“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Anonymous.
Tune: Anonymous.
Old man Sargent, sitting at the desk,
The damn’ old fool won’t give it a rest.
He’d take the nickels off a dead man’s eyes
To buy Coca Cola and Eskimo pies.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
Lordy, Lordy, spoolin’s hard.
You know and I know (I don’t have to tell):
You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
When I die, don’t bury me at all:
Just hang me up on the spool-room wall.
Place a knotter* in my hand,
So I can spool** in the Promised Land.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
Lordy, Lordy, spoolin’s hard.
You know and I know (I don’t have to tell):
You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
When I die, don’t bury me deep:
Bury me down on Six Hundred Street.
Place a bobbin in each hand,
So I can doff*** in the Promised Land.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
Lordy, Lordy, spoolin’s hard.
You know and I know (I don’t have to tell):
You work for Tom Watson, got to work like hell.
I got the blues; I got the blues;
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues.
*knotter: a little gadget used for tying the ends of yarn together
**spool: a reel for winding yarn
***doffer: a worker who takes filled bobbins from the spinning frames