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Per ascolti e infoemail: sophoshiend@gmail.comBruno Fazzini – tel. + 39 347 1402138 |
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Jazz Legend
Julian Cannonball Adderly
By Bruno Fazzini
Julian Cannonball Adderly . Dal dopoguerra ad oggi ci sono stati molti nomi diventati icone del jazz. Pochi come Julian Cannonball Adderly, però, hanno suonato con altrettanti mostri sacri ed hanno prodotto una discografia enorme nell’arco di vent’anni (dal 1955 al 1975).
I video dei suoi concerti che di seguito potete apprezzare lo dimostrano e fanno entrare a pieno titolo questo artista fra le leggende del Jazz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Adderley
Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderley (September 15, 1928 – August 8, 1975)[2] was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s.
Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single “Mercy Mercy Mercy“, a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.[3]
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Originally from Tampa, Florida, Adderley moved to New York in the mid-1950s.[3] His nickname derived from “cannibal”, a title imposed on him by high school colleagues as a tribute to his voracious appetite.[4]
His educational career was long established prior to teaching applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Cannonball moved to Tallahassee, Florida, when his parents obtained teaching positions at Florida A&M University.[5] Both Cannonball and brother Nat played with Ray Charles when Charles lived in Tallahassee during the early 1940s.[6] Cannonball was a local legend in Florida until he moved toNew York City in 1955, where he lived in Corona, Queens.[3][7]
It was in New York during this time that Adderley’s prolific career began. Adderley visited the Cafe Bohemia, where Oscar Pettiford‘s group was playing that night. Adderley had brought his saxophone into the club with him, primarily because he feared that it would be stolen, and he was asked to sit in as the saxophone player was late. That performance established his reputation.[3]
Prior to joining Miles Davis’ band, Adderley formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1957. He was noticed by Miles Davis, and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group.[3]
Adderley joined the Miles Davis Sextet in October 1957, three months prior to John Coltrane‘s return to the group. Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. This period also overlapped with pianist Bill Evans‘ time with the sextet, an association that led to recording Portrait of Cannonball and Know What I Mean?.[3]
His interest as an educator carried over to his recordings. In 1961, Cannonball narrated The Child’s Introduction to Jazz, released on Riverside Records.
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet featured Cannonball on alto sax and his brother Nat Adderley on cornet. Cannonball’s first quintet was not very successful;[8] however, after leaving Davis’ group, he formed another, again with his brother, which enjoyed more success.[citation needed]
The new quintet (which later became the Cannonball Adderley Sextet), and Cannonball’s other combos and groups, included such noted musicians as:
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pianists Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman, Joe Zawinul, Hal Galper, Michael Wolff, George Duke, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans
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bassists Ray Brown, Sam Jones, Walter Booker, Victor Gaskin, Paul Chambers
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drummers Louis Hayes, Roy McCurdy
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saxophonists Charles Lloyd, Yusef Lateef.
By the end of the 1960s, Adderley’s playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz, avant-garde, and Davis’ experiments on the album Bitches Brew.[citation needed] On his albums from this period, such as Accent on Africa (1968) and The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (1970), he began doubling on soprano saxophone, showing the influence of Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.[citation needed]
In that same year, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood.[citation needed] In 1975 he also appeared (in an acting role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine) in the episode “Battle Hymn” in the third season of the TV series Kung Fu.[9]
Joe Zawinul’s composition “Cannon Ball” (recorded on Weather Report‘s album Black Market) is a tribute to his former leader.[3] Pepper Adams and George Mraz dedicated the composition “Julian” on the 1975 Pepper Adams album (also called Julian) days after Cannonball’s death.[10]
Songs made famous by Adderley and his bands include “This Here” (written by Bobby Timmons), “The Jive Samba”, “Work Song” (written by Nat Adderley), “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” (written by Joe Zawinul) and “Walk Tall” (written by Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). A cover version of Pops Staples‘ “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?” also entered the charts.
