Stanley, Lola

Description

voice Collected by Johnny Page and Jim Hays For Mary C. Parler Transcribed by Frances Majors Sung by Mrs. Lola Stanley Fayetteville, Arkansas December 30, 1958 Reel 265, Item 2 A Slave Song I'm just as free as the water That rolls at my feet, Or the sickle that glides swiftly by. No master do I fear, Or dread the auctio neer; The driver, the lash, I defy. Chorus: Oh, master, I pray thee, Don't come after me, For I can never be your slave any more. I am free from toil and law, Free beneath the lion's claw, And he growls if you come near the shore. And don't you remember The promise that you made To my mother who's long gone to rest? That I should not be sold, For silver nor for gold, As the sun rolled from the east to the west. (Chorus) And don't you remember As soon as she was dead, And the grass had not grown o'er her grave I was advertized for sale, And I might have been in jail, Had I not crossed the bold, dashing wave? (Chorus) And don't you remember The old tarring oak Where you paid me the last forty-four, How you bowed your haughty head O'er the blood that I shed? But remember I'll bleed there no more. (Chorus) Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation.

From Collection

Ozark Folksong Collection

Record Contributed By

University of Arkansas