Lyrics

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Ain't no more Cane

Ain't no more cane on the Brazos(1)
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
Its all been ground down to molasses
Oh, oh- oh, oh- oh...

You shoulda been on the river in 1910
They were driving the women just like they drove the men

Go down Old Hannah,(2) don'cha rise no more
Don't you rise up til Judgment Day's for sure

Ain't no more cane on the Brazos
Its all been ground down to molasses

Captain(3), don't you do me like you done poor old Shine
Well ya drove that bully(4) til he went stone blind

Wake up on a lifetime(5), hold up your own head
Well you may get a pardon and then you might drop dead

Ain't no more cane on the Brazos
Its all been ground down to molasses

For all those without a grasp of American geography, the Brazos(1) is a river in Texas which features in many prison songs because it runs past virtually all of the old prisons in Texas. Old Hannah(2) is the name given to sun. Captain(3) is one of the ranks in the hierarchy of prison guards, the man in charge of half the workers in a field. Also used outside the prisons to mean the White boss. In some of the old slave songs the singers call Jesus their captain. Bully(4): an inmate working in the line. The word can also be used as a verb, in which case it means working hard. Lifetime(5) sentence that is.