Adderley was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (Gamma Theta chapter, University of North Texas, ’60, & Xi Omega chapter, Frostburg State University, ’70) andAlpha Phi Alpha (Beta Nu chapter, Florida A&M University).[citation needed]
Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.[3]
Jazz icons
Cannonball Adderley boasts two beautifully filmed concerts from one of the most celebrated sextets in jazz history, captured at the top of their game. Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Nat Adderley (cornet) and the masterful Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute, oboe), provide a massive three-horn frontline attack, while the stellar rhythm section featuring a pre-Weather Report Joe Zawinul (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums) fuel the songs with a deep infectious swing.
Quincy Jones’ “Jessica’s Day” leaps from the gate with a huge “big band” sound that is extraordinary for only six musicians. This DVD is a reminder that Cannonball Adderley was one of the most outstanding and highly respected alto saxophonists in the history of jazz, a blues-based jazzman who could play anything in superb fashion.
A Look Back by Ira Gitler
It’s a special kick to see and hear these two performances of the 1963 Cannonball Adderley sextet. The energy and joie de vivre that all Adderley-led combos had is multiplied by Yusef’s versatile mastery, the nonpareil rhythm section and a chance to witness again the talent of the young Joe Zawinul.
When Cannonball Adderley and his brother Nat arrived from Florida in late June of 1955, sat in with Oscar Pettiford’s band at the Cafe Bohemia and knocked everyone out, word spread quickly within the jazz community. It must have been the next night that I went down to hear him and he certainly lived up to his newly-hatched reputation.
After the first set he was holding court on the curb in front of the club on Barrow Street. I joined the knot of people around him. He was naturally gregarious, effusive and witty. Some of the conversation touched on Bird, but not about Cannon being the new Bird.
I knew him casually when he and Nat were touring with their quintet. After he joined Miles there were more opportunities in New York and Newport to get better acquainted.
Sample Liner Notes by John Szwed:
The mythology of jazz tells us that some of the greatest musicians first appear in New York (or Los Angeles or Chicago) seemingly from out of nowhere, or at least from someplace that city folks would never dream had jazz musicians. These jazz gods are often said to be naturals who arrive fully prepared to assume their roles in spite of no real musical training.
Thus it is said that Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman and Charlie Parker came with a destiny of greatness already bestowed upon them. And so it might have seemed for saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley when he turned up in New York with his trumpet playing brother, Nat, in the summer of 1955.
Yet, the Adderleys were hardly musical naïfs. Cannonball was on vacation from his job as band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a city then known more for its naval base than as a seasonal playground for college students, and Nat had the summer off from studying at Florida A&M University.
The brothers were raised in Tampa and Tallahassee, and both had spent some time in bands in the military. Cannonball went to college to become a music educator, and Nat joined Lionel Hampton’s band before returning to finish college. But since most of their playing experience had been in local clubs in Fort Lauderdale and occasionally in Miami, as far as New Yorkers were concerned, they still came from nowhere.
The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in Lugano, Switzerland, March 24, 1963
The band opens with Quincy Jones’ “Jessica’s Day,” (or as Cannonball calls it: “Jessica’s Birthday”) a hard bop composition that with tight horn work and a bit of arrangement takes on a 1940s big band feel, especially with its spirited riffing behind the soloists.
Cannonball’s solo has an uncharacteristic gruffness, as if Lateef’s previous solo has rubbed off on him. Joe Zawinul’s accompaniment is especially fine here, showing a belief in funk that would largely disappear from his playing once he left the Adderleys. “Angel Eyes” is a feature for Lateef’s flute, not the most improvised of Lateef’s solos on this outing, but one in which he demonstrates his beautiful tone on the instrument along with his range of effects—a low, pulsing, soulful sound, set off by occasional vocalizations through the horn.
Zawinul also offers a brief, but finely crafted solo line. The fact that Cannonball would program a slow ballad this early in the set shows his trust in Lateef to bring something special to the performance. He called it the ability to “project,” to play “through the horn and not just in the horn,” to reach an audience as one of a series of strong individuals in a group.
