Posts Tagged ‘Prison songs’
Work Songs in 1966
This is footage of Ellis Unit inmates singing work songs was captured by Pete and Toshi Seeger on a visit to the Texas prison in Huntsville in 1966 with their son Daniel and folklorist Bruce Jackson.
Posted by hcdmedia
Influential Prison Songs
Take at look at this list of influential songs about prison, law enforcement, crime, and poverty. These songs are written by a variety of musicians from a variety of music genres ranging from country music to rock to hip-hop and blues.
In no particular order:
I Fought the Law
The Clash – 1976
(first recorded in 1959 by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets)
99 Problems
Jay Z – 2003
Folsom Prison Blues
Johnny Cash – 1957
Hurricane
Bob Dylan – 1975
Locked Up
Akon – 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYERFmGURg
Runnin (Dyin’ to live)
Tupac & Biggie
Take this Hammer (written of his experience escaping from a chain gang in Texas in 1915)
Leadbelly
Riot in cellblock #9
Wanda Jackson – 1961
Chain Gang
Sam Cooke – 1961
Angola Bound
Aaron Neville -2002
http://www.rhapsody.com/aaron-neville/20th-century-masters-the-millennium-collection/angola-bound/lyrics.html
Midnight Special (originally written and recorded by Leadbelly – performed here by folk legend Odetta Holmes)
Odetta Holmes
They Don’t Really Care about Us
Michael Jackson – 1996
Posted by hcdmedia