Take This Hammer

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells a (fellow prisoner?) to take his hammer to the captain; the singer is running away. The hammer (which killed John Henry) will never kill him. The versions show considerable variations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Jekyll-JamaicanSongAndStory); "Take This Hammer": 1915 (collected by Newman Ivey White); "Nine Pound Hammer" variant: 1927 (Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag; recording, Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters)
KEYWORDS: prisoner work escape nonballad worksong
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE) West Indies(Jamaica)
REFERENCES (35 citations):
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 571-582, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 383, "John Henry" (6 texts, but the last three belong with this song)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 376, "Ever Since Uncle John Henry Been Dead" (1 text, 1 tune, which I believe belongs here although the text is too short to be sure); 457-458, "My Old Hammah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Curtis-Burlin-NegroFolkSongs-TheHamptonSeries (I), pp. 140-148, "Hammerin' Song" (1 text with variants, 1 tune with variants)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 280, "John Henry" (2 texts plus 5 fragments, 1 excerpt, and mention of 1 more, but it appears that fragments "B," "D," "E," and "G" go here)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 241, "Some of These Days and It Won't Be Long" (1 text plus a fragment; the "A" text shows hints of incorporating another ballad); also 240, "I Been a Miner" (1 4-line fragment, consisting of the stanza "I been a miner most of my life" and the stanza, "Big John Henry (x3) poor boy blind")
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 270, "John Henry" (7 excerpts, 7 tunes, of which "A," "A(1)," and perhaps "C" appear to be "John Henry"; "E," "G," and "J" appear to be "Take This Hammer," and "H" appears to be "Swannanoa Tunnel")
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 240; "I Been a Miner"; 241, "Some of These Days, And It Won't Be Long" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol1, pp. 48-49, "Roll On, Buddy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Killion/Waller-ATreasuryOfGeorgiaFolklore, p. 231, "Hank! Hah" (1 fragment, probably this)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 160-164, "Roll On, John, Poor Rail Road Boys" (4 texts, 2 tunes, of which at least the first "Roll On, John" text goes here; the rest are filed with "Poor Rail Road Boys")
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 104, "The John Henry Hammer Song" (1 short and 1 very long text, 1 tune; the short text might be anything and the long, though it ends with these verses, includes much floating material about railroad construction)
Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices, pp. 122-123, "Old John Henry Died on the Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune, listed by Roud as an independent song, #16268, but giving every evidence of being a version of this)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 219, (no title) (1 short texts; neither has the "take this hammer" line, but they fit metrically and mention the hammer that killed John Henry); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, 1 tune, at least related to this); p. 220, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 short text); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, with a verse of this song although it also mentions shooting Ida in the leg)
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands, p. 223, ("This is the hammer that kill John Henry") (1 text)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, p. 186, "Rocks In De Mountens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 93, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 380-381, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 145, "Roll On, Buddy"; 297, "East Colorado Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes -- both, especially the former, folk processed and expanded and perhaps derived in part from other songs.)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 264-266, "Oh, Roll On, Babe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-WakeUpDeadMan, pp. 237-240, "Take This Hammer" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Green-OnlyAMiner-RecordedCoalMiningSongs, p. 329-331, "Nine Pound Hammer" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 100, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 112, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, pp. 94-95, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, p. 61, "Water Boy" (1 text)
Botkin-TreasuryOfAmericanFolklore, p. 913, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NegroFolkMusic, pp. 137-138, "(John Henry)" (1 text, with a fragment of the plot of "John Henry" but many lyrics from "Take This Hammer"); pp. 285-286, "John Henry (Version III)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jekyll-JamaicanSongAndStory 184, ("Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow line") (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 234-235, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, filed with three texts of "John Henry"); also pp. 327-328, "John Henry, " "This Old Hammer" (2 texts)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 69, "Take This Hammer" (1 text); p. 124, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Portia Naomi Crawford, "A Study of Negro Folk Songs from Greensboro, North Carolina and Surrounding Towns," Vol. XVI, No. 2 (Oct 1968), pp. 92-94, "Dis Ole Rock Mine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 289, 458, "Dis Ol' Hammer" (notes only)
OneTuneMore, p. 23, "Mingo Mountain"; p. 41, "This Old Hammer" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, NINEPND* TAKEHAMR*
ADDITIONAL: Moses Asch and Alan Lomax, Editors, _The Leadbelly Songbook_, Oak, 1962, p. 45, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4299 and 6686 and 16845
RECORDINGS:
Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Columbia 15280-D, 1928; on LostProv1)
Emmett Brand, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth06)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Roll On, Boys" (Victor V-40024, 1929; rec. 1928) [I include this here for want of a better place; its chorus is from "Nine Pound Hammer/Roll On, Buddy," but the verses are unrelated floaters]
