Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Day 223 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
O Lord, let it rain,
Wet my little dress!
So that corn will be cheaper And I can fill my belly!
Sandburg writes: "This translation from hieroglyphics on an ancient Egyptian temple is among the oldest known songs of working people. It is not a far cry from such lines to the replies of a witness before the industrial relations commission, who told the commission's examiner, Frank P. Walsh, that he and other railroad men had at a certain time been "sitting and talking." "What were you talking about?" "Oh, just railroad talk." "Anything particular in railroad talk." "No, just railroad talk." "Well, could you tell us just what you mean by railroad talk?" "Oh whiskey and women and higher wages and shorter hours.". . . .
"The lyric here is [a black and Anglo-Saxon] blend in its making; it was heard at the University of Kentucky; the young man who sang it said the notes are sometimes "blued" and it is then called The Louisville & Nashville Blues."
Day 223 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
O Lord, let it rain,
Wet my little dress!
So that corn will be cheaper And I can fill my belly!
Sandburg writes: "This translation from hieroglyphics on an ancient Egyptian temple is among the oldest known songs of working people. It is not a far cry from such lines to the replies of a witness before the industrial relations commission, who told the commission's examiner, Frank P. Walsh, that he and other railroad men had at a certain time been "sitting and talking." "What were you talking about?" "Oh, just railroad talk." "Anything particular in railroad talk." "No, just railroad talk." "Well, could you tell us just what you mean by railroad talk?" "Oh whiskey and women and higher wages and shorter hours.". . . .
"The lyric here is [a black and Anglo-Saxon] blend in its making; it was heard at the University of Kentucky; the young man who sang it said the notes are sometimes "blued" and it is then called The Louisville & Nashville Blues."