“Jive Samba” appeared at that moment in the early 1960s when the Brazilian bossa nova and black soul music were both reaching the hit charts. (Cannonball had, just the year before, recorded a bossa nova album with Brazilian musicians in New York.) Nat’s composition caught the spirit of that moment in pop music, but also managed to evoke the same kind of modal simplicity that is heard in Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue album, by working two chords against each other.
Rhythmically, it is not a true samba (thus the “jive” appellation), and is instead grounded somewhere between Brazil, Cuba, and the land of rhythm and blues. Simple as it is harmonically and rhythmically, “Jive Samba” manages to provide a constant source of new ideas among the musicians. By spacing the recurrent hammering of the same chords between instrumental breaks, it moves without an apparent end in sight, until it fades, making it the sort of piece the Italians once labeled perpetuun mobile. This band never seemed to tire of playing it night after night, and Zawinul seems especially inspired by this minimalist harmonic material.
“Bohemia After Dark,” an Oscar Pettiford composition that memorialized his nights at the Café Bohemia, takes the Adderley brothers back to one of their first recorded pieces. Here it’s given the Davis treatment of speeding up older songs to give them new life and reaches an almost inhuman tempo.
Cannonball seems to be able to handle it most comfortably among the horn players, and even he sputters a bit and leaves some spaces in what for him is a short solo. Only Louis Hayes, bless him, can manage to create fresh ideas for a stretch of time at that speed, suggesting that the group sacrificed something for his feature spot.
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pd0sk
Witty, intelligent and soulful, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley became a superstar in the 1950s and ’60s, leading his funky, fun-loving quintet. Geoffrey Smith showcases such Adderley hits as the gospel waltz “This Here”
Jazz About
http://jazz.about.com/od/classicjazzartists/p/Artist-Profile-Saxophonist-Cannonball-Adderley.htm
Alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley is best known for his loose, melodic, and virtuosic bebop lines, and his soulful style. He was dubbed “the New Bird” for his ability to improvise long, fast, and bouncy melodies in a way that few other than Charlie Parker himself could play. However, before becoming one of the top alto sax players in New York city in the late 1950s, Cannonball was a high school band teacher in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Adderley was a local hero in Florida, thanks to his dazzling virtuosity and exuberant tone. He played buoyant bebop lines with an effortless sense of rhythm and a genius for melody. After teaching band from 1948 to 1950, and then outgrowing the Florida music scene, Adderley moved to New York in 1955. He lived in Corona,Queens, and started a band with his younger brother, cornetist Nat Adderley. The band struggled, although Cannonball earned a reputation after an impromptu gig with bassist Oscar Pettiford.
The story goes that on his first night in New York city, Cannonball walked into the Café Bohemia in Manhattan to hear Pettiford’s band. Pettiford’s saxophonist, Jerome Richardson, was late. Cannonball had his saxophone with him by chance, and convinced a dubious Pettiford to allow him to sit in. He impressed Pettiford so much, that he was invited to officially play in the bassist’s band at Café Bohemia two nights later.
Cannonball’s New York debut created a buzz, but his career didn’t really take off until 1957, when trumpeter Miles Davis invited him to play with his sextet. The group featured John Coltrane, bassist Paul Chambers, either Philly Joe Jones or Jimmy Cobb on drums, and at various times, either Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, or Bill Evans on Piano. With Davis’ sextet, Cannonball recordedMilestones (Columbia, 1958) and the seminal album,Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959).
Cannonball’s bluesy, playful, and jubilant solos rounded out the group’s sound. At the time, Miles, who was honing his minimalist style, and Coltrane, who was developing his sheets of sound approach, created a cerebral, pensive mood that Cannonball’s playing permeated. After 1959, however, Cannonball left Miles’ sextet to lead his own group, which performed a soulful style of hard-bop.
