[1936/1965]
Canzone scritta da Dorsey Dixon e interpretata col fratello Howard, i Dixon Bothers. Entrambi furono operai tessili dall’adolescenza fino alla pensione. Le ultime tre strofe (indicate tra parentesi) furono aggiunte nel 1965, a mo’ di attualizzazione)
Un brano in qualche modo gemello di Weave Room Blues

Interpretata da Mike Seeger nel disco “Tipple, Loom & Rail - Songs Of The Industrialization Of The South” (Folkways Records, 1966)

Poi in diverse raccolte dedicate alla riscoperta dei Dixon Brothers.

Infine nel disco collettivo “Poor Man, Rich Man - American Country Songs Of Protest” (1989).

‎[1932]‎
Testo trovato su Folk Archive‎

‎“Ho la tristezza, la malattia della fabblica tessile… Stamo tutti semplicemente morendo di ‎questa tristezza, di questa malattia…” ‎

The "Weave Room Blues," perhaps his most significant industrial composition, was written in ‎‎1932, and was what he [Dorsey Dixon] called his first blues....‎
The song became a standard during the trade union drive in the Richmond County mills in the early ‎‎'30s -- a drive which the Dixons wholeheartedly supported.‎
The "Weave Room Blues" and Dorsey's later industrial songs well express the dissatisfaction of ‎those mountaineers who had swapped the plough for the loom and were now entangled in the ‎fluctuating fortunes of the textile industry. Understandably, these workers, once used to supporting ‎themselves, albeit meagrely, were now dependent for their livelihood on the "company" and had ‎little chance of returning... (Continues)

‎[1930s]‎
Testo trovato su Folk Archive‎

‎

Canzone contro il lavoro minorile composta negli anni 30 (ma registrata solo nel 1962) da Dorsey ‎Murdock Dixon, un operaio tessile di Darlington, South Carolina. Lui stesso aveva cominciato a ‎lavorare in fabbrica all’età di 12 anni, ma era stato fortunato perché la sorella Nancy ed il fratello ‎Howard avevano iniziato rispettivamente a 8 e 10 anni…‎

(Dead End)

BABIES IN THE MILL was written by Dorsey Dixon in the 1960s remembering the child labor he had known in earlier years of mill work. He and his family worked in the Aleo Mills in East Rockingham, North Carolina. With his brother Howard he played music at secular and religious gatherings in his community. An especially articulate writer, he... had a stint of recordings in the 30s. He had some commercial success with his WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY sung by Roy Acuff. Only that song, and to some... (Continues)