Cryderville Jail, The

DESCRIPTION: Complaints about prison life. Refrain: "It's hard times in (Cryderville) jail, It's hard times, poor boy." Sample stanzas: "Durant jail beats no jail at all; If you want to catch hell, got to Wichita Falls." "Lice and the bedbugs have threatened my life."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes trial punishment gambling
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 354, "Durham Jail" (1 text)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 184, "Fond du Lac Jail" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Welsch-NebraskaPioneerLore, pp. 41-42, "Old Dad Morton" (1 text)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart1 20, "Cryderville Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 90, "The Durant Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 138-142, "The Cryderville Jail", pp. 142-143, "Po' Boy" (3 texts plus scattered addenda, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 228, "Hard Times" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 127-128, "Mount Holly Jail" (1 text); p. 438, "Fond du Lac Jail" (1 short text)
Botkin-TreasuryOfAmericanFolklore, pp. 887-888, "Hard Times in Mount Holly Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, p. 141, "Hard Times at Little New River" (1 text, adapted to mill conditions, but too short to tell if it was a full adaption or just a spur-of-the-moment change)
DT, DRNTJAIL*
Roud #822
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Wise County Jail" (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
Logan English, "Durant Jail" (on LEnglish01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "County Jail (II)" (theme)
cf. "Dawsonville Jail" (subject)
File: LxU090

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