The Cannonball Adderely Quintet always featured Nat Adderely on cornet, and also included a variety of bassists, drummers, and keyboardists. Pianists Bobby Timmons, Joe Zawinul, and George Duke had stints in the band. Among the bassists were Ray Brown and Sam Jones, and Louis Hayes and Roy McCurdy played drums at various times. The group made a series of live recordings, among which, The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco (Riverside Records, 1959) is the most famous. The group epitomized the soul-jazz style.
Cannonball Adderley Quintet made commercially viable music that was rooted in blues, and maintained its musical integrity. Perhaps the most famous example is Joe Zawinul’s 1966 song, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.”
In the late 1960s and early 70s, Cannonball began to embrace the influences of electronic instruments and free jazz with albums such as Accent on Africa (Capitol Records, 1968), andThe Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (Capitol, 1960). On these albums, Cannonball plays the soprano saxophone in addition to the alto.
Cannonball’s ebullient personality and musicianship came to an end in 1975 when he died of a stroke. However, his music is as fresh and invigorating today as it was during his career.
Jazz About
http://jazz.about.com/od/concertreviews/fl/Live-Jazz-Review-Cannonball-Adderley-Legacy-Band-Featuring-Louis-Hayes.htm
Members of the Portland Jazz Society continued their quest to turnPortlandia in Jazzlandia last night, offering their enthusiastic support to a pair of sets by celebrated drummer Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band.
For those unfamiliar with the 76-year old traps-master, Hayes’ career dates back to his teenage years in Detroit. Having been influenced by his father, a drummer, and his mother, a piano player, Hayes was just 15 when he worked with both Yusef Lateef and Curtis Fuller during the mid 50s.
During the late 50s and early 60s, he worked in three significant bands: Horace Silver’s quintet (from ’56-’59), Cannonball Adderley’s fivesome (from ’59-’65) and Oscar Peterson‘s trio (from ’65-’67). During that time he also released the first of the 14 albums in his repertoire, the 1960 Verve set Louis Hayes Quintet, and sided with a pantheon of jazz stars likeJohn Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Grant Green and Dexter Gordon.
Since the late 1980s, the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band has been one of the outlets for Hayes’ fluid, compact style of drumming. Joining him onstage last night were legendary alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, the inventive young trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, Milwaukee-born pianist Rick Germanson and fleet-fingered acoustic bassist Desron Douglas.
The first of the evening’s two sets began with the Donald Wolf/Sam Jones classic “Del Sasser,” which Cannonball first covered on his 1960 set, Them Dirty Blues. Aired out at a much more aggressive tempo than Adderley’s original, it was an ideal opener for the evening, with each of the players spending some time in the spotlight. For his part, Hayes was concise and economical, upright and energetic, playing his tilted snare drum with ease and authority.
Hayes stepped back into the shadows for the second cut of the night, the chestnut, “Autumn Leaves.” It was Pelt who shone brightest here, his muted trumpet sometimes playing subtle jazzy line, other times offering motifs reticulated with veins of funk and blues.
Hayes was the man behind the trap set when Adderley made his one and only recording of “Sweet Georgia Bright,” which was found on his 1964 collection called Cannonball Adderley’sFiddler On The Roof. Straight from the traditional bop songbook, this evening’s reading was served amicably by Herring, who leaned heavily into his solos with much the same melodicism as Adderley did in his day.
The band followed “Sweet Georgia Bright” with another cut found on Them Dirty Blues: “Dat Dere.” Offered essentially as a trio piece, both Herring and Pelt, once they’d played the opening theme, stepped off the stage to give Rick Germanson his taste. The pianist took full advantage of the opportunity, pounding out aggressive triplet figures in his right hand followed by rousing glissandos and fervent left hand figures, a four minute solo that was clearly the biggest crowd pleaser of the night.
The set closed with the much covered “Sack O’ Woe,” which first appeared on Adderley’s 1960 recording, Cannonball Adderley Quintet At The Lighthouse. Alternating between a driving funk groove and a tasty swing beat, the piece served the same purpose as the opener: to give everyone in the band a chance to shine. Bassist Desron Douglas, in particular, was delightfully melodic and full of humor.
