Audio file

Date recorded: April 17, 1936
Contributor(s): Performer: Unidentified men; Performer: Taylor, Jim (Dobie Red); Recordist: Lomax, John A.
Subject(s):
Genre: work song
Culture: African American, Southern U.S.
Instruments: voice, hoe(s)
Setting: Unidentified camp, Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary)
Language: English
Location: Parchman, Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States
Tape number: AFS0736
Track Number: 2
Archive ID: 0736A2
Note: Identified on AFS card as "Pulldo," referred to in the first line of the song. Bruce Jackson, in Wake Up Dead Man: Afro-American Worksongs from Texas Prisons, defines "pull-do" as "an incompetent worker, someone who shirks or makes too many mistakes, someone who can't pull his own weight in a squad."
Technical Note: As of March 2019, a transfer direct from disc was not available. Audio here drawn from preservation reel.
Transcript:
Belongs to: Parchman Farm 4/36
About the session: John Lomax's second recording trip made to Parchman Farm.
Rights: The rights to the audio, photographic, and video materials contained within the Lomax Digital Archive are administered by various publishers, record labels, collectors, estates, and other rights holders. Any uses, commercial or not, must be cleared by the specific rights holders. For questions regarding the use of any material on the LDA, please contact Permissions.
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