Date:    Tue, 16 Jun 1998 07:14:28 -0500
<br>From:    Mike Salovesh <t20mxs1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: "the man" in WSVE
<br>
<br>"The Midnight Special" was written by Hudie Ledbetter, known as
<br>Leadbelly.  Leadbelly recorded the words Bob Haas partly recalls
<br>in two different versions:
<br>
<br>        Well it's on one table,
<br>        knife and fork and pan ...
<br>
<br>        ...  but if you say anything about it,
<br>        you're in trouble with The Man.
<br>
<br>        ...  but if you say anything about it,
<br>        havin' trouble with The Man.
<br>
<br>When Leadbelly sang it, you could almost hear the capital letters.
<br>
<br>"The Midnight Special" was written in, and about, a Texas prison.
<br>As Leadbelly told the story, if the midnight special train passing
<br>the prison shone its light on a prisoner, that prisoner would go
<br>free.
<br>
<br>The story was at least partly true.  Leadbelly recorded "The
<br>Midnight Special" while in prison on a very long sentence.
<br>(He was in for either murder or manslaughter.)  The recording
<br>was made for the Library of Congress; I think the recorders
<br>were John and/or Alan Lomax.  Whoever made the recordings
<br>started a campaign that eventually led the Governor of Texas
<br>(which one? when? I don't know!) to commute Leadbelly's
<br>sentence and set him free.
<br>
<br>--  mike salovesh                               <salovesh[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]niu.edu>
<br>    anthropology department
<br>    northern illinois university                     PEACE !!!
<br>
<br>P.S.:  The gaps in this report are there because I'm writing
<br>this out of my memories of singing with Leadbelly on a gig in
<br>1948, and from hearing Al Lomax retell the prison story many
<br>times.  Yeah, I know, I could look it up.  But Barry is the
<br>guy who's working on songs from the 20s and 30s just now.  I
<br>don't want to invade his turf.
<br>
<br>
<br>Bob Haas wrote:
<br>>
<br>> In keeping with Ron's ideas, I seem to remember a line from the old song, "The
<br>> Midnight Special" that mentions working "for the man," or something to that
<br>> effect.  I know the song from CCR's cover, but it's been around a long time.  I'm
<br>> pretty certain Jimmy Rogers did it a long while back, as well as many R&B
<br>> artists.  In any case, it's certainly would point to southern origins for the
<br>> term.  That is, of course, if I'm remembering correctly.  Any help?
<br>>
<br>> Ron Butters wrote:
<br>>
<br>> > I am familiar with the term THE MAN from working-class white (and black)
<br>> > speakers in the South (particularly in Wilmington, NC), who in the early 1970s
<br>> > (and probably earlier) used the phrase to indicate what I would have indicated
<br>> > by THE BOSS. For example, if someone came to a job site looking for work, he
<br>> > might ask, "Who is the man?"
<br>> >
<br>> > I'm not questioning  the fact that the spread of THE MAN as a recent vogue
<br>> > term stems from AAVE, but I think it most likely that it originated in the
<br>> > South in relationship to the general phrase BOSS MAN, rather than (as an
<br>> > earlier writer suggested) specifically in AAVE as a term women used for their
<br>> > husbands and bouyfriends.
<br>>
<br>>    --
<br>>
<br>> Bob Haas
<br>> University of North Carolina at Greensboro
<br>> rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu
<br>>
<br>> "No matter where you go, there you are."
<br>