Po' Lazarus (Comments, Lyrics, & Videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides comments, lyrics, and two videos of the African American prison work song "Po' [Poor] Lazarus". Another term for "prison work songs" are "chain gang songs", although all prison work songs aren't sung by prisoners working on chain gangs.

The content of this post is provided for folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carter_and_the_Prisoners
"James Carter (December 18, 1925 – November 26, 2003) was an American amateur singer and several times an inmate of the Mississippi prison system. He was paid $20,000, and credited, for a four-decade-old lead-vocalist performance used in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

In 1959, Carter was serving time at Camp B of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. In a southern field excursion, Carter and the other prisoners in his chain gang were spending the day chopping wood. Folk music historian Alan Lomax encountered them, and Carter and the others agreed to be recorded, as soloist and chorus respectively on an old spiritual, "Po' Lazarus", chopping the logs in time to the music. The recording and a photograph of the prisoners became part of Lomax's seminal music archive.

Decades later, the recording was purchased for use in the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which went on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. During this, the producers, working in the hope that Carter was still alive, successfully tracked him down. Despite never seeing the film and not even remembering the song he had sung over 40 years previously, Carter was pleased with the album's success, and was present at the benefit concert held in Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which featured repeat performances by the performers of other numbers on the soundtrack (although Carter himself did not perform).

As the other prisoners have not been identified (and likely never will be), the official credit for the artist on the soundtrack is for "James Carter & the Prisoners"."
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Editor's Note:
I disagree with the description of this song as a "spiritual". "Spirituals" are religious songs. Despite containing the exclamation "Lawd" ("Lord") and the New Testament Biblical male name "Lazarus", "Po' Lazarus" is a secular (non-religious) song, part of the "prison work songs" genre.

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LYRICS : PO LAZARUS
[unknown composer/s]

Well, the high sheriff
He told his deputy
Want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Well, the high sheriff
Told his deputy
I want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Bring him dead or alive,
Lawd, Lawd
Bring him dead or alive
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
Says I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well he's a dangerous man
Lawd, Lawd
He's a dangerous man
Well then the high sheriff, he found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of a mountain
Well the high sheriff, found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of the mountain
With his head hung down
Lawd, Lawd
With his head hung down
Well then the high sheriff, he told Lazarus
He says Lazarus I come to arrest you
Well the high sheriff, told Lazarus
Says Lazarus I come to arrest you
And bring ya dead or alive
Lawd, Lawd
Bring you dead or alive
Well then Lazarus, he told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
Well Lazarus, told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
By no one man
Lawd, Lawd
By no one man
And then the high sheriff, he shot Lazarus
Well, he shot him mighty big number
Well the high sheriff, shot Lazarus
Well he shot him with a mighty big number
With a forty five
Lawd, Lawd
With a forty five
Well then they take old Lazarus
Yes they laid him on the commissary gallery
Well they taken poor Lazarus
And the laid him on the commissary gallery
He said my wounded side
Lawd, Lawd
My wounded side

From http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/obrotherwhereartthou/polazarus.htm


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FEATURED VIDEOS

Video #1: po' Lazarus [Sung by "James Carter & the Prisoners" & featured in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?]



Uploaded by L1A1 on Apr 13, 2011

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Video #2: The Fairfilled Four - Po Lazarus
[The Fairfield Four]



Uploaded by ppmcsk on Dec 18, 2009

From "Down From The Moutnain" concert
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In my opinion, the percussive foot stomps, handclaps, and thigh patting substitute for the sound of picks and enhance this acapella song performance.

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R42464, a commenter on this video's viewer comment thread explains that the group's name is The Fairfield Four because there were four members when the group started in 1921.

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From http://singers.com/group/Fairfield-Four/
"The a cappella style of the Fairfield Four was drawn from the Birmingham, Alabama quartet tradition exemplified by recording groups such as the Bessemer Sunset Four, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, and the Famous Blue Jay Singers with lead vocalist, Silas Steele. The tradition is characterized by a percussive bass voice anchoring middle harmonies sung often on repeated rhythmic syllables ("boom a lanka lanka lanka") and a tenor voice out front carrying the lead...

Today, the Fairfield Four are best known from their appearance on the soundtrack and on screen in the Coen Brothers 2000 film, O Brother Where Art Thou. They are multiple Grammy winners with albums including Standing in the Safety Zone (1992) and I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray (1997) on Warner Brothers, Wreckin' the House (1998) on Dead Reckoning, The Fairfield Four and Friends Live from Mountain Stage (2000) on Blue Plate, and by their bass singer Isaac Freeman with the Bluebloods, Beautiful Stars (2003) on Lost Highway"...

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & THANKS
Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "Po Lazarus". Thanks also to the singers and collectors of this song and the uploaders of this video.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.