Told My Captain

Told my captain my hands were cold,
Told my captain my feet were cold,
God damn your hands, boy, let the wheelin' roll.
God damn your feet, boy, let the wheel-in' roll.

Captain, Captain, you must be blind,
Look at your watch, it's past quittin' time.
Captain, Captain, how can it be?
Whistle done blow, you still workin' me?

Raised my hand to wipe the sweat off my head,
Damned old captain shot my buddy dead.
If you don't believe my buddy's dead.
Just look at that hole in my buddy's head.

Asked my captain to give me my time,
Damned old captain wouidn't pay me no mmd.
If I'd a-had my weight in lime,*
Would've whupped that captain till he was stone blind.

Captain walking up and down,
Buddy's lying on the burning ground.
Buzzards circling ,round the sky,
Buzzards sure know captain's gonna die.

* I. e., If I were a white man on even terms for a fair fight.

Too Poor To Die
(Iverson Minter a.k.a. Loisiana Red 1975)

Last night I had a dream
I dreamed I'd died
The undertaker came
To carry me for the ride
I couldn't afford a coffin
Embalmment's kinda high
I jumped off my deathbed, cause l's
Too poor to die
l's in trouble
And I'll tell you the reason why
I'm just too poor people
I'm too poor to go lay down and die

Dreamed at the cemetery
I couldn't afford enough
To pay the gravediggers
To cover me up
It cost a lot of money
Cause they was union men
I guess before I die, I better
Think again
l's in trouble...

Dreamed I met the devil
He's waitin' at the gate
Say, ,,Come on in, Red
You ain't a minute late"
Said, he'd lead me to his kingdom
Lead me by my arm
But he wouldn't move my body, 'less I
Grease his palm
l's in trouble...

Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More
(Lucille Bogan 1930)

Times done got hard
Money's done got scarce
Stealin' and robbin' is goin' to take place
Cause tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
I say tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
And I'm goin' to rob somebody
If I don't make me some dough

I'm goin' to do just like a blind man
Stand and beg for change
Until these arresting officers
Change my trickin' name
Cause tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
I say tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
And I've got to make my livin'
Don't care where I go

I'm goin' to learn these walkin' tricks
What it's all about
I'm goin' to get them in my house
And ain't goin' to let them out
Cause tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
I say tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
And I can't make no money
Don't care where I go

I got up this mornin'
With the risin' sun
Been walkin' all day
And I ain't caught a one
Cause tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
I say tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
And I can't make a dime
Don't care where I go

I got up this mornin'
Feelin' tough
I got to call in my tricks
In the rough, rough, rough
Cause tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
I say tricks ain't walkin'
Tricks ain't walkin' no more
And I've got to change my luck
If I have to move next door

Trouble In Mind
(Richard M. Jones 1924)

Trouble in mind, I'm blue
But I won't be blue always
Forthe sun will shine
In my back door someday

I'm gonna lay my head
On some lonesome railroad line
And let that 2.19 train
Pacify my mind

Trouble in mind, I'm so blue
I've almost lost my mind
Sometimes I feel like livin'
Sometimes I feel like dyin'

My good man have quit me
And it sure does grieve my mind
When you see me laughin'
I'm laughin' just to keep from cryin'

Trouble in mind, I'm so blue
But I won't be blue always
For the sun's gonna shine
In my back door someday

Wanderin'

My daddy is an engineer, my brother drives a hack,
My sister takes in washing and the baby balls the jack.

And it looks like I'm never gonna cease my wanderin'.

I've been a-wanderin' early and late,
New York City to the Golden Gate.

Been a-workin' in the City; been a-workin' on the farm,
And all I've got to show for it is the muscle in my arm.

And it ...

Snakes in the ocean, eels in the sea,
A redheaded woman made a fool out of me.

And it ...

When I Lay Down

When I lay down and die on my old tired hunkers,
The fam'ly back home get ten thousand plunkers;
Chorus:
Oh, this man's war is a mean man's war for sure.

I only want to live but I know I've got to die,
The fun I'll have be in die sweet by and by; (Chorus)

All of those mamas back home are a-pinin'
For a papa like me when the moon is a-shinin'; (Chorus)

Can't think about livin' when you know you got to die,
Can't think about lovin' when the heinie's nearby; (Chorus)

Findin' out every day how to be a fighter,
I'm a-totin' my gun but my pack's gettin' lighter; (Chorus)

There's a sniper over yonder in what's left of a tree,
But he'll be a snipin' son of a gun before he ever snipes me; (Chorus)

Whiskey And Wimmen
( 4/4, slow blues tempo, by John Lee Hooker)

Whiskey and wimmen´
almost wrecked my life
Whiskey and wimmen´
almost wrecked my life
If it wasn´t for whiskey and wimmen´
I´d have money today

Night life, - night life
ain´t no good for me
Night life, - night life
ain´t no good for me
I had a good start
but wimmen´ and whiskey
done tore it down

Wild Women Don't Have The Blues
(Ida Cox 1924)

I hear these women raving about their monkey-men
About their trifling husbands and their no-good friends
These poor women sit around all day and moan
Wondering why their wandering papas don't come home
But wild women don't worry
Wild women don't have the blues

Now when you got a man, don't never be on the square
Because if you do, he'll have a woman everywhere
I never was known to treat no one man right
I keep 'em working hard both day and night
'Cause wild women...

I've got a different system and a way of my own
When my man starts kicking, I let him find another home
I get full of good liquor, walk the streets all night
Go home and put my man out if he don't act right
Wild women...

You never get nothing by being an angel child
You better change your ways and get real wild
I want to tell you something, I wouldn't tell you a lie
Wild women are the only kind that really get by
'Cause wild women don't worry
Wild women don't have the blues

Winsboro Cotton Mill Blues

Old man Sargent, sittin' at the desk,
The damned old fool won't give us no rest.
He'd take the nickels off a deadman's eyes
To buy a Coca Cola and an Eskimo Pie.

I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the Winnsb'ro Cotton Mill blues.
Lordy, Lordy, spoolin's hard. You know and I know, I don't have to tell,
Yo work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the Winnsb'ro Cotton Mill blues

When I die, don't bury me at all,
Just hang me up on the spool room wall.
Place a knotter in my right hand,
So I can keep on spoolin' in the promised land.

I got...

When I die, don't bury me deep.
Bury me down on 600 Street.
Place a bobbin in each hand,
So I can doff in the promised land.

I got...