| Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues Revised Edition Contributor(s): Jackson, Bruce (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0820321583 ISBN-13: 9780820321585 Publisher: University of Georgia Press OUR PRICE: $33.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 1999 Annotation: "Making it in Hell, " says Bruce Jackson, is the spirit behind the sixty-five worksongs gathered in this eloquent dispatch from a brutal era of prison life in the Deep South. Through engagingly documented song arrangements and profiles of their singers, Jackson shows how such pieces as Hammer Ring, " "Ration Blues, " "Yellow Gal, " and "Jody's Got My Wife and Gone" are like no other folk music forms: they are distinctly African in heritage, diminished in power and meaning outside of their prison context, an used exclusively by black convicts. The songs paced workers through the rigors of cane-cutting, logging, and cotton-picking. Perhaps most important, they helped resolve the men's hopes and longings and allowed them a subtle outlet for grievances they could never voice when face-to-face with their jailers. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Music | Genres & Styles - Folk & Traditional - Music | History & Criticism - General - Music | Ethnic |
| Dewey: 782.421 |
| LCCN: 00698427 |
| Physical Information: 0.92" H x 6" W x 8.99" (1.38 lbs) 352 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Making it in Hell, says Bruce Jackson, is the spirit behind the sixty-five work songs gathered in this eloquent dispatch from a brutal era of prison life in the Deep South. Through engagingly documented song arrangements and profiles of their singers, Jackson shows how such pieces as "Hammer Ring," "Ration Blues," "Yellow Gal," and "Jody's Got My Wife and Gone" are like no other folk music forms: they are distinctly African in heritage, diminished in power and meaning outside their prison context, and used exclusively by black convicts. The songs helped workers through the rigors of cane cutting, logging, and cotton picking. Perhaps most important, they helped resolve the men's hopes and longings and allowed them a subtle outlet for grievances they could never voice when face-to-face with their jailers. |
Contributor Bio(s): Jackson, Bruce: - BRUCE JACKSON is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture at the State University of New York at Buffalo and former president of the American Folklore Society. |