“A Laundry Song”
Description
"I used to work in the kitchen And wash the pans and crocks, But now I work in the laundry And wash the stinking socks." Brought up well, the singer falls in with a bad crowd, and stands guard during a robbery. The others escape; he ends in prison
Supplemental text
Laundry Song, A
Partial text(s)
*** A ***
From Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering,
Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, pp. 358-359. "Obtained...
from a boy of fifteen in the Detention Home, Detroit."
I used to work in the kitchen
And wash the pans and crocks,
But now I work in the laundry
And wash the stinking socks.
I met a gang of seven men
Who said, "Now come with me,
And do as you are told to do,
And fun you sure will see."
(Stanzas 1, 6 of 11)
Notes
The informant from whom this song was collected said that he did not know where he learned the song -- but he was "a boy of fifteen in the Detention Home, Detroit." One suspects he or someone he knew composed it, based on something like "No More Shall I Work in the Factory." - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "No More Shall I Work in the Factory" (lyrics)
References
- Gardner/Chickering 148, "A Laundry Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
- ST GC148 (Partial)
- Roud #3674
- BI, GC148