Johnny, Won't You Ramble

DESCRIPTION: "Well, I went down to Helltown To see the Devil chain down. Johnny, won't you ramble, Hoe, hoe, hoe!" The singer tells how the masters plan to make the slaves work harder. The slave offers money to avoid a whipping; master would "rather hear you holler"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected from "Lightning," David Tippen, and others by Lomax; first printed 1941 in Our Singing Country; Tippen may also have recorded it for the Lomaxes in 1933)
KEYWORDS: slave work prison hardtimes abuse
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 400-402, "Johnny, Won't You Ramble" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 275, "Johnny, Won't You Ramble" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-WakeUpDeadMan, pp. 128-130, "Jolly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, p. 96, "Johnnie, Wontcha Ramble" (1 text)
Roud #6708
File: LoF275

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