In the same way, realigning whole sections of railroad that have been shifted by trains - rails, ties, and all - requires a crew to tap on the rails with hammers or pull on them with crowbars.
The most efficient way to do this is to get the workers into a rhythm, which is traditionally provided by chants or songs, such as " Steel Driving Song," collected from Henry Truvillion by John and Ruby Lomax in Louisiana in 1939. When hammering in spikes to hold down the rails and ties, workers swing ten-pound hammers in a full circle, hitting the spike squarely, one after the other, without faltering or missing. It's impossible to be bored when thinking up lyrics like that!Ī good example of the kind of song needed to coordinate labor is the railroad work song. There were often special calls for quitting time, such as " Oh the Sun Done Quit Shinin,'" and even for mealtimes, such as " She Brought My Breakfast." Similarly, when out cutting sugarcane on a cold fall morning, a Texas singer might complain: Sometimes, a plantation worker or sharecropper in one field would hear a neighbor's arwhoolie carried on the breeze, and would answer with his own. In southern cornfields and cotton fields, workers often relieved their boredom with an "arwhoolie," or " Cornfield Holler:" a plaintive chant with only a few words, sung by a worker in the fields. Work songs are typically sung for two reasons: to coordinate the labor of a group of people working together, which improves the efficiency of the work, and to relieve the boredom of a tedious job, which improves the lives of the workers. Henry Truvillion demonstrates a chant used to organize men unloading railroad rails. Francisco Etcheverry, Matias Etcheverry, and Antoinette Erro, 1940. (video)Ī spinning song sung in Basque language by Mrs. This group of former fishermen from the Northern Neck of Virginia perform songs used in menhaden fishing from the Chesapeake Bay region. Playlistįive recordings from Library of Congress collections.Ī lullaby sung in Spanish by a group of girls at the Blalack School, in Blalack, Texas, 1939.Īrthur Bell sings a hammering song about the legendary John Henry, 1939 Iconic American figures such as cowboys had their work songs, as did sailors, whose songs kept work going smoothly on tall ships throughout the age of sail. Americans have developed work songs for many occupations, from agricultural jobs like picking cotton, to industrial ones, like driving railroad spikes. In traditional cultures around the world, work is often accompanied by song.
Listen to this page Traditional Work Songs
0 kommentar(er)
