories

Bob Morris Jul 25, 2023

@Deglassco Thank you for your invaluable research and posts.

As FYI: A NYC folkie group also covered "Black Betty" in early 1960s. It's where I first heard it.

Koerner, Ray, & Glover - Black Betty
https://youtu.be/xgL0mM2qPGY

Koerner, Ray, & Glover - Black Betty

YouTube

Eric Zarowny Jul 25, 2023

@Deglassco as always, the entire thread is great, but this is particularly interesting! I had no idea what the origin of this song was.

Whit_justWhit Jul 27, 2023

As I understand it, Mississippi John Hurt was also one of the founders of Fingerpicking. Notably, carrying the bass note with your thumb on a guitar. A technique that reverberates through musical history and influences musicians to this day.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerstyle_guitar#:~:text=Fingerpicking%20(also%20called%20thumb%20picking,jazz%20and%2For%20blues%20music.

Fingerstyle guitar - Wikipedia

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 27, 2023

@Whit_justWhit Thank you for the link. Reading it now.

Mark Wyner Won’t Comply

@Deglassco their resilience and bravery is surreal.

Roberto von Archimboldi Jul 29, 2023

@Deglassco thank you for another interesting thread.

I really struck by the fact that it enhanced effectiveness, especially with dangerous labour. Naïvely, I would have expected it to be done to slow down the line, sabotage the work to some degree or at least get some measure of control. It is what sweated labour does. Presumably the key here is that the tools used were dangerous. If you have the time, could you explain the link for me?

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 29, 2023

@RobertoArchimboldi I imagine it synchronized the repetitive tasks and made one less likely to think about the physical toil and time. Brought about a sense of camaraderie and shared struggles. In its own way, this is a way to subvert the will of the oppressor---survive.

Roberto von Archimboldi Jul 29, 2023

@Deglassco thank you. That makes sense, like you are at a level of oppression where continuing to be is itself an act of resistance

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jul 29, 2023

@RobertoArchimboldi And asserting your humanity.