Debt I Owe

DESCRIPTION: Leader lines alternate with the response "I ain't going to pay any debt I owe." The leader's lines say which debt won't be paid ("Debt I owe in Brunswick store") or authority defied ("Mister Watchman don't watch me")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands)
KEYWORDS: money work nonballad shanty
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands 51, pp. 209-210, "Debt I Owe" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [47 words]: The chorus of "Jesus Paid It All" may be a source: "Jesus paid it all, All the debt I owe, Jesus died and paid it all, Yes all the debt I owe" (Philip Phillips and William B Bradbury, The Silver Bells (Chicago: Alfred L. Sewell, 1867 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), p. 4). - BS
Last updated in version 4.1
File: Parr051

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