American Ballads and Folk Songs Quotes

“He could imitate Irving, tell fortunes by cards, And play on the Spanish guitar. In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team Was Ivan Petrofsky Skevar.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs

“You stole my partner, what’ll I do? I’ll get another one, quicker’n you. If I had a pistol, I’d shoot you, too.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs

“Oh, my name it is Sam Hall, it is Sam Hall, Yes, my name it is Sam Hall, it is Sam Hall; Yes, my name it is Sam Hall, and I hate you one and all, Yes, I hate you one and all, God damn your eyes.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs

“Cap’n, cap’n, you mus’ be cross, Six clock in hell ’fo’ you knock off.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs

“Oh, Mattie an’ de baby jes’ a-layin’ in de shade, A-waitin’ for yo’ dollar, an’ you ain’ got nary one cent. Shake, shake, Mattie, shake, a-rattle an’ a-roll, Oh, shake, shake, Mattie, Mattie want to win my gol’.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs

“Rochelle Harris, Chattanooga, Tennessee, went without his supper to record this chant for us. Once he had been the foreman of a steel-laying gang whose job it was to unload rails from a flat-car and then place them in position on the ties. The first qualification in the South for a foreman of this sort is that he have a good voice and a fine sense of rhythm, along with the ability to improvise.”
― John A. Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs