Ive Been Working On The Railroad

Levee, in about , was often applied to almost any construction requiring laborers.

The full text is quoted by Masato. Dinah Levee Song https: Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah The 'horn' is the wake-up or go to work call for the workers. Why it is called Dinah is not known, although an unwelcome shrill blast might well be given a female name. I've Been Working on the Railroad 1.

Masato posted the lyrics in this thread. Take a look at the crosslinked threads listed at the top of this page. I guess you could say this is three songs linked together: I wonder when and how it achieved such universality.

I've Been Working On The Railroad

In addition to the printing in Carmina princetonia, sheet music to "The Levee Song" was published by Hinds, Noble and Eldridge, note in Scarborough. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, vol.

Scarborough recorded an add-on verse, from minstrel shows- Sing me a song of the city, Roll dem cotton bales Darky ain't half so happy As when he's out of jail. Mobile for its oyster shells, Boston for its beans, Charleston for its cotton bales, But for yaller gals- New Orleans! I've Been Working on the Railroad From: It's full of the N word and the worst stereotypes of African-Americans you can imagine.

It's almost as bad as the "coon" songs of the ss, when the happy-go-lucky image of contented darkies who lub dem dar massa gave way to chicken-stealin', razor-cutting, dangerous Negro images, which I think are more accurately "these-are-poor-folk-like-us-and-compete-for-our-jobs" images. In Minstrel show days, African Americans were child-like and nearly innocent. And more or less safe, since they were confined to Massa's keeping.

After , and particularly after Reconstruction ended, freedmen were competitors, and much less safe. So the imagery changed to match. There's certainly no repeated chorus lines like in the latter song; it's possible someone found the lyrics to "Kitchen" and, not knowing the tune, incorporated it into "Railroad" -- but just one line. It's even possible that the old Minstrel song was known by some in the college community, and the reference in "Railroad" is just a reference to a shared knowledge; sort of like the references to "the tables down at Morey's" in the "Whiffenpoof Song" -- but this is just speculation on my part.

That's all I know. Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah 1. I been wukkin' on de railroad all de live-long day I been wukkin' on de rail-road to pass de time a-way Doan' yo' hyar de whistle blowin? Rise up so early in de mawn Doan' yo' hyar de Cap'n shoutin' 'Dinah blow yo' hawn' I use' to have a dog name' Bill, A wukkin' on de levee He run away, but I'm here still, A wukkin' on de levee chorus Dat li'l ole dog up an' beg, A-wukkin' on de levee Till I done give him chicken leg, A wukkin' on de levee chorus I once did know I girl named Grace,while wukkin' on de levee, She done bring me to dis sad disgrace, A-wukkin' on de levee.

Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah From: Shropshire Bedlams also use it. Here's an excerpt from "Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins.

Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. The term entered English via Flemish mooriske danse.

The modern spelling Morris-dance first appears in the 17th century. That post includes videos of morris sides dancing to at song. Most assuredly, Dinah was well posted up on the rights of woman, and with something of the ardor and the odor of her native Africa, she contended for her right to vote, to hold office, to practice medicine and the law, and to wear the breeches with the best white man that walks upon God's earth. Describing her fear when the Union army arrived, she said: They said 'Dinah, we're fightin' to free you and get you out from under bondage'.

Be virtuous too, oh Dinah! Library of Congress, Black Americana, Krause Publications, , p. It's like "Happy Birthday. But something has always bothered me about that song. It's really more like 3 songs, right? There's the railroad beginning, the "Dinah, won't you blow" middle, and it ends with that fee fi, "someone's in the kitchen" part that is completely unique from the other 2 sections.

I have enough of a music background that I was sure there was something more there besides just being a song old timers used to sing in train yards. Sure enough, turns out it was first published in under the title "Levee Song" and recorded for the first time in The original version was minstrel dialect and features what would now be offensive references to cotton bales, the N-word, getting out of jail, and someone, um, let's just say getting fresh with an enslaved black woman and disgracing her man.

The "someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" section is actually from the 's, written in London, and was inserted into the song using yet another tune So there you have it. In some ways, it kind of makes me love it more. Much like Grimm's fairytales, if you go back to the original there is always more than meets the eye. In case you're super curious, there is also a missing verse popular in FL and GA where the "fee fi fiddley-i-o" section substitutes for this: She's a one black two black,.

Darnell Hendeason March 19, at 9: