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Uncle Billy

from Bound to Go by Andrew Calhoun

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Illustrates the standard woes of a sharecropper after the Civil War; found in Negro Folk Songs, collected by Natalie Curtis-Burlin, therein called "Cotton-Pickin' Song."

lyrics

One twentieth of May morning, under that barnyard tree,
Them Yankees read them papers, and set the poor slave free.

I been workin' in a contract, ever since that day,
And just found out this mornin' why it didn't pay.

I told boss this year I try hit once more,
He counted off this cotton, took every other row.

When boss sold the cotton, I ask for my half,
He told me I chopped out my half with the grass.

Boss says, "Uncle Billy, I think you done well,
To pay your debts with cotton, and have your seeds to sell."

Well I sold them seeds for five cents a peck,
And bought this red hankerchief, you see around my neck.

Hurry up, children, it's time we been gone,
This weather look so cloudy—I think it's gonna storm.

credits

from Bound to Go, released May 15, 2008

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Andrew Calhoun Chicago, Illinois

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