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Parchman Farm Blues (Bukka White)

from Terraplane by Scott Ainslie

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about

Played on my one-string, homemade cigar box guitar, this is a tune about the infamous Mississippi State penitentiary where you could be worked to death in the sun for cashing a bad check. It's back in the news in 2020 for the lethality of being confined there: nine murders in the first few months of the year, with guards smuggling in weapons, contraband, and turning a blind eye to the protection of those in their charge. Mississippi Goddam, as Nina Simone would say...

lyrics

Parchman Farm Blues (Bukka White)

Judge give me life this mornin’, down on old Parchman Farm.
Judge give me life this mornin’, down on old Parchman Farm.
I wouldn’t hate it so bad, but I miss my wife and my home.

Now, good-bye wife, all you have done gone, all you have done gone.
Well, good-bye wife, all you have done gone.
But I hope someday you will hear my lonesome song.

INSTRUMENTAL

You go to work in the mornin’, just the dawn of day,
just the dawn of day.
Go to work in the mornin’, just at the dawn of day.
And at the settin’ of the sun that is when your work is done.

Now, listen you men: I don’t mean no harm, I don’t mean no harm.
Now, listen. You men. I don’t mean no harm.
If you wanna do good you better stay off old Parchman’s Farm.

INSTRUMENTAL

I’m down on old Parchman’s Farm, but I sure wanna go back home, Wanna go back home.
I’m down on old Parchman’s Farm, but I sure wanna go back home.
And I hope someday that I will overcome.

Judge give me life this mornin’, down on old Parchman Farm.
Judge give me life this mornin’, down on old Parchman Farm.
I wouldn’t hate it so bad, but I miss my wife and my home.

credits

from Terraplane, track released September 22, 1997
Scott Ainslie, cigar box guitar and voice

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Scott Ainslie Brattleboro, Vermont

A long history with older black blues and gospel players in the mid-South marks Ainslie's work deeply. He transcribed all of Robert Johnson's recorded songs for "Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads" (Hal Leonard, 1992) and has a teaching DVD on Johnson's music. A fine songwriter with a social conscience and a belief in the power of music to move and inspire, Ainslie's voice is a great force for good! ... more

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