"Take This Hammer" ( Roud 4299, AFS 745B1) is a prison, logging, and railroad work song, which has the same

Roud number The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

as another song, "Nine Pound Hammer", with which it shares verses. " Swannanoa Tunnel" and "Asheville Junction" are similar. Together, this group of songs are referred to as "hammer songs" or "roll songs" (after a group of wheelbarrow-hauling songs with much the same structure, though not mentioning hammers). Numerous bluegrass bands and singers like Scott McGill and

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He wo ...

also recorded commercial versions of this song, nearly all of them containing verses about the legendary railroad worker, John Henry; and even when they do not, writes folklorist Kip Lornell, "one feels his strong and valorous presence in the song".

Background

For almost a hundred years after the abolition of slavery, convicts, mostly African American, were leased to work as forced labor in the mines, railroad camps, brickyards, turpentine farms, and then on road gangs of the American South. Forced labor on chain gangs, levees, and huge, plantation-like prison farms continued well into the twentieth century. It was not unusual for work songs like "Take this Hammer" and its "floating verses" to drift between occupations along with the itinerant laborers who sang them. The elements of both the ballad of " John Henry" and the "Take This Hammer" complex appear to date from the late nineteenth century, probably the 1870s.

Early versions

A manuscript variant of "Take This Hammer" from 1915 was published by the folklorist and English professor

Newman Ivey White Newman Ivey White (February 3, 1892 – December 6, 1948) was an American professor of English at Duke University. He was born in Statesville, North Carolina, United States. He was a noted Shelley scholar, as well as a collector of American folkl ...

: :This old hammer killed John Henry, :But it can't kill me. :Take this hammer, take it to the Captain, :Tell him I'm gone, babe, tell him I'm gone. In the 1920s, folklorists, notably

Dorothy Scarborough Emily Dorothy Scarborough (January 27, 1878 – November 7, 1935) was an American writer who wrote about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories and women's life in the Southwest. Early life Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Te ...

(1925) and

Guy Johnson Guy Johnson ( 1740 – 5 March 1788) was an Irish military officer and diplomat. He served on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, having migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked with his uncle, Sir Wi ...

and

Howard W. Odum Howard Washington Odum (May 24, 1884 – November 8, 1954) was an American sociologist and author who researched African-American life and folklore. Beginning in 1920, he served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina, founding ...

(1926), also collected transcribed versions. Scarborough's short text, published in her book, ''On The Trail of Negro Folk-Songs'' (1925), is the first version published under the title "Nine-Pound Hammer", before the earliest commercial recording of that name. This was the white "hillbilly" (as

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

was then called) 78 single by Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters. Hopkins's "Nine Pound Hammer" added the chorus "Roll on buddy / Don't you roll so slow. / How can I roll / When the wheels won't go?" This was the first of many hillbilly recordings of the song, including, notably ( The Monroe Brothers' "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy", in 1936.)

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

's popular anthology, ''The American Songbag'' (1927) contains the song "My Old Hammah" ("Shine like silver"). In 1928, before the Depression put an end to his recording career, African-American blues singer Mississippi John Hurt issued a commercial single, "Spike Driver Blues" on Okeh records. This song, with intricate finger-picked guitar accompaniment, combines some elements of the "John Henry" ballad. It was later included in Harry Smith's celebrated 1952 ''

Anthology of American Folk Music ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' is a three-album compilation, released in 1952 by Folkways Records, of eighty-four recordings of American folk, blues and country music made and issued from 1926 to 1933 by a variety of performers. The album wa ...

'' LP set, leading to the rediscovery of the performer. Norm Cohen terms "Spike Driver Blues" "a lyrical variant of "Nine-Pound Hammer" and "more an entertainment piece than an actual work song, but their close kinship is unmistakable".

Field recordings

In 1933

John A. Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess ...

and his 18-year-old son

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

, recording for the Library of Congress with the aid of an aluminum flat-disc-cutting recording machine, recorded Allen Prothro, a prisoner in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, singing "Jumpin' Judy", with a theme and verses in common with "Take This Hammer", including reference to the "captain" (i.e., white prison guard), with his .44 in his right hand, and the fantasy of escape. They printed a longer version of the text in their anthology ''American Ballads and Folk Songs'' (1934), stipulating that it be performed "rather slow, with pathos." John A. Lomax and his colleague

Harold Spivacke Harold Spivacke (July 18, 1904 – May 9, 1977) was an American music librarian and administrator. He was Chief of the Music Division of the Library of Congress from 1937 to 1972. In 1940 he co-founded the National Music Council with Julia Ober, F ...

made another Library of Congress audio field recording on June 14, 1936, of "Take This Hammer", performed by Jimmie Strothers, a blind prisoner at the State Farm (Virginia State Penitentiary), at Lynn, Virginia, performing with finger-picked banjo accompaniment. In 1942, Alan Lomax recorded another version of the same song as sung by Sid Hemphill. This version was titled "John Henry" and accompanied by violin, played by Hemphill, and a drum, played by a friend of Hemphill, Will Head. In December 1947, Alan Lomax recorded it again on (then newly invented) reel-to-reel tape at Lambert Camp, Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary), performed by three prisoners with axes: "Bull" Hollie Dew, "Foots" Milton Smith, and "Dobie Red" Tim Taylor. Research Center, Association for Cultural Equity
In 1959, Alan Lomax and English singer

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

revisited

Parchman Farm Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, bringing along with them reel-to-reel stereo equipment. Among other songs, they re-recorded "Take This Hammer", performed by L. C. Hoskins and an unidentified group of prisoners cutting wood with axes As late as 1965, folklorist Bruce Jackson, while doing field work in the Texas prison system, collected it from prisoners who sang it (also while cutting lumber), as "This Old Hammer Killed John Henry".

Commercial recordings after 1940

"Take This Hammer" was issued on a commercial 78-rpm single by

Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...

in 1940 and again in 1942. In his performance on this record, Lead Belly added a "haah" at the end of each line, explaining in his spoken introduction, "Every time the men say 'haah', the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." In saying "we", Lead Belly was undoubtedly referring to his many years as an inmate of the notorious prison farm in Angola, Louisiana. Lead Belly's powerful version subsequently became a staple of the urban folk revival. Meanwhile, the song continued to be popular among country singers.

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic expl ...

's 1946 recomposition, "Nine Pound Hammer is Too Heavy", an adaptation of the song to coal mining, had a great impact on folk and country singers.

Notable recordings

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

on ''Get Back 'Camera B' Rolls vol 11'' (recorded 1969) (also on ''Thirty Days'') *

The Beau Brummels The Beau Brummels was an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino (lead vocals), Ron Elliott (lead guitar), Ron Meagher (bass guitar), Declan Mulligan (rhythm guitar, bass, harmo ...

as "Nine Pound Hammer" on their LP ''

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'' *

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

on the DVD ''The Story of the Blues'' (2003) * Brothers Four (on the Columbia LP ''Sing of Our Times''; reissued on CBS LP ''Starportrait'') *

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

on ''Blood, Sweat and Tears'' (1963) under the title "Tell Him I'm Gone" *

Sanford Clark Sanford Clark (October 24, 1935 – July 4, 2021) was an American country-rockabilly singer and guitarist, best known for his 1956 hit " The Fool". Biography Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, from the age of ...

, 1956 recording as "Nine Pound Hammer" (Dot 15534) *

Ken Colyer Kenneth Colyer (18 April 1928 – 8 March 1988) was an English jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes. Biography He was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, but grew up i ...

(1955, Decca Single F10631, b/w "Down By The Riverside") *

Charley Crockett Charley Crockett (born March 24, 1984) is an American blues, country, and Americana singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He has released ten albums since 2015, with ''Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza'' peaking at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Blues Al ...

on the album, ''The Valley'', under the title "9 LB Hammer" (also on the ''Ourvinyl Sessions'' EP) *

Delmore Brothers Alton Delmore (December 25, 1908 – June 9, 1964) and Rabon Delmore (December 3, 1916 – December 4, 1952), billed as The Delmore Brothers, were country music pioneer singer-songwriters and musicians who were stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the ...

as "Take It To The Captain" (King 718-B, 1948) *

Drafi Deutscher Drafi Franz Richard Deutscher (9 May 1946 – 9 June 2006) was a German singer and songwriter of Sinti origin. Biography Early life and career Deutscher was born in Charlottenburg, in the western zone of Berlin, Germany. Between 1964 and 1966 ...

& His Magics, 1965 German version "Ich Will Frei Sein", reissued on the Bear Family CD ''Drafi Deutscher: Die Decca Jahre Teil 3'' *

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotl ...

on ''Lonnie Rides Again'' (1959) *

The Felice Brothers The Felice Brothers are an American folk rock/country rock band from New York.Bumgardner, Ed, 8 November 2007'Music Notes: Felice Brothers are earthy, their music visceralRelish Now!''. History The Felice Brothers got their start as a band pl ...

on ''Tonight at the Arizona'' (2007) *

Foggy Mountain Boys Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948. Flatt and Scr ...

(Flatt and Scruggs) on ''Folk Songs of our Land'' (1962) *

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on ''Ragged But Right!'' (1964) * John Fahey on '' The Voice of The Turtle'' (1968) under the title "Nine-Pound Hammer" *

Jesse Fuller Jesse Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues". Early life Fuller was born in Jonesboro, Georgia, near Atlanta. He was sent by his mother to live with ...

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(on a single recorded in 1942) *

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Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

on ''

A Toot and a Snore in '74 ''A Toot and a Snore in '74'' is a bootleg album consisting of the only known recording session in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney played together after the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. First mentioned by Lennon in a 1975 interview, m ...

'' 1974 - bootleg recording: These are bootlegs (see '' Day by Day'') *

Harry Manx Harry Manx (born 1955) is a Canadian musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. His official website describes his music as being a "blend Indian folk melodies with slide guitar blues, add a sprinkle of gospel and ...

on ''Road Ragas'' (2004) and ''Harry Manx & Friends Live at the Glenn Gould Studio'' (2008) * Monroe Brothers as "Nine Pound Hammer is Too Heavy" (1936), also on ''Feast Here Tonight'' (1975) * MV&EE "Hammer" on LP ''Gettin Gone'' (2007) *

The New Christy Minstrels The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including " Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Today", "Denver", and " ...

on ''Presenting and In Person'' (2003) *

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

feat.

as "Nine Pound Hammer" from their 3-LP set ''

Will the Circle Be Unbroken "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel. The song is often recorded unattributed and, because of its age, has lapsed into the public domain. Most of the cho ...

'' *

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on '' Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time'' (1990) under the title "Railroad Worksong" *

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

on '' Odetta at the Gate of Horn'' (1957) *

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on ''Voices in Bluegrass'' (c 1970) * Our Gang ( The Rattles and friends), reissued on the Bear Family CD ''Die Hamburg Szene'' *

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

(as "Nine Pound Hammer") on ''Sweet Revenge'' *

Carl Stokes Carl Burton Stokes (June 21, 1927 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician and diplomat of the Democratic Party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, and taking office on January 1, 1968, he was ...

, former Cleveland, Ohio mayor, on his spoken word and jazz album, ''The Mayor and His People'' (Flying Dutchman) *

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

as "This Hammer": B-side of single "

Theme for Young Lovers "Theme for Young Lovers" is an instrumental by British group the Shadows, released as a single in February 1964. It peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Release and reception Despeite being written by the Shadows' Bruce Welch, he does ...

" (1964) *

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...

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on their LP ''Blues & Shouts'' (America Records 6075) *

Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numbe ...

as "The Hammer Song" on their second LP ''The Second Album'' (Feb '66) *

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

as "Nine Pound Hammer" on his LP ''Nine Pound Hammer'' *

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as "Nimm den Hammer" on Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten… (1975) * Troublemakers as "Race Records" on their second LP ''Express Way'' (2004) *

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on ''Live in London'' (recorded 1966) *

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and Toumani Diabate on their album ''

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'' *

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

on ''

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'' (2001) *

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

as "Tell 'em I'm Gone" (from the CD/LP ''Tell 'em I'm Gone'') (Legacy, 2014) *

Ralph Stanley Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. Stanley began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of ...

as "Nine Pound Hammer" on ''Short Life of Trouble: Songs of Grayson and Whitter'' (1996) * Kimber's Men as "Take this Hammer/Please your Captain" on ''The Strength of the Swell'', the lead vocals on this song are shared between Joe Stead on the first half, and Gareth Scott on the second. * Willie Watson

Other uses

* The lyrics to the first verse are visible in the liner notes of Brand New's '' The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me'' album. * An award-winning documentary film by Bob Gordon about the building of dry stack stone walls entitled, ''Take This Hammer'' (released in September 2008), has a soundtrack featuring the traditional "Nine Pound Hammer" song, which is in the public domain.

References

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External links

Columbia State UniversityTune and lyrics
{{Authority control American folk songs Lead Belly songs Mississippi John Hurt songs Okeh Records singles Songs about trains