Overnight Music Video - "Rosie" ( African American Work Song)

 HT: InfidelBloggers.

Song information

"Rosie" is a worksong that was used to regulate the axe-blows of laborers when felling large trees. Again we hear the call and response format with the lead singer presenting the main line of verse, and the rest of the group completing each line with a refrain like phrase. Sometimes as many as ten men circle the tree and chop, five pulling their axes out just before the other five strike with theirs. The work is dangerous and singing helps coordinate the timing. Singing also helps the workers to feel like a team and to pace their work. Another result of singing worksongs is that the singers gain some control over their work; they create a new frame for their forced labor.More here. 


From an album called "Negro Prison Songs", the acapella was apparently recorded in 1947 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.The inmates are singing the song while chopping wood. A very moving performance. This song, "Rosie" is a about a woman who would sit right outside the prison boundaries who the men would never get to talk to or touch but would tempt them none the less. This version features instrumental accompaniment by Charlie Sanburg and shows the influence this music had on creating the sound of American music.