The Oldtime Stringband - Cotton Mill Girl (Lester Smallwood)
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- Recorded in Tulare CA USA on July 15 2014.
www.theoldtimestringband.nl
instagram @oldtimestringband
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I worked in a cotton mill all of my life
Ain’t got nothing but this Barlow knife
It’s hard times Cotton Mill Girls, It’s hard times everywhere
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls,
Hard times, Cotton Mill Girls
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls, hard times everywhere
In 1915 we heard it said
Move to the country and get ahead
It's hard times Cotton Mill Girls, It’s hard times everywhere
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls,
Hard times, Cotton Mill Girls
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls, hard times everywhere
Us kids worked 14 hours a day
For 13 cents of measly pay
It’s hard times Cotton Mill Girls, It’s hard times everywhere
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls,
Hard times, Cotton Mill Girls
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls, hard times everywhere
When I die don’t buy me at all
Just hang me up on the spinning room wall
Pickle my bones in alcohol, it’s hard times everywhere
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls,
Hard times, Cotton Mill Girls
It’s hard times, Cotton Mill Girls, hard times everywhere
Anytime someone complains about having a tough life....play this for them
One of my favourite songs and the accompanying photos are so relevant to their missed childhood and the explotation of that period.
My mother was orphaned in 1918 at age 7 and at 14 quit school to work in a cotton mill like this in Durham, NC to help support the family. The mill buildings are still there but have been converted into apartments and condos now. The song and photos really get to me. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your story, Ron. Makes the song seem even more real. My Grandpa was a Cotton farmer in Tulare, California. He eked a living out of dry silt soil. He said that even though it was a hard way to make a living, he loved just watching those plants grow.
+blauwgrasschelp Yes, the simple pleasures of life and nature were important to those in such hardship! I spite of poverty unimaginable to kids today, neither my Mom nor any of her 7 siblings were ever in trouble with the law and were aways honest, kind and loving people.
I love this. Especially the photo about 30 seconds in. The girl on the right looks so defiant. I admire her so much.
great pics great singer great musicians tks for this video well done aplus
I think I'm in love
Love the Oldtime String Band music.
great music!! love her voice...its true and clear.
Such a bitter sweet song.
Some kind of acceptance with the way it is. Tragic, but a way to survive.
wonderful photographs and great rendition musically
greetings from Ireland love your music sung with so much spirit
Thanks, Danny
A wonderful rendition! ... well done! Best wishes from Colin Hugh Abbott, in Jarrahdale, Western Australia.
I believe you sing that old ballad some better than anyone else who covers it. The mines and the mills were a tough road to travel. Thanks.
Gee, that's nice of you.
Love this - you guys are greate
Oldtime string band great music just love them.
First time I've heard this song - love it, and need to learn it, especially as I was born / lived near Sheffield England where the first Barlow knives were made !!
I played with a banjo player the other day and he showed me his old Barlow knife. I was very excited.
this is beautifully i llove your songs i play the banjoe too
Banda espetacular, parabéns, principalmente por apresentarem a realidade da época, do trabalho infantil, banda maravilha, vocês são super.
Beautifully done.
Really enjoy watching this, many times!Don't miss Heddy West and Pete Seeger version on youtube.
Those sessions are GREAT!
Listening from Ellijay . The only song I've heard with my home town mentioned.
In the UK we have a number of 'traditional' cotton mill ballads - Victorian, mostly - but they are nearly all on a slower beat, and were sold as penny broadsheets, especially when you cut off cotton supplies and many operatives starved. Lost trade here of course. Very pleasant version.
Sad songs sounding happy. Pretty good life philosophy:)
I first heard this sung by the Poozies in England, so assumed it referred to the Lancashire cotton mills. So I'll now have to check it's history. Friends of mine also sing it here in England - a favourite song of their young daughter.
There are a lot of working songs like this. I think we borrowed them.
Very very nice... Greatly enjoyed listening... TU.. Alyre & Lorenzo.
Thanks for checking in, again.
At 1:59 you have 9 children in a row presumably from the one family all a year apart, probably some twins........reminds me of a family I knew, also nine children, three sets of twins. The people were very strong in those days. The photos of the pre-teens working hard and complex machinery is a very sobering thought in these more leisurely times.
Wonderful!
Thanks
Children were used to go down the coal mines here in uk
Sad times
love your hat.
Great version of this song, it's Hedy West who holds the copyright, though it appears to be based on some older versions. Hedy, of course, is more well known for her classic "500 Miles"
Thanks. Hedy is definitely an inspiration.
Gee, and kids today complain about taking out the trash or mowing the lawn.
You're funny
Most of the old photos are by the great, great Lewis W. Hine.
they are priceless.
Great keep up the good singing
Thank you. I'll keep greasing the pipes
Bringsmealothappymemoriesofgroing upherein beechcreekTennesse
Thanks for reply - I can now play this song, and also think that your version of 'Our Town' is also brilliant - I love you guys keep sharing (it helps us beginners even better if you could video the guitar chords closer please) cheers Stew
I play bass in an old time string band in England, and am always surprised when a folk song I know as Irish is played by our banjo player - as an American tune. English and Irish songs were taken over to North America by settlers, and then come back to England with variations. Another example of the great folk song evolution process. I wonder what songs the Dutch settlers took with them, and do they still exist?
The Golden Vanity is supposed to have been Dutch, though I think the English may claim it too. We yanks have to thank the English, Scottish and Irish for most of our folk songs. We just jazzed 'em up a little.
Nice song. Child labor. Let's sing .
Old but still important story. Let's tell it.
The old photos help provide balance. And you might want to take into account the even worse poverty they were escaping
nice.
I really like this kind of Music its so honest ; I thought you guys were from Tulare i even started looking for Real Estate there LOL
I'm in Tulare a lot. It's hot. It was 114 degrees F when we were recording this!
Now I want a Barlow knife....
I know a banjo player who actually has one!
@@blauwgrasschelp So do I, no banjo though.
really, thanks for this. I love this group.(my dog just passed gas!)
Was your dog so relaxed by our sound that he let one fly?
Still want a Barlow knife.....
Yes very interesting to see how our own people had to do do for a living in our grand or ggreat grand parents time. Check out Poverty Knock by Chumbawumba.
One of those instances where the pics embellish and help tell the story..
where is this group from ? do they tour the us?
The Oldtime Stringband is from the Netherlands. This video was shot when they did a tour in California. The Oldtime Stringband released 4 cd`s.