Negro Prison Camp Worksongs

Various Artists

Recorded by Pete & Toshi Seeger in the winter of 1951 at two Texas prison farms, this album represents some of the oldest and most traditional work songs found among African American communities of incarcerated people in the southern United States. Traditionally a participatory art form, these songs were typically sung while groups of 10-30 people performed tasks such as chopping and hoeing. With origins reaching back to their West African ancestry as well as during the era of African American enslavement, work songs served the purpose of alleviating the mundane nature of repetitive tasks as well as providing a forum for the song leader to keep the group together through rhythms and lyrics. 10 songs, 40 minutes, with liner notes featuring an introduction by Pete Seeger and song lyrics.

*Content Advisory: The liner notes to this album include language that dehumanizes incarcerated musicians. Smithsonian Folkways has updated our descriptions of albums recorded in prisons to avoid frameworks that wholly attach artists’ identities to their experience in prison. This album is a historical document of not only the stories of its performers, but of the racism of the prison system and the music industry at that moment.

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Track Listing

101	Let Your Hammer Ring	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	05:50
102	Here Rattler Here	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	05:22
103	Chopping in the New Ground	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	01:40
104	Go Down, Old Hannah	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	05:26
105	Mighty Bright Light	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	02:56
201	Grizzly Bear	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	04:40
202	Lost John	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	05:00
203	You Got to Hurry	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	02:04
204	I Need More Power	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	03:36
205	We Need Another Witness	Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas	03:39

Catalog

Negro Prison Camp Worksongs

Track Listing

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