Patricia Campbell, "Water Boy" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #236, recorded 09/05/2022, which sounds as if it's mostly floating material)
Palmer Crisp, "Roll On, John" (on Crisp01)
Delmore Bros. "Take It to the Captain" (King 718, 1948)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "The Nine-Pound Hammer" Victor V-40105, 1929; rec. 1928)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Roll On, Buddy" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Brunswick 177, 1927)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Spike Driver Blues" (OKeh 8692, 1929; rec. 1928; on AAFM3, BefBlues3, MJH01, MJH02); "Spike Driver (John Henry)" (on MJHurt05)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Roll On Buddy" (AFS 2548 B, 1939; on LC61)
Buffalo Johnson, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Rich-R-Tone 1023, 1952)
Buell Kazee, "Roll On John" (Brunswick 144, 1927) [a "Nine Pound Hammer" version]
Monroe Brothers, "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" (Bluebird B-6422, 1936)
Paul Robeson, "Water Boy" (Victor 19824, 1925; HMV [UK] B-8103, 1934)
South Carolina ditch diggers, "Ten Pound Hammer" (on LomaxCD1700)
Horace Sprott, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth04)
Ernest Stoneman & Eddie Stoneman, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Vocalion 02655, 1934)
Sweet Brothers, "I Got a Bulldog" (1928; on TimesAint04)
Dan Tate, "Muck on my Heel" (fragment of "Roll On, Buddy" variant) (on OldTrad2, FarMtns1)
Henry Grady Terrell, "Old John Henry Died on the Mountain" (on FolkVisions2, ClassRR)
Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
Merle Travis, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Capitol 48000, 1947; on 78 album "Folk Songs of the Hills", Capitol AD 50; rec. 1946)
Rick Ward, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Piotr-Archive #135, recorded 04/18/2022)
Doc Watson, "Spike-Driver Blues" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
Tex Williams, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Decca 29764, 1955)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Henry" [Laws I1] (lyrics)
cf. "Jumpin' Judy" (lyrics)
cf. "Walking Boss" (lyrics)
cf. "Swannanoah Tunnel" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Drivin' Steel" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing" (lyrics)
cf. "Old Rattler" (lyrics)
cf. "Hammer Ring"
cf. "If I Had the Gov'nor" (theme)
cf. "Pickaxe Too Heavy" (theme)
cf. "Roll On, Boys" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "My Captain Paid Me Forty-one Dolalrs and a Quarter" (form, theme, lyrics)
cf. "Poor Rail Road Boys" (lyrics)
NOTES [597 words]: The connection between this song and "Swannanoa Tunnel" is very strong; there are so many intermediate versions that we can hardly draw a clear distinction. But the extreme versions are sufficiently different that I have listed them separately. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "Take This Hammer" and "Nine Pound Hammer" can be distinguished by the chorus (found in the latter) "Roll on buddy/Don't you roll so slow/How can I roll/When the wheels won't go." (Which is further modified in the Lomax collection to "Oh, roll on, babe, don't roll so slow, When the sun goes down, you'll roll no more"; this version is mostly about love, courting, and rejection and has only the slighted railroad elements.)
Paul adds, ""According to the liner notes on LC61, the cited 78s (by Charlie Bowman and Al Hopkins) are the first recorded under the names 'Roll On, Buddy' and 'Nine Pound Hammer,' indicating the variant existed when these records were published. The Aunt Molly Jackson field recording dates from 1939. So I think we've established the variant's presence in tradition as early as the late 1920s. I think it's time to split 'em, with cross-referencing notes."
He's probably right. Sadly, we now have four references I can no longer check. So they remain lumped until I can find a way to get those books back. - RBW
Unfortunately, the liner notes to LC61 misled me. While it's true that the title "Roll On, Buddy" was first used by Charlie Bowman & his Brothers, his recording (placed here in earlier versions of the Index) wasn't this song. Instead, it was the one we have indexed as "Roll On, Buddy (II) [Roll On, Buddy, Roll On]." Sorry.
We can go further: Archie Green interviewed Charlie Bowman of Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, who stated that he and Al Hopkins had put together the "Roll On Buddy" variant from traditional fragments during their 1927 recording session, and the song was in fact copyrighted in their name. Bowman stated that he'd learned many of the fragments from African-American railroad workers in 1903-1905. - PJS
Norm Cohen has an extensive discussion, based on Archie Green's examination in Only a Miner. They note two basic elements: The "Take this hammer" stanzas, in non-rhyming couplets, and the "roll on buddy" verses, which do rhyme. They therefore suspect that Hopkins was the source of the combination. The problem is simply too great to fully explicate here; I can only recommend the discussions in Green and Cohen. - RBW
I place Robeson's "Water Boy" here for want of a better place. It contains several floating verses from this song (e.g., "There ain't no hammer that's on this mountain/That rings like mine..."). - PJS
Jekyll-JamaicanSongAndStory's tune is close to the commonly sung tune for "Take This Hammer". His lyrics are: "Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow line" (3x), "Somebody dying here ev'ry day"; "A ten pound order him kill me pardner" (3x), "Somebody dying here ev'ry day"; "Den number nine tunnel I would not work de" (3x), "Somebody dying here ev'ry day." Jekyll's explanation is interesting, but, keep in mind that he often seems not to know that his songs have U.S. analogs: "An incident, or perhaps it were better to say an accident, in the making of the road to Newcastle. A man who undertook a piece of contract work for 10 pounds was killed by a falling stone. The so-called tunnels are cuttings. Number nine had a very bad reputation."
In regard to Jekyll's Jamaican version, with the tag line, "Somebody dying here ev'ry day," see Edward's Bahamas hymn indexed here as "Somebody's Dying Every Day." - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FR383

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