Georgia field hands - Mary Don't You Weep

Times ain't like they used to be [videorecording] : early rural and popular American music, 1928-1935

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Georgia
• Oldtime
• Black
• Rural
• Banjo

[jenzeppelin]

absolutely incredible... what beautiful voices... perfect harmony... it makes me cry so hard... just thinking about the lives of those men... imprisoned...

[abcaines]

Absolutely beautiful harmonies.

[NoRosesForMe]

@shizzigirl thank you for that comment. Its the truth. I come from Native American/ Irish folks (both families) and my mothers dad was a sharecropper. He was an electrician but just didnt stick to that for some reason. I havent asked him why and never will. Hes 80 years old now and its the past but I can tell you sharecropping is hell. I do know that much about it. My mother told me things...ill never forget those things. So..it went beyond a racial thing. Even if it was by choice or not.

[shizzigirl]

@MrPaulwithap they may not be LITERAL slaves but I guarantee you they were sharecroppers which is another form of slavery. Indebted to the landowner with no other options? Sounds like the serfs of mideval Europe.

[azizip171]

As another commenter wrote this is priceless-both the film clip and the rendition itself.

I've never read or heard this version of Oh Mary Don't You Weep. For instance this verse is repeated two times in the song (not consecutively) I done told you once/ I done told you twice/you can't get to heaven/with a sweetheart & a wife".

I transcribed the words to this version and posted them on my website. Google Cocojams American Banjo & Fiddle Songs.

[MrPaulwithap]

Slavery was abolished in 1865. Movies with sound weren't around until the 1920's. THESE GUYS ARE NOT SLAVES.

[MrPuzWuz]

@jenzeppelin These aren't slaves, I assure you.

[Dunkleosteus9]

Are they lip sycin'? like a music video

[malbuff]

@jenzeppelin They're field hands, dirt poor, but not prisoners, at least not at the moment.

[imhappywithmyself]

my family is from georgia

[GoldwaterB]

I believe this was filmed in 1929. Evidently, they filmed the song twice, judging from the close-ups. It's a surprisingly great edit job for 1929.

[aattura]

Toe tappin sing-along music!!