Week 2 Blog Post
The first song I am going to blog about is Long John. In the song written by Lightening Washington and fellow convicts, you can feel through the passion and strong emotion through the song. My favorite part of the song is the chorus, when the so called "fellow convicts" are just belting out their lungs. There is one distinct instrument in this song that is very uncommon for this era. The fellow convicts used hammers being slammed on the railroad to keep the beat and rhythm going. I also believe this helped set a background to the story, give the listener a deeper feeling into the meaning of the song. The lyrics may be controversy if listeners are able to
understand it. Some may see it as a religious song with the reference to the book
of John, how if one is killed, He will rise again. He used this reference to
talk about John, who is running from the cops, and how he is long gone. (According
to professor Bradshaw, probably running due to slavery). This song fits well in the environment of a
big group, who are working hard and need to keep busy to not focus on the hard
labor they are doing as prisoners. A catchy upbeat song with a sad, yet real
life true story.
This was one of my favorites in this unit! I agree with the fact that this song was fitting for the environment. When you look at the lyrics the message is a lot different then it may have been portrayed to others at the time. I love the way that you dive into the lyrics and really explain them properly. Like you said, it's a great song with such a sad meaning behind it, yet it holds so much power and meaning! Great Job!
ReplyDeleteI love how you mentioned the part about how including the hammers banging on the rail road really brought the listener in to the story. It shows them a little more back ground and it helps the listener feel for the story a bit more. I also really like what you said about the book of John. I think that is cool that you really looked into the lyrics and decided to share what you thought of them here! I agree with what you said about your favorite part is when the "fellow convicts" are belting out their lungs in the chorus. I love that they feel the music too and they really believe what they are singing!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you brought up the passion in the performer's voices as one of your favorite parts of the songs. It's definitely important to realize that songs like this, shrouded in hidden meaning, were the only way they could openly express themselves and their troubles. It's also very cool to me how they used their hammers as their instruments. They found a way to make music while doing something they were being forced to do and I think that's very powerful.
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