The only negative about this set was its brevity. At five songs — clocking in at just about an hour — the set was much too short. Another two or three songs would’ve added another 20-30 minutes to the proceedings and proved a much for satisfying experience. Otherwise, it was a fun, rousing and thoroughly enjoyable show. The kingdom of Jazzlandia continues its quest successfully.
Cannonball Adderley
http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/article/zawinul.ht
Joe Zawinul recently said :
“I must sadly say that Julian Cannonball Adderley remains the most overlooked great musician , ever – for what reason I don’t know . Perhaps he was too popular or maybe it was some of the material the band played – But he was and remains one of a handful of great individuals as an instrumentalist and bandleader in the history of this music. The versatility of the band, in spite of its accessibility, was something special. With the exception of the great Duke Ellington, there was no one ever who knew how to talk to an audience like Julian.”
Cannonball Adderley
http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/article/downbeat.htm
Cannonball articles appear in the following issues of Down Beat
“Unknown Gets Big Jazz Date” August 24, 1955, p.16.
“Altoist Cannonball Big Shot on EmArcy” September 21,1955, p.16.
“Cannonball BeginsTourwith Group” January15, 1956, p.14.
“Here are EmArcy Stars Bios” January 25,1956, p.12.
“Caught in theAct ” August22, 1956, p.8.
Feather, L. “Cannonball Fires” November28, 1956, p.31-32.
Gold, D. “Cannonball” September 5,1957, p.12.
Gardner, B. “The Tampa Cannonball”October 15,1959, p.18-20.
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” December 24,1959, p.47-48.
Hoefer, G. “The Hot Box” January 21,1960, p.43.
Adderley, J. “Cannonball Looks at Ornette Coleman” May 1960, p.20-21.
“The Problem of Success” January 19,1961, p.12.
“Inside the Cannonball Adderley Quintet” June 22, 1961, p.16-18.
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” April 12, 1962, p.36;
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” April 26, 1962, p.43.
DeMicheal, D. “The Responsibilities of Success; Cannonball” June 21,1962, p.13-15.
“Chico’s Charges Challenged” May 9,1963, p.7
Hoefer, G. “Caught in the Ac” June 6,1963, p.35.
“Tangents ” June 18,1964, p.14-17.
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” December 16, 1965, p. 39.
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” December 30,1965, p.42.
Feather, L. “The Blindfold Test” November 2,1967, p.34.
Quinn, B. “The Well-Rounded ‘Ball” November 16,1967, p.17-19.
Lees, G. “Caught in theAct” January 7,1969, p.41-42.
Albertson, C. and others. “Record Reviews” May 29,1969, p.20.
Young, W. “Caught in the Act” May 29,1969, p.29.
Berton, R. “Caught in the Act” (Rutgers Jazz Festival.) October 2, 1969, p.25.
“Jazz on Campus” November 13,1969, p.32.
Albertson, C. “Cannonball the Communicator” January 8, 1970,
“George Duke, Sharrock join Adderley Sextet” April 15,1971,p.12.
Cole, B. and Bourne M. “Record Reviews: Cannonball Adderley Quintet and Orchestra May13, 1971, p.20.
Wilson, P. “Conversing with Cannonball” June 22,1972, p.12-13.
Cordle, 0. “Caught in the Act” November23, 1972, p.26.
“Cannonball” June21, 1973, p.13.
Lyons, L. “Pulsi: Cannonball” May 9, 1974, p.44.
Morgenstern, D. “Cannonball Dead at 46” October 9,1975, p.9.
“Record Reviews: Big Man ” January 15,1976, p.20.
‘Records: Phenix” January15, 1976, p.20
“Record Reviews: Music You All” September 9, 1976, p.31-32.
