I looked up “villanelle” in Wikipedia – the word comes from the Italian for “farm” or “farmhand” – originally a villanelle would just have been a country song, and they don’t get much more country than Charlie Poole.
But now that I know what the form of a villanelle is, I see what you mean – not a perfect fit, but pretty close – this is a heck of a place for one to turn up, eh?
Re: “Buddy Won’t You Roll Down the Line,” I found the following information and words to a long variant of Uncle Dave Macon’s Song, as well as another song, tune unknown. The event was called the Coal Creek Rebellion.
From: A New South Rebellion: The Battle Against Convict Labor in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1871-1896
By Karin A. Shapiro
Published by UNC Press, 1998
ISBN 080784733X, 9780807847336
333 pages
In 1891, thousands of Tennessee miners rose up against the use of convict labor by the state’s coal companies, eventually engulfing five mountain communities in a rebellion against government authority. Propelled by the insurgent sensibilities of Populism and Gilded Age unionism, the miners initially sought to abolish the convict lease system through legal challenges and legislative lobbying. When nonviolent tactics failed to achieve reform, the predominantly white miners repeatedly seized control of the stockades and expelled the mostly black convicts from the mining districts. Insurrection hastened the demise of convict leasing in Tennessee, though at the cost of greatly weakening organized labor in the state’s coal regions.Exhaustively researched and vividly written,A New South Rebellionbrings to life the hopes that rural southerners invested in industrialization and the political tensions that could result when their aspirations were not met. Karin Shapiro skillfully analyzes the place of convict labor in southern economic development, the contested meanings of citizenship in late-nineteenth-century America, the weaknesses of Populist-era reform politics, and the fluidity of race relations during the early years of Jim Crow.
Harry's Music
October 5, 2008 at 8:48 pm |
That first song printed in the “Lyrics…” looks like a Villanelle! Doesn’t it? May not be pure and true to form yet could pass as one.
What do you think?
Trish
October 5, 2008 at 8:49 pm |
Fun to read the lyrics. Thanks. Trish
October 5, 2008 at 9:24 pm |
I looked up “villanelle” in Wikipedia – the word comes from the Italian for “farm” or “farmhand” – originally a villanelle would just have been a country song, and they don’t get much more country than Charlie Poole.
But now that I know what the form of a villanelle is, I see what you mean – not a perfect fit, but pretty close – this is a heck of a place for one to turn up, eh?
October 6, 2008 at 9:23 am |
Dylan Thomas’s poem, ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a villanelle. Seamus Heaney wrote only one villanelle…title to come later.
October 7, 2008 at 11:10 am |
Re: “Buddy Won’t You Roll Down the Line,” I found the following information and words to a long variant of Uncle Dave Macon’s Song, as well as another song, tune unknown. The event was called the Coal Creek Rebellion.
From: A New South Rebellion: The Battle Against Convict Labor in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1871-1896
By Karin A. Shapiro
Published by UNC Press, 1998
ISBN 080784733X, 9780807847336
333 pages
In 1891, thousands of Tennessee miners rose up against the use of convict labor by the state’s coal companies, eventually engulfing five mountain communities in a rebellion against government authority. Propelled by the insurgent sensibilities of Populism and Gilded Age unionism, the miners initially sought to abolish the convict lease system through legal challenges and legislative lobbying. When nonviolent tactics failed to achieve reform, the predominantly white miners repeatedly seized control of the stockades and expelled the mostly black convicts from the mining districts. Insurrection hastened the demise of convict leasing in Tennessee, though at the cost of greatly weakening organized labor in the state’s coal regions.Exhaustively researched and vividly written,A New South Rebellionbrings to life the hopes that rural southerners invested in industrialization and the political tensions that could result when their aspirations were not met. Karin Shapiro skillfully analyzes the place of convict labor in southern economic development, the contested meanings of citizenship in late-nineteenth-century America, the weaknesses of Populist-era reform politics, and the fluidity of race relations during the early years of Jim Crow.
October 8, 2008 at 11:23 am |
Thank you Dan. The review you posted is very interesting and ties into other reading I’m doing on Southern race issues etc. Trish