Water Boy,
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
There ain't no hammer
On-a this mountain
That can ring like mine, boy
That ring like mine
I'm gonna whop this rock, boy
From here to Macon
All the way to the jail, boy
All the way to the jail.
Little Jack of Diamonds
Jack of Diamonds
Know you of old, boy
I know you of old
You done robbed my pockets
Robbed my pockets
Silver and gold, boy
Of silver and gold
Water Boy,
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
There ain't no hammer
On-a this mountain
That can ring like mine, boy
That ring like mine
I'm gonna whop this rock, boy
From here to Macon
All the way to the jail, boy
All the way to the jail.
Water Boy,
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
There ain't no hammer
On-a this mountain
That can ring like mine, boy
That ring like mine
I'm gonna whop this rock, boy
From here to Macon
All the way to the jail, boy
All the way to the jail.
Little Jack of Diamonds
Jack of Diamonds
Know you of old, boy
I know you of old
You done robbed my pockets
Robbed my pockets
Silver and gold, boy
Of silver and gold
Water Boy,
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
There ain't no hammer
On-a this mountain
That can ring like mine, boy
That ring like mine
I'm gonna whop this rock, boy
From here to Macon
All the way to the jail, boy
All the way to the jail.
Water Boy,
Where are you hidin'?
If you don't come right here
Goin' tell your paw on you
Contributed by Pluck - 2022/5/9 - 08:50
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Water,boy where you hidin'?
An important liberation song in the history of slavery and the civil rights movement is Water, Boy. It is a slave work song, a somber reminder of the conditions black people were forced to live through. Water is as valuable as saffron on the field of a plantation, but I assume it's absence was as normalized as the sun rising and setting everyday. I assume the enslaved weren't given enough water (or anything, if anything) to keep them in good health as forced laborers. I'm sure the white overseers and slaveowners made sure to keep their thirst quenched, though. It's been said, they demanded water and would get the attention of the waterboy by singing Water, boy where you hidin?
Today when this song is performed it is titled “Waterboy” instead of “Water, Boy” and I equate this to trying to soften up the history, but let’s not forget what’s true. Said as an order. Water is needed, boy go get it. Slaves sang this song on the plantation, inmates past sang this some when they were put to work. They sang this song with an innate need to preserve its meaning, to bring awareness to terrible work and living conditions. The lyrics are commentary on the injustices faced by black people.
Note da :
PROTEST MAGAZINE – March 5,2019
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Folk Music Queen
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