GO DOWN, OL' HANNAH
Questions?
- Song Title
- GO DOWN, OL' HANNAH
- Writers
- Publisher
- Essex Italiana Edizioni Musicali SRL
- % Publisher Controls
- 100%
- Territory Controlled
- Italy
- Themes/Keywords
-
Death, Rise, Sun, Wake, War
- Lyrics
-
Go down old Hannah, don’t you rise no more,
And if you rise in the morning, bring Judgment Day.
You oughta been on the Brazos, nineteen and ten.*
Well, they were driving the women like they do the men.
Oh, the sun was shining and the men was flying,
Oh, the captain was hollering and the men was flying.
(additional verses)
If a man don’t know, if a man don’t know –
It’s a man lying dead on the low turn row.**
Oh, the man on the end hollering
“Bring ‘em, bring ‘em on in.”
It was soon one morning when the sun did rise
And I was singing about my goodlooking baby;
I would hang my head and cry.
Yes, I run to the captain and I shake his hand,
I say, “Look-a here, captain, you got a hardworking man.”
Go down old Hannah, don’t you rise no more,
If you do rise in the morning, set this world on fire
(change this world around).
And I told the captain that old Ben was dead
And the captain didn’t do nothing but nod his head.
Yes, when I went to school, teacher ask me one thing,
She says to me, “Partner, did your mama learn you to sing?”
Then I says, “Go down old Hannah,
I’d like to be knocking on somebody’s door.”
*Brazos River was the location of state prison farms.
1910 refers to the days of the convict lease system.
**Where teams with ploughs can be turned at the end of the field.VIEW COMPLETE FEWER LYRICS
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