Cannonball Adderley boasts two beautifully filmed concerts from one of the most celebrated sextets in jazz history, captured at the top of their game. Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Nat Adderley (cornet) and the masterful Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute, oboe), provide a massive three-horn frontline attack, while the stellar rhythm section featuring a pre-Weather Report Joe Zawinul (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums) fuel the songs with a deep infectious swing. Quincy Jones’ “Jessica’s Day” leaps from the gate with a huge “big band” sound that is extraordinary for only six musicians. This DVD is a reminder that Cannonball Adderley was one of the most outstanding and highly respected alto saxophonists in the history of jazz, a blues-based jazzman who could play anything in superb fashion.
Lyrics
The African Waltz
This is the waltz from Africa
A swinging version of a dance that was absolutely nowhere
Until it wound up in africa
This is the waltz from Africa
And everybody who is hip is realy makin
With the shakin the way it’s done down in africa
Zigzag and wiggle an walk!
Dip down and giggle and sqawk!
Break like a celery stalk!
And once you do it , There’s nothing to it!
Rock! to the waltz from Africa
And new sensation that it based up on African gyration
And now the rage in America
Dig the African Waltz it’s the swinginest waltz that you ever could 1-2-3 1 to
In Chicago, Milwaukee, St louis , New-york , Los angeles
All of the modern cats have learned a new step
So you ought to get with it cause if you get with it
The waltz can be fun to have fun to
Every one who is anyone’s bound to agree that
The African Waltz is the best invention since the Two-steps !
Mercy, Mercy,Mercy
Verse
It seems life has played a game on me
I’m lost in a sea of misery
My love has turned her back on me
Heartache why won’t you let me be
Chorus
Baby have some mercy please don’t
Make me beg on bended knees oh please
Mercy, Mercy,Mercy Please have mercy on me
Mercy ,Mercy , Mercy Please
Interlude
How can I face life , without you
What would I do if we were through?
Verse
I wait for you ev’ry single night
Hoping you’ll return and make things right
You don’t show and I’m left all alone
To pray you’ll call me on the phone
Chorus
Baby have some mercy please don’t
Make me beg on bended knees oh please
Mercy, Mercy,Mercy Please have mercy on me
Mercy ,Mercy , Mercy Please
Interlude
you know I love you , I’m beging
for one more chance ,once more.
Verse
I know life has many a twist
Loving you is the thing I can’t resist
Your love and understanding you’ve been giving
Without it I just can’t go on living
Chorus
Baby have some mercy please don’t
Make me beg on bended knees oh please
Mercy, Mercy,Mercy Please have mercy on me
Mercy ,Mercy , Mercy Please
Why am I treated so bad
Why, am I treated so bad?
Why, am I treated so bad?
You know I’m all alone as I sing this song,
Hear my call, I’ve done nobody wrong
But I’m treated so bad
I’m gonna walk out in the master lane
Things I do, they seem to be in vain
You may be blind, you may be lame,
walk on out in the master lane
Though you treat me so bad
Ooh ooh ooh ooooooh
Ooh ooh ooh oooooooh
oooh ooh ooh oooooh ooh ooh oohhh
you made me blind, you may be lame
walk on out in the master lane
Though you treat me so bad
Work song
Breaking rocks out here on the chain gang
Breaking rocks and serving my time
Breaking rocks out here on the chain gang
Because they done convicted me of crime
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
well reckon that ought to get it
been
working and working
but I still got so terribly far to go
I commited crime Lord I needed
Crime of being hungry and poor
I left the grocery store man bleeding (breathing?)
When they caught me robbing his store
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
Well reckon that ought to get it
been
working and working
but I still got so terribly far to go
I heard the judge say five years
On chain-gang you gonna go
I heard the judge say five years labor
I heard my old man scream “Lordy, no!”
Hold it right there while I hit it
well reckon that ought to get it
been
working and working
but I still got so terribly far to go
Gonna see my sweet honey bee
Gonna break this chain off to run
Gonna lay down somewhere shady
Lord I sure am hot in the sun
Hold it right there while I hit it
well reckon that ought to get it
been
workin’ and workin’
been
workin’ and slavin’
an’
workin’ and workin’
but I still got so terribly far to go
