Gaol Song, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the hard life in prison, abused by the guards, granted only the poorest food, and forced to work the treadmill and engage in other backbreaking labour. The singer, once free, vows to leave all such things behind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: work prison punishment captivity worksong
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "GAOL SONG"
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 22-23, "The Gaol Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 39, "Gaol Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brocklebank/Kindersley-DorsetBookOfFolkSongs, p. 11, "Gaol Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 92, "The Treadmill Song" (1 text, 1 tun)
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 239-241, "The Treadmill Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GAOLSONG*
Roud #1077
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. ""The County Gaol"
cf. "Durham Gaol"
NOTES [77 words]: The treadmill was a rotating cylinder that drove machinery such as a mill or a pump. It was a set of steps on a circular gear, which meant that, once started, the convict had no way to stop it; he had to keep walking the treads until relieved. Prisoners often collapsed in agony on such machines, first installed in Sydney in 1823. - RBW
While Lloyd does not mention [this] as a work song, it certainly has the cadence of one, so I have assigned that keyword. -PJS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: FaE022

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